“Jeez Eddy,” shouted Karen in my left ear “this kid should have waited for his balls to drop. My brain feels like a pincushion.”
“Yeah, I doubt this Lucas kid has even seen a tit yet. It makes me feel kinda bad for him” I replied, trying to compete with a subwoofer not three feet away from my head.
“Aww I’m sure the kid has the internet. He isn’t missing out on anything.”
A middle aged woman proceeded to make her way to the stage in a wheelchair with her husband. They were both wearing pentagram necklaces and t-shirts with wolves on them. I repositioned myself, trying to glimpse a better view of the action at the strange angle backstage. As the couple made their way to the stage, he stomped over to her, placed his foot upon the wheelchair wheel and threw his hand in the air.
“Dark Lord, these unfortunate mortals stand before you with a proposition!” the kid yelled. His gaze then fell upon the lady. “Sister, will you bequeath your soul to Satan in death for his mercy in life?”
“Yes.” She replied with a contented smile.
“Then Dark Lord, take pity on this lady and make her walk!” An explosion of black flame and vermilion smoke shrouded her from sight. Slowly, it flowed down the stage and settled in pools amongst the audience. The lady was standing and the wheelchair was broken and bent, it’s charred remains creaking impotently on the floor. I looked for signs of pyrotechnics, pulleys or anything to suggest the kid was a charlatan. There was nothing. Arrogantly, he kicked the sorry wheelchair into the audience.
“It seems legit to me” I said, leaning into Karen’s ear.
“Then that’s good enough for me.” She replied “C’mon, let’s go grab a coffee and come back at the end.”
“Yeah alright.”
We returned later to find Lucas screaming at his parents in the green room. At that moment I felt very uneasy. I don’t know what prompted it but I felt like a child again, like I was hearing my brother being scolded by my Dad. Karen picked up on it immediately. She was just one of those people who had a feeling for other people’s emotions. It wasn’t so much empathy as it was an uncanny sixth sense.
“Now Eddy, there’s a lot of hard working people counting on you right now. People with families. You’d better hurry up and put on that old Chicago charm.” She was right. I straightened my tie and prepared to confront him. Just then his parents came trudging out of the green room. Their heads bowed in dejection as they disappeared down the hall.
“Here goes.” I whispered, opening the green room door. “Hi Lucas, me and my colleague here represent Pfizer Incorporated. We’re here to offer you twenty million dollars, an executive position and a brand new Maserati.”
“Wait, what!” replied the kid in confusion “Is this really happening?”
“It certainly is kiddo” said Karen, draping her arm across his shoulders. At that moment she gave me a nod. I took a deep breath and reached out to shake his hand, sliding my other hand behind my back. As he extended his arm towards me, I pulled my pistol and put a couple of rounds in his head. He collapsed in a limp heap at Karen’s feet. She smiled and nudged his face gently with her foot.
“You got the devil to pay kid” she whispered “and the devil says thankyou.”