Final exam (Five minutes freewrite)

He was running out of time and he was beginning to seriously consider the possibility that he might fail. Graduation was just one week away and he was nowhere near cracking the riddle of the old man who would not be swayed by anything.
As he sat dejectedly in his room, furiously scratching at the by now raw patch between his horns, Amaniel decided he needed to do things properly. He'd been too cocky in his initial assessment of the situation - a lonely middle-aged middle-class middle-anything guy could easily be lead astray. Nothing to it! And yet, he'd watched all his text-book schemes fail miserably.
He had aced his human psychology course, he knew 99% of men can not resist a beautiful woman. Lola was perfect for the job with those sensuous curves of her she could seduce angels. Not Harry M. Truffle, production manager at a safety belts manufacturer, with a life so boring it hurt Amaniel just to think about it. Still, the man hadn't even raised his eyes from his crosswords puzzle as Lola was parading in front of his table in the skimpiest of outfits. Amaniel had met Lola a year before during a training camp in Michigan. She knew her job well - seduce a guy, make him go crazy with lust and than threaten to leave. That did it in all cases as the poor men were driven to the point where they'd do anything to keep her happy - leave their wives, rob a bank, swindle dear old ladies out of their life savings, anything.
After this unexpected failure he went for the other two surefire schemes to make a mortal lose his soul - money and power. Well, this second option had been quite lame, after all, what kind of power can you offer a middle-rank employee. Amaniel himself took human form to tempt him into fighting for a promotion - 'you well deserve this after 30 years on the job'. Nothing.

Amaniel took out pen and paper and started to go once again over everything he had on this Truffle, like a real detective. The man had no family to speak of and a few nondescript friends with whom he sometimes barbecued or went to a baseball game. No secret addictions, no weak spots. The question was why didn't he want anything? Didn't he ever dream of being rich and successful, having an exciting life and doing something out of character? Then it hit him. Mr. Truffle lacked imagination. He could not see himself doing anything other than go to work, go home, have a beer and water his potted plants.
Waking the guy up was a complex operation, but Amaniel pulled it off masterfully. He really hoped his professor would be impressed by the neat eye-opening revelation which shattered Harry Truffle's limited world.
Over the next few days, Truffle grew increasingly careless with his work, spending his time staring at a wall, a pained expression on his face. At nights, he'd pace the flat for hours, wringing his hands, while he thought up all the lives he could have had. One night, he drank all the beers in the fridge, than proceeded to smash the furniture in the house, all the useless crap he thought made him a happy man, before collapsing to the floor cursing his life, his parents, all the gods he could think of. He was old, he had wasted his life, he had never been crazy in love, he had never set foot on a boat, let alone sailing around the world as he dreamed as a young boy... All that he had ahead of him were years of declining health and death.
He was found hanging from a roof beam in the attic on the morning of the graduation ceremony at the Diabolic Academy. Amaniel graduated Magna cum laude.

Story written for @mariannewest's freewrite challenge. Today's prompt was: Detective! Check out her blog and join our freewrite community.

Thanks for reading!

Image: Pixabay