Pale Moonlight

In the time of my youth, I walked along a haunted beach searching for a miracle in the mist and sand, my steps guided only by the pale light of the full moon. I don't know what I expected, but that's when I happened upon .. him.

I came across a makeshift vendor's stand, made of driftwood, half-rotted and gnarled together. All manner of strange objects and trinkets appeared to be for sale. There were woven "dream-catchers" with small bones trapped in their webs, gnarled wooden walking sticks and wands, decks of tarot cards, and all manner of glass vials filled with glowing liquids or shifting powdery substances. As if the stand itself wasn't macabre enough, the proprietor was altogether otherworldly.

He wore a black suit jacket with red pin-stripes over a dark blue shirt - all of them finely crafted from satin or silk. A purple bow tie and a black stove-pipe top hat completed the look. His skin - if you could call it that - appeared gaunt and pale as the moonlight, stretched a little too thinly over the bones and muscle beneath. He had a preternatural aura about him that made him appear beautiful - almost seductive, in a way that compelled me to stop and strike up a conversation.

"What have you got?" I asked, "for sale, that is."

"Oh, I am not selling anything tonight," he answered, the raspy timbre of his voice perfecting his aura of seduction.  "I'm capturing moonlight. Perfect night for it, if you ask me."

He smiled warmly and pointed a bony white finger to a curious apparatus installed on the far left end of his stand. I had never seen anything like it. At the top was a shiny silver bowl with a small tube fixed to it as if to aim the open end of the bowl at a target. Underneath, an assortment of molded glass tubes, chambers, and .. well, I don't even know what else. Strange sigils and occult symbols were etched into everything, though. And the strangest thing of all - through the tubes coursed a pure, glowing white liquid that eventually made its way to a glass vial, standing on the countertop about half full where it would fall in a slow, steady drip. The proprietor peered through the small scope on the bowl and adjusted the aim slightly, bringing it back into alignment with the moon overhead. With that, the liquid began to flow faster until it was no longer a drip, but a steady gurgling flow.

"This," he explained, "is one of the most powerful magical substances known to man .. or anyone else. A single, tiny drop can grant a simple wish, while an entire vial such as the one I'm collecting now - well, there's enough power in there already to grant the heart's every and deepest desire for a lifetime."

Of course, I didn't believe him, and I told him so.  

"No one ever does .. at first," he answered. "Take a step back, I'll show you."

The man produced a small dropper and used it to withdraw a minuscule amount of the glowing liquid from the collection vial.

Handing me the dropper, he said "Now, make a wish - something simple, like a hundred-dollar bill or something like that - then squeeze it out onto the beach."

I did exactly as he advised. There was a small puff of smoke when the droplet splashed into the sand. 

"Now, pick it up from the spot where the moonlight fell," he advised. 

I reached down and, sure enough, mixed in with the sand and seashells was the unmistakable crumple of paper money - a tattered but still usable hundred dollar bill, slightly moist and covered in sand, rested in my hand.

Could this creepy stranger actually have the miracle I was looking for?  It seemed he did.  "I must have a vial!" I all but shouted, barely able to contain myself. "How much?" I asked, wondering stupidly if the hundred I just conjured would be enough.

"Oh, it's not for sale," he informed me through a toothy grin, "you must win this fortune from me, if you are to have it at all, in a GAME of MY choosing."

"What's the game, then?" I asked.

"It's very simple," he gently explained, producing a small black pearl from his left breast pocket, and explaining his actions as he went. "I hide this pearl under one of these three sea-shells, and I shuffle them around, like so .. " he moved the three shells all around the countertop for a few seconds .. "then, you choose a shell. If the pearl is under it, you win my vial of moonlight - which I see is almost full."

I was sure I had correctly followed the shell with the pearl, for I had noticed it had a small nick that the others didn't. I knew I had him, and soon his magic would be mine. I raised my hand to point to the correct shell when he interrupted with a raised finger.

"But, if you lose," he paused and smiled, "If you lose, then I own your soul, now, and for all eternity!" His eyes, once only visible as pale orbs with a darkened center, suddenly flashed with an ethereal red glow that faded almost as soon as it appeared. "Do we have .. a deal?"

I knew I had him now - I didn't even believe in souls, and I knew the pearl was under the chipped shell. There was no way I could lose!

"Deal!" I exclaimed, offering him my handshake to seal it, which he accepted with glee as a gust of wind rattled the bones hanging in the dreamcatchers.

Immediately, I lifted the shell with the nick on it, revealing ... nothing!  It was empty!  No pearl! 

"What the hell??" I blurted.

"Exactly!" he laughed, then removed his stovepipe hat, revealing a set of pointed horns!

His red eyes flared again, and this time continued to burn like ominous orange flames. Their horrible light colored the sea mist, transforming it to resemble an acrid cloud of suffocating smoke and soot. His evil, condescending laughter seemed to echo from everything around us - even the mist itself.

"This is a scam," I protested, "if it's not under that shell, then you removed it and it's not under any of them! let me see!"

Without saying a word, he lifted the other two shells, and there it was, the black pearl, under the shell right next to the one I'd picked. I had lost, fair and square. There was nothing left to say. After everything I'd seen, I suddenly realized I DID have a soul, and I'd just sold it to the devil himself!

"I should thank you," he sneered, giggling with a sadistic mocking undertone. "You're the first soul I've collected tonight. Here - keep it." 

He picked up the pearl, now suddenly affixed to a golden chain, which he placed over my head and around my neck.

"Let it remind you of what happened here tonight, how you foolishly wasted your soul on a game, and when your last day comes, its weight will drag you down .. to MY dark domain! To the depths of Hell itself!"

The fire in his eyes flared up for a second, then he paused and smiled with unbridled malice. The tip of his twig-like index finger seemed fixed to the pearl, as he pressed it against my chest. It already felt heavier around my neck. 

"See you soon," he said, placing the top hat back on his head.

Then he, the wooden stand, and all its trappings vanished in a puff of black smoke. It was all gone - including, of course, the money I had conjured. So thoroughly had everything vanished that I wondered if it had happened at all. But then I felt it - the weight around my neck. And yet, there it was it was, the only proof of my encounter with the devil - that infernal black pearl necklace.

I pulled hard, trying to break the chain, but it only cut into the back of my neck - I couldn't break it. So I lifted it off over my head and threw it with all my might into the sea. The mist began to clear as I continued walking along the beach, and soon I had all but forgotten my encounter. I convinced myself I had fallen asleep and had a nightmare, that was all. Chuckling to myself over the absurdity of it all, I casually reached into my pocket and stopped dead in my tracks.

To my horror, I felt a chain. No, it can't be! But sure enough, I pulled from my pocket that gold chain with the black pearl! As if compelled by something far more powerful than any will or strength I could muster, I found myself putting it back over my head, back around my neck .. back where I knew it belonged.

I wandered that same beach for the remainder of the week, hoping to find that strange stand and its proprietor again. He seemed to enjoy games, so maybe I could win my soul back by besting him in a different challenge - one that I could win. At least, that's what I told myself. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew I'd never find him again. He had me right where he wanted me, and we both knew it.

After a while, I knew what I had to do. If that was the devil, I reasoned, then there must be a God, too. I had to find Him. All the religions I'd heard about said that, whatever their concept of God, it was more powerful than the devil. So maybe one of them could help me. Maybe there was some God or divine being or someone out there who could free me from the devil's grasp and destroy that pearl once and for all.

So began the strangest, most amazing journey of my life. I read every sacred text I could get my hands on. The Bible, the Koran, the ancient Greek and Roman myths, the Norse sagas of Odin and Thor .. all of it. I begged any God that was mentioned in any of them to help me, to reveal himself to me. Nothing I found could comfort my soul, and the Damnation Pearl, as I had begun calling it, continued to grow heavier and heavier around my neck. It got to the point that I couldn't even lift it high enough to take it off anymore, let alone try to get rid of it or destroy it.

Over the years, I would occasionally find myself in a church, mosque, or other place of worship, seeking anything that could help. They all told me not to worry, the devil wasn't real, and this pearl meant nothing. Strangely, everyone who told me that seemed, even if for a moment, to be wearing that same black pinstriped jacket and speak with the same seductively assuring, yet deceiving voice as the cunning proprietor of that seaside stand. I couldn't help but conclude that they were all on his side, serving his interests, even though they surely didn't realize it. The Damnation Pearl was now so heavy I walked with a slight hunch, and it left marks and bruises on the back of my neck where the chain would lay.

Just as I was about to concede defeat and admit to myself that I would never find help or relief, that if there was a God, He had utterly abandoned me for my foolishness, I happened into a quaint, dusty old bookshop on some long forsaken street corner in a nameless little town. Over the door were no words, just a very plain and simple cross. Inside were shelves and shelves of nondescript leather-bound books that apparently had no title or author printed on their splines. Inside, an old man with white hair and an out-of-control beard hunched over a mop as he attempted to clean the grimy floor tiles. A tiny bell sounded the alarm as I passed through the door, causing the old man to look up, notice me, and abandon his mop and bucket for the time being.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked.

Instinctively, my right hand clutched the pearl necklace. "I don't think so," I said, "I doubt there's anyone who can help me at this point."

"Well, then it can't hurt to try, can it?"

The old man reached out a hand and placed it on my shoulder. Something told me I could trust him, but even if that bit of intuition was wrong, he was right - at this point, I had nothing to lose. So I told him the whole story, and how no religion or ritual I'd tried had helped. I was still lost, and this pearl the devil had given me to wear would be my burden to bear forever, and I fully expected to be dragged off to the depths of hell at any moment. He smiled and looked at me understandingly as if he'd heard this story a million times before and understood every detail even more than I did.

"Son," he began, "to start with, this deal you made? It's of no consequence. You would be lost with or without ever having met the enemy on that beach. Everyone is - do you remember anything you read from the Bible?"

I admitted to him that I had only read the book of Revelation and the first few chapters of Genesis and then moved on to a different text, figuring that the Bible couldn't help me.

"Well, that's what most people do, and in doing so, they miss the whole point!" he chuckled softly, adding "It's not about giant dragons and mutant locusts, or endless genealogies and natural disasters - though, those stories are important, they are only a small part of the whole story."

"Then what IS the point?" I asked, "And what does it matter to me if I'm lost no matter what?"

"Ah, but you're not! There is a way you can be saved. Do you trust me?"

That question knocked the breath out of me. The cursed pearl seemed to double in weight, and this increase was distracting me. The pearl suddenly seemed to have a mind of its own and it desperately wanted me to leave. But, I was determined to see this through, even if, as I assumed, it would turn out no different than any of my other experiences.

"Trust you .. who are you?" I asked.

The old shopkeeper simply looked at me with a glint in his eye and a loving smile. 

"I am who I am," was all he said, "I will show you the truth, and then you'll have a decision to make. But first .. "

He paused and reached for the pearl necklace. Grasping the chain firmly, he lifted it over my head and took it off. 

"Let's give you a break from this thing, shall we?"

For the first time in years, I felt like I could actually stand up straight without that cursed thing weighing me down. The old man simply held it in his hand like it was nothing to him, and continued.

"You see," he explained, "the Bible as a whole is meant to point you to one thing, one person: Jesus Christ, God's only Son. From it, we learn that .. " he thumbed through the pages like an expert who knew where every verse, every obscure passage was located and pointed the words out to me each time .. "'All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God' .. we learn that 'the consequences of sin is death, but the free gift from God is eternal life through Jesus Christ' .. He accomplished this by dying on the cross as a sacrifice for sin and then rising from the dead to complete His victory over sin and death. We learn that 'God so loved the world' - and that includes you, my young friend - 'that he gave His only son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life!' This is what you've been seeking - forgiveness of your sins, a relationship with God's son, Jesus, and freedom from death and hell .. and, you won't have to worry about that creepy shopkeeper anymore, because Jesus will redeem your soul and there's not a darn thing that old devil can do about it!"

His words cut straight to my heart. I knew he was right, I knew this was what I needed. I noticed the pearl still sat in his hand, and for once, it was not even a concern of mine anymore.

"I want this," I told him. "I want this more than anything. What must I do?"

"Jesus said you must do the work that God commands, and that work is to believe in His son. That is what you must do. You must believe, but believe fully. Trust him. Establish a relationship with him. You must do what He told each of His disciples: 'follow him' .. and to start with that, you must pray. Talk to Him, ask Him to forgive you, and free you. This is the decision you must make, and it must be permanent and with your whole heart, and it will .. it must .. change your life completely. Everything you know and hold dear will be affected. It's a big decision that you should not make lightly - it may very well cost you everything you have in this world."

"I feel like I have no choice, sir. I've been living with this existential dread ever since that man put that thing around my neck. If following Jesus in this way will free me from that, then I'm all in."

With that, the old man led me in a prayer. I confessed my new faith and trust in Christ, promised to turn away from my sins and live in His example as best I could, and most of all, I asked for forgiveness and freedom from the devil's clutches. When I finished, I noticed the old shopkeeper had placed the necklace into a small ceramic crucible on the table in front of me. Strangely, I no longer felt any compulsion to pick it up.

"I don't want that thing anymore," I told him. "You can keep it if you want."

"I have a better idea," he replied.

He shot a glance at the crucible and his eyes flashed with pure, blinding light for just an instant. The pearl vanished in a small explosion of blue flame and the gold chain melted instantly in the crucible! A wisp of acrid black smoke rose from the remains and quickly dissipated.

At that moment, I heard a voice outside the shop cry out in anguish! I turned to look just in time to see part of a black jacket with red pinstripes disappear into the dense fog.

"Was that .. ?" I began and trailed off, unsure how to finish such a strange question.

"It was," the old shopkeeper nodded, "and you don't have to worry about him anymore. If he bothers you again, you can just tell him God, your father, says 'leave me alone' and that will be that."

With that, he closed the Bible he had been using and handed it to me.

"Keep this. Read it, and each time you do, ask God to open your eyes and heart to what it is saying. The Holy Spirit will be with you and guide you in all its wisdom and understanding. Oh, and .. "

He paused again and reached into the molten crucible with his bear hand. I started to protest, thinking he'd burn his poor old finger off, but that didn't happen. Instead, he drew out a new golden chain, far more radiant than the last. At the end, where the pearl had been, was a beautiful golden cross.

"This is your new burden, son," he said. "I think you'll find it much easier and lighter to bear than the old one."

He placed it over my head and around my neck. He was right. In some way, it actually felt lighter than my bare neck. I found I had more strength and freedom than ever before - even before my encounter with the devil.

I thanked the old man and he held his arms around me for a moment. "Who the Son sets free shall be free, indeed," he said. "Now go .. tell everyone who will listen what you have learned. Many don't even know they're lost and in need of the salvation you found here today."

"I will .. as best I can. But .. will I ever see you again, sir?" I asked.

"Of that, you can be sure, son," he answered. "You won't always see me, but I'm always there .. " he pointed his finger at my chest, pressing the small gold cross gently against it " .. inside your heart."

With that, I found myself back out on the damp street as though I'd been there the whole time. I looked back, but the small shop was gone. Only an empty space remained with a sign on the window advertising it as "for rent." 

I grinned and whispered to myself, "yeah .. of course."

Still, I was free. The golden cross and my new Bible were still with me as I walked on, ready to bring light to a world shrouded in the night.