Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies
"Well, that was easier than I expected," mused Sarah as they tramped up the long staircase.
"Isn't that a little worrying?" said Ethan, looking anxious.
"You're paranoid, Ethan!" exclaimed Benny, tapping his friend on the left shoulder, and then slipping round to his right. Frowning, Ethan reflexively looked to his left, then, with an exasperated sigh, turned his head back the other way.
"Very funny –"
He jumped back as he looked straight into Benny's grinning face. He hadn't realised how close he was. Stumbling on the step, Ethan fell backwards with a shout, tumbling into Rory.
Benny winced as the two of them rolled down the shiny steps a little way. "Sorry!" he called, sheepishly. They picked themselves up, and hurried, fuming, up to him, dusting down their clothes.
"Not sensible, Benny!" said Ethan between clenched teeth. He rubbed the back of his head. "I could have broken something."
"Well, Rory was bound to break your fall," said Benny, airily.
"Sarah?" asked Rory. "Did that old guy seem familiar to you?"
"A bit," admitted Sarah. She looked round at Benny and Ethan. "Did either of you guys feel the same way?"
"About what?" said Benny, oddly defensive.
"About the old man at the gate."
They looked at each other and shook their heads. "I don't think he looks like anyone I've ever seen," said Ethan. "Except to the extent that all old people kind-of look the same, in my opinion."
Sarah looked thoughtful. "Who have you and I seen that Ethan and Benny haven't," she asked Rory.
"That weird wizened man that snarled at us when we were going down through Hell?" suggested Rory, after a long pause.
Sarah raised her eyebrows. "Maybe you're right. But why? That's so … odd to have the same person there and here."
"Well, there's funding cuts everywhere," quipped Ethan. He looked up in surprise. "Hey, we've reached the top of the staircase!"
"Are we here?" exclaimed Rory, excitedly.
Benny gave him a deadpan look. "Yes, of course we are, Rory, after all of ten minutes' walk."
"Good," said Rory, beaming. Benny shook his head in despair. Sarcasm just passed Rory by. Of course, in the defence of sarcasm, so did most things.
Sarah sighed and looked at the map. "This is, apparently, the first terrace. For the proud."
They looked across the flat earth, which curved around the looming mountain. Along the rocky outcrop were what looked like ants, struggling under large burdens.
"I suppose we walk around the mountain."
"Wearing pink pyjamas?" asked Benny, raising an eyebrow.
"What?" said Sarah, bemused.
"When we're coming 'round the mountain?" sand Benny.
Rolling her eyes, Sarah didn't even answer, instead choosing to stalk off in the direction of the next gate. Beneath their feet, the ground gently sloped as it curved, meaning that the terrace wasn't actually flat, but made them walk slightly uphill all the time. On reaching the first of the punished, they realised why.
"Have they all got … large rocks strapped to their backs?" whispered Ethan.
"Yeah…" murmured Sarah, looking at all the figures that were bent over so far that their heads nearly brushed against the ground.
"That's so simple, yet so effective!" said Rory, again thrilled by the appropriateness of the punishment to the crime.
Ethan and Sarah looked at him warily, but this time Benny was more understanding.
"I have to agree with Rory on this one. It really is super neat!"
The four of them walked on through the field of weighed down people, all of whom were gradually becoming more humble as they walked up the slope. Every now and again, one would try to raise themselves a little, only to be overbalanced by their stone and roll back down the hill.
"Obviously pride isn't something that any of us are guilty of," commented Ethan, as they reached the next gate.
Sarah nodded. "I guess so. Lucky Erica isn't here with us, though, eh?"
They all laughed. "She'd definitely be rather flat by now!" said Benny. He looked up at the next set of steps, and groaned. "Here we go again… Going down was so much easier."
As they climbed the green pathway, Ethan looked thoughtful. "What's the difference between here and Hell?" he asked.
Sarah frowned at him as if he was stupid. "Look around, Ethan! One dark – one light. One underground – one big mountain!"
"Yes, thanks for that, Sarah," he said, rolling his eyes. "What I meant was why the people here aren't in Hell. What's the difference in what they've done?"
Sarah shrugged. "Maybe they felt guilty about it. The ones in Hell might not have cared."
"Yeah, maybe…" Ethan looked down. "Now, I know I might not want the answer to this, but what does the burning sand punish? You never said."
There was no reply. "It's OK, Sarah, I can handle knowing," he said, lightly, looking up. They had reached the next level, but Sarah had vanished.
"Sarah?" he called, worried. He looked back at the others, who shrugged.
"I blinked, and she was gone," said Benny, his eyes wide. "This must be the level that she's being punished on."
"I wonder what Sarah's done…" murmured Rory.
"I don't know," said Ethan, "but we're going to find her!"
"Where do you think she is?" asked Benny.
Ethan grimaced. "Sarah had the map…"
"Oops…" said Benny. "That's not good news."
"She's got to be out there somewhere," said Ethan.
They looked out at the vast grey plain, dotted with hundreds of human figures. "Yeah. Good luck with that," said Benny, raising an eyebrow.
"I know what we've got to do!" exclaimed Rory.
They looked at him. "Does it, by any chance, have anything to do with the words 'split' and 'up'?" Benny asked.
"Yeah!" Rory looked crestfallen. "How did you guess?"
"This is the kind of situation in movies, and, frankly, most of our evenings, when someone, for us usually Sarah, cheerfully suggests that we do that. Then something bad happens. I've watched enough movies to know that as a fact. And I've found whatever creepy thing we're looking for attacking me from behind enough times to know it, too."
"Don't be ridiculous," snorted Ethan. "It almost never really happens like that! And, besides, what bad thing could happen to us here?"
There was a pause as they all came up with their own mental lists. Then they all looked up at once, quite pale.
"We're not splitting up," they chorused.
"Sarah?" called out Ethan; Benny and Rory repeating it at regular intervals. "Are you there?"
"All these people are wearing these huge cloaks," said Benny, exasperated. "It's impossible to tell any difference in them from a distance. Sarah!"
There was no movement among the grey figures. Ethan sighed. "We're just going to have to keep searching. She must be here."
A little more walking, a little more shouting, and, at last there was some reaction.
"Can you hear something?" asked Rory, tilting his head to one side.
Ethan did the same. "No."
"Someone … crying…" Rory muttered, trying to pinpoint the sound. He twisted his head back and forth, and closed his eyes to better focus on his hearing. Benny and Ethan waited, holding their breath. Eventually, Rory opened his eyes.
"That one," he said, pointing.
They hurried over. As they neared, even Ethan and Benny could hear the sniffling and sobbing. Reaching the cloaked shape, they dragged down the hood, revealing Sarah's long, dark hair.
"Sarah?" said Ethan.
She turned, slowly, in the direction of his voice. She stumbled little, as if unsure of her footing. She raised her head, and the others took an involuntary step back in shock.
"Ethan? Benny? Rory?" asked Sarah, plaintively stretching her arms out.
The cause for their horror was plain. As Sarah turned her face towards them, they saw that her eyes were closed, with a little line of black under each one. A tear had squeezed itself under one lid, and was running slowly down her cheek. Then they realised that her eyes had been sewn shut. Sarah was completely blind.
