by catt dahman
Chapter Thirty: The Inner Circle
We continued our journey with tears in our eyes for Pax and Dinah. I had lost three friends down here.
We were circling around, but when we were a little higher on the ground, we saw the inner ring and the rocks that periodically fell from the skies. I guess at times the rocks hit homes or people.
The prison was a tall, boring, concrete building with few guards (those who were guards were hideous demons) because there was no outside area. Prisoners were locked in six-foot by six-foot cells with a bed, a toilet, sink, and little else. There was no outside time or activities, and twice every day, the prisoners had meals pushed into the cells.
Danny went to the window to give the guard his paperwork and information. The demon, with the ugly yellow horns and a shiny snout, read everything three times and asked many questions in a low, bored voice. He motioned us over to a section of building with a strange design. I couldn’t figure out why the side of the building contained only a large, star-shaped spot.
In a few minutes, we saw the oddest thing. A head emerged, as if a baby were being born. Then with a gigantic push, an entire person came out of the star-shaped area that opened up.
“It’s a gigantic Demon’s butt. He excreted her. Here, at the prison, the guilty are literally pooped out.” Danny told the woman to get up, and he directed her to a spring not far away, which the guard had told him about. For a few coins, the woman was able to bathe away the waste with strong soap and cold water. She washed for a very long time, scrubbing herself, soaping and rinsing over and over.
We introduced ourselves, and she said her name was Ellie.
“Sorry, it took so long to come get you,” Danny said.
“Every day is a micro second because it’s forever, but every day is like a billion years because there is no end,” Ellie said enigmatically.
“We did the best we could in getting here. It was difficult, and several good people lost their lives,” Virgil said. He was a little angry that she didn’t even bother to thank us.
“You did it to save the world, not to save me,” Ellie yawned, “I was the one who was put here unfairly, and I was the one who had to suffer. Would you want to be crapped out? Do you want to be in a little cell? I was short-changed.”
“Well, you are out now, so be glad,” Dana said.
Before we went to the safe house where we would sleep, Danny wanted us to visit a trial being held for a prisoner. Gargoyles covered the outside of the building and were shown as statues inside as well. We walked across the marble floor and into the courtroom that looked like those I had seen on television. A jury was composed of demons, humans, hybrids, and changelings, and they had note pads that they scribbled on furiously.
The judge looked faintly familiar and was covered by a huge, curled, grey wig. I finally figured out it was a popular music star I had sometimes listened to.
Judge Mickey bellowed, “Give your evidence, and give it fast, or I’ll have your head chopped off. I don’t care if you are nervous or anxious, give your testimony.”
The human raised his skinny arms, pleading for mercy, “But I wasn’t there, and I don’t have evidence to give. I know nothing.”
“You admit you are stupid?”
“Well, no…I’m not stupid….”
“Then answer the question,” the judge yelled.
The man again said he knew nothing, wasn’t at the scene of the crime, and couldn’t.
He was asked to give his opinion of the case. He claimed he had no opinion and didn’t know what to say, “I only know what I have heard.”
“Ah. The witness admits he has heard information. Give the court your testimony.What did you hear?”
“I heard that the accused, John, was found praying and carrying a hand made cross and was arrested for public indecency and heresy.”
“Make note of that, jurors. He had heard that. Having heard such, it must be true.” The judge slammed his gavel down, and an attendant slammed a hammer down onto the human’s head. When the witness slumped, he was dragged from the courtroom.
The next witness claimed to know John and said she had never seen or heard John pray and had never seen him carry a cross.
“Have you ever asked him if he did either?” the judge demanded.
“No, your Honor,” the woman said.
“Then, you show a laxness I don’t like. The lax, Their shoes do clack, When they hurry away, to avoid work to be done, and so are beheaded by Max.”
The attendant, obviously Max, grinned happily and nodded.
“Can you say he did not engage in these behaviors?” the judge asked.
“I can’t say either way,” the woman said.
“You can’t?”
“I could if I knew, but I don’t know, and, therefore, I can’t say.”
The judge glared, “You are very obstinate. I would rap a ditty about that but have no words to fit obstinate, and I have said it; it is recorded; I am stuck with it. Bother. I find this witness engaging in behavior that inhibits my creativity. Throw her into the prison.”
The next witness also got into trouble as it had a ratty-looking head and whiskers that were too long. Nothing made sense here, and everyone seemed to be doomed, but it was an interesting event to see.
Imagine my shock when they called the next witness.
“We call Alice,” Max said, looking right at me.
“What do you know of this?” the judge asked me.
“Nothing.”
“Nothing at all?”
“I am new here and traveling through. I don’t know anything of this or anyone involved as I wasn’t here.”
“That’s important,” said the judge, “she isn’t involved, and she wants it resolved, the case of John, The heresy he wrought, She wishes to be absolved.”
“I wasn’t even here; that much is clear; these are the facts. This is the truth; I am innocent, I do fear.” I tried to make sense, but thought I was less than clever in my rhyming. We all waited for several seconds while the judge considered my response.
“She is innocent. Next witness!”
While the time was good, we left the courtroom and never knew what became of the other witnesses or the accused, John.I knew Danny had taken us there to hear the insane court proceedings so that we would better understand how everything worked here in hell. What the lesson would help me with later, I didn’t know, but Danny thought it important.
I knew that I was missing a part of this crazy puzzle and didn’t know how I could find the piece and place it.
The house where we were to stay was large with gardens and a forest at the edge of the lawn. It was one of the most inviting places we had seen, and we were told that it was an expensive get-away home for those who had the money. Danny said the owner owed him a favor, and this was how Danny collected.
Coral set about making a meal: lamb and thin bread with onions, peppers and a cucumber sauce that I thought was Greek, a chicken and noodle soup with slices of zucchini, cracked black pepper, and something like cilantro. The other dish, a salad, was of olives, tomatoes, cheese, and cucumbers over spinach. It all smelled and looked delicious, and only Coral could take the simplest of ingredients and make such a wonderful dinner.
A pair of very pale demonesses took our clothing and handed us soft pants and shirts to wear while our clothes were cleaned. We each had a bath as well, but this was a new experience. We had a whole army of attendants.
First, my attendant waited for me to undress, and then she rubbed an oil-scented and lemony herb into my skin, and I sat for a few minutes in a steam room where rocks and water heated up to mist the room. While I stood sweating, she used wooden implements to scrape away the oil and accumulated oil. Once I lay down, she rubbed my skin hard and with long strokes and explained she was getting the deepest dirt out of my pores.
After that, my attendant settled me into a hot bath and used salt and a rough brush to scrub my skin clean. She also shampooed my hair, rubbed
conditioner into it, and then rinsed it. My hair smelled like lavender. While I soaked, she towel dried my hair, brushing and blotting each strand until it gleamed.
When I was out of the water, I lay on a soft table, and my attendant rubbed my sore muscles and blotted salve into scratches and on my injured arm before she gently bandaged it. My soreness began to vanish as she rubbed the muscles, oxygenating them and relieving the pain.
I dozed.
I slept for an hour, she said, and I felt fully revived but still relaxed. When I walked out barefoot to the commons area, my friends looked equally as relaxed. I felt a pang of sadness for the loss of Dinah, Pax, and Annie.
“Almost time to eat,” Coral said, “you look like you feel better.”
“I do. I finally feel clean.”
“Go find the rest for me? We’ll eat when everyone is here.”
I went to look for the others; the food smelled good, and I was starving. Cory fell into step with me, and we found Danny busily looking over maps, but he said he would come eat. Cassie was in the garden, her face sad, but she perked up when we said the meal was ready. We looked everywhere for Virgil and Dana and found them in the last room.
Chapter Thirty-One: Mirror Images
As the door opened, I gasped.
Dana was tall, with an Amazonian body, strong and powerful. Her body shined with the oil from her massage, and she was nude. Virgil, his body like a Greek sculpture, was also nude, and he held her to him. Ignoring us after a quick look to see who had arrived, Virgil pressed himself to Dana, kissing her like a starving man, groaning and rubbing her back with one hand. Her hands roamed all over his muscles.
Cory and I stood in the doorway, unable to look away as Vigil lifted Dana, sat her on a table, and entered her with one fast move. She let out a shrill scream of pleasure. He kissed her breasts, and she wiggled in excitement.
How could he cheat on me? How could she do this to me? I felt stabbed with jealousy, betrayal, and pain.
Cory pushed me away and yelled at them, one obscenity after another, but they didn’t stop.
“Why are you yelling?” Virgil stood beside us in the hall, looking confused.
“Virg?” I asked, “What? How? Who is…?”
Cory pushed past us and looked into the room, “Get out. We’ve no time for your mischief.” Picking up a vase of flowers on a small table, he threw it at the couple, hitting Dana full on in her face; her nose began to pour blood. Both faced Virgil.
“I could have mated your woman, Vine,” the other Virgil said.
“True. And know if you touch her, I will spend the rest of my days torturing you for the impunity. This I give my word to.”
Looking at the false Virgil, I saw he looked differently, as did the false Dana. I couldn’t figure out what was different, but there was something.
“Mirrored images,” Cory whispered. He had figured it out. He grabbed a paperweight and flung it at the one mirror in the room, shattering it into a million, glittering shards. Both false beings screamed and looked suddenly flat before they, too, broke into small pieces and winked away. It was as if they had never been there.
Virgil looked into my face, saw I was okay, and gathered me into his arms, “I can’t imagine what you must have thought. I am so sorry.”
“It wasn’t you. It was them...tricking me. How evil that was,” I said.
“Some enjoy playing games. We all have evil mirror twins but never have to be around them, of course. Here, you see few mirrors because the twins can roam when one has them, and even the most vile demons resent their twins impersonating them.”
Dana and Coral looked anxious as we went to the commons room, but we explained quickly, and Dana turned pale.
“I would never do that,” she said.
“I know, but it was right before my eyes,” I told her.
Despite that horrible event, we ate well and relaxed again after a search of the house that revealed no more mirrors. Danny warned us never to trust a mirror. Our twins all lived on the other side where there was no heaven or hell or worlds, but one place where things were very backwards and where many people were very evil and sadistic. It was a land ruled by the Red Queen, a terrible woman who enjoyed chaos more than anything.
“If you, in your world, see a hurricane or tornado, a house fire, a useless, destructive event, you can be sure the Red Queen had a hand in it.”
“What a bitch,” Dana mused.
I retired early with Virgil sharing my bed, and he spent a half an hour telling me over and over that the mirrored Virgil was sick and that the real Virgil, the one with me, would never do anything so horrible.He said that I was the woman he had loved enough to be punished for. He was devastated that I had witnessed such a terrible thing and had every reason to think it was he.
I kissed him and said I understood it was a cruel trick, but he remained upset. As I watched him, I traced his muscles with my fingertips, noting how perfectly he was built. I had once thought him plain, but he was like a Greek god, unbelievably handsome. His blue eyes were like the colors of the seas, light colored and expressive, changing with the tides, deepening and darkening when he was worried.
He slid a beautiful silver ring that he had been wearing onto my left hand’s ring finger. It magically fit me as he did. He looked into my face with his fathomless blue eyes, asking a million questions with just one look. I hugged him and kissed his whole face, I would wear the ring.
αγάπη μου όλη την αιωνιότητα was engraved into the silver band. “My love all eternity,” he said. He had worn the ring to remind him of me and that he had loved me even before he had known me. I want you to have it, to know I love you beyond worlds.”
Not just eternity, it said, but all eternity. Not just love, but all.
“What did those demons mean? By being with me physically, what did that matter?” I asked, “Why did they care I was a virgin?”
Virgil stared at the ceiling as he spoke, “I broke rules. I was not allowed that. After this mission, I could have returned to heaven, as long as I let you go in my heart and mind, but I knew I couldn’t and didn’t want to either, so by making love to a mortal, I have doomed myself to remain here forever. And moreover, I took a virgin.”
“Virgil…why? No, that isn’t….”
“Alice, I made a choice. I would rather be here and have these moments and have the memories than to go back there and have the memories taken away as if I had never known you. No. I won’t let you leave my heart and soul. My choice and I made it.”
“I love you. I don’t want to….” I began weeping in great whooping sobs, “I can’t leave you here when I finish this and have to go back.”
“And you can’t stay, and I can’t leave. Alice, there is nothing we can do, but there is right now.”
He kissed me, and in time, I enjoyed his attentions, stopped crying, and later, slept, but I didn’t stop thinking about there had to be a way to work this out. There just had to be.
Chapter Thirty-Two: A Helluva Place to Be
The next area, Danny told us, would test our mettle; everything up to this point had been in preparation for this next trial as it would be emotionally daunting.
I took that to mean we would see some freaky things and have our brains seriously messed with. I’m not complaining, but this constant horror and fear could cause deep depression, and I felt a little tired of the misery, which is strange, because you know the people sentenced to hell were seriously tired of it.
My heart went out to poor Cassie who was stuck here as a worm.
Malebodge was the name of the next area, and it was impossible to skirt around even if we had wished to because the road led to our ultimate goal. Many roads led to the center since it was the main section of hell where Big Boss Down Under lived. Danny said overhead it would look like a wheel with spokes.
As we talked, an airplane flew across the hazy sky. In a few seconds, it seemed to pause, but then, it fell wing over wing, plowing into the gr
ound some distance away and erupting in a fiery explosion that we felt in even in our feet.
Every few days, the plane would fill up with people and then would have mechanical problems, so the passengers screamed and cried a few minutes before they plunged to the earth to burn alive again.
“Plane-watching” was a favorite activity of some in hell, and many raced over to crash sites to see, smell, and hear the abject misery of those who were broken to pieces, ripped apart, or burned.
“That’s sickening even for hell. Why would anyone want to look?”
“People watch Faces of Death in your world, Alice. Curiosity, or a reminder that no matter what, they are better off than those poor boogers, I think, makes us feel glad it isn’t us, and many like to know what it looks like….” Danny said.
Virgil held my hand as we entered the area and looked at the Bolgias. The first area was brutal as pimps and seducers walked in opposite lines, back and forth, while demonic guards whipped their backs, arms, and legs.
One line was being punished because there had been liaisons between customers and sexual outlets, pimps, and madams and men in expensive slacks or women in fancy skirts. Prisoners of the other line were dressed in skimpy shirts, shorts, or tight pants and were call girls, whores, or prostitutes.
The demons whipped their prisoners’ backs into bloody, tattered strips that hung like festooned decorations along their waists. Although the people often fell, they had to scramble back to their feet or be kicked and dragged along.
Flesh healed only to be slashed open again. Danny told us the guards had six-hour shifts each so that the torture went on around the clock.
The lines of the beaten people stretched as far as the eye could see.
Another part was even worse.It was as if someone had set up rows of aquariums, deposited people inside, and filled the aquariums with feces.
