5. Work Sucks
The light began pulsing at the corners once again. Quickly to the middle and blackness covered the image. “I guess not,” I said aloud as my head fell down to gaze at my feet.
“What does he guess not?” It was Asmodeus. “I don’t know. He is a very peculiar soul. Yes he is. I agree. Shall we greet him? Yes, let’s. Hello, Jon.”
I turned around to see the flames of a devil in front of me. “Long time, no see, Asmodeus.”
“Yes it has been too long.”
“Who said anything about it being too long?”
“Did you have fun with that peon?” he laughed.
“Peon?”
“Now Jon, you know of whom I speak.”
“If I knew who you were talking about, I wouldn’t have asked. Do you really think I would lie to you?”
“Perhaps not. Perhaps you have finally realized that I have the exclusive ownership of your soul.”
“Anything is possible, Asmodeus.”
“Yes that is very true. I see that you were trying to see something. Why did you fail?”
“I don’t know. I did everything that you told me to do, but the image is black and unreadable.”
“I see. You are not permitted to see such sights. Have you forgotten where you are already?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Jon, you are still in Hell. I don’t know if that trip to Earth has confused you, but if you haven’t noticed, you tend to be punished here. I know I am…” he trailed off.
“What was that?”
“We should not tell him. I agree it would be too risky. He hasn’t proved himself yet. We are right. Let’s not tell him yet. He must earn our respect and trust before we can tell him anything.”
“What the hell are you talking about? Stop doing that. You are one person. You can’t talk to yourself and then answer yourself like you are two people in one!”
“Why do you say that, Jon?”
“Because, that’s how things work.”
“I hate to, but I must repeat myself. Jon, you are still in Hell. Do not forget that the inner workings of Hell are not only a mystery to you, but to me as well. You can’t know how things work here. In fact, I believe that you haven’t even ventured past the first level of Hell, my level. That’s probably for the best. I doubt you could survive in any of the others anyway. If the Elohim do not get to you, I am sure your fellow mortals would end you.”
“Why are you even here? Do you spend your time watching me? Following me around?”
“No. Why would I waste my precious time on something so trivial and insignificant?”
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe because you are a lunatic psycho.”
“Do not insult me, mortal!” Asmodeus erupted into a glorious red fireball. “Do you already forget whom you are speaking with?! I could squish you out of existence without lifting a finger! Now I demand obedience!” He then grabbed my wrists and began to burn me.
“I’m sorry!” I cried out. “Please, just let me go!”
He released me, settled down to a blue flame again, and said, “Never forget what I can do to you, Jon. I will always be superior to you in every way.”
I didn’t respond. I just stood there rubbing my wrists. It demoralized me. I couldn’t help but to think of just letting him end me right there. I couldn’t stop thinking about saying something else and just enduring the burning pain until it was over, but then Shannon popped back in my head. She was like an angel. She was always there to save me from making the stupid mistakes I always make. ‘She would want me to fight as hard as I can,’ I thought. ‘Fight until there isn‘t any fight left in me. That‘s exactly what I am going to do, too, but I won’t be stupid about it. I need to play it cool for a while. Then I can come up with some plan on how I can finally get out of here.’
“I guess it’s time for me to get going…,” I said.
“Perhaps it is.”
I closed my eyes, concentrated on my secret roof, and snapped my fingers.
The street below was busy again. It instantly caught my attention and left me unaware of my company.
“Hey!” a woman’s voice shrieked.
I turned around and saw a disgusting sight. She had no shirt to cover her skinless chest, and her entrails had been woven through her rib cage. Her nose was stretched to at least twice its original size and hanging down. Her teeth were like that of a vampire and her skin was bleach white with patchy black scales. Her lips were green and sunken in. I grimaced at first glance and then responded, “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.”
“What are you doing on my house? Or even better, where the hell did you come from?” She was angry.
“I didn’t know this place belonged to you. I thought it was abandoned.”
“That still doesn’t give you the right to just invite yourself to a rooftop! I think you should leave.”
I don’t know why, but I had a feeling that I couldn’t leave the roof. It felt like home somehow; no walls, no roof and no bed, but it was right where I wanted to be, if I couldn’t be with Shannon. “No.”
“What did you just say?”
“I said, ‘No’. Do I need to speak up? Do you have a hearing problem?”
“You better leave, right now!”
“Or what?”
“I’ll have one of my men come up here.”
“What men?” I asked as I looked around nervously.
“Those men,” she said, pointing to the rubble that I had first used as a staircase. There were six men standing guard. None of them had too bad of deformations. One was missing his ears, one had no eyes and another looked to have been scalped. One was gushing blood from his mouth, one had char marks, and the last’s jaw was precariously hanging from his face.
Despite their obvious impediments, they were big men. “Oh those men,” I said, startled.
“Yes, those men. So you were leaving then, right?”
I had a quick thought and I flashed Asmodeus’ symbol at her. It saved me before and I thought that it might do the same thing this time.
“You are a child of Asmodeus?” She held up her hand and showed that she too had been marked. “How long?”
“I have no idea. I’ve slept and been knocked out so many times since then, I’ve lost track of time. Not to mention, no sun means no time.”
“I have been a child of Asmodeus for over one hundred years. It’s been a long and grueling existence. I was once a seamstress. I could sew, weave, or knit anything, but when my business took off, I decided to cut corners to have a better profit. I didn’t know it was so big of a sin just to want wealth. When I was killed, I was sent here instead of where I should’ve been sent. Asmodeus found me on my second day and immediately initiated me. I was special to him. He said that he saw something in me, but I haven’t seen him in over five years.”
“Why such a long time?” I asked.
“I don’t know.” She seemed a little upset about it. “I’ve called for him, but he never appears. I stopped calling about a year after he stopped appearing.”
“You just gave up?”
“I don’t give up! I merely relinquished the desire.”
“Whatever you say. So is it all right if I stay here?”
“I don’t know yet. I will allow you to stay here for now, but if you so much as look at me funny, your amnesty will be revoked, at once.”
“You are very generous.” I paused and then said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name.”
“My name’s Callie, short for Callista. And you?”
“I’m Jon, Jonathon Cowley.”
“So you are Jonathon Cowley?” she said with a funny look on her face like she was in awe.
“That’s right. Why?”
“There’s a buzz going on around here about you. Just here on level one and it is just between the children of Asmodeus, but your name is being mentioned quite a bit.”
“It is?” I was puzzled. ‘I haven’t done anything to get famous,�
�� I thought. ‘Is it possible that they all knew it was me that had screamed the word “Demon”? Surely they couldn’t have seen me, and there is no way that they could’ve known the voice was mine. Could they?’
“Oh yes. However, you have yet to answer my question: How did you get here?” she asked.
“Well, I think that of all people you would know.” Callie shrugged her shoulders at me. “I just used one of the so called “gifts” that Asmodeus cursed me with.”
“Gifts? What gifts?”
“You know. He took me to his triangle and showed me how to use it. He taught me how to move through space, those things.”
“He did?”
“Yeah, didn’t he teach you?”
She laughed and said, “No you idiot. Asmodeus doesn’t bestow powers upon anyone. Don’t you know anything?”
I hesitated and she started to look at me funny so I spat out, “I was just kidding anyway.”
“That was pretty funny. I knew that he told you the story.”
“Yeah, he did. So are you going to be staying here for a while?”
“Sorry no, but I think we shall meet again, Jonathon Cowley,” she flirted. “I think we shall meet again, soon.”
“Goodbye, Callie,” I responded. Her flirting disgusted me, but I wouldn’t let her know. I just pretended that the guts hanging out and around her chest were nonexistent, but in reality, if I had had a stomach full of food I would’ve splattered it all over the rooftop. She pranced down the pile of rocks that had become my stairs. One of the men helped her down the last step and they quickly left, merged into the crowd, and disappeared. I sat down on the edge of the building and watched all the hideous monsters go about their daily “unlives“.
‘What was Callie talking about, anyway?’ I asked myself. ‘What story was Asmodeus supposed to tell me? If I ask him, he’ll probably just tell me that I’m “not yet worthy of his story“. I’m so tired of him. He annoys the piss out of me sometimes. I’m grateful that he gave me these abilities, but I’m tired of running in to him. He always breaks in the middle of a conversation and starts mumbling with himself. I can’t ever tell if he’s talking to me or to his imaginary self, but then again, maybe he just forgot to tell me. Maybe he was supposed to tell me, but it just slipped his mind. I wonder if it’s important for me to know. Maybe I should ask him about it. Callie seemed to be legitimate, but then I will have to see him again so soon after enraging him. I don’t want to be burned again. Hell, I might as well go. It beats sitting here forever with nothing to do but people watch.’ I closed my eyes, thought of the triangle, and snapped my fingers.
“ASMODEUS!” I screamed.
“Jon, I am right behind you,” Asmodeus responded.
“Sorry,” I paused, “I ran in to a woman. She said her name was Callista. Do you know her?”
“Of course I know Callista,” Asmodeus said smoothly. “Why do you ask?”
“Because she said that you have a story that I was supposed to hear. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“What story are you talking about, Jon?”
“If I knew what story it was, then I wouldn’t be here asking you, would I?”
“Your insolence will be the end of you some day, Jon. I suggest you alter your temperament.”
“Fine,” I said, throwing my arms down and squeezing my fingers to relieve the stress. “I started to tell her about the “gifts”, but she had no idea what I was talking about. That’s when she mentioned the story. What was she talking about? Is it something that I need to know?”
“That story…Jon, you do not require knowing that story. Do you think we should tell him anyway? He won’t persist if we decline. We are right. Let’s not tell him then.”
“Fine, if that’s how you want it, then I won’t know.”
“Jon, let me ask you a question. Are you afraid of me?”
I didn’t know what to say. Living here, even for the short time it had been, had dulled me a little bit to evil. I hadn’t even considered fear, but I knew what he wanted me to say. “Yes.”
“Then why do you continue to come to me? Why do you continue to visit my home?”
“I don’t know. I guess because you are the only one I can ever find.”
“Jon, if you are afraid of me, why would you be looking for me?”
I didn‘t speak at first. I had to think hard. I could tell that he was looking for a real answer and I needed to give him a good one or he would just keep asking me the same thing over and over again. “Because I want to see my wife,” I finally said. “I want to be with her and you are the only reason I can even think about making a goal like that. I guess you are helping me out a lot.”
“So you are enduring all the pain of Hell and all the pain I put on you just to see your wife?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe we should tell him. It sounds like he would understand, but are you sure? I think so. Maybe we should test him first. We are agreed. Let’s test him first, and then if he passes, we can tell him. You will hear the story, Jon. You will go on a quest for me and you will pass it. Then your reward will be the story. Do not think it won’t interest you. It is a magnificent story.”
“I don’t have time for your games, Asmodeus!”
“Jon, I suggest you calm down.”
“I will not calm down, damn it! I want to be with my wife! All this ignorant bullshit you keep putting in front of me is keeping me from getting where I want to be!”
“I understand, Jo…”
I interrupted, “No you don’t understand! There is no way that you would understand what I am going through. In fact, there is no way that you would even understand what it feels like to be in love and be kept from that person regardless of what you do!” I balled up my fist and swung, but, before I hit him, he grabbed my arm and hurled me at the triangle. I hit the side of the structure and fell to the ground. I landed with a loud THUD, groaned, and rose to my feet.
“You would be amazed, Jon,” Asmodeus somberly told me.”
“Wait, what?”
“I do know what you are going through. I go through it every day I am left imprisoned here.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The story. What I am talking about is the story. If you would complete the quest I have for you, you would know. I would reveal to you what happened. You will see everything, if only you would do what I ask of you. Now stop acting like a spoiled child, and start acting like a man.”
‘Could he really be doing this?’ I asked myself. ‘Could he actually be telling me a story that is personal to him? I don’t know if I even want to hear the story of demon-love, but, maybe I will be able to find some way to get something else out of it.’ I looked Asmodeus in the face and asked, “What do you need me to do?”
“Very well, seek out the man you know as Charlie. By the time you reach him, I will have already spoken with him and given him your next assignment.”
“Why? Why can’t you just tell me? I’m right here.”
“I won’t tell you of the requirements because you wish to journey to see your wife. Charlie is the one that promised you that prize, not I. If you are to complete jobs in order to gain her, then why not complete this job for him as well?”
“I am most gracious.” I wasn’t really. I thought he was nuts, but if he was really going to do this for me, then I was going to let him. I didn’t trust him enough to believe it so I didn’t get my hopes up, but I would go along with it. “I’m off then.”
“Very well, Jon.”
“Umm, where should I look for him?”
“You will know where to find him when you begin your search. Now, BEGONE!”
And with that I vanished. Everything went black for an instant and I awoke next to the blood filled fountain. I rose to my feet and surveyed the area. It was surprisingly empty. There was one soul. It appeared to be a women sitting next to a door. She was slouched and wearing a tattered, blue hood along with a gray robe. I walked towards her.
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br /> “What do you want!?” a raspy and angry voiced sprang from her lips. She didn’t move her gaze to meet mine, but she knew I was walking towards her.
Hellbound: Chronicles Page 8
