a man, perpetually unfortunate, saw himself near his end.
he'd recently lost his job, owes his landlord 3 months rent, and his past 3 days has been without electricity or running water.
no friends, no family, just the confines of his 1 room apartment. and in this dead of night, he doesn't hear a sound, nor smell the stench of his dirty laundry and rotting food, nor see further than the tip of his nose.
his only reality is the cold bite of floorboards on which he now sits; his only chair broken over a television that refused to turn on without power.
suddenly through the black, came a voice that seemed to pierce reality, and it called him, "edward."
the shrivelled up shell of a man looks up into the darkness and squints, so tired that he could only afford to be puzzled as to how someone could enter his windowless hole, with him propped up against its only exit, "wh..who's there?"
"your future. now place your mark upon this parchment, and for 50 years you shall be given a life beyond your wildest dreams."
and out from the darkness emerged a scroll, accompained by a feathered quill, its tip already coated in ink.
"and for this perfect life, i pay with my soul?"
the scroll unravels itself and the quill floats into his hand, "what else?"
edward closed his eyes and committed himself.
but when they were opened, he was met by riches truly beyond the scope of his desire. all that he had dreamed he could possess was within reach of his reguvenated person.
and with his earthly excesses, returned a confidence he had lost as a child, and it wasn't long before he would perchance to meet his only true love.
she was strong, confident and beautiful. but most of all, she loved him. and he, her.
true to the agreement, they would live in blessed matrimony for another 50 years. but when he was 87, and she 81, he would finally succumb to nature; his heart had simply stopped.
she was at his side when he breathed his last, and it was into each other's eyes they had gazed before his would close forever. "i love you" the last thing he would say, and the last thing he would hear her say. the gentleness of her hand on his, the final reality he would experience.
and as his soul pulled away into the darkness of the abyss, he would hear a familiar voice call his name.
"edward."
the voice came up alongside him and he could do naught but pour out what was left of his soul to the stranger who bore him aid, as he gazed upon the fading image of his love left behind.
"you fool. you could have loved her for an eternity. but you chose to love her only 50 years."
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was told this story today, and the original is supposedly written by a Nicky Mui.
