Losing your job can be devastating. Getting evicted a month later is heart breaking. Doing it all as a single parent, seems almost impossible sometimes.

Growing up I thought my life would be perfect at this age. Loving spouse, nice house, and healthy kids. Life has a way of throwing you curve balls though.

Your spouse dies young. The house is taken by the bank. You lose your career, then the crappy job you took afterwards. All that remains for us is the family van and a few bags full of clothes and toys.

Now we're heading cross country. I hope to find a job further west, somewhere the cost of living is a lot lower. There might be room for us at a shelter when we get out there until we get on our feet. The whole trip out there though, we're living in the van.

Every night is a new set of problems. Lots of times it's cops or business owners telling us to move along. Other nights I need to move us to keep the kids safe.

Once there was a sketchy man watching my kids more than I liked. He followed us for at least an hour. In the shadows he watched our van. It looked like he was tucking in his shirt. He wasn't. I moved us along.

A few nights ago, there were two women stumbling past our van. Vodka bottles fell out of one of their purses. They caught sight of us as they picked up the tiny bottles.

"Hey, do you got like, twenty bucks," one of them said with slurred speech.

I shook my head. They started to approach the van.

"C'mon, I'll pay you back. Maybe just five"....

I locked the door, when they were almost at arm's length.

"Oh, so you're a fucking snob huh? You think you're better than us".

My kids started to scream as the women started to pound on the windows. The engine roared to life, but they didn't stop pounding. As I sped away one of them fell to the side, while the other one ran after us at surprising speed.

"It's okay, it's okay we lost them," I said trying to console my crying children.

We drove for a few hours until we reached a new city. There were streets lined with vehicles that offered the perfect cover. Some of the others were probably people like us. The others were out partying in the bars and clubs nearby. Hopefully they weren't like the women earlier.

"Okay, now you guys wrap up in your blanket and your sleeping bags. We have an early start tomorrow".

It took them a while to doze off, but they finally did. I stared at the ceiling of the van, hoping against hope there was SOMETHING out west for us.

I tried to wrap up tight in my blanket. Past experience taught me I don't have the luxury of using a sleeping bag like the kids. Sometimes we have to move along, and other times we have to make a quick getaway.

Frost was collecting at the edge of the windshield. A chill ran up my spine and caused me to shiver. When I exhaled my breath formed a visible plume.

"It's cold in here," an adult voice said.

I looked back to see my children sleeping, a shadowy figure seated behind them. My heart was pounding in my chest. The kids didn't wake up when the intruder spoke.

"Don't worry," the voice said, "the kids are sound asleep".

Normally that would comfort me, but I could make out a faint grin in the shadows.

"Wha, what do you want? Who are you"

There was a shakiness in my voice, caused by both cold and fear.

"It's not about what I want. It's about what you want. I'm here to give you whatever you want".

The voice was smooth but menacing. As the shadows cloaked the speaker's form, its voice offered no clues either.

"Is this better," the voice said from the passenger seat next to me.

At first, I was startled by the words coming from beside me as I stared at the speaker in back. When I did a double take, the speaker was no longer there. It was as if they had teleported next to me or were in two places at once.

The speaker's appearance was revealed by a nearby streetlamp, both beautiful and horrid. There were attractive features and structure that were somehow off.

The skin was white, a pallor that hinted at some sort of illness. Perhaps a terminal one. The speaker's hair was black. It had the makings of being beautiful, glorious even, but was filthy instead.

No doubt the speaker was at least six feet tall standing up, with long limbs that held frightening strength despite their delicate appearance.

The irises and pupils were a stunning black, but the whites of the eyes were so blood shot it looked like every vessel was about to burst or already had. The eyes examined me with a hungry glee.

A grin revealed a mouth of perfectly straight teeth. However, the teeth were either broken or fangs of some sort.

The thing was beautiful, of indistinguishable gender, but it only SEEMED human. The speaker was not he, or she, or they, but it.

It appeared youthful but looked dying and seemed older than anything.

The thing had no race, no age, no gender. It was everyone and no one.

"Who are you?"

"I'm someone who has the power to give you whatever you want".

The speaker balled its long digits into a fist. When it opened them up, a wad of cash was in its palm.

"Money, shelter, clothes, medicine, fame, a better ride than the family van. All yours and more for the asking".

"What is it you want, for all this and more?"

An expression of concern cast over its face.

"Don't you want these kids to grow up in safety and comfort? Shouldn't they have all the joys and opportunities you had when you were their age? You've all had so much terrible luck. Why should they suffer any longer? Why not put down roots here? Have a nice big house, a nice car. With all the nice clothes and tech I give them, these kids are sure to be popular at school. No more kids picking on them for ratty shoes and busted phone screens".

For a moment I envisioned this life for my kids. No living on cereal and ramen. Fast food wouldn't be fine dining. Their phones would hold charge, and their clothes wouldn't be tatters.

"You might even find someone new here. You never know".

That jarred me out of my daydream.

"All this I will give you," it said.

A distant memory popped into my head. My feet were dangling over the edge of the pew. Reverend Marsters was speaking about temptation.

"If I just bow down and worship you," I said.

"Well," the thing said with a grin on its face, "that's a start".

"You're not, you can't be. I stopped".

"Believing? In God? In Santa Claus? In the Nazarene? A common thing this day in age, but it's ALWAYS been common around this time of year".

"Ironic," I said.

"Isn't it just".

The way the thing said "that's a start" struck me. What else did all of this entail? Did I have to die? Was one of my kids supposed to suffer some horrible fate? Was I going to burn in Hell or something?

"I can see you're thinking this over. "What's this handsome devil want for all that I desire?" Don't worry we'll iron out the details later".

"So, you're The Devil?"

The thing smiled its awful grin at me.

"THE Devil? Hmm".

"What, are you missing the pointy beard, and the pitchfork?"

"No, it's just that, I stopped believing you existed a long time ago. I stopped believing in a lot of things".

"I mean, I get that. It's all very reasonable and you are ALL so reasonable".

"Maybe. But it's like this. Here you are in my hour of need. When I need to make a better life for my kids. When I want creature comforts".

"It's not like Santa is going to fill your stocking. And hey, God? Doesn't look like he's around, does it? I mean when's the last time you had a prayer answered, if ever?"

"That's just it, I didn't ask for you either. In fact, you just kind of showed up".

"I could feel your need".

"You think this is the first time I've felt need?"

"Well, you lost".

"I didn't see you at the funeral".

"When the bank".

"Took our house? Or when we got evicted from our apartment? Didn't see you then either".

"Well, it's just that now".

"Now what? I'm desperate? I'm vulnerable?"

"What are you talking about?"

"And another thing, why me? You're The Devil, aren't you? Why aren't you tempting some politician or some tycoon or something?"

"What makes you think I haven't already?"

"Maybe a few of them. But lots of them are monsters too. Just not the same breed as you. They gained money and power by making shady deals, just with desperate people who don't know any better. Kind of like you".

"Little apes with little souls, convinced they're as logical as the machines they build".

"Then again you came to me because I need heat, I need food, I need a roof over our heads. That's cheap to someone like you. My life, my soul, my kids. A good life, a reasonable life, that's easy. So are you here, because these big names have an insatiable appetite, or don't you have the power to give people like me THAT kind of life? You promise me cash and fame and all that, but I don't think you'd deliver".

"I should rip you to shreds. AFTER you watch me kill your wretched little children!"

For a moment I was terrified. This monstrous thing threatened to kill my children and me. But there was something deep within me, that was just tired. Tired of the promises. Tired of the threats and the occasional follow through. I'd had enough. I replied in a way that seems foolish, but it was honest.

"If you were going to kill us, you would've done it already".

"What?!?"

"You heard me. If you were going to kill us, you wouldn't be here trying to make a deal. And if you were THE DEVIL, why are you sitting in a van, pitching to a broke, homeless, single parent? I know why. Because you aren't THE DEVIL! You're a fucking franchisee. I mean, you're a demon or something like that yes, but I know an agent when I hear one. You don't own the bank. You're just the asshole calling to tell me the bank's going to take my house".

The thing bared its teeth and started to raise a claw. Then it faltered, looking around, then reconnecting its gaze. But it didn't have that sleezy charm anymore. The thing had lost its confidence.

"The REAL Devil is sitting somewhere, enjoying the ill-gotten gains he rakes off of your meager deals. You're a pawn, a stooge, a middleman, a scrub!"

At that moment I was yelling at every banker, repo man, call center rep, and piece of shit who took everything from us. I wasn't scared any more. Not of them, and not of this demon.

Both its frightening and attractive features seemed to wane. The thing was angry, but uncertain.

"You are a WASTE of my time," the thing said with a hiss. "Freeze in here for all I care but remember you could've had everything! Now you have nothing".

"Y'know, you say where's God, where's Santa, where's anyone else. I didn't believe in you, but you still came. Maybe they will too. And even if they don't, I don't need to believe in any of you. I just need to believe in us".

"Believe all you want. You have NOTHING! Your children will suffer, and it will be all your fault! You may not take the deal, but I don't give up so easily!"

The streetlamp flickered, then everything went black. "That's it," I thought. My reckless talk was going to get us all killed, here in the dark.

Light started to comeback. The edges of the windshield were still frozen. I turned around to check on my kids.

"You swore".

"I did".

They both looked at me with uncertainty.

"So is that...gonna come back?"

"I don't know, but even if it does, we're gonna turn it away okay. No matter what it promises, it's not worth it".

They both nodded.

"I'm serious. We're gonna turn it away. Everybody in?"

We all put our hands together like the end of a huddle and shot them up.

We're still heading west, slowly but surely. There's still drunks, perverts, and criminals out here on the road. Still demons too.

It came to see me a couple of times, but it didn't stay long. It even tried its sales pitch on my kids. Puppies, Ipads, a nice big house, the works. So far, they've said no.

I told the kids even if we're still in the van, we're going to celebrate Christmas. Pretty sure I caught them writing letters to Santa. I even heard one of them praying when they thought I was asleep. Why not let them believe? If demons will hear their pleas, who says no one else will.

They can believe what they want to believe. Just as long as they believe in us.