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Fiction Short Story

by  Melissa Mead

Carpe Demon

Bill discovered the demon in his manuscript drawer—the one where all his creations lay waiting for the day when he found a publisher worthy of considering them. It crouched and appeared like a leggy ink spot on clean white paper.

"Get off those! You'll singe the pages!" Bill shouted. "What are you doing in there, anyway?"

The demon's beady lizard-eyes glittered. "Like you, O Ingenious One, I am merely waiting for my moment of opportunity. In this case, the opportunity to grant you a wish."

"That's genies!" Bill snorted and scowled at the tiny creature. "And that's not a bottle you're in. In fact, it used to be my underwear drawer."

The demon leapt from the drawer, folded its spidery limbs and dropped on Bill's bed. "And you're no Ali Baba. But anyone perceptive can see that you're underappreciated. I can give you money, fame . . ."

"If you'd read any of those manuscripts you were sitting on, you'd know I'll have all that soon without resorting to selling my soul or believing any hocus-pocus garbage." Bill jutted his nose into the air and paced around the room. "You'll see!"

The demon waited and watched as thoughts percolated through Bill's mind.

"All I want is to see my talent appreciated. That's it!

"Master?"

"I want to see it all." Bill gazed at the mini monster. "The book signings. The conventions. The TV interviews. All of it!"

"All of it?" The demon extended its limbs and jumped from the bed to the top of Bill's cherrywood dresser.

"You heard me. A life of fame. That's my wish."

The demon's lips curled back, exposed fang teeth and flashed a fake smile. He handed Bill a mirror and bowed before him. "Look then, O Celebrated One, and see your life."

Bill clutched the mirror with both hands, stared at his image and grinned.

****
The first article appeared in the local paper: Man Held Spellbound! Tabloid headlines, magazine cover stories, and televised news reports soon followed. Psychiatrists, surgeons, psychics and hypno-therapists failed to remove the mirror from Bob's catatonic embrace. Local strongmen and heavy equipment workers flooded the nursing home and attempted to pry the mirror from Bob's grip.

Fifty years passed as Bob clenched the mirror. One chilly winter night the monitors stopped beeping, Bob exhaled and the mirror fell from his frozen hands. Media vans rushed to the scene and cameras flashed as reporters scrambled around the nursing home.

The world famous "Man with a Mirror" graced the headlines one more time.


About the Author
Melissa Mead lives in Upstate NY. She has sold over 30 short stories and one e-book (Between Worlds, from Double Dragon Publishing). Read more about Melissa at her web page at: http://home.earthlink.net/~carpelibris/id12.html.