Next Exit by Kelly Watt

I’m slouching at the bar when the devil walks in. The Moody Blues are playing on the jukebox, it’s the Circus Bar and the room is full of hookers and drug dealers and suburban kids in the big city for a Saturday night, and the occasional street kid like me. I don’t know what the devil looks like but my guess is he isn’t flashy or obvious like in cartoons. No, the devil is super cool. He slides onto the bar stool next to me in his squeaky tight pants, leather touching leather, and his eyes are all shadows. He smells of too much BRUT. All smiles, he flicks open his silver lighter—the flame so willing, so quickly there as he lights my cigarette. His hands are clean, so clean, and his nails manicured. He produces a little cigar and lights it too. The smell is sweet and tangy, the smoke stains the air. When he straightens up, I can no longer see his face for the red EXIT sign blinking behind his hairless head. Hairless like an old man, or a baby, a monk or a sick and dying person, I’m not sure which. Then he leans towards me and whispers: “You’ve come to the right place, baby. Did I tell you, I’m the best fuck in town!”

I look around, wondering what happened to all my friends.

Artist’s Statement

I am moved to write about life and death and love, all the usual biggies, but feel compelled always to put on paper what I'm afraid to say out loud. 

Kelly Watt is a writer. Her poetry and short stories have appeared or are forthcoming in Hamilton Stone Review, Nowhere Magazine, DAP, Blood & Aphorisms, Dandelion and The Malahat Review, and anthologized in Doorways and Thresholds, Overneath Books U.K., Best Canadian Stories, She Writes, and Exile Editions CVC 2 anthology sponsored by the late Gloria Vanderbilt. She has published two books—the gothic novel Mad Dog (2001/2019), and the non-fiction title, Camino Meditations (2014). Watt has lived in three countries, but currently makes her home in Ontario with her partner, a miniature schnauzer and two diligent chickens. You can find her on Facebook and on Instagram at: @kellywattauthor and on her website at: www.kellywatt.ca.