Diary of a journey through Hell
Trudie Collins
Copyright © 2016 Trudie Collins
All rights reserved.
Also by Trudie Collins
Diary of a journey through Hell
Diary of a journey through Hell
Diary of a Journey Through Hell - Kris's Story
Tor's Quest
The Guide
The Maze
The Bard
The Pendant
The Assassin
The Beginning
Vampire Hunters
Vampire Hunters
Greater Vampires
Standalone
Kwin
Soul Eaters
The Tor's Quest Saga
Fox Among the Demons
Sentinel
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Diary of a journey through Hell
Kay
3rd December 2002
4th December 2002
4th December 2002 - continued
5th December 2002
Day 2
Day 3
Day 3 - continued
Day 4
Day 5
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Days 15 and 16
Day 20
Day 21
Day 22
Days 23 - 25
Day 26
Days 27 and 28
Day 29
Day 30
Day 31
Day 32
Day 33
Day 34
Day 39
Day 40
Kay 2
10th August 2003
10th August 2003 - continued
1st August 2008
10th August 2008
19th April 2009
20th April 2009
27th July 2028
Epilogue
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DEDICATION
This book is dedicated to my husband Pete for doing all of the hard work to get this book published and for his never ending support and encouragement
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you to Julie, Terry and Wendy, for taking the time to proof read for me.
Kay
“It doesn’t look like anyone is home,” Li called out as he peered through the glass in the front door and rang the bell one more time. “Maybe we should find a bar, grab something to drink and come back later.”
“Relax, I have a key,” Kay said, with a knowing smile. They had only been dating for a few months, but already there were times when she could read his mind. “Besides, the game doesn’t start for another half hour.”
Li blushed, embarrassed at being caught out. He didn’t say a word as Kay opened the door and let herself into her godmother’s house. He meekly followed, like a puppy who had just been scolded, but that did not stop him heading straight to the lounge and switching the TV on.
“I’m putting the kettle on,” Kay called out after him. “There should be some green tea here somewhere, if you want some.”
“Yes please,” Li called back as he used the remote to flick through the channels until he found the one he wanted. He had only visited the house on two other occasions, but both times Kay’s godmother had made sure that she had stocked up on his favourite non-alcoholic beverage.
As Kay walked into the kitchen she noticed a collection of books on the table with an envelope addressed to her on the top. Ignoring it for the time being, she filled the kettle and switched it on.
“Are you sure we are here on the right day?” Li asked as he walked up behind her and slipped his arms around her waist, softly kissing her neck as he did so. “It’s not like Rachel to invite someone over and not be here when they arrive.”
“She probably just popped to the shops or something,” Kay said, not in the least bit worried about her godmother. “Looks like she left me a note,” she continued, nodding toward the table. “Read it to me while I make the tea.”
Li obeyed, taking the envelope in his hand and ripping it open. The note inside was hand written in black ink which looked like it came from a fountain pen rather than a biro. He scanned through it quickly before holding it out toward Kay. “You may want to read this yourself,” he said. “I’ll make the tea.”
Kay took the letter from his outstretched hand and sat in one of the chairs at the table. She, too, scanned it quickly and was glad that she was sitting down; its contents shocked her so much she had to read it through a second time.
My darling Kay,
This is the hardest letter I have ever had to write. I wish I could say goodbye to you in person, but circumstances are beyond my control. I have to go away and will not be coming back. I have left some of my diaries on the table for you to read; they will explain why I have to leave.
My house and all of my possessions I leave to you. I have already filled in the necessary documents and left them with my solicitor; his details are on the back of this letter. All you need to do is counter-sign them. Feel free to use the house as a holiday home or sell it, the choice is yours. I have opened a bank account in your name and transferred all of my money into it, along with the proceeds from selling all of my shares. My car, too, I have transferred over to you. The spare keys are in their usual place in the kitchen drawer, along with details on where to find it.
You know that, though you are not my flesh and blood, I love you as though you were my own daughter. I wish you every happiness in your life and will be thinking of you always.
Your loving godmother
Rachel.
P.S. You often asked me why I never married. Read my diaries and you will have your answer.
Kay was so engrossed with rereading it she did not hear the kettle click as the water came to the boil. She did not hear the rattling of the mugs or the clink of the spoon against the china and jumped in surprise when Li placed a mug of tea on the table next to her.
When she finished reading the note through for the second time she looked up at Li, a tear trickling down her face. “She’s gone,” she said in a croaky voice.
“I know,” Li said, drying her cheek with his thumb. “What do you want to do? Stay here or go home?”
“Stay,” she said adamantly. “She has asked me to read her diaries, so I will. Hopefully they will explain what is going on.” A thought suddenly occurred to her and she exclaimed, “Oh God. How am I going to tell mum that her best friend has disappeared?”
Li smiled at her. “Read the diaries first; it may make it easier. Come on,” he continued, picking up her mug and heading toward the door. “Bring the first book with you. You can read it cuddled up on the sofa next to me while I watch the game.”
“Alright,” Kay said, grabbed a book from the top of the pile and followed him out of the kitchen and into the lounge. She sat on the sofa, tucking her knees under her to make herself as comfortable as possible.
She looked at the book before opening it. It was black and leather-bound, not like the cheap diaries you buy from newsagents. She opened the first page, expecting it to have printed dates and to be laid out like a normal diary, but was surprised to find that the pages were devoid of any printing. The only markings were the words written in her godmother’s handwriting. The books weren’t diaries; they were a journal of Rachel’s entire life. She laid her head on Li’s shoulder and began to read.
3rd December 2002
Robert came to see me today. His visit came as a complete surprise and was more
than welcome. The car crash that killed my parents was nearly three months ago, but still I cannot face going back to uni and seeing my friends. Maybe next semester. All I have been doing for the last few weeks is brooding and feeling sorry for myself, so it was nice to see a friendly face. I just wish the reason for Robert’s visit was a happier one.
I had just got off the phone, having spent the last hour talking with Bill. I really miss him, especially after what I have gone through. When I heard Robert’s knock at the door I ignored it, thinking it was probably a salesman, but his hammering persisted until I reluctantly dragged myself away from the TV to let him in. He did not look happy to see me.
“I need your help,” he said as he pushed past me into my apartment.
“Why don’t you come in and make yourself at home,” I said sarcastically, slightly offended that the first words out of his mouth were not an enquiry as to how I was.
He headed straight to my kitchen, opened my fridge door and helped himself to a beer. He began pacing up and down and I could not help but admire his physique. I am not sexually attracted to him in any way; I love him like a brother for goodness sake, but I have to admit he is a really attractive guy. He works out regularly to keep his body trim and his hard work definitely pays off. Tammara is one lucky lady. At least she was. After what Robert told me, I cannot truthfully make that comment any more.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, ignoring his lack of manners. I have never seen him so agitated.
“Tammara’s been taken,” he said. I thought I had misheard.
“She’s been kidnapped?” I asked. “Why are you here instead of with the police?”
“She hasn’t been kidnapped.” His voice was devoid of emotion. Something really bad must have happened for him to be behaving like this. “Sit down. I have a lot to tell you.”
He wasn’t kidding. By the time he had finished I had forgotten all about my own problems and grief. Obviously I cannot remember word for word what he said, but this must be pretty close.
“You know her dad was ill with cancer,” he said. He didn’t look at me to see me nodding. “Well Tammara was determined to help him and started investigating the occult, demons, devil worship, satanic rituals, shit like that. Anything that she thought might help. Eventually she found a ritual that was supposed to allow you to contact the devil. She wanted to make a deal with him and like an idiot I agreed to help her perform it.”
I was shocked. The man I grew up with did not believe in anything that could fall under the heading of ‘supernatural’ and would never have agreed to take part in a ritual. I could not stop myself from asking, “Why didn’t you try to talk her out of it?”
This question got him to finally stop walking about and sit down. “I love her,” he said, looking down at his hands. “I would do anything to make her happy and nothing seemed to any more. She became so obsessed with finding some way to help her father that I couldn’t bring myself to argue with her. Besides,” he added ruefully, “I knew that nothing would happen. It was just a load of crap.” When he raised his head to look at me, tears were in his eyes. “How wrong I was.”
He went on to explain to me what the ritual entailed and how they set everything up in the basement of Tammara’s grandmother’s house, which had stood empty since her death in the spring. He told me how the air seemed to cool dramatically as soon as they started the ritual and that the candle flames flickered, as if blown by the wind, despite the fact that there was no way for a breeze to enter the basement. When the ritual was complete and Tammara finished her summoning she went quiet, listening for a reply. Silence greeted her and Robert was about to announce that they had failed when a voice echoed around the room.
“Who has summoned me?”
Robert, of course, did not believe that it was the devil that was speaking, thinking instead that Tammara had set him up for some reason by arranging for a friend to hide in the basement and play the part. The derogatory words he was about to say died on his lips as something began to materialise in front of him. He refused to describe it to me, saying words could not explain it. There was no way it could have been faked. The lips even moved when it spoke.
While Robert was speechless, Tammara kept her cool and calmly informed the apparition, which she believed was truly the devil, that she had summoned him and told him that her father was dying of cancer and that she would willingly offer him her soul in exchange for her father’s life.
Robert did nothing to stop her. Not only did he not believe in the devil, he also could not bring himself to accept that there was such a thing as a soul, so he saw no harm in what she was doing. The ‘devil’ readily agreed to the deal.
“Tammara thought that he would not take her soul until she died, or at least until she knew that her father had indeed been saved,” Robert continued bitterly. “Instead, the thing in front of us reached out its hand, grabbed her wrist and pulled her toward it. Then they both vanished.”
“Are you trying to tell me that the devil really exists?” I asked in surprise, unable to believe what I was hearing.
Robert laughed mirthlessly. “Oh no. It is much worse than that. The next morning I went to visit her father, to try to explain what had happened. I didn’t get the chance. He was too excited to let me speak. He had just heard that his cancer was in remission.”
“So the devil kept his side of the bargain?”
Robert shook his head. “No. He had found out the previous day, but had been unable to contact Tammara to let her know. He was no longer dying when we did that damn ritual. Tammara sacrificed herself for nothing.”
I remained quiet, knowing that there was more to the story. Robert did not disappoint me. “It wasn’t even the devil we were dealing with, but Death. We were doubly conned.”
I stared at him, unable to think of anything to say. If I didn’t know him so well I would have accused him of smoking illegal substances, but deep down I knew he would never do such a thing. Here was the man who had been my best friend for most of my life, talking about having lost his girlfriend to Death. I would have felt sorry for him if he was talking about her dying instead of being taken away by one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
“Are you frigging kidding me?” I finally managed to exclaim.
He collapsed back into his chair. “I wish I was,” he said. “This all happened last month. Tammara’s father was so excited about his news that I couldn’t bring myself to tell him that his daughter had disappeared and I haven’t been able to face him since. He has reported her missing, obviously, and I have been questioned by the police, but there was no way I was going to tell them what happened.”
It was at this point that I remembered that he had said he needed my help and a horrible thought began to invade my mind. “Are you on the run?” I asked him abruptly.
“Of course not,” he snapped at me. “The police aren’t even taking her disappearance seriously, believing she has just gone away for a while. She is legally an adult after all.”
“Sorry,” I said, feeling guilty for accusing him of hiding from the police.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said and continued with his story. “Since then I have shut myself away and spent every waking moment of the last few weeks researching Death. I must have read every bit of folklore ever written about him and I think I have finally found the answer.”
“The answer to what?” I asked.
“I know where Death resides and I now know how to get there.”
“Wait a minute. Time out,” I said, standing up. “I need a moment here to take this all in.”
“Are you alright?” he asked with genuine concern.
“Of course I’m not. Can you hear yourself? If you were anyone else I wouldn’t believe a word you are saying. As it is, I’m having a really hard time accepting that you are not winding me up.”
“I know,” Robert said in a consolatory tone. “If I hadn’t experienced it, I wouldn’t believe me either. Look, it’s nearly six. Why don’t
I go out and get us Chinese and I can explain why I need your help while we eat.”
I nodded my head. “Alright.”
“Your usual?” he asked and I nodded again. Before I knew it he was out the door and I was left alone.
While he was gone, I showered; for some reason his story made me feel dirty and I tried in vain to wash his words off me. I was drying my hair when he returned with the food and soon we were in the lounge once more, devouring our meal.
He continued to talk while we ate. He described his research into Death and the discoveries he had made. When he had finished I summarised what he told me, just to make sure I had understood.
“So you are telling me that Death resides in the underworld and the way to get there is through caves?”
He nodded his head. “I’m heading to the nearest ones tomorrow and I would like you to come with me. I would rather not do this alone.”
“I can understand why,” I said. “Can I have a few days to think about it?”
He shook his head. “No, it has to be tomorrow. The gateway between the realms cannot usually be crossed by the living, but it is said to weaken during a solar eclipse, so we might be able to get to the underworld then. The next one is scheduled for tomorrow.”
“Might? What do you mean ‘might’?”
Robert shrugged his shoulders. “I cannot guarantee we will get there, but I have to try.”
“You’re not really selling this to me as an adventure I want to join you in,” I said.
“Would you rather I lied?” I had no answer to that.
As there was nothing more to say on the subject and Robert wanted to leave at an indecent hour in the morning, we decided to watch a film then get an early night.
I am now going to try and get some sleep, but I am not very hopeful. My mind is still occupied by all Robert told me and I still have not decided whether I will go with him or not, so who knows what tomorrow will bring. Maybe in the morning he will tell me this is all one big joke and that Tammara is fine. I really hope so, but something tells me that is not the case. Whether Robert is telling me the whole truth or not, something bad must have happened and by morning I need to have decided if I want to know more. The only thing I am certain of is the fact that I am not going to get much sleep tonight.
Diary of a journey through Hell Page 1
