“Hold on babe, I’ve just gotta run by the ATM before we pay,” I said. “You can’t just use the card, Jess?” Alexander asked me exasperatedly. “The card machine said it was out of order when we walked in,” I told him. “Okay, fine. I’ll be over here looking at these wallets while you go,” he replied.

As I walked down stairs to the designated area for the ATM machine, I noticed the red glow pulsating slowly. When my feet left the bottom step into the dark grey carpet, I felt like I’d left the planet all together. The red light clashed with the white tile on the walls and it felt like I was in a hot box.

Surely the lights aren’t heated… I felt the need to run, go back up into the store and tell Alexander we weren’t buying a damn thing today, but he was already stressed with us relocating for his new job. He was being promoted in the firm and needed a few nicer items for his wardrobe. He’d tell me I was being silly and if I hadn’t wanted to come I should’ve stayed home.

I took a deep breath and started moving forward. I fumbled around in my purse for my wallet. In the muted red light, I managed to find my debit card.

I inserted it with intentions of withdrawing $200. The screen lit up with green letters:

—> withdrawal? —> deposit? —> check balance?

I pressed the button by withdrawal.

—> amount?

The machine questioned as it hummed lightly. I manually put the $200 amount in. I expected it to just give me my money when it did something… peculiar.

—> What will you give me in return?

“What?,” I muttered to myself. I tried to cancel the transaction but this machine just was not giving me my card back. I feel like I pressed every button and it still asked:

—> What will you give me in return?

I banged my fist against the screen. I felt like I was having a bad dream. This was, needless to say, the weirdest thing I’d ever experienced, and one of the most upsetting. How could I give this stupid machine anything? Why was it even asking me this?

“WHAT DO YOU WANT?” I shouted. “Just your soul,” said a airy voice. I looked around frantically and saw no one. “For $200?” I said incredulously. Not that I was going to give whatever the hell this was my soul anyway, but surely it was worth more than $200. “For any amount of money, or anything else you want” it replied.

“No. No, I can’t do that,” I said. “Really? Are you sure?,” it asked. “Yes. I’d like to keep my soul, thank you,” I told it. “Very well then,” it said, while promptly returning my debit card. I quickly grabbed it with shaky hands and ran as fast as I could back up the stairs.

I nearly plowed Alexander down when I reached the top. “Jeez, Jess. Are you alright?,” he asked. “I- I think so,” I told him. I was drenched in sweat so badly my hair was wet. “What happened. I was looking at wallets and before I realized it an hour had passed,” he said. “The ATM is broken. It was so hot down there. I didn’t want to come back without money but it wouldn’t give me my card back for awhile…,” I trailed off.

“Don’t worry, Jess. I’ll get them to hold the clothes and we’ll go down to the bank drive through, okay?” he assured me. It seemed like he was a million miles away. I nodded weakly and let him walk me to the car. The cool air outside gave me a chill.

“Are you sure nothing else happened?,” he questioned. “Yeah, it was just so hot. I think maybe I got a little dehydrated,” I said with a faint smile. Alexander got the money then ran me through the drive through for a drink.

While he went inside to pay for his clothes, I sat in the car wondering what the hell had just happened to me. Had a ATM really asked me for my soul? Either way I knew I could never tell Alexander. He’d think I was crazy. He was one of those people that didn’t believe anything he didn’t see with his own eyes.

It’s been about a year and the thought of my experience still makes me uncomfortable. I don’t even like going to that store anymore, and I haven’t until just recently. What was strange when I went in is that there wasn’t even a stairwell there, no signs that there was an ATM, and that none of the staff even knew what I was talking about when I asked what happened to the ATM room downstairs.

After that day, I became very confused. I’d definitely not imagined what I went through, but now even on the ride home when asking Alexander he seems confused.

“So you don’t remember me going to the ATM that day at all?,” I questioned. “I remember us realizing the card machine was broken, going to the bank, then going by Sonic and getting you a cherry limeade slush, and that’s all,” he replied. “That’s not what I remember,” I said feebly. “You weren’t really feeling well that day, Jess, remember? Maybe that’s all it was,” he said. “Maybe…” I grumbled. Ultimately I decided to let it go.

I couldn’t convince anyone else that something happened, but I KNEW that it did. I would often dream of descending the stairs towards that repressed, red glow. I’d hear that airy voice asking over and over, “What will you give me in return?” Then I’d awake soaking wet with sweat, just like the day I escaped The Devil’s ATM. I learned later that’s what I encountered.

A few more years passed and I stopped thinking about my experience with the ATM so much. The dreams even lessened. Alexander and I got married, and then on my twenty seventh birthday I found out I was pregnant with our first child. We were ecstatic.

Alexander had been making enough money for me not to work for years, but I’d enjoyed my job as a librarian so I continued working there. “When the baby comes, you could stay home if you wanted. I know you love your job, and of course it’s totally up to you, but it’s just an idea,” he told me one night over dinner. “I think I’d like that,” I replied with a soft smile.

Months went by and we found out we’d have a little girl. She would be Lila Claire Rollins, and we started getting everything ready for her arrival. Everything was going so well… until it wasn’t.

I was due for my six month checkup and had to take myself that day, which was no big deal. Alexander hadn’t been able to come due to this meeting with international clients that couldn’t be rescheduled. I got home and decided I’d work on the nursery a bit. Before I realized hours had passed and Alexander should’ve been home.

I called his phone and got no answer. I called two more times, beginning to worry when finally an unfamiliar voice answered. “Hello? Mrs. Rollins?,” he questioned. “Yes? Who is this? Why do you have my husband’s phone?,” I questioned. “This is Officer Jackson Gladstone. I’m here at Perry Medical Center with your husband. Mrs. Rollins, I’m sorry to say this but your husband has been in a serious car accident. He’s still alive, but he’s critical,” I heard him say.

The tears began falling from my eyes freely. “I’m on my way,” I managed to choke out. I tried my best to calm myself before getting into the car, but it wasn’t much use. This couldn’t be happening. He had to make it. I loved him and we were about to have a baby. I couldn’t imagine going on without him.

I made it to the hospital and went in to wait. Alexander was in surgery at the moment. It seemed like I sat there for an eternity before the doctor came to talk to me. I was understandably very upset but managed to get “brain damage,” “collapsed lungs,” and “ventilator,” out of everything he was saying.

“Is he going to be alright?,” I sobbed. “Mrs. Rollins I’m very sorry we did everything we could, but the only thing keeping your husband alive at this point is the machines,” he replied.

I was taken to his room and sat there thinking this couldn’t be real. I cried hysterical, deep sobs that wracked my entire body. It was that moment, clear as a bell, I could see the bright green letters in my mind, reading:

—> Would you like to make a withdrawal?

I wiped my face, then rose from the chair. My feet knew where I needed to go. I went out of the room, down the hall to the last door on the right. “ATM,” a sign read above the door. The familiar feeling of trepidation washed over me.

I turned the handle and carefully made my way down the steps. When I reached the bottom it was as exactly like I remembered. The red glow radiating off the white tile, the dark grey carpet, and there sat the ATM in the right hand corner.

I felt Lila begin to kick frantically. Before it had only been little flutters and light kicks. I rubbed my belly, trying to calm her somehow. I felt like I was going to be sick, between the furious kicks and the heat. There was no time for that now, I had to save Alexander.

This time the machine needed no prompting. The words were there when I reached it.

—> Would you like to make a withdrawal?

• Yes
• No

My hands shook as I pressed Yes. The airy voice whispered, “I knew you’d come back. They always do.” “I- I need to save my husband,” I told it. “Why? Because you’re with child?,” it asked. This irritated me deeply for some reason. “Because I love him and sure, maybe I want him to live to see and be here for his child,” I replied. “Is he worth your soul?,” it asked.

“I guess… that’s why I’m here. Wherever this is,” I said feebly. “This is The Devil’s ATM. He’s acquired many souls with this machine,” it replied. I didn’t know how to reply to that, so I stood waiting. “I could take something else,” it finally said. “Like what?,” I asked it. “Perhaps your husband doesn’t need a soul,” it said. “I think he does. He shouldn’t suffer for my choice,” I told it.

“Hmm. I figured as much. There is one more option but I’m not allowed to tell you the terms. What I can tell you, is that it is the one my master most would like you to take. You take the third deal and your husband will be healed to full health,” the voice told me. “And how can I accept that?,” I asked. “Just know you and your husband both will keep your souls, no one has to die for this deal, and no harm will be done to either of you,” it replied. I contemplated what could possibly go wrong here. So many things I was sure, but I was desperate and honestly still wanted to keep my soul.

“Okay, I’ll take the third deal,” I told it. “My master is most pleased, Jessica Rollins. Please place your hand on the screen,” it said. As I put my hand on the screen something reached out of it, grabbed me by the wrist and promptly cut the palm of my hand. “Ouch!” I screamed. “The deal is complete,” it told me as the screen faded to black.

Next thing I knew I was waking up next to my husband’s hospital bed. “What the…” I trailed off. Had I dreamt it all? The scar I noticed across the palm of my hand confirmed that I had not. Within the next twenty four hours, Alexander began to heal.

The doctors were confounded. They said there was no possible way he could’ve come back from the injuries he sustained and yet here he was. He was a living miracle. No one knew what I’d done, and I intended to keep it that way.

Within two weeks I was taking Alexander home from the hospital. Doctors were still baffled, but what they didn’t know wouldn’t hurt them. Alexander took two more weeks off before returning back to work, and life went on like normal.

On the night of September thirtieth, I went into labor. Alexander drove us to the hospital and labor went surprisingly fast for Lila being my first. It’s when I pushed the final push that I realized what was taken.

They placed Lila on my chest. She didn’t cry, or even whimper. She only looked at me with her dark, cold eyes. My own child terrified me. I wanted to scream, to push her away from me. Instead I did my best to put my arms around my newborn daughter. My daughter, who had no soul.

Part 2

(https://www.reddit.com/r/nosleep/comments/10tsf1j/the_devils_atm_part_2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf)