[ WP ] '' Death extends his hand , smiling , “ Deal ? ” ''

`` Daddy, daddy, look what I drew!'' Charlie was running down the stairs with a paper in her hands. 
 
 `` Be careful honey, do n't run down the stairs too fast and do n't jump from the last two, its dangerous.'' I scolded her and she slowed down. 
 
 `` Look daddy, its a picture of me, mommy and you at the barbecue last week. Is n't it nice?'' She asked with glitter in her eyes as she jumped down the last two steps anyway. 
 
 I let go of the Sunday paper's sports section with a sigh and glanced at the crudely drawn picture of our family with colouring going over the lines and people varying from 4 feet to 7 feet tall. 
 
 `` Looks great baby, I love the colours you used. It's very colourful.'' I heard myself mutter as I was thinking of where I stopped the article I was reading. She smiled and went to show it to mommy and as soon I started reading the sports section again. 
 
 After lunch, I would usually take a nap, to help with the digestion. Charlie came to the couch and asked if I wanted to go to the park with her. I never wanted to do that and always made sure to be busy or asked my wife to do so. I liked my relaxing time. 
 
 `` Daddy, do you wan na go to the park today?'' She pleaded with the puppy eyes she always gave me. 
 
 `` Oh honey, not today. I think not. Daddy is tired, he needs to rest.'' I told her and yawned. 
 
 `` But you never want to go, that's not fair...'' Charlie said and went to sit in the middle of the living room with her book. 
 
 `` She is right you know? You never want to do things with her.'' I heard the raspy voice of my wife scold me from the kitchen. `` What kind of father are you?... She asks you every week and you are too lazy to get off your butt and spend some time with your daughter, she needs a father figure in her life! Ca n't believe I am married to you, jeez.'' 
 
 And here we go again, her winning and demanding, it gets on the nerves so much. 
 
 `` I do n't know what you are talking about. I do activities with her, and I also provide for the house! I can not split in three to be with her, you and work. I need some rest sometimes god damn it!'' I snapped at her. It was the third time this week she started it and I finally snapped. 
 
 `` Oh right, because you are so busy, laying there on the couch reading your paper. When was the last time you went our with Charlie uh?! Tell me! That's right, you do n't even remember because you never did! Why did we have a child if you cant even take the time to be with her, forget about me...'' 
 
 As my wife continued on her path of breaking our marriage, I saw Charlie with the corner of my eye leaving to go upstairs with hands covering her ears... 
 
 Another month passed and the same thing happened again and again. The wife was already agitated this morning, so I did not take my chances and left off with Charlie right after lunch. We were walking down the street to the park and she was running back and forth on the side-walk, jumping on the street sometimes. 
 
 `` Do n't jump on the street Charlie, there are cars you know.'' I said to her in a stern voice. I really did n't want to be here, I wanted to be on my couch, reading on why our team lost the finals, those damn suckers... But this was much better than arguing with my wife. 
 
 From behind me a heard a screech of tires and a car zoomed passed me at full speed. All I had time to see was Charlie running backwards and from me, laughing and jumping into the street, when I told her not to and then `` bump!''. A thick and silent thud sound came from 15 feet in front of me. The car never stopped but Ill always remember Charlie rolling like a tumbleweed for a couple of seconds and stopping in the middle of the street. My life seemed to have stopped at that moment. All I heard was silence and all I saw was Charlie, nothing else. 
 
 People started to crowd around us as I held Charlie in my arms, blood dripping from her lifeless body on the pavement. I screamed, I screamed at them and cursed them all. I screamed not to come near us, to let us be, to leave us! Even when the EMT's came, I did not want them to touch my baby. All I remember thinking at that time was that I would give anything for her to be alive, anything to spend more time with her and to get to know her. Anything... 
 
 I thought to myself that I'd give my own life right here and right now for Charlie to smile at me again and that's when I heard it in my head. A shadowy voice, agreed with me. I saw a flash of a **hand being extended** to me, a **flash of a smile** looking at me from the depth of darkness. It was all in my head I thought, it could not be, and then the voice repeated again: **'' Deal?'' **. `` Deal'' I thought to myself. 
 
 Finally my dazed state started to clear and I saw what has happened. Charlie was crying in my arms and the EMT's were trying to take her away from me. I said ill do it myself and took her to the ambulance in my arms. She was alive... 
 
 Over her stay at the hospital, I took a vacation from my job, I was determined to be a better dad than I was in the past 5 years. When Charlie got better, we took a trip to her favourite park and went on her favourite rides there. We read books together and had picnics and tea all the time. I put her to bed and stayed with her until she fell asleep and I woke her up in the morning to play with her. Never in my life did I have so much fun and connected with my daughter and wife. My wife even surprised me with sex after all those years. These were the times I would remember. 
 
 A week has gone by and I put Charlie to bed and went to sleep with the happy wife. But for some reason, I could not fall asleep, something in the back of my mind was bothering me, a promise I made. It was 2am as I went to the kitchen to have a glass of water, people said it helped to sleep. 
 
 As I approached the sink, a dark figure was standing there, holding one of our cups full of water. Tonight was the night to repay my due. 
 
 `` No, no, not today, its too early. It's only been a week, the best week of my life. You ca n't do this now to me.'' I whispered to it. 
 
 Blue eyes flashed from the figure's face and a voice in my head spoke to me. `` It is time mortal, a promise has been made, a deal has been struck. Drink and come with me or I will have the take Charlie's life back.'' 
 
 The next morning Charlie woke up alone, with no one to greet her with a smile and a candy that her mom strongly disapproved of. Charlie laid in bed and waited for the amazing adventure her dad would have with her today. Looking at the ceiling, she waited with a smile on her face... 
 
 *EDIT: Typos, my bad, wrote it on break. *
