The Devil in a Shop Window

by Kevin Lawver

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Lazaro stumbled to his feet and started walking, holding the four dollar bills crumpled in his fist. He walked a few steps then caught a glimpse of himself in a store window – and stopped cold. He had a cut on his forehead he hadn’t noticed in his drunken stupor. He had wiped the blood all over his face, mixing it with street dust, turning his face black.

He was an alien, unrecognizable to himself. His eyes widened and the haze he’d been in fell away. “What am I doing?”, he thought. He stood there for what felt like years, staring at his broken and unfamiliar face, tears forming in his red eyes, falling, cutting ribbons in his mask.

Lazaro collapsed to the sidewalk in a heap. He sobbed uncontrollably: huge wracking convulsions of grief, guilt and self-hate. He was trapped between the man he wanted to be and his demons. The demons had won half his paycheck. Would they win the other?

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Comments

Average Reader Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

  1. The Devil in a Shop Window

    Kevin Lawver's Buddy Icon Kevin Lawver

    Posted about 1 year ago

    I’m not sure how I feel about this one… but Yoda’s original was just begging for a sequel.

  2. The Devil in a Shop Window

    Saint Chuck's Buddy Icon Saint Chuck

    Posted about 1 year ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Great work, this is an awesome sequel, full of emotions.

  3. The Devil in a Shop Window

    YodaOnCrack's Buddy Icon YodaOnCrack

    Posted about 1 year ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I’m glad you wrote a sequel to this – wasn’t sure where to go with it, but love the direction you took. Great work, Kevin!

  4. The Devil in a Shop Window

    T.F. Torrey's Buddy Icon T.F. Torrey

    Posted about 1 year ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Very nice. I love the line of “tears … cutting ribbons in his mask.”

    It could be interesting to build two sequel paths from here, one where the demons win, and one where they don’t.

  5. The Devil in a Shop Window

    Laine the Grey's Buddy Icon Laine the Grey

    Posted about 1 year ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    Absolutely brilliant. The sheer genius of this is amazing.

  6. The Devil in a Shop Window

    Storykeeper of Fae's Buddy Icon Storykeeper of Fae

    Posted about 1 year ago

    5.0 out of 5 stars

    I like the confrontation of man and emotion. The inner battle between good and evil. Wonderful work.

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