Heaven and Hell (21 page)

“Oh my God,” gasped Serena, turning suddenly pale. “You tortured people?”

“In my line of work, a certain degree of fear had to be maintained to keep the locals in line, to say nothing of the competition. Hey, it came with the territory. In my special chamber, beneath the family estate I loosened up plenty of purse strings, silenced many a tongue, and saved the family business a lot of money and trouble in the process. I made a lot of people vanish. That sort of thing happens in Columbia. You gotta do what you gotta do, and if you enjoy it, well, all the better. I won’t go into all the details about my methods, but they were unique. A lot of terrible things happen in the mountains of Columbia.”

Serena was horrified. She couldn’t imagine how anyone could find pleasure in physically harming another. “But now, you’re the one on the receiving end of the torture,” she noted. “Hasn’t that made you understand how your victims felt? Hasn’t it caused you even a little bit of remorse about what you did to them?”

“No, not really.”

“Are you telling me that you like what happens to you in that pit?” asked Serena.

“No, that’s crazy, you must be as stupid as you look,” Luis said. “I prefer to give rather than to receive. As I already told you, when it came my time to enter that fiery pit, I fought tooth and nail. I didn’t go quietly. So, I ask you again, will you?”

Luis glanced at a vacant pit to Serena’s right. “Yes, that will do nicely. Perhaps the time has come for you to realize the nature of my suffering, Serena.” Luis pointed toward the glowing pit. Just kick off your sandals and jump in.”

Serena’s eyes grew wide with terror. She looked into the pit. She saw the luminous red rocks, the shimmering waves of heat, it was unimaginable. “What? You can’t be serious!”

“Don’t question me, woman, do it!” demanded Luis. “I want to watch you squirm, see the flesh burn from your bones, and it won’t take long, seniorita. It won’t take long.”

“No,” gasped Serena, taking a step backward.

“Why, what’s wrong, Serena? You were going to jump into the sea of fire for satan, why not jump into this pit for me? Look, let me make this simple for you. You can jump in yourself or I can throw you in, it’s your choice.”

“Luis, please, leave her in peace!” pleaded Kyle.

Luis took no notice of the Scotsman’s plea. He was no threat.

Luis kept advancing toward Serena. By now, his ribs had been completely closed in by muscle and sinew, and skin had nearly covered the muscles of his face. Even the first signs of hair were appearing upon his scalp. “I want you to know what it’s like to be down there in the pit as I was, nothing but scalding hot bones infested with worms that can’t die, and in such terrible pain. I want you to be looking up at someone whose body is whole and beautiful. Then I want you to beg, to plead for mercy. Don’t worry, I might pull you out, after a while, if you beg pitifully enough and long enough. Don’t you see? You’re mine. Now, do it, get in!”

Luis lunged toward Serena, yet he never reached her. He was caught in midair by three huge demons. They swept around him like a terrible dark cloud. Serena could hear the dreadful screams, the curses, the sounds of ripping flesh. That was the last she ever saw or heard of Luis.

Serena was on the run, running as fast as she could. More than once she narrowly missed tumbling into one of the hellish pits. A state akin to madness had descended upon her, and now it would not lift. The world around her had become unreal, distant, little more than a nightmare. Perhaps stumbling into one of the broiling pits would accomplish nothing more than shocking her back into the world of consciousness. She might find herself in her own bed, Chris at her side.

Perhaps her dream had begun earlier than that. She might awaken as a child of ten, her whole life having found its genesis in the raging fever that had nearly killed her that spring. And still she continued her headlong flight. Her lungs and legs ached, yet she didn’t break stride. She didn’t have to stop or even slacken her pace. There was no such thing as pure exhaustion here, how could there be? Exhaustion was for mortals, she was an immortal, a being of eternity, so she ran.

Time had become a blur. Her pain was continual, she just had to stop, but she didn’t. Surely there was a limit to her endurance, but it never came. It hung out there in the imminent future, yet, like a desert mirage, like the end of the rainbow, she never reached it.

In the end, it was her own haste that brought an end to her flight. The half-buried, football-sized rock caught her left foot, and in a fraction of a second, she was airborne in a headlong plunge. She felt the harsh radiant heat, saw the glowing rocks of the pit before her, then beneath her. Her head was awash in adrenaline, she plunged downward. Her toes caught the far edge of the pit as she landed flat on her face. She pushed herself up, spun around to see the pit that she had virtually leapt over. She hadn’t leapt over it at its widest point, but it was still quite a jump. She had caught the full attention of the skeleton who sat at its center. He gazed at the rag-clad human who had flown over the crematorium that was his eternal home.

“Chi sei? Dove stai andando?” he asked, in a trembling voice that spoke of his pain and anguish.

“I’m sorry,” said Serena regaining control of herself. “Really I am.”

He rose to his feet, facing the only stranger who had wandered into his eternity in a very long time. He stared at her, or at least she figured that was what he was doing. He seemed so pitiful. Serena rose once more to her feet, extended her apologies, for all they were worth, and continued on, this time more carefully.

For a moment, the stranger remained completely motionless, standing like some hanging skeleton in a biology lab. Then he sat down within the pit once more, with only his pain to keep him company.

Serena had regained control. She couldn’t allow herself to lose it like that, not again. She looked back, trying to figure out just how far her headlong frenzy had carried her. She was surprised to discover how much more distant the mountains appeared now than before. She pulled out the small hourglass. It was difficult to tell just how many minutes had passed based on this strange chronometer, but it couldn’t have been more than half an hour, probably less. Then there was the issue of the pit. She had jumped completely over it. How fast had she been running? She was still winded, but quickly recovering. A Scripture verse came to mind, probably remembered because it was also part of a song sung at her husband’s church.

“You will walk and not be weary, you shall run and not faint,” she said, quoting it as best she could. That was a description of the glorified body of a saint in Heaven.

No, this wasn’t Heaven. In Heaven she would not have been winded at all, but apparently, this new body that healed so very rapidly also had other abilities. The fact that she had sailed over the pit said that she must have been running very fast. Yes, her muscles hurt, there was a limit to her strength, but her endurance; well, that might be another matter. This body she now had was God’s final gift to her before He cast her into outer darkness. Satan depended on this gift. In order for the souls in Hell to suffer, they had to have endurance, didn’t they?

Serena continued on, wondering if there truly was an end to the pits; there was. Not ten minutes had passed when she left the last of them behind and stepped out into a vast plain with few rocks. Only cracked, sun-baked soil stretched before her. No, there was something else. It was almost on the horizon, nearly lost in the haze, a glowing sea of red—the sea of fire?

Her journey was almost at an end.

S
ERENA continued on, following her long shadow much as the proverbial mule might follow the carrot hanging by a stick in front of him. Yet in this case, the end was now in sight. It was no longer a mirage retreating eternally before her. It was difficult to say how long it would be before she reached the infernal shore, but she suspected that she would arrive there well before the appointed time. Perhaps she should slow her pace. There was no hurry. Perhaps it was best to arrive just in time, rather than to wait around for her time to be up.

After all, this wasn’t a flight at the airport she was rushing to catch. She wouldn’t be expected to check in at the gate two hours before departure. She wouldn’t have to go through security or wait in line to check her baggage. She didn’t even have any carry-on. Nope, she could step right to the head of the line. Serena shook her head in disbelief, why in the world did that crazy analogy pop into her head?

Serena continued to scan the hazy horizon before her. Here and there she could make out flashes of light. It had the appearance of a distant thunderstorm. Did it actually rain in Hell?

She thought back to her days as a child, watching the summer thunderstorms roll over the Cascade mountains. How she had loved the thunder and the lightning, the ever-changing shape of the white towering clouds against the deep blue sky. It was a thing of power, of wonder. Back then, she had pondered over the wonders of creation. She thought about the Creator of the thunderstorm and the lightning, of the One who ordained the coming of the rain; that brought such a wonderful fragrance of freshness to the meadows.

Then there was the rainbow. Her grandmother had said that it was God’s covenant with man, the promise that He would never again destroy the world with a terrible flood, as He had done in the days of Noah. She thought of her grandmother. It was she who had spoken about the wonderful God who had made all of creation. She had often looked after the young Serena when her mother and step-father were at work. She had read Bible stories to Serena, spoken of God’s love. She had so wanted Serena to believe, yet she had died. She was only 61 when the Lord took her away.

Through her prolonged illness, she had spoken of going to be with Jesus in Heaven. Serena had no doubt at all that she was there with Him, looking down on the world. But, she wouldn’t remember Serena any longer, would she? Her memories of Serena, and the love that accompanied them, would be swept from her mind, so that she might not mourn for her. Still, Serena remembered her Grandma Sylvia, and as long as she did, their love would not truly die.

Serena’s mind snapped back to the here and now. In this place there was no room for love, caring, mercy, or compassion. There was only fear, hate, pain, and remorse. One’s only encounters here were with those most dismal emotions. And the hate? Most of that was furnished by encounters with satan and his minions, and it spread out from there. She hoped that she would have no more other worldly encounters between here and the sea of fire. She had seen enough suffering, encountered enough crazed souls for one day. Yet she expected that she would not be so fortunate.

Nonetheless, there didn’t seem to be anything going on out here, no circling demons, no flaming pits or thundering geysers, no odor of death, just a vast flat expanse of loneliness. Even the traveling was easier here.

Now that the sound of the wailing souls in the pits behind her had faded into the background of nothingness, it had become very quiet. Only the slightest breeze stirred the hot dry air, an acrid breeze that swept in from the great sea before her. Serena watched her shadow pass across the parched ground that knew neither a green plant nor a drop of rain, as she followed it to disaster.

She was becoming so hot, so thirsty. It had been many hours since she’d had a drink of water or rested her legs. She doubted that she would have the opportunity to do either anytime soon. Indeed, she might never have that opportunity again.

The trek continued without incident and without any remarkable discoveries. The red sea was growing closer, and the distant lightning was becoming brighter and more distinct, as the haze above the plains slowly cleared. Yet, something else, something odd did attract her attention. Here and there, small sections of the land had been disturbed, for the flat radiating pattern of cracks that dominated this region was interrupted by a small mound of smooth earth, hardly more than a few inches high. It might well have been a natural phenomenon, but Serena doubted it.

It was many minutes before Serena stopped. She was certain that she had heard a sound coming from parts unknown. At first, she thought it might be the cacophony of wailing souls in the pits, echoing off the distant mountains behind her, yet she quickly dismissed that possibility. No, this sound was coming from close at hand, muffled and faint, yet very nearby.

She looked about her, then at the ground beneath her feet. Could it possibly be coming from somewhere below? A chill swept through her soul. It was not a single voice she was hearing, but many; and they were in anguish. She dreaded to even consider the nature of the distress. She moved on, hoping that the muffled cries would fade, but they didn’t. The voices were different from moment to moment, yet they were still there. She recalled the disturbed plots of earth. Had satan buried people alive beneath her feet? She dropped to one knee, listening carefully. The voices were there; and they were coming from the ground. They were too muffled for her to make out individual words.

“Oh God,” she gasped. “Oh Lord; how can you let something like this go on?”

There was nothing more to say. Serena figured that God wasn’t listening, not to people here, anyway. Why should He? They were lost forever, beyond redemption, as she was. She rose to her feet and moved on.

The mournful cries that arose from the ground below drove Serena to despair, as the great sea before her grew closer. Above it, along the horizon, she witnessed towering clouds, not unlike those of the Oregon summer, rising above the glowing sea. Reflecting the light of the low sun and crimson sea, the turbulent clouds held an amber hue, highlighted by bright threads of electricity that arced around and between them. Slowly, a great vista of infernal grandeur was unveiled, stretching across the horizon. Before her the ground seemed to drop off precipitously, even as a low roar gradually masked the cries from below. Within minutes, she stood at the precipice of a great cliff, rising 30 or 40 feet above the turbulent fiery mass below.