Sally Sells Souls by the Seashore

  

By: Eowyn

I was fourteen when I first sold my soul to the devil.

Sally Olive Leadworth, preferred name of Sal, was my best friend forever. She had everything I

wanted: a button nose, curly platinum hair, a mess of freckles across her cheeks, the ability to make any outfit look cute, and the ability to befriend anyone just because she really was that nice. Sal was perfect yet she deemed to talk to me for some reason.We ate lunch every day at school with some other friends while sitting on the pavement. The school’s tables were dirty, in the gross sense, and the ground was simply dirty in the dirt sense. I’d eat my good ole’ paleo meal and laughed as we passed a couple memes around the circle.

One lunch, Sal’s light had gone off. She wore her usual sundress but had no smile. I asked her what was wrong, and she just shook her head. That night I got a text: Leukemia.

My mother was a pagan, and my father was an atheist. I never thought of myself as religious, and I didn’t know how to pray. Desperate, I looked up anything that could help me, anything at all, and I stumbled across a little website.

actualritualsthatwork.com

It was three in the morning. I was desperate.

I didn’t expect it to work.

Exactly three years later, I’d completely forgotten.

Sal and I lay on her nana’s old, floral, rather small couch with a fluffy rabbit blanket, eating zebra striped kettle corn, and watching old cartoons. We’d decided to have a lazy afternoon since the midterms took too much brain power for anything else. Her head rested on my shoulder in a way that made little curls tickle my nose, and she hogged all the blanket. Not that it could completely cover my gangly figure anyway, my toes always stick out so I have quite the collection of fluffy socks.

“Do you want to go to Jesse’s Halloween party?” Sal turned over to look at me and I stop for just a minute. Her green eyes always remind me of the sea, endless and full of wonders, her cheeks sanded with freckles.

“If you want to.”

Sal started to say something but was interrupted by a sudden hissing that almost made her fall off the couch. We sat up almost in sync and gaped at the source of the hissing.

Static erupted from the television. A star charred itself into the carpet and sent up a smoke that smelled of rotting flesh and something else I couldn’t place. The smoke tendriled up in swirls that looked all too much like lost souls.

My head spun, and it felt as if I was falling. Imagined ropes wrapped around my ankles, dragging me down into the floor and even deeper. In my head, I could hear Sal screaming and see the whole world engulfed in flames.

The demon in the middle of it all smiled.

“In nine days your time will be up,” it spoke and just like that, it vanished. As did the visions.

The cartoon flicked back on to an ironically cheery song.

“What was that?”

I gulped as the memories of that first ritual all rushed back to me. “Do you remember your leukemia?”

I went home after the movie ended. In the car, I sat my phone nervously on the passenger's seat and did my best not to check it.

The RV park was rather devoid of people, which was normal for a Friday afternoon. I pulled in beside our Class C mobile home with the awning and Christmas lights still hung up. As soon as the car was turned off I snatched my phone up.

Nothing.

I shot her a text that said “hey” and nothing else and waited for a response. The thought bubble popped up a few times but ultimately disappeared. I frowned and got out of the car.

Gravel crunched under my feet as I approached the door that took practically all my strength to open.

On my phone, I hit the dial button, and let it ring.

“Hey, It’s Sally-”

“Sal, please I-

“Sorry that I can’t come to the phone right now. Send a text if it’s urgent, and I’ll call you back.” Her answering machine confused me every time.

I sighed and turned off my phone so that I could tug at the door. I propped my foot up on the little ledge and pushed back right as I pulled. As soon as it finally released, the door whipped open as if it had never fought with me at all before.

Inside, I flipped on the air conditioning and flopped on the couch that doubled as my bed. The fan whirred spinning the air around till it was cold.

I shot Sal another text: Please don’t be mad at me.

The thought bubble again.

Nothing.

That weekend, Sal didn’t respond to any of my texts or calls. I figured she didn’t want to see me either, so I sent a bouquet of flowers over to Nana’s house.

Monday rolled around, and I had even less motivation to get to school than usual. But I pulled my long hair back into a ponytail and got in the car nonetheless.

Caffeine. I wouldn’t be able to solve any calculus problems without it. I stopped by the coffee shop, ordering my usual: a large black with ice, a strawberry frappuccino with extra whipped cream, two plain bagels, and a pack of off-brand thin mints.

I sipped my drink as I drove to school, and parked. Getting out of the car, I slung my bookbag over my shoulder and fished a bagel out of my bag.

I munched on my breakfast as I approached the tree where my friends all hung out in the morning.

Sal sat on the statue laughing and talking to Jesse and a few of our other friends. She looked up right as I was about to join the circle, and I smiled almost automatically. Sal did not smile, instead, she jumped off the statue and walked off without a word. Jesse raised an eyebrow and strolled over.

“Damn, Yakamoto. What’d you do to piss her off?”

I chewed my bagel thoughtfully. “It’s hard to explain.”

Jesse smirked. “Did you cheat on her?”

“We both know I would literally never do that,” I finished off my bagel and stared down at the extra food I now had no one to give it to. “Want her coffee?”

“Nah.” Jesse waved his hand. “Coach’s got all of us on a strict no sugar diet.”

I shrugged and stared at it for a minute. Couldn’t be too bad, right?

Sugar punched me in the face as I took a sip, and I think I literally shook my head from shock. She really liked sweet things, and I did not.

I drank the frappuccino anyway as I headed to math class because it’d be a waste to throw it away, but I at least managed to pawn off the chocolates.

Even though I’d had the coffee that morning my mind roamed away from the day's lesson. I had six days left to be with Sal, to be with anyone. Six days to do anything. My stomach churned at the thought.

I raised my hand in class.

“Yes, Marley,” My teacher sighed, disappointed but not surprised to be interrupted. “Is it important.”

“May I go use the restroom, I think I’m gonna puke.”

She scowled but waved her hand for me to leave. I ran out of there and barely made it to the restroom on time.

Then, I stood up and felt instantly better. I needed some gum, but I felt better. I had six days to do everything.

I walked back to class, thinking of everything I hadn’t done.

I’d never ridden a Ferris wheel or read Pride and Prejudice. I began packing up my stuff.

“I’m sick. I’m going home.” I announced to no one in particular as I walked out of class, and down to the office to sign myself out.

I sat in the car for a minute thinking. Then I called my mom. The phone rang a couple times, but eventually, she picked it up.

“Hey, dear. Aren’t you in school?”

“Do you remember how you said in freshman year, if I needed to I could take a day off of school for my mental health?” I paused for a minute to look out the car window at the school. “Can today be one of those days?”

“Sure. Do you want to talk about anything?” My mom’s voice dripped with concern.

Yeah, I summoned a demon three years ago and I’m probably dying on Sunday. “No thanks, I’ll be fine.”

She sighed, “alright dear, if you say so. Are you going to go back to the trailer?”

I thought for a minute about the little bucket list in my head. “Actually can I go get a haircut and go shopping?”

“Of course dear. It’s your money.” I grinned and told her goodbye.

When I turned the radio on, it blasted 80’s pop, not my usual jam but something I could work with. I turned the volume dial all the way to 100, rolled down my windows and sped off.    

A couple hours later, I sat at the back of a bookshop with a new blue and purple bob, a holographic bomber jacket and matching shoes I’d been eyeing for the past year. I’d gotten a couple chapters into Pride and Prejudice before deciding there was a reason I’d never read it before, and wandering the aisles to find a cookbook that looked interesting.

I sneak a photo of the tres leches cake recipe and left the store.

I’ve never been much of a cook, but I bought the three milks and other ingredients anyway.

Back in the RV, I turned on the radio again to something cheesy but fun to dance to, and pulled out the bowls and pan I’d use.

I stirred together sugar, flour, and baking powder while swaying my hips to the song and simply making an utter fool of myself. Then I stuck it in the oven, and started on the toppings,

Whipped cream, unsweetened because the coffee killed me earlier, and white chocolate chips, my own addition, folded under my spoon into a fluffy looking mess. I tried a spoonful of it, and shrugged.

Then an iconic guitar solo started, and I effectively flung whipped cream all throughout the kitchen onto my new hair and style.

I laughed, though I kind of wanted to cry, and turned the music all the way up.

I went to school Tuesday and Wednesday. Sal avoided me both those days, and Jesse had seemed just generally confused from the whole ordeal. I’d caught up on all the work, written some letters to my family for when it happened, eaten maybe two whole tres leches cakes, and devised a plan to potentially make her laugh enough to talk to me again.

I even learned how to play a song on the ukulele solely for the apology.

Thursday, I strolled into school, honestly feeling optimistic, and pulled Jesse to the side before classes started.

“Man, can you do me a favor?” I chewed on my lip anxious but determined.

“Sure. Am I helping you with Sal? Cause you two fighting is weird.”

I nodded. “Can you get Sal to my car this afternoon, and then leave?”

Jesse nodded, clearly curious about what my plan was, and bugged me about it during lunch but I didn’t tell him.

The last block my mind wandered. Sal might not even show up at all. That made me sad, but I really just focused on one question.

What exactly did death feel like?

I’d know soon enough.

Immediately after history, I ran out of the school, instead of taking my time as I normally do.

I plated the leftover tres leche, set down my bouquet of flowers and plugged my phone into the stereo so I could stream just the right song.

By this time I was getting weird enough look, it didn’t really matter when I climbed onto the roof of my car with a ukulele and sat.

I spotted Jesse dragging Sal out of the English hall and hopped off to start the music. As soon as they were in hearing range I hit play and climbed back up.

I strummed along as the song started, and began to sing along with the words quietly. My voice quite frankly sucked and was off key, but that's not what mattered. What mattered is that I mean what I said.

Jesse and Sal stopped right in front of my car. Sal leaned on her left hip with her arms crossed and smiled. Jesse walked away giving me a thumbs up.

After I finished the first chorus, Sal reached into my car to stop the music. “What are you doing?” she asked with a little bit of a snap in her tone but also a little bit of laughter.

“Serenading you.” I grinned awfully blushing. I picked up the bunch of tulips and held them out. “I also made some cake.”

Her face softened, hopefully for me and not just for the cake. She grabbed the cake, ignoring the flowers, and took a bite with the plastic fork that I’d accidentally covered in whipped cream. “This is good.”

“Thanks.” I smiled still unable to judge her emotions. I held out the flowers again “So are we good?”     

She finished chewing her bite and thinking. “No. What the hell, Marley?

I gulped startled by the sudden outburst. Defensively I muttered, “I couldn’t think of anything else to do.”

“You could have let me die.”

I sneered. “Did you not enjoy the last three years we had together?”

She furrowed her brow, her eyes looking like a stormy sea, and sighed. “Get off the car.”

“Is that a yes?”

“Get off the car,” Sal snapped, grabbing my hand and pulled me down. Sal was so rarely mad. “What kind of fourteen year old thinks ‘oh I’ll just summon a demon it'll be fine’?”

“A desperate one. I didn’t want to lose you.” My vision blurred and I blinked back tears.

“You say that like it’ll be less painful for me to lose you,” A couple tears spilled out of her her eyes and I gave in to the temptation of wiping them away. She leaned into my hand. “You are the biggest idiot I have ever had the pleasure of meeting.”

“So we’re good now?” I handed her the flowers. “You’re not mad at me?”

“I have actually never been more upset,” She laughed and counted something on her fingers, “But you have three and a half days, so there’s no point.”

I hugged her squishing the flowers between us. “Thank you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Now take me home. You made me miss my bus.”

Friday and Saturday went by faster than any day should be allowed to. My parents knew something was wrong because of the call on Monday, and they knew Sal and I had fought a little. But, I didn’t let them in on anything else. Jesse knew nothing except that Sal and I had made up. I wrote a letter to everyone explaining all I dared to.

On Sunday, my last day, Sal and I managed to convince our guardians to let us drive out of the city by two hours so that we could have a picnic on the beach. My parents probably thought it would make me feel better; Nana loved me, so she wasn’t hard to convince at all.

The ride out had been fun. We’d talked and laughed and sang. The song I sang to her the other day came on the radio and she hummed along.

When we’d finally gotten there we carried everything out to the beach except my bag of letters.

I sat on the bubblegum pink beach towel in my floral swimsuit, sipping cucumber water and watching Sal drawing in the sand.

“What’re you drawing?” I asked tilting my head to try and decipher the doodles. “Is that a cat?”

She rolled over onto the towel and propped her face up with sandy hands. “It is actually.”

“Thanks for coming to the beach with me this last time.”

She frowned. “You shouldn’t say it like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re okay with just leaving. Doesn’t it hurt or something?” I had been right. Sal’s eyes were just like the ocean.

“As sappy as this is, what’s gonna hurt is leaving you.”

“Aw,” Sal smiled. “That was so cheesy and cute.”

“You’re cute,” I teased reaching over to tap her on the tip of her nose.

Instead, she grabbed my hand and entwine our fingers.

"I never got to tell you how cute you look with hair." Sal smiled and looked at our hands. "Who's hand do you think I'll hold now?"

I'd reached up to touch my hair blushing, but stopped instantly at that comment. "Sal."

"Sorry," she snickered and cringed a little swinging our hands down. "That was supposed to be a joke... It wasn't funny... Way, way too soon." Sal's face fell, and her eyes started to well up just a little.

"I think it's always gonna be too soon."

I leaned over to hug and comfort her- to comfort myself.

Sunset came with Sal and I leaning into each other and holding hands.

The blue faded into pink dotted with dark purple clouds. The ocean reflected the colors beautifully. A cool breeze brushed against our faces, and the rest of the beach was silent. Most people had things in the morning, so they couldn’t spend their evening with the sea.

“You know I’m in love with you?” Sal turned her head and kissed my shoulder gently before sitting up and looking at me.

“I know.” I smiled, my face probably akin to the sunset right about then.

“I was never mad at you this past week. I was hurt, but I wasn’t mad.” She crossed her arms. “The worst thing would be if the last time I saw you, we were fighting.”

I nodded and kissed her. Not a slow kiss like in the movies, but a quick peck just to show I understood. “I wrote some letters. Addressed to all the people I think deserve a proper goodbye from me.”

“Did you write me a letter?”

I bit my lip and looked away from her, at the sky that was now growing dark. “I did. I was hoping you could give them out for me.”

“Of course.”

I stood up dusting sand off of me. “I’m gonna go get them, and stop at the restroom, okay?”

“Sure.” Sal waved me on and started doodling in the sand again. I smiled at her and trekked through the cool sand to my car.

After getting out the bag, I crossed the parking lot. The asphalt felt much harder on my bare soles than the sand did, and it hadn’t quite cooled off as much.

The bathhouse had one light outside of it with all sorts of bugs clustering around it. I ducked under them as I entered it. Goosebumps erupted all over my arms from the excessive air conditioning, and I shivered.

I hopped up on the counter. All I really needed was a moment to myself, nothing else. I pulled out one of the letters and started reading it.

     Dear dad,

        There’s extra tres leche cake in the freezer. That might be all that’s left of my recipe, so make it last...

I looked at another one.

        Dear Nana,

        You are the kindest woman I’ve ever met…

        Dear Jesse,

        Thanks for letting me copy your math homework last week. It’s impossible to describe everything I’ve been through right now, and…

There were so many, so I figured I had time to maybe scan one more before going back to Sal.

       Dear Sal,

       I love you…

A tear splashed down onto that fourth word and I wiped away at my eyes with the back of my hand. Sticking the letter, back in the bag, I slid off the counter and looked at myself in the ear. My eyes were A little puffy, so I splashed just a little water on my face, and checked again.

My breath caught in my throat, and that smell of burning filled the bathhouse. He stood behind me in the mirror, but when I whipped around he wasn’t there.

His red skin stretched taut over exaggerated features and eye sockets so sunken in you could believe he was a skull.

“Not now,” I muttered. My voice grew a little in volume, “I haven’t gotten to say goodbye.”

“There is no need. Your price has been paid.” The demon smiled, his lips curling back to his ears revealing rows of pointed teeth.

Then he vanished.

My price had been paid.

I stood there for a moment trying to piece together what that meant before I left the sack of letters and sprinted back to the beach.

Bugs crowded in my hair, but I swatted them away. My feet slapped the asphalt until I finally got to the sandy path. There they tried to bury themselves with every step as I approached the pink beach towels.

Sal lay unmoving over a giant star she had drawn in the sand.

My heart dropped into my stomach.

I was fourteen when I first sold my soul to the devil, but I was seventeen when I paid the price.