Hellraiser: Beyond the Gates of Hell
Disclaimer: Well, well, well... My first Hellraiser fic. Look at that. It's about time I did one of these. Remember this, readers: I take CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, but not flamers. So kindly step away if you feel such an urge. This story is going to be written for the fun in it, but I have done as much research as one can. Clive Barker owns all things flesh and blood in Hellraiser, but I own the plot and the few characters he DIDN'T make. Well, since I got the okay, I want to dedicate this fic to laura 101 and Blue Kitsune. They're real hardcore Hellraiser romance fans! Gotta love that!
"The flesh endures the storms of the present alone, the mind those of the past and future as well as the present."
-Epicurus
"Do not bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it."
-Thomas Jefferson
By: VampireQueenAkasha
We have such sights to show you...
Chapter Nine: Flesh Tones
Just as he had said, they DID come for her. Alice was taken to the police station and questioned almost immediately upon arrival. Alice, despite her visually unpleasant wounds and beaten appearance was not treated with any respect by the investigators. At all. In fact, they spoke gruffly when they led her to an interrogation room like she was a common criminal.
"Alice, before we start, I'd like to know more about your attacker," the first investigator said. "Tell me everything you remember about him."
He was gruff in appearance, his shirt and tie wrinkled and undone in several areas. Sweat was beaded around his forehead and arms where the sleeves were rolled up, exposing grey arm hairs. He looked to have been awake for a long time, given the black circles beneath his eyes.
A younger investigator was standing there with him; Alice assumed that he may have been the man's partner. He was wearing a long overcoat which was funny considering the weather of Detroit nowadays. His hair was slicked back and his beady little brown eyes locked harshly onto her. A young rookie, no doubt, trying to pretend to be tough with her. Alice would have laughed except she wasn't in the mood for it and it would have looked bad on her part.
"It was dark," she answered, "I couldn't see his face very well."
"Really?" the older detective took a spot in a chair in front of her. Okay then. Now it looked like it was time to play Good Cop Bad Cop. He even reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes for her. "Wanna smoke?"
Alice quickly shook her head. He shrugged and pulled out a lighter from his other pocket. She watched his actions, studied his face. Alice was quite adept at picking out every single quirk, gesture and flicker in a human reaction to spot a lie or potential threat. It was because she had spent so long studying people, looking for ways to baffle or avoid them whenever possible. This man was pretty good at hiding his intentions. He had quite a good Poker Face.
"Alice, listen to me," he began, gently, lighting the tip of a cigarette, "We might know why these guys came after you and Katie Daniels."
Alice's head flickered up sharply at the mention of her friend. "Katie?" she cried, "Where's Katie? Is she hurt?" She was standing up by now and the detective gestured for her to sit back down. "Where is my friend?"
"Miss. Cotton, please sit down," he said, gently, "We just want the facts."
Alice felt her stomach flipping as soon as she spotted a gleam of pain in the older man's eyes. It was quick and gone in a flash, but she HAD seen it. Something was wrong. Something was VERY wrong. And it had to do with Katie, she just knew it. She swallowed a hot lump that had begun to form in her throat and stared at the detective harshly.
"Where is she?" she demanded.
"Alice, we need information," the detective continued, dodging her question, "You've just got done telling me that you were rescued by your assailant and did not report to us or the hospital after your attack. Who was it that saved you?"
Alice wasn't sure how to answer. When she stared into the two-way mirror, Pinhead's reflection suddenly stared back at her, cruel and sneering. She nearly jolted where she sat and watched as he narrowed his eyes at her, a warning look that told her not to tell the real truth to them. When he spoke, it sounded like running water this time and the room around her seemed to sigh like a living, breathing human being.
"Lie." he ordered.
Alice looked at the waiting detective and furrowed her brow. "A friend of mine."
"What's his or her name?"
Pinhead's reflection scowled at her. "Lie better."
"Barry Miller. My lawyer."
The two detectives stared at one another, almost as if they couldn't believe that Barry Miller was capable of something like that. "Barry Miller? I know him." the younger detective sneered, "I thought that he hated your guts."
Alice chuckled weakly, thinking about the slight humor in those words. "We've learned to get along these days," she told him.
The older detective seemed somewhat pleased with the response. That or he suddenly suspected foul play. "Interesting ... "
Alie hardened her resolve. "Look, let me see my friend! Where is she?"
The two men standing there glanced at each other, unsure of what they should say.
O
Alice's head had started spinning once she was taken to the city's local morgue. The blood had begun roaring in her ears and her heart raced wildly behind her ribcage. Her breathing slightly increased as the two detectives led the way into the cold, sterile room where bodies were kept. They stopped in front of a table and pulled back a thick white sheet. A coroner joined their side and they watched Alice's reactions.
The woman's eyes grew wide in horror and disbelief.
Katie Daniel's was lying there on the table, her flesh gone cold and her eyes closed. Her chest was practically riddled with bullet holes. The blood that had escaped her body was now dried and coagulated. She looked sickly and pale.
"Oh my God ... !" the woman gasped, her voice shaking.
The older detective stared at her sympathetically. "We'll give you a moment," he told her, "Then we'll need some information, okay?"
Alice nodded and covered her mouth with one hand. She closed her eyes, feeling the tears threatening to burst forth. But for some strange reason, they would not. She felt numb all over and did not acknowledge the two detectives leaving the room; much to the protest of the younger one who would have loved nothing more than to throw Alice away for good. The coroner simply walked out of the room as well.
Alice was alone with the corpses and she tried to breath deeply to calm herself down. When she looked back down at Katie's corpse, her eyes suddenly snapped wide open and looked straight at her! Alice cried out and jumped back.
Katie's lifeless eyes narrowed furiously and she sat her head up on the metal table. "Hey, Alice, good to see you. Oh, thanks for this, by the way!" she spat, her voice slightly distorted with death and darkness, "You really know how to keep a girlfriend waiting, don't you?"
Alice rubbed her eyes and tried to believe that this wasn't real; that she was hallucinating from the stress and the shock. She wanted to run from the morgue like a maniac, screaming. Any sensible human being would have done so by now. But there was an infinitesimal part of her who couldn't flee from such a sight. "I'm not seeing this ... " she told herself, her voice trembling, "This isn't real ... Please tell me this isn't real ... "
Katie's corpse sat up and the bones cracked sickeningly into place. She winced before laughing angrily. "Oh, that's good, Alice," she snapped, "You know, I've put up with all your bullshit, all your bitchy, whiny little quips, but this just fucking drew the last goddamn line!" When she sat up, the bullet holes ripped wide open, spilling the mushy, decayed intestines from her belly where they fell all over the floor with a disgusting splat. Rolling her eyes, the dead illusion bent over to scoop the red, pulpy loops up. "Oh great, just fucking wonderful."
Alice nearly threw up at the sight and sounds and she backed away, almost tripping over another table. "G-Get the fuck away ... !" she cried.
Katie laughed angrily and shook her head, trying to make an effort to stuff her insides back into her stomach. "I'm afraid I'm not so lucky, Alice," she snapped, "I was yanked out of my body too damn fast and now, I'm stuck in limbo because of you!"
"This isn't fair!" Alice shrieked, holding her head with two hands, "It wasn't my fault!"
Katie scoffed and rolled her dead, sticky eyes. "What are you so angry about, little Miss 'Oh, I have no life. I have no friends' WAHHH! GROW UP! Did somebody turn a gun on you and shoot you to death in an alley? No! Are your intestines falling out all over the floor right now? NO!" She grumbled to herself. "I spent four years on Jillian Michaels for this body and the jackass who wants your money rips through it like a pork chop! Thanks for nothing."
Alice blinked hard. Every time she opened her eyes, Katie's corpse was still there, sitting up and hideous as ever, staring at her. Her features filled with pain and her eyes burned. "K - Katie, I don't know if this is real or not, but I'm sorry. I'm really sorry."
Through the glass of the doors, the two detectives did not see her talking to a vision of gore. All they saw was her talking to a dead body on the morgue table.
Katie's features actually softened that time and she shook her head. "Hey, we all make mistakes." Her voice abruptly hardened again. "I'm just a little bit pissed off that my ass is stuck in limbo until that son-of-a-bitch takes a dive!" She watched as Alice rubbed her eyes with soft moans to follow. Katie sighed, rolled her eyes to the ceiling before she placed a stiff, damp hand on her friend's shoulder. "Alice, I know what's been going on. They told me everything. You should have said something."
"I didn't know how ... "
Katie laughed dryly and she glanced up toward the ceiling again. "Well, I can't stick around here too long. So, what are you going to be, Cotton? A coward and a murderer? Or a woman, with guts enough to do the right thing?"
Alice didn't know what to do. She didn't feel entirely sane anymore. She was talking to her dead friend right now! Alice wanted to throw up, but that wouldn't look good in a morgue. Hell, maybe it was bad luck. She didn't know what to say or do anymore. Her best friend was gone from this world. Gone. And when Alice looked up again, there was no talking Katie, just a dead corpse beneath the sheet once more.
Alice's soft sniffling sounds were all the sounds that would comfort her alone in this room of dead flesh.
O
Despite her manic moment at the morgue, the funeral was even worse for her that afternoon. Every one of Katie's family members were there, surrounding her best friend's elaborately decorated coffin. As she stood there, alone despite surrounded by many people, all she received were the cold, sorrowful stares of Katie's family members. They were such a big family too; Alice had always envied them for having each other.
The priest was reading from his bible as they began to place the coffin into the ground.
"We commend to almighty God our sister, Katie. We commit her body to the ground. Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. The Lord bless her and keep her and give her peace," he read, "God of holiness and power, accept our prayers on behalf of Katie. Do not count her deeds against her. For in her heart, she desired to do Your will. May God bless you. The Father ... and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
As the coffin was placed into the ground and everyone began to depart for their vehicles, Alice cautiously approached Katie's parents to perhaps try and reason with them, or at least find some form of agreement. Just as expected, they gave her cold, heartless stares in return. Katie's father, Ted Daniels seemed somewhat more gentle in his approach than his wife, Maria Daniels. They were beautiful people, Alice couldn't deny that. Even when they were angry, they were beautiful.
"Thank you for paying for everything," Ted told the woman, his voice strained, "It ... It was the least you could do."
Alice smiled sorrowfully. "No. I am glad to have done it."
Maria's tear-streaked face became red and she shoved her hand against Alice's chest, nearly knocking her off of her feet; the small woman was stronger than she looked. "You're the one who belongs in that coffin!" she shouted hysterically, startling everyone there. Maria's mother, Katie's grandmother moved to pull her away. "She loved you like a sister! She was our pride and joy! IT'S YOUR FAULT THAT SHE'S DEAD!"
Alice only stared back at the screaming mother, those brown eyes reflecting nothing but pure maternal sorrow and hatred; her expression was like a child who had been struck for no reason. Their words seemed to blend in together.
" - Maria ... calm down, please ... "
" - NO! SHE SHOULD BE IN THE GODDAMN GROUND!"
" - Maria, you're making a scene ... "
" - Please, she's just as in pain as the rest of us ... "
The family struggled to pull Maria away from a stung Alice. The woman felt like she had been doused with icy water. It hurt more than anything she had ever endured because a part of her agreed with the woman. Katie had a family who loved her. Alice was a nobody. She didn't deserve to live. Her heart was numb and cold. When the crowd of people departed with the sobbing Maria, Alice noticed that Lucas was still there, sitting on his chair with his head hung.
Alice walked over to him. His face was like cold granite. He was staring statue - like at the fresh grave there before him where his girlfriend now lay; a small pile of dead flesh and bone. Alice ignored Kevin as he pulled up in his car.
"Lucas?" Alice said, carefully.
The still man did not react.
"Lucas. It must have been hard. I can't imagine what you must be feeling." Alice was trying to console him the best that she could because Lucas had loved Katie so very much. "I'm so sorry. I don't even know what to say."
Lucas slowly lifted his head and looked at the woman standing there, as if he had just now noticed her. His handsome face was as hard as stone and his eyes bloodshot, streaked with tears-fresh and dried. "Don't ... say ... anything." His words came out like a cold wind, breathed through his tight, straining chest as if he had to fight to get them out, like a man who could not breathe. His eyes held nothing but controlled hatred and fury. In all the times that Alice had known Lucas, she had never seen him like that.
"Lucas ... " she tried.
He stood up slowly and his eyes glinted once, as if he remembered something. Turning to the woman, he made a very small sound and held out something wrapped up in a silver plastic paper. It seemed to have trembled with his hands. Alice just stared at it for a moment as if she was afraid that he'd break her neck if she took it. "It's for you ... " Lucas breathed in a very controlled tone of voice, like he was fighting the urge not to scream at her too. "Happy Birthday."
Alice's eyes filled and she met his gaze with a storm of confusion and pain. After the longest time, the woman reached and gently took the box out of Lucas' hands. She studied his stone features and smiled weakly.
"T - Thanks."
Lucas did not smile back. "Whatever ... " he whispered, turning to depart from her, "It's not like you deserve it anyway ... "
He's right ...
Alice took the half - hearted gift and walked toward her car, ignoring Kevin as she brushed passed him. He held out a hand. "Alice, wait I ... " he began. He watched as she walked with a staggering step to her car, saying nothing to him.
Kevin tried to follow behind her, calling out several times, but she simply jumped into her car and drove away without so much as a single word. He watched her go, his shoulders sagging. Alice was hit harder than everyone here, he knew. Katie had been her best friend for years and with everyone putting blame on her, she needed some kind of support. Kevin glanced toward the fresh grave and the departing Lucas; God only knew what he told her.
"Alice!" he shouted, as she disappeared down the road.
O
Alice sat in her car with the engine idling in front of her house. She didn't move for the longest time. Her shaking fingers slowly and carefully unwrapped the gift. It was a collection of CD's. Toby Keith and Lynard Skynard, several of which Alice did not have yet.
The woman's heart sank into cold ice water and she leaned back in her seat with a low choking sound. She covered her eyes with both hands and felt warm, hot fluid trickling down her cheeks. She was crying for the first time in years. Alice gritted her teeth and wiped her eyes with the backs of her hands.
For the longest time, Alice just sat in her car, listening to her CD's through the radio. The engine was shut off and the moon was shining brightly in the sky. Bugs fluttered around her face, but she was not bothered by them. They fluttered around her cheeks, her eyelashes and her forehead. The sensations were cut off and her head felt numb to the rest of the world, forgotten. Listless. Empty.
Aw ... what did they do, Alice? What did they do to Katie?
The voice was chilling, like thousands of rattlesnakes hissing all at once. Mocking, impatient and cruel. Alice found the strength through her numb emotion to spot two white humanoid shapes moving out of the shadows and toward her car. They were living, walking torso's with stretched flesh across their eyes and noses; the skin was sickly white and their deformed bodies ribbed in painful manners. When they arrived, their smell was horrible, like dead animal fur and urine.
She was a burden. This will be your freedom.
Alice felt her body growing cold to her very bones, only because they spoke such truth. How long would she endure this? Why was she kidding herself in thinking that she could change her own life? Katie was dead. Everyone in town hated her MORE. What else was there? It was useless and there was no point in hurting herself even more than she had to. She couldn't choose them, so there was one option left for her.
Alice reached into her glove compartment and pulled out a small, bright red multi - tool. She removed a small knife from one of the many slots. The voices that rang in her head seemed to prick up lightly with a faint glimmer of concern.
What are you doing, Alice?
She ignored their voices and dumbly brought the end of the blade toward her throat. So quick, it would be so quick. "Yeah, I could do it. We both know you wouldn't stop me..." she whispered quietly, to whoever was listening.
Death does not become you ...
You cannot ... must not!
Alice ignored them and just smiled. "Fuck you."
Just as she raised the tip to her throat, a dull chuckle filled the air, followed by an all-too-familiar voice. "Suicide? Hah. I did not realize that was in your repertoire, Alice."
She opened her eyes and Pinhead was walking up to her car with a smirk on his face. She frowned and lowered the sharp tip from her throat, confused by his emotionless persona toward her suicide plans. "If I kill myself, then you can't have me."
"Not necessarily," he answered, pacing around the vehicle until he stopped at her side. "Your soul is meant for hell, Alice. There is a difference between the two." He watched her confused features darken. "Allow for me to explain. Say another fool were to open the box. A nobody. A faceless human with no real significance to us whatsoever. To avoid us and our hell they would take their own lives and wind up in eternal limbo. But you were already meant for us long before your time. You will always be ours, no matter how many times you try to take your own life."
Alice snarled angrily and threw the multi - tool at the demon. It struck him uselessly on the chest and clattered into the dirt. "It's not fair! I never wanted this!"
Pinhead made a sound of pity that really didn't seem piteous at all, still mocking. He placed a hand onto her shoulder. "Of course, of course you didn't, child," he told her, "No one ever means for these things to happen. But they do. Yes, they always do."
Alice felt a brief moment of comfort and she leaned into his arm without even realizing what she was doing. He was so cold, but it was a comforting kind of cold. When Pinhead realized what she was doing, he slowly pulled his arm away from her.
"Alice, what will you do?" he asked her, watching as she rubbed the sides of her eyes, to perhaps hide her tears from him, "There is nothing left for you in this world. Not a single thing." His eyes landed on the radio as the music stopped and began playing something from a church broadcast.
"The Devil hears you! The Devil sees you! Every night, every day, the Devil knows your souls!"
Pinhead laughed nastily at that. "You have no idea how right you are!" He slowly looked at Alice, read the glimmer of defeat in her eyes. She was giving up. He knew it now. Smiling cruelly, he reached out one hand. "Come Alice. You will not be abandoned any longer. You must come with us now. Taste our pleasures."
Alice stared at the offered, pale hand and then, to his emotionless, black gaze. There was something that drew her to him, something nameless. When he said she was meant for them, why did she feel like there was a greater significance to his words than even HE was aware of? She felt her heart pulsating rapidly behind her ribcage like a drum and defeat from the sake of living roaring in her head. There was no reason to lie to herself anymore. No reason to pretend like everything was alright. They offered her everything, so why was she going to ignore them any more?
She shyly and carefully took the demon's hand.