Her Devilish Matchmaker

She sits alone on a Valentine’s night; on the floor of her dingy apartment, she is engulfed in despair only to be comforted by the warm glow of candles. She is 24 years old, broke, exhausted, tears falling on her silk dress. “Well, if no one in this life wants me here,” She sighs, lighting the last candle on the floor, “I’ll just go on to the afterlife.” She's had enough. Every single Valentine’s Day for so many years have been monotonous. She has always been all alone, but no more and that will be guaranteed as long as this works.

The summoning circle, drawn with lipstick, begins to glow faintly as she begins to chant. The light is bright enough that it blinds most people, but not her. She’s waited so long for this!

“O powerful Satan, I am calling upon you!” She shouts. She hears voices surrounding the room that aren't her own, as everything gets knocked over by gusts of wind.

She is filled with fear as she realizes that she has no right to be doing this! This is wrong! But then again, where else could you get this kind of help? Her head begins to hurt a lot; and then a blinding red light appears in the room. She can’t see who or what, but she can hear a husky, breathy voice calling out to her. “Néoma, you belong here now...” She faints, growing victim to her own experiment.

She wakes up in an unfamiliar bedroom, beautifully furnished with pink walls and dark red velvet sheets. “Where am I? Hello?” She calls out, feeling a little strange and wobbly.

“Are you up?” The voice calls back. “Took you long enough.”

Eyes still not used to the sudden light, she looked to her right and sees a tall, muscular figure with cold green eyes staring at her! “Are you alright?” He asks, leaning towards her.

“No, I’m not. Who are you?”

He laughs, “I’m Dia, I’m the Devil! You summoned me, remember?”

You take note of his human appearance. He isn't how you’d picture the Devil. He has a round face and chubby cheeks, a round nose, plump lips, and a chestnut skin tone. Néoma noticed his curves, his muscles, his luscious body, his large breasts. She snapped out of it. “I didn't know the Devil was a woman, but it makes sense.”

He stands up straight, rolling his eyes. “This is just my human form, I can shapeshift and stuff. And get it right, I'm the Devil.”

Néoma was having trouble processing where she was. This is all too much and none of it seems real. With a hurting head, Néoma sighed, then asked. ”Wait... then where am I?”

“You’re in ScoVille!”

Her eyebrows furrowed, she shot Dia a confused stare. “Where??”

“You’re in Hell. I brought you down here, Néoma, I had to.”

She doesn’t understand what that means. None of this feels real. She stumbles out of Dia’s bed, but falls to the floor. “Take me home. I want to go home now!”

“What do you mean? I can’t!”

Still feeling wobbly, she stands up and walks toward the exit of Dia’s bedroom. She opens the door to the hallway and tries to find the front door. Dia is close behind you so he tries to pick up the pace.

“Néoma, you have to listen to me!”

“No, I don’t." She grumbles. "I don’t have to hear shit from you!”

In a flash, Dia appears in front of her and she falls into his arms, still in a daze.

“I’m sorry, but just listen!”

“Okay, what's going on?”

“You summoned me so I could help you find someone to be with, remember?”

“Yes, I know but why am I here and why can’t I leave?” Dia lets her go and Néoma leans against the wall.

“Néoma,” he chuckled, “ You said that ‘If no one in this life wants me, you’ll just go on to the afterlife.’ There are people up there for you, but no one for you that can... Fulfill your needs... Does that make sense?”

“No one?” She shouts before being stopped by her own migraine, “Not a living soul? How?”

Dia leans in, “You know why...”

Néoma swallows dryly, “Wait, am I dead?”

“No, you’re still alive. I want to give you the choice to stay here or not.” Dia offers his hand to Néoma. She grabs on to it and is gently lifted up from off the ground. “Follow me real fast, I'll give you some water.”

“So when can I leave?” Néoma asks more annoyed than before.

“I’ll walk you to the living room and send you back to get your things, but you do have to come back; you just can’t leave until you find someone you like, that’s what you summoned me for. I’m not sure if you would want to leave anyway”

“What do you mean?”

“Well... if you stay here, you can do anything you want. I’m not asking you to stay forever, but you can, like, even do your “weird” fetishes and stuff. I don’t mind and neither will they. Hell, there are even people around here who want to do that with you. I know some people who are compatible with you and your interests. You can bring your stuff if you want, stay here for a little while and find someone suitable.”

She paused. Even in her own home she never had the guts to do those things. It almost sounded too good to be true. “What do you mean by you don’t mind?”

Dia shrugged, “just, like, do whatever. This entire house is enchanted so you don’t have to worry about making a mess-”

“Okay!” She interrupts,

“You sure?” Dia says holding out his pinky.

She froze and let out a shaky breath. Her pinky clutches Dia’s. “Yup.” Néoma began “I’ll get my things or whatever and... but what about my rent? How long will I be down here? Is there a catch?”

“You can stay for as long as you like, Néoma. Let me take care of rent for you.”

They walked into the living room together where there was a summoning circle carpet in the middle of the floor. Dia stood on one end of it with his head up, palms outstretched and his eyes closed. “Come on,” Dia insisted. “Hold my hands, keep your eyes closed.” Néoma stood on the opposite side and held his hands. Néoma closed her eyes.

She began hearing voices and sounds of a crackling fire. Gradually, the feeling of a heavy pull and weightlessness became more and more powerful as the crackling and voices became all the more fainter. It got cold, all that could be heard was wind, rustling trees, and cars driving by, but everything felt familiar as soon as her feet touched the ground. She opened your eyes and was in her bedroom all by herself.

It was quiet, her mind was finally quiet. The sound of her fan coupled with the ambiance of the city that Néoma has grown to know for years now has never felt more inviting. She stepped out of the summoning circle, put on her bonnet from the floor and flopped on to her bed, still with her makeup on, without braiding her hair. She tangled herself in her thick sheets and now she felt so tired. Her mattress and blankets are all so warm now. Her eyes feel heavy, but it’s okay. Is her phone charged? She doesn’t know and it doesn’t matter now. She’s so comfortable, she can’t move. That’s a problem for after she wakes up.

She wakes up to the sound of the garbage truck. She’s somewhat awake now and can’t ignore the light from the window that warms her face. She slowly opens her eyes and sees her surroundings in that morning glow. She stretches to reach for your phone to find that it is at 30%. Annoyed, she charges her phone. She goes through the living room and to the bathroom to brush her teeth, floss, wash her face. She takes a long hot shower, dries herself off with a towel, and walks out to change in fresh clothes.

She eyes the couch, looking for the remote. “Are you ready to go?” Dia wonders, sitting cross legged on the couch. Néoma jumps, letting out a yelp. “Go where?”

“To my house. You said you’d stay there and I’ll take care of your rent here. You need to be with someone, hello? Now put some clothes. You know you can’t change your mind. I got your water!” He exclaims with an ice cold bottled water.

She walks backwards to her room and puts on some underwear and pajamas. “You can visit this world whenever you want.” Dia calls out from the other room. “You just can’t tell anyone that you stay here or else they’ll think you’ve lost it.”

Néoma lies down on the floor and thinks to herself:

I have nothing going for me here. it would be safer for me financially to stay with her. I’ve got no friends IRL so no one will notice I’m not here, my mom... yeah, I think it’s time for a vacation or whatever.

She leaves her room for one last time and walks up to Dia. “Is there WiFi at your house?”

“Yeah.”

“And I don’t got to pay for nothing?”

“Nothing. Housing is free in Hell anyway.”

Néoma exhales. “This better not be a fucking scam.” She smiles nervously, putting the water bottle in her bag.

Dia’s eyes lit up. All he could do was smile. “I’m so glad. You’re going to love it here!”

After some packing, Néoma and Dia go back to the circle, close their eyes and join hands together, and open them to the new home.