For Life Eternal

"Doctor, doctor! Please, hurry over I fear I'm coming down with something most horrid!" a man in his midthirties cried into the reciever of a telephone. Cold sweat danced across his face, starting from his forhead and beading downwards.
"Yes, right away Mr. Ransford." the doctor on the recieving end of this brief transmition and exquisite and most emphasized plee most plainly said in the most of unproffesional and irritiated tone of voice. The man hel the phone several inches from his ear with a hastly taken tissue. As the doctor confirmed that he would be with the man in moments the man quickly plunged the phone down onto its base in conclusion.
"Oh, dear, would you like the window to be opened and cool you? Some fresh air might..." this kind women barely began to speak when the man sitting up right in a queen sized bed with a white button-up night shirt, while pulling up his tan coloured quilts as far as they would support themselves in his upright position, retorted "No! Are you trying to send me to my grave! There's too many germs out there in that filthy world!"
She quickly closed the window she had only began to open and drew the tan curtains. The women in all her timidty and face wrought in worry and destress "I was just trying to.." before she could even finish her words of redeeming the balding man ran a hand through his hair iratly.
" I don't care! Out, out, out!" his voice grew with rage with each and every sharp and piercing word. He now spoke aloud for more sake of not allowing himself to be happy and to drive the steak of rash words even deeper into her warm heart. "You're going to cause the death of me, less I die before doctor Curtis gets here!" With all ferocity, those words hit the loving, red haired, brown eyed, and delightfully plump women straight in her heart as he intended in self agonizing ingnorance. She reluctantly walked out of the room with a slight tear in her eye, side stepping a dresser and closing the door behind her, knowing she loved him with all her heart and that it wasn't his fault he was always so agonizingly wretched.
" Bah, what does she know..." he began, looking at the phone as he cast quickly to the floor the tissue he used to clasp the reciever in his left hand.
The mumbling of voices came from outside the door and in the hallways. Slowly, the door creaked open. In walked Dr. Curtis, followed by Mrs. Ransford who had a sheepish look upon her face and rung her hands nervously.
" Hello Mr. Ransford, how are we doing today?" the jolly doctor said with a hint of sarcasm. The rather large man sat on a wood stool next to the bed and instantaniously pulled out various medical instruments to examin his patient.
" How do you think I am? I have a fever, a bad cough, and I'm white as a ghost. Darn it Sandra! Give a man some privacy, if I'm going to die I want to do it peacefully without your nagging voice around!" The heartless man, jumping a bit as Dr. Ransford put the ice cold stephascope to his bare chest, boldy stated. Mrs. Ransford gently walked out of the room. The clean shaven doctor was finishing up his exam, placing his utensils in a bag, and appeared not at all phased by such rash behaviours but only a small glint of disapproval in his cold blue eyes.
" Well, what is it doc? Give it to me straight, don't sugar coat it. Is it polio? Milaria? A touch of the Consumption?" with each ghstarly and horrible illness spilling from his lips the more emphatic and excited the homly man became.
Dr. Curtis sighed, cleared his throat and looked Ransford straight in the eye.
"Joseph, you're perfectly fine. One of the healthiest people I've seen. I'm no psychologist but I think you might only be a bit of a hypocondriac." he let out calmly and with most certainty.
"Nothing at all?" asked Ransford, almost seeming disappointed.
" Nothing." replied the doctor.
" What about the cough?"
" All in your mind."
Ransford became suddenly upset with utmost rage in his iota of a heart. "Eh, what do you know, get outta here!" Can't see when a man's on his death bed!" He began waving his arms about savagly, shooing the doctor out the door from his bed.
" You could live to be nintey, sir!"
" Out!" it was not going to be let go that easily. The doctor hurried away from this grown man who had the pride of a small school boy, almost forgetting his medical bag; for it appeared Ransford was about to jetison the telephone from the nightstand directly at Dr. Curtis.
There he sat, going deeper into his self accepted, self inflicted, depression. "They'll see...when I die...I don't want to live to nintey in a world like this...disease....everywhere....why's a man have to die anyways?" he mumbled in self pity. He turned, looked at the lamp, and was about to turn it out.
" You know, a man like you doesn;t have to die" a voice came out from the corner of the know lightless room. As soon as the voice was heard the lamp clicked back on as if in quick report.
" Who are you? And what are you doing in my house?" Ransford asked, some what startled but more so angry. "I'm here as a friend, to give you a deal, an offer, a gift, if you will. My name is not important but I bid you no harm." the rather lavishly dressed man spoke, voice booming in this rather small but comfortable room. He appeared to be a gentleman in all his demeaners and was in his late forties. He was cleanly shaven and casually sat in a rocking chair that wasn't previously there. Ransford quickly jumped out of his bed, as fast as a flat footed man covered in bed sores of his own wickedness can, and studied the intruder.
The irrationality of his greed got to him " What kind of deal?" he slowly asked, discarding his fear. "A contrat deal. A deal that will cost you very little. It will aloow you to live as long as you like with no pain, no aging, no death, sickness, it goes on and on." The suave tempter spoke slowly and skillfully with his siren like tendancies. "Oh, yea? What is it? A potion, tonic, and what's it gonna cost me?" Ransford inquisitivly asked, not quite believing this man's story.
"Oh, no, I don't believe or supply any nonsense items like that. It will cost you something that you wont miss at all. You wont even know it's gone, your soul." Ransford slowly started piecing things together. The unexplained could only be exlpained with "Haha, I know who you are! You're...the devil!" Ransford spoke, smiling and pointing, quite amused at his cleverness.
"Yes, among other things"
"I've heard all about you. Why would I want to give you my soul? I mean, it's my soul after all." emphatically, he spoke.
"Well, Joseph, would you reall miss you soul? Does it do anything for you? This is eternal life, I mean, your soul hasn't done you much now, has it?" the devil spok as if in concern for Ransford's best interest.
"Forever, you say?"
"Yes, for...ever" the devil began "No worries about being old or getting sick, just imagine all the things you could do!" Ransford was almost hooked. He stood in silence and then slowly took a seat on the wicker chair. Neverously, but more in contemplation, he ran both hands through the little hair he had.
"Well, I guess this deal isn't for everyone. I mean, if you don't want it or are afraid, I'll leave and take my once in a life time offer with me." The devil spoke, knowing Ransford's weakness. Thos last words got to him. The devil stood and moved towards the door slowly, and almost as if rehearsed, knowing and waiting for it to happen.
"Wait, wait, wait you just one moment" there it was, he had him in his wretched grasping hands of damnation. "I'll take you up on this, but I must say, I'm getting the better deal, Mr. Devil." feeling he had out witted the Devil.
" Please, call me, Lucifur." the devil turned around with a menacing smirk on his face. Lucifur outstretched his arm with a several paper contract that he had apparently conjured. "Just sign on the open lines." the smirk never lfet the devil's face. Ransford took the stack and ruffled through them briefly, full of hast, eager to begin his eternity on earth, briefly glancing at the words typed on the white legal sized papers.
"Do you have a ..." before Ransford could finish, a quill appeared in his hand. He raised a brow in some questioning suspect but put it aside for, he was the devil, after all. Lucifur, pleased with himself, stood with his hands folded neatly in front of him. Ransford quickly finished the signing on the several blank lines. With that happaning, the documents disappeared in a puff of smoke and a smell of brimstone that could singe hairs.
"Enjoy your enternity Joseph! I know you'll love it!" The devil spoke heartily, clasping Randsford's hand in conclusive succession. With that, the devil could be heard with an echo of laughter that quickly faded but not a person could be seen. Ransford stood alone in his room wondering what had just happened. He felt the same, nothing different in his entity had seemed to change. He stood by the window and opened it, a sense of a new man was about him. He stuck his head out and took a giant gulp of fresh, disgusting air that he had so long hated. He laughed to himself and he leaned out the edge of this rather large window. Sandra walked in slowly, seeing him by the window, thought he was going to jump to his death and commit suicide.
"No, don't! Joeseph! Don't jump!" she hurried to him pulling him back. This pulled him out of his ecstacsy that he was in. He began to fight her tugging hands and swaying weight. "Get off me! I wasn't going to..." he began
"No, no, no, I won't let you jump!" she fought him.
"I wasn't going to... Come on...do you think..." Sandra, caring about Randsford so much, trying to save him from what she thought was his gloom and faithful leap of death, was pushed away by Randsford's strong arms, sending her over and out the sill of the window, plumitting down to her own death. Randsford looked out, shocked, mouth wide open. Never did this cold hearted man ever want to destroy the only thing that would bare him. No...what did it matter? She was to die anyways. Randsford had enternal life. A sadistic smile came about him. "What a thud she must've made!" oh, did he laugh. He turned around, sat pompusly on the sill, leaned back out the window and fell. A fall from that height would have killed anyone, but he wasn't techinically living for he had not a soul.
He laughed so very loud as he hit the ground, it would have been a sight of histaria to anyone else. He lay there, landing heavily atop of his wife and bouncing off with a sickening crunch of bones. "I can't die!" he assured himself again, getting up. He walked with so much joice that he's never felt before in his life. He walked straight into the streets without a regard to the speeding automobiles on the busy road. He didn't care to pay them a passing glance. He almost made it to the other side of the street when he was struck down by a speeding car. Dazed, he got straight back up, straightened his broken neck, gave a glare or enjoyment to the operator of the vehicle who looked on complelty shrilled with terror and continued his path.
Randsford had such a wonderful idea spring into his head. Oh, he had plently of time to live, he wanted to experience the many ways to die. What better way to spend eternity? He walked with a new stride of pure euphoria. "I wonder what being exploded may feel like?" he pondered to himself as he repeatedly japped and gnashed his flesh with a piece of sharp glass he found on the ground. He flesh regenerated, no scar, no blood, he was completly whole and was astounded by this. He worked his way to a active coal mining quarry. He went into the crevases, knowing full well that the next day they would be detonating the area in which he was. He would simply wait under the stones until some unsuspecting miner came about and discovered him. Oh, what a fright did Randsford want to set upon that miner. He sat in that crevase for the rest of the night.
Noon rolled around and Randsford eagrly waited for the mine to be detonated for further excavation. He watched from the shadows as men took their places in their hard hats and awaited the detonation. From what he heared in mixed echos it came to be that at one o' clock pm the mines would be detonated. Ransford was not completly estatic and almost impatient to hear this.
Detonation time rolled around. This was the most exciting part of Randsford's life he had ever had. He was about to experience a thing no one has ever truley lived to tell about. He walked as far back in the cave as he could. Randsford pulled out the wrist watch he kept in his pocket and counted down the seconds.
"Five...four...three...two...one..." A smile flickered on his face as a gigantic explosion with the force of the titans and the heat of hell itself collapsed all the heavy stone around him and atop of him. He couldn't move. Oh, what an extravagent pain he would have been in if he could feel these pains. The explosion burnt his clothing and hair, leaving soot all about him. He could feel the grime of the rocks rubbing against him. Pitch black, not a speck of light, nor twinkle could be seen or sought after. "Excellent. A few days and I'll be out of here!" he though to himself, not having enough room to even move his mouth.
Outside the now desicrated cave, the construction works spoke congrigationally.
"Yea, now that the quarry's sealed, there wont be anyone getting in there and getting into trouble. Job well done guys, go on home" spoke a chubby man skilled in demolitions, dismissing the crew from this location.
It became apparent after an approximation of two weeks that no one was coming for him. Randsford began to yell. Nothing from there could be heard, he was too far back in the cave. He couldn't budge a muscle. There was no way out for Randsford. "Ha ha ha ha..." a cold, sinister yet familiar laugh came about him, echoing throught his ears and ringing through his entire body, it chilled him to the bone.
"Randsford, Randsford, Randsford, your greed got the best of you. Tsk tsk... look where you are now! You shall suffer a fate a thousand times worst than death!" the voice of Lucifur grew louder and louder within his ears, surrounding him, consuming him with fear, hate, betrayl, and self rage. The devil's laughter started again and faded slowly. "No...don't go!" he cried out. "Don't leave me alone!" Randsford struggled all he could be it was to no avail. A tear slid down his cheek. This is what Randsford wanted and this is what he got. Never ending life...trapped forever.