Nothing had to be the way it was.
Ashes.
Where the fire had burned it all down.
Crying.
From the people’s terror.
Screaming.
From the depths of H*** itself.
Maybe if Jake would’ve just listened, nothing would be this way. We wouldn’t all be dead on the inside and suffering a painful death on the outside. Everyone would be free and he could finally have his wish.
His wish for it to all end.

I can’t help but to feel guilty about the entire situation. When he said that he didn’t need my help, I didn’t listen to him. I thought that… that maybe he was just lying. That he was just trying to cover up for something and didn’t want me to interfere with it.
Boy was I ever wrong.
My stupid brain had to go interfere with his plans and now he’s dead! He’s gone forever and I can’t bring him back! If I had just listened to what everyone was saying to me, he could still be alive, standing right next to me as we catch Pixies and watch the sun rise like we always did on Sunday mornings. I trusted him more than I should have.
But I can’t go blaming myself for something that he didn’t follow the rules to. He was the one that broke them. He was the one that got the consequence for them. And I’m the one who gets to feel guilty.
I guess the best way to start a story is by telling I from the beginning right?
Well, here you go.

It was a Sunday morning. He had woken me up gingerly with the smell of his own home-made blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. The blueberries from the woods out back and the eggs from the farmer next door in exchange for his home-made muffins. Those were the best!
He walked into my room and put his hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me so that I would get up more.
“Come on, Shreinxx, get up,” he told me. I opened my eyes lazily and saw his warm smile.
“I’m up,” I muttered as I sat up in my bed. The rickety old thing made a huge creaking sound that jolted me awake even more.
“I made you your favourite.”
I gasped. Could it be what I think? “Blueberry pancakes with scrambled eggs?”
He nodded his head as I hugged him. “Just for you. Besides, it’s a special day today. Do you know what day it is?”
“April… 14th?”
“Yep. Today’s the day when Mom’s birthday would have been. Now come on. Let’s go burn that letter you were talking about last night.” A letter that I wrote to Mom every single year since I haven’t been able to tell her in person.
I got up and followed him into the kitchen where breakfast was neatly waiting for me on the table. Jake sure knew how to brighten up a day like this.
“Hurry up and eat so that you can get dressed. Then we can go catch Pixies and watch the sun rise like we always do.”
“Okay.” I wolfed down my food and ran to my room to get dressed. As soon as I was done, I ran outside and called for Jake to come join me.
“I’m coming!” I heard him say from inside the house. I bounced down the steps and began my hunt for Pixies.
What are Pixies you may ask?
Well, they’re like tiny humans except they have butterfly wings and leave a trail of a certain coloured dust behind them wherever they go. They’re very easy to catch and won’t hurt you unless you hurt them. Which we never do.
Jake walked out of the house holding a jar for the Pixies. The lid was specially made with screen net so that they could still have air while they were trapped.
After we had caught six Pixies—me only catching one—we sat on the steps and watched the sunrise. As soon as it reached the top of the mountains, I released the Pixies and we went inside and got my letter that I had made for my mom. We went back outside after grabbing it and a few matches and burned it.
“I love you, Mom,” I heard him say as a tear rolled down his cheek. He sniffled and turned to me. Wiping away his tear and smiling at me as if nothing ever happened.
“It’s okay, Jake. I miss her too.” I embraced him into a warm hug that flooded us with memories of both Mom and Dad.
He broke apart the hug and looked at me. “Shreinxx, can you do me a favour?”
I nodded my head.
“Go into your room and lock your door. I have to do something and I don’t want you seeing. I… I love you. Just remember that o-okay?”
Tears came to my eyes as I saw his stream down his face. I nodded my head again and told him that I loved him back. Jake had always missed them more acutely than I have. Maybe I just learned to let go faster. Walking into the house, I turned the corner.
“Come and get me!” I heard him yell. I turned around from the corner and saw fire surrounding him.
“Jake!” I screamed as I ran out of the house to get him.
“What are you doing? I told you to go to your room and lock the door! Get out! Get away! GO!” Suddenly, his voice, wasn’t his voice anymore. It was like he had allowed a demon to possess him, which was impossible. Jake wouldn’t allow that… right?
“NO! I know what you’re doing! You cannot making a deal with a demon! I won’t let you!”
“I’m sorry… It’s the only way to bring Mom and Dad back.”
“MOM AND DAD WOULDN’T WANT THIS!” The fire ceased and he looked at me with sorrow in his eyes. “Mom and Dad are dead—they’re gone forever. And I won’t allow you to make a deal with a demon in exchange for your soul, only to have one year to live. I’m not going to allow it. I don’t care if you’re 16 and I’m only 13. It doesn’t matter. I still have to look out for you the same way you look out for me. And I’m not going to let you do this. How could you possibly leave me?” I wrapped my arms around him as he sat there and wept.
Poor Jake had tried everything to make me happy and try to fool me about what was really behind that smile of his. But I know just a little more than what’s in the basic book. Sometimes when I couldn’t sleep, I could hear him praying to God about how he wanted Mom and Dad back. Then he would weep until I entered the room, pretending I had a nightmare, just so that I could cheer him up a little.
“Please,” I said to him. “Come inside and we can talk or something. Anything that will get your mind off of it.” I tugged at his arm but he wouldn’t budge. “Please. I can’t lose you too…” That must’ve jolted something inside of him because he started to tell me how sorry he was for making such a stupid mistake.
“Never again,” he told me.
Never again, he lied.

Not even three days later, I woke up, only to find him missing. I called out his name desperately but he wouldn’t come. The house, the yard, the woods, I looked everywhere for him but I just couldn’t find him. So I started to walk down to the end of the road where we would sometimes go to get a better view of the sunset when it was too foggy to see.
Sure enough, right there at the stop sign was a note. It had my name on it with his signature below. I took it off and opened it.

Shreinxx,
Don’t be mad. I know you’re probably wondering where I’m at right now but that’s not important. What’s important is that you stay as far away from me as possible. Something has washed over me. Something that I can’t quite explain.
Anyhow, I shall not tell you where I’ve gone. It won’t matter once my wish comes true. I know that we’ve talked about this before but something’s calling me. Dragging me deeper into the abyss to the point where I have no choice but to listen to it. I have to. For the sake of everyone before I go mad.
I can’t stand for you to see me like this. Falling apart on the inside when all I do is be nice to you on the outside. I just can’t stand it anymore.
I love you,
Jake

I couldn’t believe what I had just read. My brother was somewhere in the town, about ready to destroy it just so that he could have Mom and Dad back for a year before his soul would be dragged into H*** for entertainment.
Then I smelled it.
Fire.
Sulphur.
Ashes.
I ran. I ran for my life, for his life, to try and stop my brother. Some part of me knew that I couldn’t stop him but I refused to listen to that part. I just kept running, hoping that I would catch Jake in time… before he destroyed the whole town.

After minutes of running towards the suffocating smell of ashes and sulphur, I found my brother, 15 feet in the air, surrounded by fire.
“Jake!” I called out, my voice raw. He stole a glance at me and my heart stopped. “Stop! Please! It doesn’t have to be this way!”
“I wish Mom and Dad were back!” he yelled. Only then did I see the demon below him, cackling as she summoned Mom and Dad.
The fire stopped and he floated down to them.
“Jake?” they asked in unison. They were still spirits, tinged blue and not yet solid, but growing more attached to the world as Jake started to fade.
“Mom, Dad! I thought—I thought you were gone! I…”
“Your soul,” the demon said. “Now you have to give me your soul.”
“What? We never made a deal!”
“Oh but we did. You wish, I grant, you give me your soul, we’re all happy. So… your soul.”
“No! I… I… I wish for this to all end!” I screamed it out before something could interrupt and make me lose my nerve. The price for a demon’s wish was steep. It was your soul. Without it, you were d***ed.
An outburst of flames covered the whole village.
When I woke up, everything was white.

I looked around. People laying on the ground, screaming, crying, suffering. And there lay Jake, arms wrapped around Mom and Dad, completely still. I crawled over to him, everything in my body throwing punches of pain at me that I couldn’t dodge.
My hand found his neck.
Nothing.
He was gone.
I cried from somewhere deep within me. Somewhere primal and ripped to shreds.
“Shreinxx!” I heard someone yell. It was Jake. But… he was dead… Unless… “SHREINXX!” His soul. He wasn’t dead… he was alive… in H***.
I tried to call out but my throat felt like it was on fire. The thick smell of smoke in the air made me choke and try to cough it out.
Pain, dragging me down until I couldn’t move.
Blood.
I was dying.
Shreinxx.
My name I couldn’t respond to.
White.
The last thing I remember.
White.
Nothing.
White.
Everything.
White.
Black.