Shaking Ruth: Prologue
He gave it up because he was convinced there was nothing to take. When Steven was 14 he sold his soul to his high school friend for ten bucks because he didn’t believe in it and he needed the ten bucks. Perry was gullible and would believe in such superstition. So Perry could have it.
They even made up a phony contract in which Steven initialed not once, not twice, but thrice, surrendering his soul to Perry for all of eternity. In chance of the owner’s passing, they reached an agreement where the soul would then be stuck in an unaddressed envelope, sealed and then dropped in a random mail vessel.
It never got that far.
A curious feeling clouded over Steven that day, mere hours after he signed the contract, he felt like someone was holding onto his heart and turning it over with invisible hands. In the hall fellow students would occasionally greet him with, "Hey Steven," but Steven couldn’t answer because the greetings were never heard.
Perry hounded after him all day long, taunting him with the contract he waved in his hands,
"Wassa matta, no soul," he screeched and Steven could only hop and try to swipe it, but he was never fast enough. Perry would let out an evil laugh and shove it back in his back pocket, but first making a production of the violent crumpling of the paper, which would make Steven cringe to no end.
Steven finally caught up to Perry in 5th period and caught Perry unawares in the library. Perry’s head was facedown on an open book about King Tut and a wet spot had stained the many illustrated treasures from his drooling mouth. Perry was fast asleep.
He calculated two quick moves in his head- one shove would send Perry face down to the rug and the second move would have to be quick- the thrust of his own hand, burrowing down into Perry’s back pocket and ripping his soul out from Perry’s ass. The advantage was his because it would take Perry approximately five seconds to realize what sent him to the rug, plus the pain factor would be an extra distraction. By the time he would come to his senses, Steven would be well on his way to swallowing the contract.
The bell rang and Steven’s plan was thwarted. Perry woke up and slowly lifted his head. Steven panicked and threw an arm around his neck, chokeholding him. Perry sputtered and tried to free himself from Steven’s grip. Steven ignored the thrashing and concentrated on reaching Perry’s back pocket. A male librarian ran over and grabbed Steven around his midsection, pulling him back, but that just made Perry’s choking intensify.
Students were yelling and cheering them on.
Steven got hold of the crumpled paper and he finally let go of Perry, his arm springing back and elbowing the librarian in the nose. The librarian jogged away to deal with the injury while Steven made a dash for the door. Mr. Hall was waiting for him like an Imperial Guard- he was the gym teacher and loved to slam students on the mat. Steven got a rush of adrenaline and almost jumped over him, the bottom of his sneakers clipping the exasperated mouth of Mr. Hall.
From there it was a cartwheel roll to freedom and no one could stop him, certainly not Perry, who was coughing into the rug.
A mile from school Steven settled on the side of an irrigation ditch. He folded the paper neatly and contemplated the task at hand. He would’ve liked to have ripped the contract into smaller pieces, but the thought of it scared him, so instead he swished it around in his mouth and tried to moisten it up. The wad tasted terrible, but he managed to swallow it in three gulps- the second gulp leaving it temporarily lodged and the third pulling the trap door from under it.
He was whole again.
Perry eventually managed to forgive Steven’s violent rebuttal, but only after Steven gave back the ten bucks.
7 years later and he found the offer was on the table again. The stakes were much higher. The funny thing was, Perry was the one that convinced him to put it up. To a drag queen named Ruth.
He was so confident then.