There was pain, then a strange feeling of floating and suddenly, nothing. I have to admit I was terrified. I saw myself floating above my body, above the warehouse. Higher and higher, and I saw it. That thing, horrible and mangled it was an… it looked like a human but much harrier, a monkey. And its right paw was gone. If I were alive I would have gasped audibly, but as I no longer had any lunges to breath I just stood… floated their petrified. Behind it a very old man sat and stared at me.
“Was it you who used my monkeys paw? No. It couldn’t have been you unless…did you wish to die painfully in a water mill?” His voice was much younger then he looked, like a bored child.
“N-no” I stuttered confused.
“Yes, I thought not. Well then who was it? And what part did you play in it?”
So I began to tell the story of how the Sergeant had come to our house and of how scared he was of the paw going so far as to throw it on the fire insisting that it lay there and burn, (at this the monkey bared its teeth and hissed). I told of how I had grabbed it off the fire saying that if the sergeant didn’t want it, we could have it. (This made the old man roll his eyes.) I continued to talk about the rest of the night how I had urged my father to try it, asking him what harm could come of wishing, (had I only know…). The old man listened carefully nodding his head never once blinking. When I finished speaking he said, much to cheerily,
“Well that explains it all. Had you not insisted on keeping the paw it would not have turned against you because your father would never had made the wish!” he gave a little clap and the monkey hopped around as if its accursed paw hadn’t hurt any one!
“What would have happened had it been my mother or father who had insisted on keeping it?’ I asked slightly hurt but mostly morbidly curious.
“That’s the best thing about the paw!” he said gleefully, “ You may still have died! You see paw is designed to make it look like pure coincidence. Say your family hadn’t have taken the paw you may still have died. The paw just assures that you will get what you want.”
This made my now nonexistent heart pause. I looked up at the man, “I was supposed to die today?” I prayed it wasn’t true.
“No Idea!!!” he replied as the monkey clapped and screeched.
I glared at him “You monster! You just like to mess with peoples lives!”
“I don’t mess with peoples lives I just show them that sometimes what they think they want is nothing like the thing they truly want.”
I didn’t care at this poirnt, I was tired. I had no idea as to how much time had passed and more then anything I wanted to go home. The longing overwhelmed me to the point I felt my body begin to sink lower until I had slipped beneath the ground and back in to a feeling of solidness. My eyes opened and I was enveloped in darkness.  I knew I had to get out of the darkness and the only way to that was to push up. Up. Up! UP! I felt the surface above me give way and I stepped out of the ground and out into the cold winter night. The wind whipped around me, making all of my open wounds sting. Slowly I walked down the street toward the house I had grown up in. I opened gate, it squeaked unpleasantly and I winced as the high pitch sound hit my eardrum. I got to the door and paused looking down at my self. I saw that my good suit had been stained by newly reopened wounds.
I lifted my mangled hand to knock the on the door. I called to my parents, though I don’t think they heard me. With each second I knocked more intensely. I had to get into the house, to get home. Inside I heard a struggle, the door rattled as my mother called out to me telling me to wait that she would be there. My father pleaded with her, begged her not to open the door, that what was outside could not be her son. I called louder “its me!” I instead “please, let me in!”. But they still could not here me. Then like before it ceased I felt my self being wrenched from the doorstep. Violently being pulled back to where ever I had been.
“They’ve made there choice” I heard the man say, “Now its time to make yours…” and he handed me a shriveled monkeys paw….