Henry floated around in a peaceful void of nothingness. No more worries, no more care. He just was, which was pretty strange because what would he be like if he was nothing? Strangely enough, he knew he was Henry. He was the essence of Henry. It's pretty cool and 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 it would be crawling if he did. Spooky is the word that Henry was looking for—a feeling of wrongness that invaded his plane of nothingness.

  Henry tried to look 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 sure he hated everything related to payments.

  "Tsk, tsk, Henry, sweet, stupid, weak Henry. You can't run from me. You owe me, Henry, and I always collect on the Debt 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 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 offer me anything that I would want. I can float around here and be debt-free; I'm ok with that."

  "I have ways to make you obey dear Henry."

  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.

  "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 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 differently here. I can wait until you break and reform you to repeat it.”

  "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."

  “My siblings and I play a little game. We all get to pick game pieces, and I like 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 was 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."

  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 besides the mouth but couldn't look elsewhere.

  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 must scream. Let me fix that for you."

  And suddenly, all Henry could do was scream; nothing else mattered, and he had to scream.

  Scream at the unfairness of life.

  He was screaming at the pain that he was experiencing.

  Screamed at this Thing, smiling at him like some tasty morsel that it would devour.

  Having no lungs made it much 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 Thing's throat, were gold coins and every 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 Henry remembered before the pain came again was the Thing laughing.

  It was the worst laugh Henry had ever heard.

  It made him feel small and weak.

  The Thing laughed like 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.

  Help a Bro Out!