Distorted

Chapter Seven

Coming from the center of the earth, an intensity of wave vibrations continued to rumble the cave and crumble some rocks, forming miniature cracks in our pathway towards the dim light in a what looks like a dead end in the cave.

All of us crouched, clamped our feet tight on the ground, taking a keen look at the dim light.

A silhouette of a man formed, gradually solidifying as it walks towards our direction. Then, within half the beat of my heart, it hushed like a jaguar, switching directions from left to right until it was just an inch away from me, breaking the quivers of the earthquake.

At that miniscule of a second, adrenaline ran through my body, as I jumped away out of the distinctive silence, the man now in full view. Nobody can ever beat the body of this man. Each of his body parts seemed to have a life of its own, for it wobbled like a sumo wrestler’s belly, full of beer and big fat jelly.

His white, long, curly beard covered his jaws, but showed his pinkish, thick lips with creamy-like stubbles on it. His attire was on full-blast red: a pile-plush hat with a small ball of fur, a jacket with satin lining fur trim, and pants with fur.

On his hand was a heart-shaped like cake, with white cream on it. But it looks surreal, though. The heart seemed to pump even though it had little bites on it.

“Ho-ho-ho!” the man exclaimed.

Santa Claus.                                         

The Gluttonous. The sixth terrace.

The goblins shuffled towards him, grabbed and threw the heart cake, and with all their powers, put together his arms tight, then locked a chain on his wrists as if a prisoner.

Santa Claus gritted his teeth like he couldn’t resist to grind food.

“Ho-ho-ho!” he cried.

I eyed at Virgil who was staring at something to my left. I looked at what it was, then I saw another man who was unlike Santa Claus, had an anorexic body. Wearing nothing, and short of breath, he desperately approached us.

Growling for hunger, he spoke haggardly.

“This man”, then pointed at Santa, “might break loose when you go to hell….because...” then paused and cuffed, “because every second he gets hungry….he might eat you….because, the truth is….all those children whom he gave gifts..” cuffed again, “during Christmas…he ate once they opened the gifts.”

I wore a smile halfway through. The anorexic man soon fumbled on the ground, crying with a dry coarse throat. I picked up the heart cake and gave it to him. As soon as it entered his mouth, he vomited poop.

Now Virgil broke in, still standing still and transparent. “He was once as fat as a dumbfounded pig, eating everything he ate. Sadly, nobody knew his name. Once, when he was doing his usual routine of breaking in to each and everybody’s house, even the poor ones, to get food, he was unfortunately caught by an unfed dog, then ripped his body apart.”

That’s hella of a thing, but I just shrugged it off. I helped him pave a way to his goal.

He wasn’t really fat in the beginning. He was born frail. In this world, a lot of ordinary people were born with unlimited freedom but those who weren’t born normally can’t have the freedom everybody has.

The goblins were now acting as security, surrounding Santa. I followed them, walking much slower as the heat rises, causing the dampness of the cave to evaporate. I took a careful look on the fallen rocks to avoid stumbling.

Now we were right below the dim light in the dead end.

Well, that’s weird. One sin is still missing.

The dead end had amateur doodles of naked women and men. Their positions were absurd. One man pulled a woman’s legs, shoving himself inside her. Another man played with the flat breasts of a fragile girl….and so on.

At the center of the wall is the Beast’s whole face. Little things angered him yet women did not. Even though Belle had shortcomings, he still desired her.

The Beauty and the Beast.

Everybody looked at me, including Santa. I waited for an explanation but nobody spoke.

Like a thunderbolt of lightning that struck my head, images of rape and prostitution swarmed like newly born tadpoles. Now I’m supposed to explain this myself.

The Lustful. The seventh terrace.

The doodles were the people themselves who committed the sin. Their bodies were imprinted on the wall by some amateur artist so that even though their bodies boiled with desires, these will only be up to the point where they’re near it but will never be fulfilled.

The Beast…..never became a prince charming because after raping Belle, he killed her. Around the world, women like her get raped but no one ever really knew what happened.

To my surprise, my body walked towards the wall of doodles, and put both my hands on the Beast’s face, as if about to emit strange power.

An immaculate spread of aurora flames came out bursting from my hands. The wall split into halves like a camouflaged sliding door, showing a series of glassy haze of fire. Through its flames, girls wearing Victorian dresess with puffed sleeves, high collars, and dashing laces, became stiff as soon as they saw us. Like a caterpillar wriggling through metamorphosis, these ladies suddenly deformed, connecting their bodies to form the word

                                    H                     E                      L                      L