Headaches & Hazbins: Book 1: New Kind of Life, New Kind of Hell

Chapter 2: Hell-O!

Asher: Why am I saying this out loud?

[Asher takes a puff of his cigarette and blows the smoke into the sky above him. He kicks some dirt and looks out of the alleyway towards the city street. His stomach grows, Asher pats it and sighs.]

Asher: *Sigh* Hungry again... Fuck. I don't have enough money to buy any food either.

[Asher reaches into his pocket and takes out the few coins he took out of the tin can.]

Asher: Shame the denizens of Hell aren't very generous...

[He places the coins back into his pocket and looks up towards the pentagram sky.]

Asher: I need some money... Now...

[Asher looks around the alleyway, nothing interesting, just a lot of garbage.]

Asher: Nothing worth jack...

[He looks around a bit more and notices a fire escape down the alleyway. He looks up at the fire escape and sees that it leads to the top of the building.]

Asher: Hmm...

[Asher takes one last puff of his cigarette before tossing it to the ground and stomping out the cinders. He walks over to the fire escape and brushes his hand against it, it's all rusted and old.]

Asher: Tch, no care at all... This thing has to be breaking at least three fire safety regulations. Better not kill me when I try to climb it.

[He grabs onto the fire escape and begins to climb up it. As he climbs up the third floor he can't help but notice the dim light coming out of a window, he walks up to it and peeks inside. Inside of the room with the dim light, there seems to be some sort of magic show going on between two Demons. An involuntary one... One of the Demons is wearing a magician's outfit and has a blindfold over his eyes, he's also holding a fair amount of knives in his hands. The other Demon is tied up and gagged against a spinning board, the board is spinning at an alarming rate. The magician Demon tosses one of the knives in the air and catches it. He then pulls his arm back with a smile as he gets ready to throw the knives.]

Asher: Ok, I've seen enough to know where this is going...

[Asher walks past the window and back up the fire escape. He continues to climb the building until he reaches the roof, he climbs up and looks around the top of the building.]

Asher: Hmm... Maybe a-

*Blood-Curdling Scream*

[Asher's eyes go wide as he stands there silently. He turns and looks back towards the fire escape, exactly where the scream came from. He looks back forward and smiles.]

Asher: Heh... He was aiming for the balls, wasn't he?

[Asher walks forward towards the other side of the building and leans against the edge, he looks around at the other rooftops of apartments or storefronts. Nothing interesting.]

Asher: C'mon... C'mon Hell give me something...

???: (Distant) So is it enough?

Asher: Che cosa?

[Asher looks down off the building towards the alleyway below. Two Demons are leaning against the wall smoking and talking to each other about something. Asher leans his head over the edge to eavesdrop on their conversation.]

Asher: Well, well, well... What do we have here?

Demon 2: Should be enough.

Demon 1: But is it worth it? I mean... It's a shit load of money just for some bats and knives. Wouldn't you want to use them spears instead?