I was standing on a street corner in a city, but it was unlike any city I could have ever imagined. The moon was black and the sky was ruby-red. The air stank. It adhered to the inside of my nostrils. I can’t breathe properly. The trees were twisted, deformed with horrible faces imprinted in the pestiferous bark. All of the grass as well as the foliage in the trees were not the expected green but instead sickly off-yellow. The fountain gushed blood. I looked down and saw the sidewalk flecked with bone fragments and teeth. A man walked beside me carrying a severed head on a stick. Fear and partial insanity compelled me to run but all I could do was to stare. My body was limp.
“I can’t believe this. It’s not real, right?” I was starting to panic.
“Oh come on, stop fooling yourself.” the severed head smiled at me.
“Oh my god, this is not real. This is not real. I’m dreaming.” My tears were insistent.
“I’m sorry but you’re damned like me.”
By now, it was occurring to me that myths, legends, angels and demons are true. Shit.
“You know what, you’ll enjoy it here someday.”
“No, I won’t. I wanna go back.” I looked around. There was a green-faced demon boy who sat on the field grinning at me. He was holding something that looked like a girl’s hand. Yes, oh my god. It was a girl’s hand. He was gnawing ravenously on it like a fried chicken. It had been consumed to the bone.
He smirked at me, “you can’t go back, dear. This is your home now.”
I walked ahead of him. I thought of calling out my father but I knew it would be nonsense. No one could hear me from the living world. I chose this. I’m in hell. I’m doomed.
“Errrmm, hey wait, I’m just curious. If you don’t mind me asking, what are you doing here? I mean, in your time, you should know about this place, right? Christians are scattered everywhere preaching about heaven and hell, angels and demons, stuff like that.”
“I didn’t believe in God, nor in the Devil but I knew that suicide was universally considered a sin, a grievous sin. I never listened to them. Now, I’m here to find him.”
I left the man with his severed head and continued walking. I passed by a brick church with inverted cross hanging on the altar. I had no idea where to find him. All I had found instead was more horror, more exploitation, sadism, cruelty and death.
Hell is a city. It stretches without end. Like any other cities, there are people living in this city. Oh crap, not living, they’re dying. They live, die and live again. They kill each other. Here, everyone is dead yet everyone lives forever.
It was mortifying. I looked away. I couldn’t witness any more of this but then, I still need to find him.
“What are you doing here?”
The voice paralyzed me. I hadn’t heard it in so long but I recognized it at once. I prepared myself for some new vision of disgust and degradation but what I actually saw was worse than I could have imagined. The face of my most beloved man turned to look at me. His arms and legs had been removed. His head lolled on the floor. I turned away. I couldn’t bear it.
“Damn it, Samantha! What the hell are you doing here?!” His voice was filled with anger, anguish, and spite.
“I’m here for you!” I still can’t look at him.
“What do you think you’re doing?! Huh?! Damn it, damn it!” he tried to project his rage but it never got out. He was so weak.
“You killed yourself? To find me here? Now that you did, can you look at me? Can you bear this pain? Fuck it. I sacrificed myself for you. I want you to…”
“I can’t live without you! You’re a part of me. I’m a part of you. We promised to be together forever, didn’t we? You shouldn’t have let yourself killed! You shouldn’t have saved me! I should have died with you! It was my fault why you’re suffering here.” I sobbed.
“But baby, you don’t understand. I saved you simply because I want you to live.”
The memory of his death began to hunt me again. It was raining hard. I can’t see clearly. Everything was vague. We were drenched in water and were feeling so cold and sick. We were running so fast. The smell of gas, dust and smoke was choking me. The street sounds were deafening but my mind was still intact. I knew we were running for life. He held my hand so tightly. I felt safe yet death was lurking behind us. Death had stolen him. He took the bullet that should have been mine.
“I love you.” It was indeed useless. Love doesn’t exist in this place. The clock towers have no hands. Time is not measured here in hours but in anguish and hopelessness.
“This is how I will spend eternity. I’m condemned to hell because of my own fault. I didn’t believe in God. Please don’t waste your chance to live again. I can’t be with you all the time. You must start living your own life without me. There are things that we can never change.”
“But,” I held my breath.
“Listen to me. If you really love me, then you wouldn’t let yourself do the same mistake I had. Heaven and hell do exist. It’s my destiny and it’s no fun being here. It would hurt more to see you here with me. Samantha, please, go back. You’re not yet dead. Hold on. Please, hold on…” his eyes beseeched me.
More uselessness, I knelt down and sobbed. My fingers touched his face so gently for the last time. This was the face I used to kiss, the face I fell in love with, the face of the man whom I will love forever. I stood up and turned one last time to him. He was smiling. I stood beside the cliff that separates Heaven from Hell. There was radiant light on the other side and I could see Earth on the bottom of the cliff.
“I love you, Samantha.” and that’s when I jumped out of hell.
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this is my story. my infernal love story. lol. joke.
I wrote this story for my Creative Writing subject :)
