Short story; The Gift of Depravity by Jessica Singleton

The Gift of Depravity 
BY;
Jessica Singleton
A Fictional Story



" You've lied,
You've robbed the poor,
You've slaughtered the innocent,
You've paid your dues.
Now the devil will see
 you through. " - Unknown

" Have you seen these two boys. " - Something Wicked this way comes

" Is it true what they say ? After the war in heaven, this is the spot where Satan fell. " - The Exorcist , The beginning. 

" You just opened Pandora's Box. " - Law and Order

                             One 

   He was reading the paper at his breakfast table.  He sat in his kitchen with his robe on.  The maid was bringing him his morning coffee. He normally paid her no attention.  He was a cold hearted son of a bitch.  It gave him hair for his balls.  That is the only way to look at it when you can rack 20K a week in fees.  He was a very expensive attorney and he knew he was worth every inch of it.  Sam was paid to clean and make coffee.  She was not hired to make small talk.  When he woke up before seven, he was not in the mood for small talk. 
Sam gave him a cup of pitch black coffee.  The steam off the cup made his finger tips feel warm.  It was cold in the house due to winter.
After getting ready he went straight to his office.  His office over looked the city of Tallingtoe.  It was a large city that housed  1. 8 million people. The office was decorated with priceless Italian art and a Elisabeth Writing desk. 
Monday's oppointments were vague to him anymore. He did not bother keeping up. Not like he used to.  Now he paid people to do that.
His first client was a new one.  There were very few people in the world who were much different then the next.  He had met them all.  With the fees that he charged , most were judges or celebrities who needed a divorce lawyer.    When Nine o'clock came, his door opened and in walked his assistant Shelly and a man that made his mouth almost drop open.  He was a skinny gentleman in jeans.  His clothes were clean but he was not in a suit and tie.  This was an older man.  Probably his own age. 
Then he looked down at the man's shoes.  He had on steel toed boots.  

" Hello Mr. Chance.  I am John Daily.  I will need to hear your case before I agree to take it.  This is just a consultation. You've paid for that much. Now tell me how I might be able to help you. "

The man took his hat off and he lowered his head.  He was going bald. That is when he started to cry.  It took him no time at all to bottle that emotion up.  He seemed like he was embarrassed about the fact that he'd unleash his feelings in this setting.

" I am sorry.  I know that I do not look like much.  I do not get out much. I do not need much.  I live a simple life.  I do not have much.  I am not an educated man.  You must be.  I have money if that is what you're worried about.  I take a bath too.  I found you in the phone book.  I got no real use for money.  I gained a lot of money when my parents died.  I work all the time. I have money and I'm getting older.  I have no where to put that money.  But now I need a lawyer.  It started when my daughter died.  See my whole family is dead.  I cannot live in that dumb old house. It is to hard.  Not with all that crap.  It was willed to me.  But how can I look at it when it reminds me of hell. You have no idea.  None what so ever.  But those things are not right.  Not at all. "

" What things are not right? "

" Those antiques. "

" I do not understand.  Why did you need a lawyer? "

" I have things but they were willed to me.  Usually they go in a public place.  A place down town where people look at them. But my family owned them.  Years later they wanted their things in their own home.  My mother got old and she did not want to get out.  The public places had rights.  Not enough but they had paperwork.  Now I have to get a lawyer to sell it off.  Auction companies do that.  But they need a lawyer to do stuff.  I got the paperwork.  It is here folded up in my pocket.  You look for yourself.  Take it. "

" Paperwork.  Okay let me see it. "

The older man got in his back pocket and he took out a wad of paperwork.  He unfolded it and put it on the Elisabeth desk.  

John took the paperwork in hand. He put on his reading glasses and he looked over it for a few minutes.  It was easy to understand what this guy needed a lawyer for.  The public place he talked about only had a lease to use the antiques for display for so long.  They did not actually own anything.  They still had 1 year in contract.  But since Mr. Chance was the son of a wealthy man who owned that museum.  All that public place wanted from the looks of that wrinkled up paperwork, was to give an old man a hard time.  They probably thought that he'd just give them the stuff back.  The fact that Mr. Chance did not understand the few words in this contract proved how uneducated he really was.  
John did not have a problem with the poor or the middle class man but one thing he hated more then anything was an asshole company picking on an old man.  This would make his day to take this on.
Besides, from the sounds of this paperwork, the auction would be something to attend. 
Easy sale easy buy.

" Mr. Chance, you just got yourself a lawyer.  I will not charge you again.  You paid for this consultation.  This probably will not go to court.  I will just have to file a few papers on my end and have a few things sent out.  I have my own money.  There is no problem.  You are not at fault here.  They are a sorry place to send you a letter like this.  Especially since you just lost your family.  They should have shown some more respect due to the fact that they worked with your father like that. "

Mr. Chance smiled.  He looked like he had hope in his eyes. Hope he did not have when he walked into the room.

They shook hands and Mr. Chance left his office.



                                           TWO


John Daily was the father of two children that he loved more then anything but they did not live near him.  He never did much to get in touch, other then send a card on their birthday.  

Within two weeks of his meeting with Mr. Chance, the auction was ready to take place.  

The night before, John was allowed to look at all the oddities or antiques.  Most of it was rare paintings that were impressive.  But the nicest pieces were made from solid gold.  There were rare gold boxes that shown on their own without light bulbs connected to them.  They had carvings etched into them.  It was a strange language he could not make out.  But the three boxes were neat on their own. 

He instantly wanted them.
It was a silent auction and he won them by the next night.  At first the three golden boxes sat in his office.
Then out of curiosity, he called a friend of his.  The man worked at the college.  

Chris was a tall man with graying hair.  He had an iq of 223.  He could speak every language on the earth.  Chris took one look at the boxes and then it did not take him two minutes to respond.

" That is a rare form of Greek that has not existed on earth, since 12 BC.  That is odd.  I have seen a lot of trinkets but your boxes take the cake.  Where did you find them ? "

" Auction.  Tip off from a client that I took on. "

" What did you pay?  If you do not mind me asking. "

" Actually I was going to bring that up.  I am aware that gold can be worth a lot but I paid 3 million for each one. "

" You did well then.  They are worth more because of how old they are.  So you got a deal. "

" What do they say? "

" They say , actually it is funny you should ask.  It is a warning to anyone who opens them.  Just an omen.  They say ,

The mind without a key to the gate only gets lost in other people's lives.  The key to the mind is only set to open what punishes those who carry other people's minds. "

" You made that up. "

" No it really says that. "

" So if I owned it, why would I not want to open it? "

" In those days, it was like greeting cards for them to place curses on anything.  They were very superstitious.  This looks like it has a reference to Greek myths.  Um it says Pandora on the bottom of it. "

" Pandora..."

" Do you know the myth? "

" I know not enough. Humor me."

" Pandora was the daughter of a god.  But all her father gave her in life was a box filled with all the sickness or pain known to mortal men. "

" That is some gift.  Why?"

" Gate keeper.... I do not know. "

" Okay so how to open them? There is no key. "

" This says to trace it with your finger. "

" Why don't you rub on it? Maybe a genie will pop out and grant us a wish. "

" No it says you have to. They are now yours. "

John rolled his eyes and he walked over to the box.

The box looked innocent enough.  So he traced his fingers along the lettering on it.

The box opened on it's own.  The inside was filled with the most beautiful diamonds that he'd ever seen in his life.

They were to clear to be diamonds.  They must have been worth billions of dollars.

So within 3 days of John's boxes being opened, he took the diamonds to a jeweler and he had them looked at.
The jeweler told him that the diamonds were priceless.  They were unlike anything he'd ever seen.  They were perfect and large.  Making them too heavy for anyone of those diamonds to be on it's own in a piece of jewelry.  It would weigh down any woman or man to the point of irritation.
But they could be cut and used in portion.

John told him how he came upon the box.  They talked for a few hours.

John left his store and he went home.
He poured himself a glass of aged whiskey and he sat in front of his fire place.

He heard a noise.  The sound was coming from a closet in his hallway.  So John got up with his glass and he went to the hall closet.  He opened the closet to find a pair of women's shoes.  They were unlike anything that he'd seen in his life. 

These shoes were made of emerald's and what looked like Mexican Ambers. 

They were lovely but they had no place in his hats and coats.  He ex wife left him years ago and she had no taste like this.

The shoes were solid amber in heel form but the stem of he heel looked like the brownish green amber melted into an emerald.  They looked like a piece of Picasso art.

John did not know but he did not feel like giving anything else his attention tonight.
He'd had a long day.
It was not a tiger and he wanted to finish his drink in silence.

What would be next?
A rabbit with a top hat or ruby slippers?

That night John fell asleep on his couch in front of his fire place.

That night he woke up with his shirt undone.  He was sweating.  The fire was loud and it danced out of the fireplace until it made the body of a goddess.  A beautiful woman stood in front of him.  She had olive colored skin and long midnight black hair.  The tips of her nails looked golden and her eyes looked like the emeralds that were used for those shoes.

She crawled up on his lap like a cat and she started to whisper into his ear.

" You have opened my box.  You now will have as many moments as you've taken from others. "

" What are you talking about? I am a lawyer.  A man who owned those sold them and I bought them fair and square. "

Pandora's eyes lit up as red as the fire flames that still licked her body like a dress that was made from the setting sun.

" You mock me?"

" No I have the sales recite in my pocket still. "

John pulled it out.
Pandora looked it over.
Then she took back what she said.

She got off of him.
" That box has been in my family for years. You see it was disturbed.  I am summoned when there is trouble.  I think my grandson is in trouble. "

" If your grandson is an old man named Chance then yeah but I fixed it.  Some business wanted to own those boxes.  He got his own rights back and he got paid.  So he was able to sale off property that he did not want.  He blamed those boxes for his mother's death. "

"No his mother stole those from his father.  She killed him.  So when she opened them, they were her own sentence.  They were meant as a protection to my bloodline.  My grandson needs those."

" He does not want them. He loved his mother."

" Then do me a favor. "

" What is that?"

" I cannot leave this place. Bring him to me so I can talk to him."

John called Chance and he came over.

Once they talked John agreed to sale them back to Chance for a price that Pandora could pay. 
Not sex.
Not a life.
Money from heaven is priceless.
Pandora gave John his own box.
It was made of Spanish Silver and black rubies. 

The inside of the box had a different kind of gift.
Looking into the box, you'd think there were tiny pebbles and beans.
Brown beans.
Then with a closer look, John saw that the beans were tiny cases for the rarest rubies in the world.
Their worth was ten times what he'd paid for the boxes that he just gave up.
The pebbles were not pebbles from Spain.  
They were chances in life.

Pandora told John that he did a lot of good for a poor old man and that he was to be given the gift of a fair chance.

The pebbles were countless.
So any time John needed a wish, he had it right at his finger tips.

John waited till they left, then he made a wish to see if it really worked.
He wished for a chance at health and age.
He was older now and not as energetic as he once was. 
So Pandora made him healthy like he was 16 again but he kept his age and memory.
She also got rid of the age lines on his face and his grey hair.
He had his mind and body at it's best.

The boxes on the other hand;;;;

Mr. Chance took the boxes home and gave them to the Public place only for one night.

All those bad people who had done that to him made the mistake of not only opening the boxes, but they stole diamonds out of them.

So the diamonds were their last chance.

Magically within days when they were out and about.  Those diamonds made them targets for greedy people who took advantage of them.

Then the cops took them to jail for stealing in the first place.
Then Mr. Chance was given his property back.

The End