_______________Evelyn's Point of View_______________
Darkness was all there was. No conscious thoughts in my head or around me, just an overwhelming black. I tried to rationalize, to think, but I couldn't. I had finally found what had been taunting me for the past year. The pestilence of the city had overtaken me. I was dead.
Slowly my senses returned me, one by one. The smell of mold and decaying plant life filled my nose. The sensation of moisture was everywhere on my body permeating my skin. All of this made no sense in my slowly awakening mind. Death was wet, cold, and smelled like a dense forest after a heavy rain?
This had to be the after life; there was no other explanation, especially after I opened my ears. The sound of voices mingled with the air. I had been alone in my last earthly memory, of that much I was sure. The dialogue around me was too soft for me to comprehend the words, yet they were there. Their tone mixed with the sound of soft cries frightened me. It became clear my location was meant for punishment. I was going to spend eternity seeking penance for my 29 mislead year in the world.
There was nothing to do but open my eyes and see hell. I knew I would have to eventually, I couldn't just remain in my blind ignorance forever. My eyelids opened slowly and then blinked shut. Everything was spinning, even the thoughts in my head. I gave myself a few more seconds and took a deep breath before I tried again.
My blue eyes remained open the second time. There was no spinning or blinding light. In fact, it was dark, not much contrast from having my eyes shut. There was just enough illumination from above for me to make out my surroundings. I saw that I was at the bottom of a long, circular, yet small enclosure made of old looking bricks, some of which had the number 8 on them along with a letter of the alphabet. No fire, no burning, and no demons, just a tiny damp room. So this was hell.
I gazed upon the afterlife in shock; it was not how I imagined it would be. The only thing that was present I might have been expecting were the voices around me. I looked around and was that sounds had faces; drenched, dirty, terrified ones. Their looks were no doubt a sign of my pending fait at the hands of the devil.
There were four of us dammed into the demonic cylinder pit. There was another woman across from me. She had light alburn hair and blue eyes. The look on her face was as if she had just looked upon the devil himself. I wondered why she (or any of us for that matter) had done in our lives to deserve this.
Among us were also two men. The one closest to the other woman was around her age. He had dark blonde hair and green eyes. He looked as if he was trying to keep himself together; strong, yet faltering a bit. The other man still lies face down on the ground. All I could make out was matted mounds of sandy hair. He had yet to discover the wrath that had befallen him.
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It was only after examining each of my new companions in hell that I realized I was sill on the ground. My unsteady legs began to slowly rise upward away from the pit. This challenge was met with a new sound, one of clinging metal. I looked down and saw my left foot had been shackled to the wall. On my eye's lurch upward from that sight, I caught sight of something else: a tape hanging from my neck.
Everything made sense in that instant. What I should have known all along came crashing down upon me like an epiphany. I knew where I was. It wasn't hell, but it often served as a prelude. I was trapped helplessly awaiting death. From the depths of my throat a scream rose out and filled the air of the enclosure.