It had been raining days and days , and a local river crested, flooding many houses. In the morning Lisa got up and found her basement was full of water. Lisa, as a rising internet star, of course, would not miss the chance to broadcast the views the flood caused.
Without having breakfast she grabbed her mobile phone and walked down to the basement, which was a real mess. Old clothes, abandoned toys, cigarettes ends and empty bottles of wine and beer were floating around on the surface of black water. For a moment she was hesitated and wondered that if it was a good idea to broadcast the messy and dirty things, as 90 percent of her Facebook fans were interested in her fancy lifestyle. Her posts about branded bags and food in five star hotels had got the most likes and paid her bills.
Then she saw an old bottle and it looked interesting. It looked like a beer bottle with a ceramic plug, and it seemed there was a shadow moving around inside. Without thinking she picked up the bottle and opened it immediately. Unexpectedly, a wisp of smoke emerged from the bottle, and drifted into the ceiling. In one second, the smoke turned into an ugly devil. He pointed to Lisa and screamed loudly.
‘Do yo know me? Do you know me? No? ‘
Lisa was shocked and scared. She couldn’t say a word but shook her head.
‘Unbelievable. What did you learn in school? Haven’t you heard the story about a fisherman and the Devil in One thousand and one nights? I know at every school in the world teachers tell it to their students. They have laughed at me over 1000 years. I’m not stupid. I will not give you a chance to cheat me back to the bottle. I will kill you. I will destroy the Earth.’
Before he finished screaming Lisa recalled the story about a fisherman and the devil, and she realised that she’s now in a big trouble.
Lisa took a deep breath and replied, ‘We all thought you were killed by the old fisherman. He sailed on the sea 7 days and nights to find you and baited you with his unique fish finger to get you out the bottle and burned you. ‘
The devil couldn’t believe what he has heard. He hit the ceiling and screamed again.
‘He was a liar. He cheated me. Now you are insulting me by telling me another lie. I want to kill you now.’
‘Let me google it for you,’ Lisa said and quickly opened the google webpage on her mobile.
‘Listen, here it’s said that after the Devil died the old fisherman and his three sons opened a fish finger shop called The Devil. The shop’s logo is a devil in a bottle with one hand out begging for a fish finger. Have a look, is this not you?’
The Devil looked down the screen of Lisa’s mobile and saw that was just like she said.
‘It’s a disgusting lie. I will let the world know I’m alive and I’m back.’
‘Nobody will believe you. The fisherman family’s business has been very successful and now it’s the biggest company in the world. One of his great great great great grandson was just elected to be our president. He can buy the press to say you are just another devil. He can send an army to kill you. ‘
‘How can they kill me? I can change to be smoke if necessary. ‘The Devil asked.
Lisa laughed loudly and said, ‘You’ve lived in a bottle too long. You don’t know there are many devils working for the government now. Some of them have super powers which can trace you anywhere and kill you.’
‘You don’t believe me? Ok, let me show you this book. Look, a boy named Harry Potter, you can count how many devils were killed by him. Do you think you are stronger than these dead devils? ‘
The Devil had gone silent for a while then asked Lisa, ‘what I can do? I don’t want to die.’
Lisa said, ‘You want people to believe you. You must let them like you first.You can’t live as a smoke. It’s easy to be targeted as a pollution. You can’t live like a Monster either. You look big but have no muscle and your skin is too pale. Of course it’s not your fault considering you were in a dark bottle most of your life. However we can make a story about you and me.’
‘You and me? How? I just met you and I even don’t know you. ‘The Devil said.
‘I’m not an ordinary young girl. I’m a famous internet celebrity. I have ten millions followers on Facebook and twitter. ‘
‘Ten millions followers? It’s about 100 times population of my country. How come you are so popular?’
‘It’s easy,’Lisa smiled and looked into the Devil’s eyes, ‘Because human beings are as curious as cats, and as stupid as sheep. If you make a story, but not like a story, they will believe in you. You pretend that you have the things they want in life then they will follow you. Once they follow you it’s a matter of time to let them do whatever you want them do. Brainwashing is the ultimate weapon to control the world.’
‘But how I can have so many followers and let them listen to me? ‘The Devil asked urgently.
‘It’s easy. I will open a Facebook and twitter account for you. Then I will take a video about your travel experience on the sea and post it on your Facebook and twitter. I mean this basement will be the sea. We will start from the moment you were inside the bottle and doing nothing. My mobile has a beauty function, that will make you look like the King of the sea. ‘
‘The King of the sea? It sounds good. No devil in the world has had such glories, right?’
‘Of course no devil is glorious as you. You are the smartest devil I have seen. I will repost your video on my Facebook and retweet your video and @ the fisherman great great great grandson too. You will be soon known around the world. Ready? Action!’
The Devil was vey happy and immediately changed into a plume of smoke and slowly got into the bottle.
Lisa quickly took out the plug from her pocket and put it back in the bottle tightly. Then she shook the bottle like her favourite perfume bottle, facing her mobile, starting to broadcast today’s her first live show.