I wrote this for an English project- a rewrite of the Devil and Tom Walker in modern times, but as the teacher didn't give much of a review and I find I'm actually attached to it, I wonder what other people's opinions of it are.

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This is it, I suppose. I can feel the last remains of my soul burning away. I don't have long, so I must tell this story quickly. Because it needs to be told. Because others need to be warned. Because it is something I feel I must do. I suppose I should being on that day, not too long ago, when I first ran into him.

I was walking home from an after-school study session, taking the long route through the business district. Stowed away in the pocket of my jacket was a wallet, a wallet which did not belong to me. It belonged instead to a middle-aged man I had passed on the street only half a minute earlier. The man had been looking at the window display of the nearest shop; the wallet was sticking out of his back pocket. In a moment it caught my eye. It waved to me. I waved back. The man noticed none of this silent communication, and seconds later the wallet was taking refuge in my jacket pocket.

I continued walking casually for another few minutes, despite the jolts of shivery excitement climbing up and down my spine and the buzz of adrenaline clouding my skull, taking as many turns as possible. It would be stupid to check out my new prize so close to the crime scene, so soon after. Finally, however, I ducked into an empty alleyway, and there, surrounded by shadows and trashcans, I brought out the wallet.

In all reality, the money inside didn't really matter to me. I wasn't one of your fairy tale Robin Hoods, nor was I some poor kid trying to support his family. I lived in a two-story house with my siblings, and my parents were happily married. In the end, the money might go towards buying myself a new video game, which would soon collect dust sitting on a shelf. So then, why? Why had I begun pick pocketing?

Because I was bored.

Life had thrown its all at me, and I had mastered it every step of the way. I was an outstanding student; in fact, my IQ was probably higher than that of the teachers who lectured the class. I was talented at many sports, and physically fit. Many of the girls in school would have loved to go out with me. I knew all the right answers, made all the right choices, and never missed a beat. And it was all a breeze for me. My parents were proud. I was bored.

Despite having it all, I wasn't satisfied, I guess. I didn't like to think that my whole life was already planned out for me. I needed to take some risks. I needed more out of life. So when nothing new arrived itself, I started taking more. Maybe I'm just a corrupt person. Maybe I'm slightly insane. But either way, there I was in the alley, checking the wallet of some man I'd never seen before today. That's when I heard it; a cool, crisp sound to my left. Thinking back, I'm surprised I was able to place the sound in my head so quickly; someone was eating an apple.

My head turned, panic creeping up my spine again, but it was only a child I saw standing in the mouth of the alleyway. I calmed down again. He was probably only a little over half my height, and his eyes were such a striking color of brown, for a moment I almost thought them red. He stood still, apple in hand, staring at me.

"Bug off, kid." I said forcefully. I didn't want him around. It was better not to have anyone around. It was only a kid, I could definitely handle him if he refused to move. He was no threat, or so I thought, but his next words froze up my system again.

"I saw what you did." He said it almost deviously, with a look bordering smug in his eyes. The way he looked made me believe he was no ordinary kid. He was much more intelligent. For all the smart answers I had ever given in my life, I now had nothing to offer. I hadn't anticipated this; surely I knew the risks of being caught, but certainly not by a child. And certainly not by a child like this; most kids would have been afraid to approach a robber alone, in a dark alley. Or was he really alone? The streets behind him were empty.

I had been leaning against the alley wall when I had taken out the wallet; now I pushed off of it, towards the kid. "Bug off, kid." I said, more forcefully than before.

The kid smiled again, as if he were having fun. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell." He said it playfully, but it was enough to stop me in my tracks again.

"Yeah, right." I said sarcastically, with just the hint of a laugh in my voice, a nervous laugh. I may have been a greedy thief, but I certainly wasn't at the stage where I could guiltlessly harm children. But how else could I be sure this kid wouldn't go to the authorities? There wasn't, of course, a good chance of the authorities believing him, and even less of me being caught, but one still had to be sure.

"I won't," he told me again, somehow still exuding condescendence. There was a glitter in his brown-red eyes. "In fact, I know where you could steal something even better."

I stopped again. Had I heard this kid right? Was he actually offering me another opportunity to take more from life? Maybe he stole often too; he had an air of trickery and cunning about him, despite his age. Then again… "What makes you think I'm interested?" He took another bite of his apple. "Besides, I can see you're intelligent, brat. How do I know you're not just setting me up?"

"Oh, you'll be interested." He said, somewhat excited. That glitter in his eye made me uncomfortable. This was by far the strangest kid I'd ever seen. "I promise you, it'll be the greatest thing you've ever seen. One look at it, and you'll want it more than anything you've ever wanted in your entire life."

This time I laughed out loud, let the laugh escape through my mouth and shake my shoulders, drew it out, enjoyed it, enjoyed finally having the upper hand over this boy. "Sorry, kid," I said finally, when I had finished, "but there's nothing in the world like that that you could offer me."

"I can show you where to find what you're lacking," he continued, unaffected.

"I'm not lacking anything," I replied curtly.

"Oh?" He asked. He reached his free hand into his coat pocket and pulled out a small bottle. The bottle was holding something, and that something caught my eye in an instant. It glimmered and glowed, shimmered with a slight luminescence. It made all other things I had seen in life look dull and colorless. It floated in the center of the jar, gathered in circular clusters. I had never felt a stronger lust for anything in my life. I reached out a hand towards it, but the kid placed it back into his jacket pocket. I noticed suddenly that the surroundings seemed dimmer in its absence.

"You can show me…. where to find… that?" I asked. I didn't think to ask what it was. Honestly, I don't think I cared at the moment. I only wanted it. Badly. I no longer doubted the child's claims. This… item was obviously rare and valuable. He himself must have gone through troubles to obtain it. Therefore, it was highly unlikely he was setting me up, although I still wasn't sure why he had made his offer.

The kid smiled again. "Yep. Didn't I say you would want this? I know what you're thinking; what's the catch, right?" I nodded. "Actually, I was hoping to make a deal."

I listened closely now. This was where things would begin making a bit more sense. I wondered what his bargain would be. Knowing this child, I doubted I could trade him a sucker or some cheap toy from the mall.

"What I ask in return for showing you where and how to obtain what I have shown you, is your soul."

Again, I was nonplussed. This kid had thrown me for more loops than anyone had managed before. "Don't worry," he added, "I won't take it right away. I'll let you experience your part of the deal for a while before I come for my share."

I laughed again, not as fully as before. "What are you, a devil worshiper or something?" I hardly believed in the whole heaven and hell theology, much less in souls or spirits. It would be easy for me to tell him that I would barter my soul when I scoffed their very existence. "Are you serious?"

He nodded, apparently very serious. "Do we have a deal?"

I grinned, but for whatever reason, be it vanity or stubbornness, I delayed some more. "Before that, prove it to me. Prove to me that you'll show me how to…" I trailed off, not sure how to finish that sentence.

The kid smirked and turned, pointing behind him to a man walking down the other side of the street. "Look at that man over there." My attention drifted to the man, despite myself. I felt the child grip my hand, and I tried to shake him off, but before I could, a strange sensation crept across eyes. My vision darkened considerably, but not enough so that I couldn't see. More extraordinary, however, was what happened to the man.

His physical form fell under shadow, as did everything else, but at his center I suddenly saw a glowing form, luminescent and soft. It shimmered with light colors. It was certainly what I had seen earlier in the bottle. I felt the same lust rising up inside of me once again. This time, I had to ask. "What is that?"

"That is one of the things you will find in most every human being, once you have been granted this sight. It is their happiness, their livelihood, their contentment. It is their inner light." His voice came up to me from my right, as my eyes remained focused on that light. "Most people have a darkness, too," he continued.

"It's beautiful." I was entranced. I didn't care how this was happening, so long as it was.

He pulled his hand away, and the shadows faded back into light. The man continued on down the street out of sight, now a solid mass. I felt disappointed as that light disappeared. I turned to the child beside me. "We have a deal." I said, smirking.

The kid grinned and reached into his other pocket with his free hand, pulling out another apple. "Apple?" He offered me. He watched me as I accepted his offer, raising the apple to my mouth.

My taste buds were sent reeling as I took a bite. It was without doubt the best apple to have ever been grown, possibly the best food I'd ever tasted. Its taste filled my mouth and I reveled in it, enjoying every chew. I caught site of the boy's face, twisted into a grin so wide and unnerving it should have sent me warning signals, and in that moment I was convinced his eyes were red. Looking back on it, I should have called the whole thing off just because of that devilish look, but at the moment I was too caught up in everything. It was a foolish mistake.

A week later, I sat on my bed, surrounded by light-filled bottles that covered the floor, the bed, and the shelves all around me. All in all, there were close to one hundred of them.

In the beginning, I had gone to the store and only bought a few bottles. I figured on only stealing a few of these lights, and that's what I did. Maybe I'd take that of a stranger passing on the road, a fellow passenger in the train, a grocer in the store. Now that I could see them, it was as easy as reaching out and grabbing them. That was the first day. I went home and set the bottles on the shelves, admired them, watched them. Soon, I decided I needed more. I went back to the store for more clear bottles to hold them in.

The next day, I allowed myself to broaden my choices. Soon it was the light of the girl sitting in the desk in front of me, the boy bumping past me in the halls, or the students studying in the library. I simply reached out and took them, took the beautiful, shining lights that I lusted for. By the end of the week, I prided myself on having almost collected one hundred.

On the shelf behind my bed sat four bottles all alone, four of the most recent additions. They were set aside and arranged in a particular order. I had taken the light of my younger sister. I had taken the light of my younger brother. I had taken the light of my mother. I had taken the light of my father. I was surrounded by lights, but even so I will not deny that I lusted for more.

"Thomas, dinner's ready!" My mother called up the stairs. Her tone had become rather dreary as of late, sort of flat and lifeless, and sometimes irritable. I didn't bother to answer; my appetite had failed during the last week. Nothing compared to the apple I had eaten earlier.

I suddenly felt a breeze. I looked to my window, confident I hadn't left it open, and started when I saw the boy from earlier entering into my room through it. All traces of childlike innocence were swept from his face. He grinned, sneered, in an ugly, frightening way.

"Well, well," he said in an impressed tone, looking around him. "I didn't expect I would have to come nearly so soon. This is most impressive, most beautiful. Humans never cease to amaze me."

"W-what are you doing here?" I asked, unsure whether to be outraged or afraid. Logic argued the former, but instinct screamed the latter.

He smiled again, and seeing the smile on his childlike face sickened me. "I came for my end of the deal now." He said happily. "Remember? I said I'd give you time to enjoy your part, and really I expected you'd take things much slower, but I'm afraid you've expended your allowance, and now it's time to pay up."

What was it I had promised him? Ah yes, my soul, I remembered. Was this kid crazy? I tried to regain some of my cool. "Heh, even if souls existed, I'm afraid you can't have mine." I responded. "How would you intend to take it from me?"

The boy grinned again. I noticed that his teeth looked a little sharper than before. "I suppose I'd have to do it in much the same way you've robbed all these people of their lights." He said, gesturing to the grand display of bottles covering the room. "And I'll have to thank you kindly for collecting so many. As you won't be needing them for much longer, I'm sure I'll find a good use for them all."

With that, he began his advance. I continued sitting, a panic rising in the back of my head, but as I was unsure how he would make his attack on my soul, I wasn't certain how to get out of the situation. I should have known, of course; he had already told me as much. He simply reached out and took it. And why not? Wasn't it his to take? Hadn't it been promised to him?

I did not, however, go into a bottle. I went instead into a lit lantern, whose fire is still feeding on my soul, although there is not much left. It is agony, and I have had all the time in the world to realize what I have done, what mark I have left on the world after all, as I am slowly extinguished. All of those whose lights I had stolen were left to face the world with only darkness, and I'm sure that without their light a majority of them also fell to the devil. The lights themselves were used by the devil, I'm sure, as a source of power, or maybe he tossed them, too, into a fire somewhere.

I can't imagine that there would be many people in the world who would make the same foolish mistakes as I did, but this story may have been worth it if it even shows one person how greed and ingratitude are dangerous. Now I can accept that my time has, at long last, come. What awaits me now, I cannot tell, but I'll face it knowing I have left behind a story.

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R&R, please