Henry floated around in a peaceful void of nothingness. No more worries, no more care. He just was, which was pretty strange because what was he if he was just nothing. Strangely enough he knew he was Henry. He was the essence of Henry. Pretty cool and kinda freaky.

He spent a few seconds or maybe a few decades in this state of nothingness. Time had no meaning to this Henry-like thing. That was when Henry felt his skin crawl. He didn’t have skin but if he did it would be crawling. Spooky is the word that Henry was looking for. A feeling of wrongness that invaded Henry’s plane of nothingness.

Henry tried to look? Feel around? He found the anomaly in the form of a giant gaping mouth floating in the void. The mouth seemed to be constantly chewing and swallowing something. Henry caught glimpses of coins and currencies as well as heads and torsos. The thing licked its lips with a forked tongue and Henry felt it speak.

“Henry, your minimum payment is due.”

If Henry could have thrown up he would have. He didn’t remember what payment this thing was talking about but Henry was pretty sure he hated everything that had to do with payments.

“ Tsk, tsk, Henry sweet, stupid, weak Henry. You can’t run from me. You owe me Henry and I always collect on what I am owed.”

Henry sincerely wished he could run. He was furious at this thing and he didn't know why. He wanted to tell it to fuck off but he couldn’t speak.

“Do mind your language dear Henry. I can feel every little insipid thought you are thinking.”

“Feel this then you gross gaping pussy, I want you to fuck off so I can float around in peace,” Henry thought aggressively.

“You owe me much more than you can fathom Henry. More than you could hope to have paid off in your past life. Luckily I have an offer for you.”

“ No thank you I’m dead you can’t really offer me anything that I would want. I can just float around here forever debt free, I’m ok with that.”

“I have ways to make you obey dear Henry.”

As if on cue Henry was no longer floating around feeling carefree. Henry felt pain like he had never thought possible. He had his gut disintegrated by an acid slime and that felt like a paper cut compared to this.

“You see Henry, I bought your soul for a tidy sum from the local death god.”

The mouth paused to lick its lips in undisguised pleasure.

“ I can’t just outright take what I am owed Henry that would go against my nature. I need you to pay your Debt and you can’t pay me Henry if you can’t earn.

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“So what I propose is a deal.”

Henry was vibrating in pain, all coherent thought was slowly leaving him as he slowly lost his sense of self.

“Fuck off”

“So defiant, so strong, and still so stupid.”

“Henry I can sit here all day. Time works a little different here. I can wait till you break and reform you to do it all over again.

“You don’t understand the situation.”

“I own you Henry.”

Henry could no longer think he knew that he was fading the essence of who he was breaking down. He just wanted the pain to stop.

“Good so you see things my way finally.”

“Here is the deal Henry, I will place you in a new world.”

“I will give you power and you will give me tribute.”

“There is a little game that is played between me and my siblings. We all get to pick game pieces, and I pick you Henry.”

If Henry could punch himself again in the head he would. The pain was lessening but the reality of the Thing’s words were settling in.

Another world, another chance at life.

Another life with debt.

“It’s not all bad Henry, I want so little compared to what I will give you.

"Just the bare minimum really.”

It moves closer to Henry , the mouth chewing and gnashing at something he could not fathom.

“You can do that right Henry?

“Make your Minimum Payment?”

Henry tried to focus on anything other than the mouth, but he couldn’t look anywhere else.

It is Henry’s world, it is his everything.

“Can you do that for me Henry, scream if you understand me.”

The mouth puckers up and the tongue flicks back and forth.

“Silly me Henry, you have no mouth but you must scream. Let me fix that for you.”

And suddenly all Henry could do was scream, nothing else mattered he had to scream. Scream at the unfairness of life at the pain that he was experiencing. Scream at this thing smiling at him like some tasty morsel that it was going to devour.

Having no lungs made it a lot easier for Henry to keep screaming for a while.

“Oh how I love to hear you scream and rage, Henry your hopelessness is delicious.”

The mouth widened and suddenly Henry stopped screaming. All he could see was rows upon rows of teeth. Blade-like things that tore and ripped apart human bodies. In the center spilling out of the things throat was gold coins and every kind of treasure Henry could imagine.

Henry wanted it all.

Henry needed it all

He would not be poor ever again.

“That's right Henry, remember who you were. That's another thing that I always loved about you.”

“Now this will only hurt a lot so bear with me sweet boy.”

The last thing that Henry remembered before the pain came again was the sound of the thing laughing.

It was the worst laugh Henry had ever heard.

It made him feel small and weak.

Like the laugh of some kid burning ants with a magnifying glass.

Henry screamed again but this time with rage and hate.

He screamed not because of the pain but because he was getting a second chance and this time he would use it.

He would learn and he would earn and then he would tell this thing to fuck off.

He screamed until the darkness took him.