Heart Shaped Lockets

Colin stared at the clock on the wall in a trance, the raging chorus of customers voices and chatter that filled the walls of a small, single roomed Burger World began to blur and came to an almost deafening silence. Tick. Tick. Tick. He instinctively clutched the heart shaped locket dangling freely from around his neck and emanated a faint glow as blue as the sky. It hummed and vibrated at a low frequency as a wave of anxiety and fear washed over Colin, for he knew his time was running out. The rhythmic beating of the clocks hands hammered against his ear drums, growing louder with each tick. A hand grabbed his shoulder, pulling him back to reality.

Startled, he turned his gaze to meet a friendly, yet concerned look from his coworker, Dustin.

"Are you doing okay, Mr Chosen one?" Dustin joked, taking his hand away to brush his greasy, unkempt hair out of his face.

"Uh? Oh, yeah..." Colin trailed off "I just... Why me?"

Dustin looked confused at Colin for a moment and then shrugged.

"I dunno man, maybe they thought you were special or something" he joked giving Colin a slight shove, "but you know that the selection is random, it's always been that way."

"I know, it's supposed to be considered an honor or whatever, but I hate the idea of losing my soul" Colin replied. Dustin frowned and sighed

"Dude, it's shit. But think of it this way, eventually we'll all lose them some way, sooner or later, and we don't know where they go. But this way we know for sure they're getting put to a use, besides, at least you'll still be alive this way." Colin frowned back at Dustin after hearing what he'd said. "It's gonna help a lot of people, it's a whole year of energy, and that powers the whole country!" Colin sighed and glanced at the heart shaped locket around Dustin's neck resting against his chest. It, too had a very faint glow around it.

"Then why don't you give yours up?" Colin huffed.

"You know it doesn't work that way, man. Believe me, I'd be honored to take your place if I could." Dustin replied calmly. Colin looked down at the register hopelessly and didn't say anything. "What time are they coming to get you?" Dustin asked to try and break the silence.

"Any minute now..." Colin murmured as his gaze caught a black limousine pull up in the carpark outside of Burger World.

The back door to the limousine swung open with enough force to let out a loud crack that commanded silence from the surrounding area. Customers and employees alike looked on with anticipation while a man stepped out, wearing all black with the exception of a silver, heart shaped locket that sat on the outside of his suit. The locket, unlike everyone else's didn't glow in the slightest. His eyes carried heavy bags underneath them and had a foul look to them, as though they had all of the colour and light sucked out of them. He stood there with the door open, staring directly at Colin through the window, not moving a muscle as the wind howled through his short, brown hair.

"Dude! It's a husk! I've never seen one in person before!" Dustin exclaimed with a sudden surge of energy before he noticed Colin and the husk staring daggers at one another. "I mean... Looks like your future awaits you. He gestured to the limousine sitting in the car park. Colin moved out from behind the counter and showed Dustin his middle finger as he paced towards the glass panelled doors.

Colin shot the husk a stern look of hatred and disgust before crouching and entering the open door of the limousine.

"It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Mr Furbanks." Collin looked up to see a man dressed in a crimson red suit with a white undershirt and black tie. His hair sat, parted to the side, darkened an unnatural brown with copious amounts of hair gel applied to it. His steely blue eyes calmly watched Colin sit across watching him cautiously.

"Yeah..." Collin groaned as the husk got into the back with them and the limousine began to move, "I didn't think the great, important, president of Soul Energy, William Colter, made personal trips."

"Ah, I do when it's business, and right now you're the most important person on my schedule." William stated calmly "care for a drink? I love a good whiskey." He held an intricately designed crystal decanter and swirled the water of life around gently.

"I don't drink" Colin stated.

"Most 21 year olds would jump at the idea of free alcohol, colour me impressed." William smirked putting the decanter down. "I'm sure you must have a lot of questions on your mind. Well, I'm all ears."

"Why don't you have a locket?" Colin sharply asked pointing to William's chest, "If everyone has to wear one, then why don't you? They hold our souls and are what you use to turn souls into energy. What makes you so special?" The husk, Colin and William were knocked and jolted in a reaction to the limousine swerving.

"Never hire a husk to be your chauffeur" William chuckled, "I'm afraid the locket would be nothing more than jewelry to me. These lockets don't work on a soulless demon." Colin's straight face broke and he laughed.

"I never thought I'd hear a business man admit something like that." He continued laughing. William closed his eyes slowly and opened them back up revealing two void black orbs in their place. Colin's expression quickly fell, turning to one of sheer dread and shock. Terror and sickness welled up inside him at the unnatural look on William's face. "Why would you reveal something like this to me?"

"Because I think that's what you wanted the most right now, an explanation. You're not the first person who's wanted to keep their soul." William stated turning his eyes to their steely hue in a blink. "This isn't something I'd normally admit, but I feel I owe it to you since you're about to become a husk." Colin's expression contorted to anger. "Oh come now, don't get upset. Yes, you will lose all your emotions and free will, but it's painless and you will live."

"What does any of this have to do with energy?" Colin sneered

"It doesn't. The more souls I have, the more power I have as a demon. I do, however give this country a full year's worth of power in exchange."

Colin sat in silence while he nervously held onto his locket. His whole world came crashing down around him, everything he had been raised on was a lie. Did this demon really only take one soul a year? Questions stormed in his mind until William cleared his throat and held out his hand indicating for Colin to give his locket to him. For a moment he hesitated and considered his options until ultimately deciding to accept his fate.

Just as he started to hand his locket over, a howling screech of tires accompanied the body of the limousine to shake and roll, thrashing it's inhabitants around.

William's sight flickered while he looked in around the cabin to see his husk and one of the doors flung open. He knew immediately that Colin had escaped. A smile began to creep across William's face "No one can hide from me forever, your soul will be mine, Colin Furbanks."