Rumpelstiltskin

            He crept up very slow. It was all in the surprise, if you got that right then everything else was easy. The mood was already sufficiently ominous. A dark and stormy night, she was home alone, the entire neighborhood was silent save for the howling winds, it was perfect. Her silhouette flickered across the living room wall as she sat before the fireplace. Silently he made his way to stand right behind her.

            “You really don’t have to go through all that trouble.”

            He was deflated, “How did you know I was here?”

            “You breathe like a boar and your steps are louder than a cavalry horse on Flag Day.”

            He collapsed onto the ottoman next to her, exasperated. She really took the fun out of everything.

            She was puffing on a cigarette. She didn’t look over at him, just continued to stare intently into the flames. It had been some years since he had last seen her, but she looked so very ragged. It was as though she was worn through in places and the raw nerves were showing. There was such a bitter look on her face, not like the first time he had seen her. Back then she had been young and fresh and desperate. Now she was a withered husk. Had it really been so long?

            “I’ve come to collect what’s mine,” he whispered into her ear.

            “You’re late then,” she said flicking the last of her cigarette into the flames. She shoved herself off the seat and walked out of sight. He quickly jumped up to follow.  

            “I did you a very special service, and now the payment is due…”

            “He died,” she said as she pulled another cigarette out of her pocket, “My first born died.”

            “Pardon?”

            “Rumpelstiltskin, marker of bargains, your prize… your fee… has passed. You made a bad investment, deal with it.”

            She lit up as she leaned against the kitchen sink. Her eyes were drawn out the window and she stayed there transfixed.

            “I’ll have the next then?” he said matter of factly.

            “The next also died, and so did the one after.”

            The little man stared at her curious as she stared dreamily out the window into the black night. Now her terrible transformation seemed less outlandish, to have lost so many children.

            “I did you a great service, and I expect to be repaid.”

            “Yeah, some service,” she sneered as her jaw set harshly.

            He crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned back against the sink next to her. He scoffed at how little his service seemed to mean to her.

            “I plucked you from death’s very hands. I saved your life.”

            She turned to him, her eyes dark with anger. “And let’s take a look at that life shall we? First, you say you’re going to take my first born child. I had no plans to even have children or get married, or any of that so I thought I was safe. But no, not even a week later I meet the man of my dreams. Great, right? Wrong. The first baby was still born not even the first year after we got married. I worked hard to do everything right after that. I wasn’t going to lose another. I treat myself right, I do everything the doctors tell me, does that help? No, lost the second one. After that my husband started blaming me, it was my fault that they died. I was doing something wrong. So for the third one I quite work, I went on a strict regiment, I did everything right, everything. Lost him in the second trimester. After that my husband left me without even the courteously of divorcing me properly before running off with some sweet piece of ass he’d met at work. I couldn’t get my old job back. I have to work part time at a convenience store because that was the only work I could get. I lost the house because I couldn’t keep up with the payments. I’m drowning in debt, I have no husband, I have no children, I have no house, but thank you for saving me and giving me all this. It was really too kind of you. In fact I insist that you take some of it back, it really is too much.”

            He couldn’t help but shrink away from her ire. She oozed hatred for him. And why shouldn’t she? Her life had been terrible since he last saw her. Usually damsels’ lives got better after he made deals with them. Hers only seemed to take a fast train to hell. He thought for a moment.

            “Still… a deal was made my dear and it is time for payment in full.”

            “The deal was for the first born, and he was born dead,” she hissed as she leaned back to the sink.

            He thought a moment longer. There had to be a way to salvage the situation? He stroked his beard as he thought. That was when he took notice of her long luscious figure. Even as old and dried up as she had become she was still a lovely looking woman. He twirled his finger in his well groomed whiskers. A brilliant idea had occurred to him.

            “Still, I never walk away from an investment,” he chided. She faced him ready to wither him with further furry only to find him on bent knee.

            “Madame, I have left you in a poorer state then I found you. Allow me, please, to make amends,” he said extending his hand.

            She stood in shocked silence at first, staring down at his hand as though it were the poised head of a cobra. Then she took another puff from her cigarette.

            Shrugging her shoulders she said, “Fuck it.”

            She placed her hand in his and together they both disappeared out of the dark stormy night to places unknown. The dealer took his prize and the lady took leave of her troubled life.