I walk towards the bridge overlooking the vibrant and humming city below. This spot has become my place of comfort where I come to think and feel when things weigh heavy on me. As I approach, I find a strange man already in my spot, illuminated by the warm street lamp above and the moonlight glimmering in the night sky.

I stand next to him, placing my arms over the railing of the bridge. We stand in silence for several heartbeats until he glances over at me and asks in a deep voice dripping with amusement, “Are you here to make a deal with the devil?”

I snap my head towards him and bite back, “And why do you feel that I would need to make such a deal?”

“People seem to find me, one way or another, when they are in their most desperate need for a saviour,” he responds. I was shocked. Could he sense the turmoil and despair leeching out from me?

“They don’t seem to like it when the deepest, darkest facets of themselves are held up to them like a mirror,” he continues. “They don’t want to confront the parts of themselves that would make them run, fast in the opposite direction were they forced to confront it. And they despise it even more when they meet the person that will challenge them with the truths they avoid like the plague.”

Was there a point to this lecture I was forced to endure. The last thing I wanted tonight was to be stuck shouldering someone else’s problems when I was utterly destroyed by my own.

“It’s not easy,” I hear him say, “to see that same hate-filled expression that you wear, directed at me, on the face of every person I have the pleasure of speaking with.”

“Have you ever considered that maybe you’re the problem and an attitude adjustment would fix it right up?” I can’t help the sarcasm that spills out at this man’s self-loathing.

“See that’s where you’re wrong my dear Serafina. It’s not me that they can’t face, but the darkness and flaws within themselves.” I freeze at his mention of my name. How does he know who I am? My name isn’t so common that he could guess it by coincidence. His lips curve up into a devastatingly beautiful smile. “Oh yes, I know who you are, and I know what weighs on you this evening.”

This man really could have been the devil. The arrogance, the smugness and the horrifying yet undeniable charm. Was I really falling into his trap?

His smile falters, “It’s not meant to be a trap.”

“It’s a lonely cause, bestowing people with their truths. But there cannot be light without the darkness. If there is no bad, there is also no chance for the good. Love, for oneself and for others, stands no chance if we refuse to embrace both.”

Before I have a chance to process his words, he takes a long, strained breath and walks away, disappearing into the shadows. Then, I’m left on my own again staring out into my city, wondering where it all went wrong.