Dream Girl

Prompt: He was stunned – the stranger in front of him looked exactly like the girl he’d been dreaming about.

Roger tossed and turned. In his dream the woman smiled at him, twisted sinuously around him in a seductive dance. She whirled away and then vanished in a puff of smoke. He called to her but she was gone, leaving him filled with longing.

He woke up with a start, staring around wildly as his heart rate began to slow. He was alone in his room, the same as always. With a curse at his own foolishness, he got up and prepared to start his day.

“It’s a little different every time,” he told his friend Ben, “I mean, we meet in different ways and the details change, but it’s always the same woman.”

Ben eyed him for a minute. “This must be some chick to get you so worked up.”

“Yeah, she really is.”

“So don’t leave me hanging, man. What does she look like?”

“She’s tall, but not too tall,” Roger said in a dreamy voice. “Legs up to here and a perfect figure. Long dark hair and eyes you can see the universe in.”

Ben rolled his eyes, but had to ask, “And you have no idea who this chick is?”

“No,” Roger said with a sigh. “But I’d sell my soul to find out.”

The work day seemed to drag on, as was usual in the accounting firm Roger worked for. The end of the day finally came and Roger fought the traffic all the way to his condo.

There was a message on the answering machine from his mother, reminding him of his father’s upcoming 65th birthday party on the weekend. The other two calls were hang-ups, probably telemarketers, he reflected as he fixed himself his habitual after dinner drink.

“What a life,” he mused, as he loosened his tie and make himself comfortable on the couch. “Work, home, the occasional date, and twice a month dinners with the parents.”

The only highlight was the dreams he was having lately. He raised his glass high. “Here’s to you, sweetheart, whoever you are.”

He was working on his second drink when there was a knock on the door. Roger answered the door and just stood there. He was stunned – the stranger in front of him looked exactly like the girl he’d been dreaming about. No, not girl, she was all woman.

“Well, are you just going to stand there staring, or are you going to let me in, Roger?” she asked in a voice that sent a shiver through him.

It never occurred to him to wonder how she knew who he was as he stood back to let her in.

“Who—what—how—” He couldn’t seem to get a coherent sentence out.

“You did say something about selling your soul to meet me, didn’t you?”

He nodded mutely.

“Well, I have your contract right here,” she said, handing him a rolled parchment that seemed to appear out of thin air. Her eyes began to glow red as he eagerly took the pen from her.