This prompt is interesting. Why you ask? It can provoke many different short snippets from the mundane to the suspenseful.
I will admit the first time I read it, I pictured a small child constantly asking for a toy in a store until the parent got exasperated and bought it just to get the child to be quiet. I also got a darker impression of a demon coming to claim his end of the bargain only to find itself in an argument with the person who struck the deal. I had to think about this one.
Prompt: ‘Give me what I want and I’ll leave you alone.’
Steven awoke to a drop in temperature in the room. He’d been trying to put this off as much as possible, often asking for more time and then saying he still had things to do, but Azreal stood at the foot of his bed with his wings spread.
He could have at least waited for me to get dressed.
“You know I can read your thoughts, Steven. It matters not how you are dressed. When it is your time, it is your time, and you bargained for another’s.”
The man in his forties sat on the side of his bed and waved a hand at the angel of death, “Yes, and I would do it again. It wasn’t fair that my daughter would get a terminal illness at 2.”
Azreal walked around and stood in front of Steven, “I have been patient. I know you did it out of love, but I cannot have any more delays. If you keep putting this off, your name will be switched with your daughter. Time is running out, and I don’t make the rules.”
Steven stood and walked to the window. His wife and daughter had left a few hours ago for a mother-daughter picnic.
“Does it have to be sunny today?”
“I asked Raphael to hold off the clouds. I thought it would make it easier. I must ask. Did you tell your daughter? I know your wife was present when you struck the deal.”
The man shook his head, “She’s a toddler and would not understand. All she knows is that she was really sick, and now she’s better.”
“How do you want to do this, Steven? Standing up, sitting, or lying in bed?”
“I honestly thought you would come down before I woke up and took me.”
Azreal shook his head, “Normally, I would, but this is the first time I allowed one to die for another. So, I am giving you a choice.”
Steven returned to his bed and laid on his back with his hands on his chest, “I guess this would be good. I won’t fall and hit my head at least.”
Steven closed his eyes and felt a sense of lightheadedness. When he opened his eyes, he was next to Azrael looking at his body in the bed, “I look ready for a casket.”
Azrael chuckled, “You are the one who chose the pose, Steven.”
“There really is no way to give me more time?”
Again, the angel shook his head, “I would have to keep returning until I claim your soul.”
“Right.”
A light enveloped Steven and he began to float upward. He looked down and found Azrael floating up behind him.
So, this is what it’s like to go to heaven.
Yes, are you warm enough?
Yes.
House of Geek 