I sat down next to Gemma. She
was already talking so I was quiet for a while, I didn’t want to interrupt her.
I looked around the circular table and for a moment I attempted something I
hadn’t for a long time, smiling. I had made so many friends since I died. Some
of them, like Gemma, were my friends before I died. We weren’t allowed to smile
in Hell and I knew that, but I couldn’t keep myself from trying. I was actually,
relatively, ignorantly happy in Hell. That’s an oxymoron of sorts isn’t it?
I’m pretty good at those. My
mind contradicts itself all the time. I attempted to smile at Gemma when I told
her the news and she hugged me. Today was the day. Hell was going to freeze
over and even if it didn’t then Lucifer would still lead us to Earth. We walked
into the fire pit, yes as cliché as it sounds there was a fire pit in Hell.
It’s a bar, with alcohol. I’d never drank alcohol before I died, well that was
a lie, but only when I was in Junior High. I attempted to clear the smoke that
inevitably crowded itself in front of my face. But nothing came of it; it was
merely replace by worse smelling smoke.
The bar was one of the cleanest
in our ring of hell. It was created by one of my close friends. His name was
John Doe. Well, at least that’s what he tells everyone he meets. Gemma walked
in as I held the door open for her, she curtsied as a guy walked out. I grabbed
a rag from the counter, it left a film of dirt and alcohol on my hand, but it
cleaned off mine and Gemma’s stools. John walked up to us and asked us what it
would be, I ordered something stronger than anything they ever had on earth.
This drink was created by pure fiery plasma. But I couldn’t feel the burn; I
was too used to it by now.
I was only 18 when I died. It
was pretty sudden. And I didn’t get a bad deal with Hell. I had just gotten married to the love of my
life. I’d had a crush on him since we had to share the same table all day in
sixth grade. We were driving down the interstate slowly (we were a bit
preoccupied in the car and didn’t want to get into a wreck). He’d picked out
the perfect honeymoon for us. A hotel that looked like Hogwarts on the outside
and had a room for each fandom, which there were a lot of, we booked the TARDIS
interior which actually had a pool! I was to say the least excited.
I was sitting in the front seat
of our Impala and flirting with him. He was laughing, the greatest laugh ever.
Lying back in my seat, I told him to pull over. I knew I had to get a bowtie
for our honeymoon. It was mandatory, and I saw a Mall coming up. He looked not
at all happy about this, but did it anyway pouting the whole time. I got out
and walked into a wedding shop in my wedding dress. Bet I looked a bit strange.
I got a bowtie and left. I went out the back way so, that I could surprise him.
I was twirling around in circles
playing the song that we first danced to, this morning in my head. I saw a guy
curled up in a corner, and then I saw it. There was a boy lying on the pavement
behind the dumpster, blood was pooling around his body, how could such a small
child’s body contain that much blood? I curled my hand around my mouth,
simultaneously dropping the bowtie I had been whirling around like a streamer.
Walking up to the man shuddering
with sobs in the corner, I put my hand on his shoulder and said ”Are you okay?”
He looked at me and then realizing what was happening pulled a gun out of his
jacket and shoved it in my face. He looked me up and down and realized what I
was wearing and assuming I had just gotten married. A pained expression
overcame his dark toned face.
“I’m sorry.” I tilted my head
and looked at him questioningly.
“What?” And then before I knew
what was happening I had a tremendous headache. And I couldn’t feel anything.
My vision went black and I felt really cold. And then I was sitting with him in
my wedding dress covered in blood. He was crying and having a sort of mental
breakdown. And then I was in Hell. There were lots of people there and no one
paid any attention to me. I was just another confused person. I’m not even sure
why I came to be in Hell. I don’t think I did anything wrong. I didn’t believe
in God. But I was a wonderful person compared to most people. I volunteered, I
was healthy. I even contemplated adopting a child with him. We never talked
about it. I’d like to think I brought joy, or contributed to the joy brought to
a lot of people. But I guess I didn’t do enough.
I looked at Gemma and she knew
without me having to say anything. The world had finally turned around. I
touched the scar on my head. I thought of him and knew what I would do. Without
any further thought on the matter, when I got to Earth I would find him. I
would love him like I never got the chance to. The raid would begin at sunrise.
Of course we didn’t have a sun in Hell, but we would all know. There would be a
feeling, and we would know.
That feeling came after the fire
had gone out. Hell was a bit like a desert. It was scorching hot, and the night
was colder than an ice cube, I don’t mean to be all science-y but I’m pretty
sure they create a sort of vacuum for us when the fire goes out, or maybe
that’s why the fire goes out. I don’t know, I’m no rocket scientist, and I’m
pretty sure rocket science isn’t what you need to know for that information. I
shrugged and downed my second glass of Plasma. I set my head down on the bar
and John picked it up for me wiping the dirt off gingerly and weirdly
compassionately intimately. He left his hand lingering slightly comforting on
my face and then pulled away to refill my glass.
I tipped my head gratefully up
and downed the third glass. Gemma watched me. “So, what are you going to do
when you get out?” She asked John who shrugged and continued filling glasses.
She made a face at him, which I’m pretty sure I couldn’t imitate if my life
depended on it. “What about you?” She said pointedly staring at me. I ignored
her finishing my fifth glass. I simply shrugged snapping at John. “Well, you
guys are no fun. I know exactly what I’m doing. First I’m going to go shopping.
Wearing the same clothes for what seems like an eternity is destroying my
body.” I looked at her. Why did I have to pick talkative friends, why couldn’t
she just accept that no one cares? “And then I’m going to find me a nice mortal
boy, to corrupt as a demon does.” I nodded as if I actually cared. I snapped at
the new bartender. He set down four glasses for me and Gemma. I drank all of
them in succession. I’d already forgotten how many that made.
I left the bar and slept on the
sidewalk, getting kicked every ten seconds. I didn’t mind. I didn’t want to be
drunk when I saw him, it had been at least seven years, and he would be
expecting something wonderful and amazing. Not a drunken demon who was quiet
and a mess because of something that happened seven years ago. He would be
fantastic and I would be too. All of a sudden, everyone outside and inside,
started walking one way almost as if they were being brainwashed, they were
walking together like a swarm. I got up and started walking with them.
Gemma was walking hand in hand
with a guy, they both had blank expressions. I walked up next to them, I even
smacked Gemma in the face and stomped on the anonymous guy’s foot, they had
absolutely no reaction. After a while I just kind of followed them without any
reason to. No one else was conscious either; I was definitely out of place.
Then we just stopped walking everywhere. There he was so glorious standing
there; Lucifer was the most beautiful of Demons. His hair was what some people
would call elegantly disheveled.
“Today is our glory day!” He
yelled. So what was this? A riot, a pep talk, something in between, “Follow me
brethren, for we shall claim our lives back. We will soon rule over mankind,
for our former selves have been brought here for a reason.” I clapped and shouted
with everyone else though I still had no idea what he was talking about. We
were suddenly in a crowd of people. All of the demons looked around like
strangers in a strange land.
Now, Demons aren’t what I assume
you picture when you think of Demons, you probably think red skin, horns,
pitchfork tail, fangs, black eyes, nope. We don’t change when we die. Our souls
don’t anyway, my body was more than likely crawling with worms by now, but our
souls look completely human. I started walking forward and everyone mostly
ignored us. Humans are stupid apes, we may have looked human, but there was an
obvious difference between us. They just went on their merry way.
Then –Excuse the irony of this-
all Hell broke loose. One of the people I had become close to in my seven years
of perdition grabbed a knife and stabbed two children who were waiting in line
to buy a candy bar. I covered my mouth in shock and ran out the door, away from
the chaos. I had to find him, once I did that everything would be okay. I
walked outside into the sunlight and wind and basked in it for a moment too
long. Gemma caught sight of me and followed suit. She tapped me on the shoulder
and smiled.
“It feels so good to smile
again!” I just looked at her. She wrinkled her nose as if she had been
insulted. I walked away to find a phonebook. I grabbed one off of a bench for a
bus stop. I quickly found his name in it and smiled for the first time. Then I
wiped that stupid look off of my face and set a destination in my head. Walking
down to the sidewalk I, with difficulty, hailed a cab. The cabbie was very
familiar to me, but he was extremely rude. He charged me a lot of money which I,
of course, didn’t have so I just told him he would get it when he took us where
we wanted to go. I handed him the slip of paper that I had written the address
down on, he raised an eyebrow at me.
“This is in Manhattan, you know
that right?” I just shrugged, I find myself doing that a lot. He whistled and
said “I’m gonna be pretty rich at the end of this car ride.” Gemma blabbered
about random things the entire way there. I tuned her out watching outside the
window the only thing that interested me right now was getting to him and
falling into his arms. I noticed things, places I used to live, places I always
wanted to see. None of that mattered anymore. I pictured the reuniting scene.
It would be exactly like a love story. I
would run to him, and he would realize what had happened and then he would run
to me and we would meet each other halfway and then we would live happily ever
after, which didn’t seem impossible at the time because there were no other
demons attempting to wipe out the entire human population.
Gemma eventually fell asleep and
I was so jittery every moment, I woke her up numerous times when I was talking
to myself. She got more annoyed by me in those few hours than I ever was by her
in seven years. I smiled at the thought of being with him again. I asked the
cabbie a question after a minute.
“Do you think there are any
sappy love songs playing on the radio?” He got the hint. He turned on the radio
and he thought to himself I better get paid extra. I woke Gemma up when we got
to our destination. I jumped out of the car without any hesitation and I ran to
the door. I stopped myself from knocking though. I saw something on the inside
of the house through a window. He was there with another girl. They were older.
Of course! How could I have been so stupid? He was sitting there with his arm
around another girl. There were three shorter heads on the couch next to them
and one on his lap. Two of them, twins, a boy and a girl, they were both blonde
and they were jumping up and down play fighting with each other, they couldn’t
be more than 3 years old. There was a teenager on the couch, listening to
music, and the little girl on his lap was sucking her thumb, she must’ve been
the third twin, so he had triplets.
I wondered how the teenager was
there; I had only been gone seven years hadn’t I? Then I realized that his wife
was a bit older than him, and the adolescent had a striking resemblance to her.
His hair was dark like hers and unless he had died it, I was assuming it was
his stepson. He did show obvious dislike for him. I couldn’t see anyone not
liking him though. I realized that my face was wet. I had started raining. No,
my body was dry, it was just my face. I
was crying. I hadn’t been
able to cry in a long, long time. I turned away and sat on the stoop. Then I
saw Gemma walking toward me and I had a blindingly brilliant idea.
“Gemma! Gemma, I need you to do
something for me! Okay, you see that family in there, they’re going to die,
unless we help them! I need you to warn them that they could die if they don’t
find a safe place to get to, immediately!” Gemma pursed her lips at me
unhappily.
“Well, why can’t you do it? What
do I care if they die?” She asked. I had to think very hard for an answer.
“I can’t do it because one of
them will freak out, they knew me when I was alive. And you care if they die,
because I care if they die, and think about all the things that I’ve done for
you in these past few years.” Gemma attempted to put up a good argument but
couldn’t think of any, so while I hid in the bushes, Gemma walked up to the
door and knocked. He opened the door and smiled. It was so wonderful to see him
smile again. I heard Gemma’s words from far away.
“Oh. My. God! There are people
eating people and they won’t die! You need to get to safety right NOW! Mister
whatever your name is! I suggest you take the people you love and get out. Get
somewhere they won’t find you!” He looked confused but before he could ask any
questions she ran off, and as if on cue, I ran out of the bushed and bit her
arm, tricking his mind into thinking I was tearing her arm off. He slammed the
door shut and I heard yells of alarm, as he turned on the news and saw it was
true. They gathered up all their valuables and got in the car and drove away.
Before they left he tried to
find Gemma and failed, as she was hiding in the bushes with me at the moment.
Well, I thought, I couldn’t guarantee his safety or his family’s but I had
forewarned him and that gave me peace of mind. Gemma had her arm around me, and
I was finally telling all the stuff that had been haunting me for what seemed
like forever. It told her about all the amazingly romantic stuff that had
happened between me and him and how none of it mattered anymore. All that
mattered was his family being safe and him being happy.
I was staring at my feet not
looking where I was going, as I was talking to Gemma and I kicked something
that looked very strange. It was his wallet. I opened it and there were five
pictures in it. One of his wife, or I assumed she was his wife, her name was
written on the back of it. Olivia. There was a picture of the
teenaged boy under that one, he definitely was not happy to have his picture
taken, or didn’t appear to be anyway. Colin. The triplet that was
sitting on his lap had pigtails in and a shirt on that said “Daddy’s Girl”. Piper. The
only triplet boy was sticking his tongue out at the camera; he looked exactly
like his father did when he was that age. Sean. The last triplet, the one
fighting with her brother on the couch was in overalls. Luna. They
all looked so happy. I let the tears fall more freely than they had been.
That night I was going through
his wallet in private, I had found his I.D. card. He was so adorable. His hair
was darker than it had been when we were eighteen. It was longer too. Then
something fell out, it was a picture that must have been hidden, because I
dissected his wallet trying to find out all I could about him. For instance I
found out that he opened a Comic Book Shoppe like he’d always wanted to, and I
cried even more when I found out he’d named it after me. The picture was of us
on our wedding day. He was holding me bridal style, sitting on the highest
branch of the tree we had gotten married under. I was kissing him, and almost
immediately after that picture was snapped, we fell from the tree, thankfully
not breaking anything in our fall. On the back of it, it read: My darling
Twyla, my first and always love, giving me the last kiss I will ever cherish
more than my life - Enoch
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