From Isolation To Home: The Adventures of The Hellblazer's Daughter

Maria: An Introduction

Alright losers! This is something that I suck at.. But lemme give you an introduction..

My name is Maria-Anne Martin.. But Maria will do fine. Judging by the way I dress and act, most people see the Titanic.. Just waiting for the Iceberg. Of course only half of that statement is correct.

When an impact like the boat to iceberg hits.. It changes everything..  Your perspective of the world as you sink deeper and deeper into the ocean. Light fading away until all you see and know is darkness.. The pressure of the deep sea crushing until you hear your ribs crunch.. Yeah.. I know..

From the time I was taken, I was kept in darkness. Isolation.. Caged like a songbird. The people that held me captive were deluded. Delusional.. Honestly? I don't know if they had a braincell between them. I mean they had a plan to cause the end of days.. They were willing to die.. Talk about stupidity at it's finest..

But.. The years I was prisoner to a dangerous cult are behind me. We can all move on now.. I hope.. I mean they can't.. Considering where they are..

Nobody truly knows what happens after death. Is there a heaven with pearly gates? Is there a hell full of firepits, naked red blokes with pitchforks? Are we already in hell and that's why demons exist before our eyes.

I guess you're not exactly interested in speculation.. I don't blame you.. Ain't like we can prove much..

I grew up with my mother and her mate, Chas in a big ol' house. Like an endless house. Chas spent most of his time trying to find his other friend. I don't know much about him.. Except he wasn't popular.. Eventually Chas had to go to his daughter.. And we had to move too.. We went from place to place, always looking behind our shoulder. You should have seen some of the dumps we lived in.. Complete trash if I ever saw..

All for safety.. But I couldn't possibly fault her for trying.. 

Nobody expected the cults to find us.. She thought we'd ditched them in Atlanta.. But she'd worn herself out with everything. So much that when they came.. She could barely fight.. I can say that I gave it my all.. Yet still it was nowhere near good enough

The place I stayed.. My cage, if you will, was cold and damp. It was dark and unforgiving. The smell.. The smell was vile. I couldn't tell you what exactly it was exactly, but it was enough to make even the strongest stomachs turn. The atmosphere was heavy and tense.. You didn't need to be psychic or even with them to know how much was weighing on these events..

It was there I met my first demon.. And it got me out.. Guess I'm that charismatic? Yet if it wasn't for that.. We'd all be damned!

But in all seriousness.. What's the point in dwelling on the past? Dragging up crap like that. It does nobody any good.. Especially looking at what could've been.. The past is a dark dark road that nobody wants to be trapped in.. However.. It can't be helped sometimes... Especially if your future prospects are just as dark.. When your past and future are that bleak and black, of course darkness will become you're present.

Some people have faith.. They have hope even when it can't get better.. Unfortunately, I am not one of those. Sometimes all the hope in the world can't stop the storm sweeping you up, holding you hostage in the icy waters slowly taking everything from you. Suffocating in the whirlpool until the current drags you away. Those who make that may never go back to land.. They remain lost, freezing with nothing. Screaming into the abyss, but nobody hears.. Nobody knows. Nobody cares. You can scream until your dying breath but not a single soul will come. No soul has survived out there. Not intact anyway.

I guess I should probably bring up stuff about me.. The first thing is that I am a psychic. I see stuff.. Feel stuff.. Hear stuff.. Even smell stuff that others wouldn't.. Some describe it as a sixth sense.. I declare it useless.. It's not as simple as y'know 'I see dead people' or 'I see a promotion in your future'.. Sometimes it could be something as small as the smell of someone's perfume.. Other times it's like the world melts away and I am somewhere else, for example an icey blizzard, and I would see so much detail. Even feeling the chill.. My mother was a psychic too.. And an artist. She has so many different canvases it's unreal. She told me that it will help to express like her and she was right.. When focused on getting it to the page, it centres me. Sometimes..

Of course no vision is the same.. Some are horrifying.. Others are peaceful.. But the worse have the strongest emotions. They have the worst feelings that you feel all around you even in the very core of your spine.

It's how psychics are able to feel truly haunted places.. Although they always add effects in. Spirits are very personal.. Only you can know they're there.. If you choose to open up to that.. I wouldn't.. Spirits can follow you. Usually manifesting as guilt.. Someone you wronged..

I can't say that I pay attention to mine. They're barely a thought.. Not even real.. If I did.. I imagine that I'd see my family.. I can't say what I'd feel about that.. To see my twin brother again..

My brother was called Marius. He had short purple hair in a pretty stupid style.. He was fairly quiet.. The kindest guy I knew.. He found comfort and solace in religion.. Lucky sod.. Honestly? He was always the better of us.. He was smart. Somehow he was happy even in the worst possible times. He didn't have any powers.. Yet somehow he didn't feel left out.. He deserved so much better. I have to live knowing that.. Knowing that he died because of me. I may as well have pulled the trigger.. Look at all the good it did.. Can't even say it was worth it..

Yet... I've yet to live. Yet to redeem myself.. My path is set but I will fight it until my goddamn lights go out. When they go out.. You bet I will make some damn fine fireworks..