“No! We haven’t made one single car that has made headlines. No commercials. No nothing. Come on people! Think! Use your brains which is what all of you lack.” Brian yells to his workers, once again, at a conference being held on the highest floor of the building. “Now go back to work, you all disgust me.” The workers get up and walk out the door.
Brian Montgomery is a 34 year old man. He has short, brown hair that is neatly cut. His eyes are an icy blue and his face was slim but wasn’t shaved in a couple days. He was a pretty tall man compared to most people. He was also a car dealership owner. His business hasn’t been too successful with making a car that has made it in the tabloids. His business makes a car and another dealership comes out with a car that’s better shoving Brian’s car into the dust.
Coming home after a long day of work, he lies down on the couch and turns on the news. A story about the great accident is on and how some doctor is taking everyone into intensive care. Brian has been hearing about this story everywhere and is getting sick of it so he turns off the TV and goes to his computer. He types into Google, “Ways to Becoming Famous,” hoping for anything that could help him. There lists many websites and after looking through a few he opens a webpage. The webpage contains a legend that a monster lurks out there and if you stumble upon it it’ll grant your most desired wish. Brian thought that this was the most ridiculous story ever told. He exits out of the internet in disgust and heads off to bed.
The next morning Brian called into work sick because he didn’t want to work today. He felt like he needed the day off. He decided to take a walk in the neighborhood park. While he was walking, a little girl accidentally bumped into him, while she was playing catch with her friend. Her hat had slipped over her forehead and blocked her vision. “Sorry,” The little girl says, but Brian just tells her to move and he continues walking. After looking around, he found a bench that was away from all the people. Brian sat on the bench, unfolded the newspaper he was carrying and started to read. His eyes were fixed on an article that was about a doctor. The article stated that the doctor saved everyone that was in the big accident that happened not but a week ago. Brian looked disgusted and was thinking to himself that anyone can become famous these days. Right by his feet, there was a bird. “Shew! Shew!” Brian yelled to the bird. The bird squawked at him fiercely. Brian went to go kick the bird but the bird took flight. Brian watched it flying overhead, turned around, and followed it with his eyes. He saw it land in an old, dead oak tree. The bird flapped its wings then sat perfectly still in its nest. Brian was about to turn his head when the bird cawed at him. Getting annoyed, Brian gets up and furiously walks towards the bird in the tree and he was going to yell at it but stopped. Brian’s eyes had met the eyes of the bird. If you were someone on the street you would say that Brian was staring at a bird looking like he was made of stone. The bird was unlike anything he has seen. The bird’s eyes were staring into Brian’s eyes like it was looking into his soul. The bird’s eyes were a blood red with a faded, pitch black ring around them. They had a shine but it wasn’t the usual shine. The shine looked like it had a small hidden flame in it. Its wings were large and folded closely to its body. Its breast was large, showing it was a dominant animal. Its beak was as sharp as its talons. Its feathers were almost as black as the pupils of the creature. Even though Brian was several feet from the creature, he felt like he was face to face. The intense glare the devil gave Brian made him afraid to move or even think. Brian hears a very deep and smooth voice of a man in his head asking him what he wants. Brian stands there nervous and lost. The devil again repeats asking Brian the same question.
“What do you mean, what do I want?” Brian asks confused.
“There is always something that someone wants. Something that people would die for. Is it not true?”
Brian does not take his eyes off the bird and then asks the devil, shocked with a bit of uncertainty, “You’ll give me anything?”
“Anything.” The devil says looking deeper into Brian’s eyes.
Brian thinks back to the one website he found speaking of a monster willing to grant wishes. At first he was thinking that this whole thing was crazy. Then he was thinking that this is his moment and Brian says. “I want fame. I want to be known by everyone everywhere.”
“Fame is what you seek? So be it, but on one condition. I’ll give you fame, but you have to give me your soul in exchange.”
Without thinking, Brian says yes and makes the agreement with the devil. Brian turns around and heads home, not looking back at the devil. The devil on the other hand, remains staring at Brian with the same intense, soul shaking glare that he had given him the moment his eyes met Brian’s.
The next day, Brian heads into work and goes upstairs to the conference room. There sit eight men with black and brown briefcases in front of them. Brian takes a seat at the head of the table and then looks at the men. “Well?” All the men take out their papers and show Brian their ideas and concerns for the next car that they were going to make. After showing blunt disapproval and criticism for many designs, he finally looks at one design and then said it’s brilliant. Brian said “Who came up with this?” Mr. Matthews looks at Brian and raises his hand saying that he did. Brian looks at Mr. Matthews and nods. “Take this blueprint and give it to the workers downstairs. They’ve got much work to do.” He looks around at the workers and yells “Well?! Don’t just stand there. Move along! Cars don’t make themselves you know.” The men rush out of the room and head back to their offices. Brian thinks to himself while looking at the copy of the blueprint “This is going to make me millions.”
After a few days of starting to make the car, a loyal employee by the name of Mr. Matthews, had finally gotten the courage to confront Brian. Mr. Matthews, being escorted by Brian’s assistant, walks into Brian’s office with a worried face. Brian’s reading the news paper in chair behind his desk with his feet propped up in his desk. Quietly at first, Mr. Matthews calls Brian’s name. Brian ignored him for laughing at an article in the newspaper. Clearing his throat, Mr. Matthews calls Brian’s name again. Brian puts the newspaper down slightly to see who it was.
“Uh, Mr. Montgomery, Sir. I would like to ask you a question.” Mr. Matthews asked with a small tremble in his voice.
Brian just stares at him, “Well? What it is?”
“Well Sir I would like to ask you for a raise.”
“A raise?” Brian chuckles to himself a little, “What for?”
“Sir, I’ve been working for this company for many years and I’ve helped invent some of the best cars out there today and… well the main reason is my wife and I are going through some financial troubles with supporting our daughter with school and I was hoping that I could get a little extra money to bring more home.”
Brian stares at him, takes his feet off of his desk, and places them on the floor. You want a raise for your daughter?
“Yes Sir I would.” He smiles a small smile looking down at the floor then up at Brian hoping for the best.
Brian laughs and then looks at Mr. Matthews. “Do you think this company will waste money on raises or new products?”
Mr. Matthews loses his smile and looks at the floor in front of his desk. “Well no I guess not, but Sir I’m not asking for much, just a few more bucks or so. I work with the accountant and he says that we have more money than to know what to do with.”
“Do you think I’m just going to let that money go? Money doesn’t grow on trees Mr. Matthews. Not one single buck is going anywhere!”
“But Sir” At this moment, he is looking eye to eye with Brian. Seeing the look in his eyes, Mr. Matthews knows that there is no reasoning with him.
“Yes, I understand.” Mr. Matthews says quietly with a hint of sadness in his voice.
“Good. Sharon
“Yes Sir?” He avoids eye contact.
“Don’t forget about that meeting tomorrow morning in the conference room.”
Mr. Matthews nods then slowly walks out of the room and heads back to his office and Sharon
A few weeks have passed and the new 2010 model was finally released to the public. This car caught people’s attention from miles around. It had a shiny, crimson red coat with perfectly designed, black leather seating. It had shiny rims on the tires and an 8-cylinder engine. It was the talk of the town and the news reporters were all over it.
Being confronted by one of the news reporters, Brian says. “Well, my workers and I have put out heart and soul’s devotion into trying to make a new car that everyone will enjoy. We’ve grown so close working with this project that they’re practically like family to me.” Brian said with a caring and sweet voice during an interview.
“Was it hard to come up with this great idea?” A women reporter said who finally made it through the crowd of other reporters.
“No, the idea came naturally to me and my workers were very pleased with it and so they got right to work on it. They were excited with making this car.” Looking at his watch, he kindly tells the reporters that he has no more time for questions and that he has to get to work. A good business is always on their feet he says.
Later on that evening, Mr. Matthews walks out of the building after his shift and runs into a bunch of reporters who swarmed out of nowhere.
“Hey! Sir! What is it like working with a man who has made your company huge?” A male reporter asked.
“No comment.” Mr. Matthews says.
“Why not Sir?”
“I never talk bad about people.” Mr. Matthews looks into the camera and then at the reporter and then walks away reaching his car before any of the reporters decide to follow him.
The next day the news was all about Brian and the comment from Mr. Matthews. The reporter’s words weren’t very nice. They also talked about how some woman had seen him in the park a few days ago and was yelling at a child. Brian shuts the TV off and heads to work. He sees a few people on the street and the looks he gets aren’t the friendliest. He quickly heads into the building before the reporters decided to do what they know best and show up at the worst times. The next day the same story was on, but the reporters added a bit more of their opinions than they did the day before. After realizing that his fame was heading south, he decides that he will become nicer to people hoping that the tabloids can see that and change their minds about his actions. He becomes scared, fearing that he will lose the fame and the devil will take him. He quickly scrambles in his book case and searching for the Bible that he had when he was a child. He finally found it and pulled it out of the book shelf. The book looked like it hadn’t been touched in years and left there to be buried by the dust. He opens the Bible and reads random psalms hoping that this will help him. After reading from the Bible for hours and not feeling any better, he heads off to bed.
The next morning Brian comes into work with nothing but a smile on his face. He goes from floor to floor saying hello and telling everyone what a wonderful job they’re doing. He even asks one of his workers out to lunch and the worker stood there baffled but accepted the invitation. They head out of the building and over to the nearby restaurant just a few blocks away. The reporters, who seem to have invisibility cloaks, appeared out of nowhere to take pictures of Brian and his worker having lunch together. Brian made sure to smile while talking to the man.
They head out of the restaurant and back to work after answering a few questions the reporters were able to get them to answer. Brian heads back up to his office and then tells his assistant, Sharon, that she can have the day off. She happily accepts and goes home. Feeling the sudden urge to be as nice as possible, Brian gets on the intercom and tells everyone that they have been working hard and deserve the rest of the day off and tomorrow off as well. After hearing this, the workers seem confused but gladly pack up their things and head out. Brian leaves work with the rest of his employees and sees a little girl who was walking down the street with her mother whom was carrying grocery bags. The grocery bag accidentally rips open and the groceries fall out. Brian runs over to the women and starts to help her. She thanks him and once again, the invisible reporters swarm and take pictures of Brian and the woman with her daughter as he’s helping her. Still feeling a bit uneasy after the pictures have been taken, he rushes home and goes back to reading the Bible until the sky is at sunset. He stops and then decides to turn on the news to see if he was still the talk of the town. There’s a story on about him once again and his business. He turns up the volume to hear a woman and a man talking.
“I don’t know Mark. One day we get a story about how a worker of Mr. Montgomery’s speaks badly of him and then the next we see him out to lunch with one of his employees. Seems kind of fishy to me don’t you think?” The woman says.
“He also stated that the workers are like family to him. I don’t know of any family members of mine that would bluntly say they hate me.” The man says laughing.
The woman laughs along with him. “I agree. This man seems a bit of a fake if you ask me.” She stops to laugh and then says jokingly. “Word has it that he keeps his workers locked up in the building since we hardly see any of them come out in the day time.”
As the reporter talks more and more about Brian he notices that the facts were becoming more false than the first. He puts his head into his hands and screams. He gets up and kicks his coffee table over and breaking it as well as the drinking glass he had on it. He yells saying that he can’t take this anymore. It’s too out of hand. “Devil! Take me now!” He screams losing his sanity. After saying that, he hears a voice in his head. He panics and realized it was the same deep, smooth voice of the devil.
“See you at home.” The devil says.
Within seconds, Brian hears a loud bird caw as if it was echoing through a cave then it disappeared. Within moments Brian’s house begins to catch on fire quickly. The devil circles around the house and the fire grew larger and spread faster. Not much longer later, he swiftly flies into one of the open, burning windows. Seconds later the devil flies back out carrying one of Brian’s bones from his ribcage. As the devil is flying back to his nest, his massive wings are gliding him through the air so swiftly. In the background all you can hear are the screeching sirens of the fire trucks heading to Brian’s house and news vans heading to the scene. Arriving at the nest, the devil neatly places the bone with the other bones that make up the nest. The devil looks up at the house and watches it just as he looked at Brian for the first time. The devil lifts his chest high, tilts his head up slightly and places his wings close to his sides. The devil caws so loud it seems to echo in the sky that is now almost a deep orange and crimson red fading to blacken the rest of the starless night sky.
No comments:
Post a Comment