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Jerome Squalor sat by the fire, warming his hands. There wasn't a chimney above the fireplace, but the smoke coming from it was not the deadly soot of Earth...It was a thin white haze that smelled rather like sulfur.
Unwanted thoughts streaked across his mind, fouling his resolute. She would call him in soon enough. She had to. Only she could tell him what had happened to her-
"Come in, please." A thickly accented voice called from the next room over. He shivered. He had given up so much to get here...More than she was worth, he thought, sadly, walking through the beaded curtain into the fortune teller's camber.
A bone-y woman wrapped in filthy multi-colored shawls gazed at him, from behind a black crystal ball. Her sallow face fell with what seemed to be pity.
"Hello, ma'am. My name is-" Jerome began, whipping off his hat in respect.
"Jerome Squalor." Madam Lulu finished, knowingly. She gestured to the chair opposite to her. He sat. "What is the bringing of you here, please?"
"You don't have to talk like that." Jerome said. Lulu's burnt blackened skin frightened him, forcing him to look around the room. It was tiny, with fire engine red walls. The only thing in it was the crystal ball, the table it sat on, and the two chairs in which they were sitting now.
"Ah, but I must, please." Lulu sighed. "This is part of Hell, and it was designed for me specifically, please. Lying is a sin...and, you must have heard of the lies, please, that I told when I was alive. So, I am to sit here and continue to lie in the same fashion as I lied on Earth, please, to my fellow sinners. This is all I can do, I get no food or water, nor I am able to leave this room. I am starving, please, but I cannot die...I did not even begin to conceive, please, that Hell would be this awful. And, I can only wonder what you, Jerome, husband of Esmé, did to deserve this place. Please." She added painfully.
He felt himself grimaced at the mention of his wife. She must know why I am here, he said to himself silently. He took a breathe. "I sold my soul, so I could talk to you."
"What?!" Lulu threw him a look of the highest contempt, contorting her already contorted face in anger. "You chose, please, to come here? You fool! Do you not realize what will happen to you when you die? You will be as damned as I, please, only much worse! The master of this place saves the harshest of punishments for those who gave themselves up easily!"
"But, I must know about Esmé!" Jerome cried, impassioned. "Her eyes, her scent...everything about her haunts me whether I am awake, asleep, eating, driving...It is Hell on Earth, Madam-"
"You are an outrageously idiotic man, please!" Lulu spat, furiously "There isn't such a thing as Hell on Earth, because Hell reserves itself for death exclusively! And, how dare you, please, inquire about your wife," She took care to sneer the word, as though it were the foulest of slurs. "to me! I hate your wife, and I can only respond to your questions in lies...God, how you have been tricked! Please, leave this place, and I will see you in a few years."
"Leave?" He felt his throat go dry. "How can you ask me to leave? I gave up the afterlife for this! I must know what happened to her. Is she alive? Will I ever find her? Why does her presence cling to me so...leaving me thus unable to do anything else!? Tell me, Lulu, oh please...Surely, you can answer at least one question truthfully." Jerome's eyes began to water.
"I cannot." She responded, coldly.
"Where will I see Esmé again?" He begged.
Lulu blinked. "You will not." She answered, swiftly. "There. I have answered your question. Now, get out."
"But, wait." Jerome held up his hand. "Your answers must be lies."
"Out." She repeated.
"Therefore, you are lying when you say will not see her. Which means I will. Oh, Madam, thank y-"
"Get out!" Lulu snarled. "Leave this place and do not come back."
Smiling gratefully, Jerome nodded, exited the room, and back into the realm of the living, only to return a short while later and find his wife there waiting for him, smiling dangerously.
Jerome ran to her, tried to embrace, caress, her soft pale skin...Oh, how wonderful it would be to back together again!
The second that he was within ten feet of her, she disappeared. He could not understand it. Then, he recalled Lulu's exact words. She had been lying when she said he would not see her again. She had not said anything about how long he would be seeing her.
Jerome looked around, knowing that he must find her, see her again. He did not realize, however, that he was back in Hell...and, in Hell, his quest was as fruitless as what he had did to get there.