Coven

Part One: The Seven Wonders

After that, Dave takes the initiative to set my dummy on fire and laugh about it.

I look at Sierra. "You know, I feel bad because there's an uneven number of rivalries here: Ana and Celeste, and Dave and myself. It's like, nobody's trying to set you on fire. So, I'll set yours on fire as an act of kindness."

She giggles and then says, "Thanks, George."

I step forward and set Sierra's dummy on fire. I turn to her and say, "It's a shame because I actually really liked that dress. It looks good on you."

Finally, Sierra sets Dave's dummy on fire, but instead of red and orange fire, hers burns blue.

"Great! Let us move on, children," says Catarina. The council then takes us back into the living room and asks that we all lie down in a circle. "Descensum: literally going to hell and back. If your soul has not returned by sunup, you will die and never return. Helena has demonstrated descensum enough times to where you all should know the spell pretty well. So without further ado, go to hell!" She turns the hourglass over and the sand falls.

Each of us close our eyes and say the spell in perfect unison, "Spiritu Duce, in me est. Deduc me in tenebris vitaad extremum, ut salutaret'nfieri. Descensum!"

I feel a harsh force pull on my body as I descend into my personal hell. I open my eyes to a man sitting in a corner of a room, crying.

As I approach the man slowly, he yells, "GET THE HELL AWAY FROM ME! YOU'VE CAUSED NOTHING BUT PAIN AND SUFFERING FOR THE LAST THIRTEEN YEARS OF MY LIFE! I'M DONE WITH THIS AND YOU!" The man turns around and reveals himself as my father. He then proceeds to pull out a handgun and shoots himself in the head right in my face. Blood splatters on me. I sit next to my father's corpse, crying hysterically. Suddenly, I'm back to where the vision started and my father is yelling. I realise that it's a giant, never-ending loop and wake up from the nightmare.

I begin hyperventilating and weeping as I am the second to last one to awake. I look outside. It is almost sunup and Ana has yet to wake up.

"George, how was it?" asks Sierra.

I struggle to find words suitable for describing my hell. "It was... hell."

"I mean, what did you see?"

"It was the night my dad committed suicide right in front of me. The reason I'm here now, actually." I hesitate before asking the rest of them. "What about you guys?"

Sierra sighs. "I was in this huge argument with my dad. It was just a giant mess and looking back at it, I don't remember what it was even about." She looks at Dave. "What about you?"

"As you may know, I was bullied in middle school and that's the only reason I'm here. I made my bully have a brain aneurysm by touching his forehead. I wound up killing his entire gang," he says, sounding almost proud.

"So your killing them was your hell?" I ask him.

"No, just the bullying," he says.

"Well while the rest of you are having a pity party, I was seeing myself never passing the Seven Wonders," says Celeste in a snobby manner.

Infuriated by her, I yell, "I hope you fucking die. How dare you even compare your hell to the rest of ours? You're a grade-A piece of shit, and I hope you never pass the Seven Wonders."

Clearly enraged, Celeste uses her powers to lift me in the air and slams me against the four walls of the room. The council members begin yelling at her, but still, she won't put me down.

Finally, I am dropped. I get up to see blue fire burning on Celeste's clothing. Our new butler, Christian, puts out the fire, soaking Celeste in the process. In my opinion, Christian is too young (he's younger than I am) to be a butler, but he's taking place of his father since he has retired.