Purgatory Estates

Bob the Ogre was getting nervous. The couple was hesitating and he feared they might back out at the last minute. Sales had been very slow lately. The credit crunch was hurting everyone. He blamed the Wall Street Elite who would never know the trouble they had caused here in Purgatory Estates. Greed was a guaranteed trip to the Big House – Satan Manor.

Purgatory, created for people not quite ready for the Pearly Gates. Very few people went directly up or down. With your original sin and all of that, it is nearly a guarantee that everyone would at least stop by. Sales had been brisk for millennia. No one ever thought it would end.

Greed had changed all of that. It had become the new monster under the bed. Everyone feared it, attributed it to others, simultaneously turning away from it while embracing it as his own. To make matters even worse, Satan was offering housing without any credit check or proof of income. Many of those that were at the decision point, purgatory for a few decades or Hell and a 3-bedroom house, opted for the latter.

So now, Bob had a quota to meet. He had to fill ten houses this week with haunters and so far, he had only closed two deals. He needed this one badly.

“So Bob, the floorboards look tight here. Is there any way you can make them a little squeakier? Also, what are the neighbors like?”

“The floor will be no problem. There are lots of kids in the area; the imagination quotient is extremely high.”

“How about chains? Can we rattle them at night?”

Bob rolled his eyes. They always wanted the chain feature.

“Of course,” he said with a smile.

“Then we have a deal.”

Word count 300