Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Wanting Variations

He feels something tear into his stomach, the pain unbearable. He tries to scream, but a strong hand grips his mouth, forcing it closed. He feels a warm breath against the side of his face, and a slow hiss builds next to his left ear.

“Hello, Jacob. I missed you,” a voice hisses. He feels a wetness against the side of his face as the hand forces itself into his mouth, stretching it open like the opening of a balloon. He gags and struggles for breath, vomiting up the contents of his stomach.

“Really, after all this time, this is how you greet my return? With the putrid remains of that which you have ingested? I thought better of you,” the voice hisses, tossing Jacob to the ground.

He coughs violently, spitting the remnants of vomit from his mouth.

“W-W-W-What do you want? Our deal is over! I upheld what you asked of me years ago. Why come back now?” Jacob bellows, his eyes clouded by tears as he searches the room.

“There has been a much-needed variation to our agreement, and I have come to collect my payment.”

“What variation? That wasn’t part of the deal! I did what you asked. I soaked my hands in the blood of those I held dear for the pittance you rewarded me with. What else can you come calling for? I have nothing left to give you.”

The voice laughs. “Of course you have, that is the variation. It has come to light that you somehow misconstrued the payment of our original deal. My many underlings have, to my delight, brought forth information that you deliberately orchestrated the removal of a child from the payment arrangement. This child—your child, as it turns out—has somehow come before one of my many outsourced service providers requesting assistance with a bitterness harboured deep within their pitiful form. It seems the child was cast out, disowned you might say, into the cold and left to fend for themselves. After years of bouncing within the inefficient systems you humans have in place, this child found haven in a new home, one that has been revealed by my people to be indirectly funded by one of your sub-companies. The child knows none of this yet, for I am sure it would cause issue with the agreement she is at this very moment brokering with my firm.”

“Y-Y-You have to under—”

The voice laughs again. “I don’t need to understand anything. Your child must die, Jacob, or you will lose everything. This arrangement is non-negotiable. You have twelve hours, or I will take it all. But I should also warn you, in three hours she will have signed a deal that requires your soul as payment. So, tick-tock goes the clock, Jacob, tick-tock goes the clock,” the voice says as Jacob’s eyes widen as they lock with its glowing red eyes.

“I-I-I-I, I don’t even know where to start. Help me, please. I don’t want to lose everything.”

“Maybe you should’ve kept a better eye on your wayward child. All things come back to haunt us, my dear boy. And honestly, I wouldn’t worry about losing all this. I’d worry more about losing your life than all these worthless trinkets you cannot take with you.”