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The pre-midnight celebrations echoed faintly from the TV downstairs. Everyone else in my family was gathered around the TV, glasses of cheap champagne in hand, cheering for the promise of a fresh start. Even my young preteen cousins, who weren’t usually allowed to stay up too late, nursed glasses of sparkling apple juice. I didn’t bother joining them though. I wasn’t celebrating. The promise of a new year, a clean slate, felt like a sick joke.
My sister Claudia had always been larger than life. When she reached her teens, she got involved in social media in a big way. By the time she hit her twenties, she was the perfect Instagram influencer. Her feed was a glossy fantasy of luxury vacations, designer outfits and Michelin-star dinners. She dated expensive men, drove expensive cars and lived a picture-perfect expensive lifestyle despite our lower middle-class upbringing.
But behind the filters, her life was a house of cards, built on lies and stolen money – some of it mine. For years, Claudia had been a parasite, draining everyone around her to fuel her sham of a glamorous existence. She flaunted designer handbags paid for with handouts from our parents that should have been for rent on her apartment. She snapped photos of extravagant vacations, only to come home and find she had to move back home because she had been kicked out. She crafted the illusion of a perfect life, but behind the filters, she was drowning in debt, spiralling deeper with every swipe of someone else’s credit card.
Mostly mine.
She never thought twice about ‘borrowing’ my savings or using my name to open credit cards.
“You’ll get it back,” she’d promise with a dazzling smile.
At first, I’d fall for it every time because, as much as I resented her, she was my big sister. By the time I realised how much she was taking advantage of me, it was too late: she and everyone else had come to expect me to not make a fuss and be compliant to her desires. Our parents told me to help Claudia because she was having a rough time and needed help getting back on her feet. My friends said I’d made a rod for my own back by not saying no sooner.
It wasn’t just money that Claudia stole; it was my peace, my security, my trust. I tried to cut her off, but she always found a way to manipulate me into getting her way again and again.
“Family sticks together, Sophie,” she’d say with a grin, the same one she used in her photos. It was false every time.
This past year, though, her desperation had taken a turn. Debt collectors were closing in, and her lies weren’t holding up. I overheard her frantic calls, her fake sob stories, her veiled threats to anyone who wouldn’t give her more time. Tonight, while everyone else was celebrating downstairs, Claudia was locked in her room, scheming her way out of trouble the only way she knew how - recklessly.
I was sent up to fetch her before the countdown started. If I hadn’t gone up when I did, I might never have known what truly happened to her.
The air in her room was stifling, heavy with the smell of burning wax and something metallic. A circle had been drawn on the carpet in glittering gold dust, surrounded by black candles that flickered with an unnatural, eerie light. On her desk lay an ancient book, its cracked leather cover etched with strange symbols. In the centre of the circle stood Claudia, dressed in one of her ridiculous couture gowns, her makeup flawless despite the manic glint in her eyes.
“What the hell are you doing?” I asked, stepping into the room despite every instinct telling me to stay out.
Claudia whipped around, startled but defiant. “Sophie, get out!” she hissed.
“No. What is this? Mom is going to murder you if you get wax on the carpet. Is this for some weird photoshoot thing?”
Her manic grin spread across her face. “It’s my solution. My way out. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me,” I said, crossing my arms.
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. You want the truth? I’m summoning someone to give me what I deserve. Wealth. Power. Everything I’m owed.”
“Owed?” I spat. “You’re not owed anything, Claudia. You’ve taken from everyone around you! In fact, you owe me !”
Her expression darkened. “Shut up, Sophie. You’ve always been jealous of me. It’s not my fault you were born plain and boring. But after tonight, you’ll see how wrong you were; always trying to hold me back from the life I deserve. Well, not anymore.”
Before I could stop her, she began to chant in a language that sounded like shards of glass scraping against steel. The candles flared violently, their flames stretching unnaturally high. The circle of gold dust began to shimmer and writhe as if alive.
Then it appeared.
The demon was nothing like the horned monstrosities you see in movies. It was beautiful, almost mesmerising, with a shifting form that seemed to pulse with light and shadow, edges glimmering like molten silver. Its voice was smooth, cutting through the oppressive air like a hot knife through butter.
“You made the circle. You lit the candles. You offered me the gold dust I love as payment. You have called and I have come. What do you desire, summoner?”
Claudia stepped forward, confidence blooming across her beautiful face like a poisonous flower opening. “Wealth,” she said, her voice dripping with greed. “I want money. More than anyone in the world. Enough to solve my problems forever.”
The demon regarded her for a moment, its form undulating like smoke in the wind. “Wealth is a simple request. But do you understand the cost of that which you ask of me?” For a moment, I could have sworn its eyes (or what I took to be its eyes) at me in the doorway.
“Whatever it takes,” Claudia said without hesitation.
The demon chuckled. The sound sent shivers down my spine. “Then so be it.”
It extended an arm of shadows and light to touch her forehead. Claudia’s face lit with triumph, eyes widening as her skin began to shimmer with strange magic. Her couture outfit glittered. Her hair shone. For a moment, she looked even more gorgeous than she ever had before in her life.
But then she began to scream.
Her body crumpled to the floor, legs folding unnaturally. It did not stop there. At first, I thought it was a trick of the flickering light cast by the candle flames. Her skin, her clothes, her very essence began to shift and shrink. Her screams faded, replaced by the eerie rustling of paper.
When it was over, Claudia was gone. In her place was a neatly stacked pile of hundred-dollar bills, bound with crisp, unmarked bands.
The demon admired its work. “Your wish is granted. You are now the richest woman in the world.”
I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe.
The demon turned to me, its glowing eyes boring into mine. “She wished for wealth,” it said, almost mockingly. “She is wealth now. Do with her as you will. I heard what you said. She owed you great debts. Now it is time for her to pay the cost of what was owed.”
And then it was gone, leaving me alone with the grotesque truth of what had just happened.
For a long time, I couldn’t do anything at all. I couldn’t even think. I just stared at the stack of money on the floor. My sister - the woman who had stolen from me, lied to me, and made my life hell - was now nothing more than currency.
The clock struck midnight, and cheers erupted from downstairs. Fireworks exploded outside, lighting up the room in bursts of colour. The strange candles had vanished when they snuffed out in the wake of the demon’s passing. The gold dust had burned away. All that was left was me and the money that used to be Claudia.
The world thought she’d run off. Her Instagram went dark and the few friends she had assumed she’d fled to escape her debts. No one ever suspected the truth.
I used the money to pay off every cent she had stolen from me. I rebuilt my life - one without her shadow hanging over me.
Sometimes I wonder if Claudia’s still in there, trapped in the folds of those bills, cursing me as I spend her piece by piece. But I don’t feel guilty. For the first time in years, I’m free.
And every New Year’s Eve, as the clock ticks down to midnight, I light a single candle and pray she doesn’t find a way back.