No Big Deal

Chapter 6- The Beautiful Rings

Chapter 6- The Beautiful Rings
"Do not go gentle into that good night but rage, rage against the dying of the light."
-Dylan Thomas

Satan sits down and folds his hands on top of the table. "Its a pleasure seeing you again. I really wanted to tell you this wonderful story." Satan says sarcastically. "Wait. Have we meet before?" She says and gestures for him to shake her hand. Even faced with danger my mother was still polite. Satan takes her hand. He turns her delicate hand and places a light kiss upon it. He looks back at her with a smile and the most enigmatic eyes I've ever seen.

"See your son has sold his mortal soul to me. We made a little deal for a box of cigarettes. Your silly son thinks he can gain it back but he is very wrong." He says and looks back at me. "I see. What are you doing here now?" She asks once she drops out of the trance. "Waiting." Satan says and grabs my mother's wine glass. He swirls it and looks at me dead in the eyes. His eyes peered into my soul as if he already knew it belonged to him. It hurt to look at him but I just couldn't look away. I couldn't do anything but stare at that ugly demon.

"I'm waiting." He says impatiently and taps his watch. He takes a sip from the glass and wipes his lips with the sleeve of his suit. My heart starts to race and I begin spiraling deeper into my emotions. Calm down, just calm down. Satan's rushing you, that's all. You don't have to smoke them all today or tomorrow. Satan catches my thoughts and gives me a sly smile. "You're a lot stronger than I originally thought, Daniel." He says and gets up. "I'll see you, when you join the cool side." Satan says and puts on a pair of aviator sunglasses. He grabs the plate of meatloaf and walks out the door.

"My meatloaf." I say. "I've got more in the fridge." My mom says and turns to me. "Grab our rolling dry erase board and come back here." She says. I open the door to the basement. I look down the dark stairs. With each step it gets hotter and hotter. Creaks and groans follow each of my feet as I go down. I take off my jacket and tie it around my waist. I grab the cold lightbulb string from the ceiling and tug it down. I keep tugging but the light won't turn on. A red glow suddenly fills the room and misshapen shadows crawl across the walls. I look up and a drop of blood drops onto my forehead. I wipe it off with my hand and realize my hand is covered in blood. I quickly look back at the ceiling and see what I was really pulling. It was a bloody intestine hanging from the ceiling.

This was surely The Devil's work. I feel a piercing pain near my ankle. Then, I notice gory creatures covered in blood and God knows what clawing at me. I back away toward the wall as they drag themselves closer to me. A strong arm wraps around my neck tightly into a choke hold. I flail and thrash but the grip is to tight to break free from. I could still breath but I was trapped. "Danny!" Satan's familiar voice comes from behind me and my body stiffens. "Look at this chaos! Isn't it neat? Wouldn't you think my pits are complete?" Satan says. "It's terrifying that's what it is." I say and try to pull his arm off. He keeps his arm locked down tight and doesn't budge.

"You think this is terrifying? This is only limbo." He says and snaps his fingers. The landscapes changes and the wind picks up. "I can't decide which circle to throw you in. So, let's take a tour." He says and lets go of my neck. He gestures his arm toward the storm in front of us. This is the circle for the lustful. The souls are trapped in an endless wind storm and are rocks fall straight down from the sky at them." He says as I look at all the tortured souls. He claps and it changes again. "Ah! The third circle, gluttony." Satan rolls off his tongue.

I look out at the sad souls being pelted with an icy rain. Some of them were even endlessly vomiting. "The vomit is for the real pigs. But, I assure you you won't end up here, Skinny Boy." He says and pats my stomach. Satan yells for the next circle and my surroundings change again. "This one is a lot fun." Satan says. I look out and see a boiling pool of gold with souls drowning inside. They were gasping for air and screaming. The screaming was something unimaginably painful to hear. Not just because of how loud they were but, the fear and the pure pain in their voices was unbearable to listen to. "Want to take a dip." He says and pretends to push me in. I look at him in horror and he laughs.

"What are we at? Five I think." Satan says and sassily snaps again. "Anger is such a beautiful thing." He says and I look sadly upon the souls strapped in isolation being beaten. "Just think of this as a really big prison." He says and shouts for another circle. Nothing happens and he keeps shouting. He grabs a remote from his pocket and clicks a button. "Remind me that I have to kill my special effects manager." He says as the circle changes once again. "I think this one is the least fun. Heresy just bores me." He says and shrugs. I glance at a giant pit of fire full of souls being prodded with pitchforks.

Satan clicks the remote again and a hot splash of blood hits my legs. "This whirlpool of boiling blood is drowning millions of violent souls. These people are actually fun to be around. I mean there are murderers and just some genuinely really cool people in here." He says and clicks again. "To be honest this one is the scariest to me. This circle is for all of those that have committed acts of fraud. The souls are thrown into a bottomless black pit. They are constantly falling and left alone with their conscience." Satan says quietly as I peer down.

He clicks the remote again "And here is my beautiful home." Satan says. "I'm actually supposed to be in the middle frozen from the waist down. But, I'm such a rebel." He says and strikes a pose. "So, this is treachery." I say and look at all the frozen souls trapped in the ice. "Yup! You're going to be so happy here. Which ring do you think you belong in? I think you fit in a little of all of them. I mean you don't believe in God, so bingo circle one. You also have gone on so many dates I couldn't count them on all the hands in here. You probably wouldn't fit in gluttony but if I searched for loop holes I'd find a way to fit you in. You take everything for granted and have you heard the way you talk to your mother? You don't have every orthodox beliefs from the few you have. I also know what you did to your poor mom's expensive vase" He stops to shiver. "And what you're doing with me is basically suicide so you deserve to be with the violent. You are almost as big of a liar as me and that's saying something. And you've betrayed God by working with me." He says and pats my back.

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Hey!
This is a little late but still worth it, right? I had to add a couple more details before I published, when forgot to publish yesterday. Whoops, sorry. Thanks for reading. Please comment and vote, please!
- A. F. Grace