Pierre, a seemingly normal resident of Paris, doesn’t sleep well. In his dreams he is tormented by images of death, the grave, his rotting corpse with worms coming out of his eye sockets, and the macabre voice of Death laughing eternally.
His psychiatrist prescribes him a variety of psychotropic drugs but to no avail. His friends try to comfort him but Pierre has been without sleep for several weeks now, his beard has grown significantly, his odor is remarkably unpleasant, and people on the streets look at him with disgust. Several homeless people have started greeting him as their own and Pierre has even considered calling his mother with whom he lost touch years ago; creative differences. He wanders the street at night and despite being irreligious he goes to confession thinking perhaps this recent disaster is an affliction caused by God.
Then, one night a seductive young woman rings the doorbell to his apartment. “Greetings Pierre, you must be surprised to receive a visitor at this late hour but I am your salvation,” she says. Pierre, not amused, irritated due to sleep deprivation, thinks all of this is a joke, a further provocation and instinctively slams the door in her face then reconsiders.
“Are you for real?” he asks.
“Yes,” the woman replies.
“Then by all means come in and excuse me for the mess.”
The woman enters, picks up the trash from the sofa and sits herself down.
“Pierre, you have been chosen. I’m an emissary from the realm of the Vacqueyras. Your recent troubles are not a punishment from God but a test of your determination and endurance. Congratulations, you have passed the test.”
Pierre, flustered by all this sighs a breath of release. “Finally some answers,” he thinks to himself.
“You have an opportunity to become immortal. For this you have to leave everything you know behind. You can never return nor contact friends or relatives ever again so our society can remain a secret. Only death waits for you in this realm. But if you follow me this night you can escape this certainty. That is the deal, that is the bargain.”
To be continued.