-Aimee, Hell-
I woke up to Lucien serving me breakfast in bed, smiles and orange juice and waffles. Venus wagged her tail as she sat down beside me. I sat up and leaned against the headboard as he set the food tray into my lap. “How nice. What made you do this?”
“Good morning. Am I not allowed to?”
“Of course not. Just wondering the reason why.” I said, after swallowing my first bite of food.
“If I said today was our anniversary?”
“I would say you’re lying.”
“You’d be right. I just felt bad about yesterday.” He sat down and ran his fingers through his hair.
“Don’t be sorry. I said I wanted to, and I also said I wanted to continue it today.”
“God, I was afraid you were going to say that.”
“What are you so afraid of?”
“I’m afraid for you, Aimee.”
“But you’ll keep me safe.”
He looked away. “Yeah, I will.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“Nothing. Just get ready once you’re finished eating.” Lucien got up and briskly walked out of the room. Venus’s blue eyes followed his movements but she stayed with me and watched me finish my food. I took a shower, washing away the grime from the circles of Hell and the sex. I found Lucien in the kitchen, looking out the bay window with his hands clasped behind his back.
I slid up to him silently and covered his eyes with my hands. “Guess who!”
He laughed. “Hmm, I wonder…”
I stepped up on my tippy toes and kissed his cheek. “I love you.”
He turned around and kissed me on the lips softly and romantically, resting his forehead against mine afterwards and sighing.
“What is it?
“I really don’t want to show you the rest of the rings.”
“Why?”
“I guess it doesn’t matter. I’m sure you’d find a way to see them without me and it’s much safer if I take you.”
I chuckled and kissed him again. “Maybe.”
“Ready?”
I nodded and our kitchen faded away. The temperature rose instantly, and ash fell like snow. I reared back upon seeing the skeleton-like, eyeless souls shuffling by in chains, the boulders falling from the sky, and the endless caverns.
“Aimee, what’s wrong?”
“This… This is the place I saw when I first got here.”
“This is the fifth circle, anger.”
“Yeah, let’s just move on to the next one.” I said, uncomfortably.
The scene wavered and changed to one of an endless field. The field wasn’t green and alive nor under a cloudless blue sky. The grass was brown and crispy, nothing alive here. Tombstones and flames went on forever in perfect lines, like rows of corn. Screams echoed out of the flaming coffins located six feet under each tombstone.
“Sixth circle, Heresy.”
“The screaming adds a nice touch.”
“Hey, I didn’t make these.”
“I know. Humor is just a way to cope with these things.”
Now we were in a forest, mixed with a desert and a river that running through it. The trees were gnarled and their bark was charred black, thorns taking the place of leaves. Upon closer inspection, I was startled when I noticed the faces. The river was bubbling with boiling blood and fire, faces struggling to surface and breath the air they thought they needed. It was poisonous to them, turning their mouths and noses black. The desert consisted of burning sand and acid rain, the souls’ skin was peeling and shriveling away.
“Seventh circle, Violence.”
“I never understood why suicide was a sin.”
“I think it had something to do with destroying God’s creations.”
“Humans do that everyday.”
It changed again. We were hovering above an endless maze of mirrors. Souls struggled to find the end, to get out of the maze, but there wasn’t a solution. The souls were weeping, screaming, having mental breakdowns because of what the mirrors kept showing them; their many different faces.
“Eighth circle, Fraud.”
“This one makes a lot of sense.”
“I suppose it does.”
“Onto the last circle?”
“Treachery, how could I forget?”
“Isn’t that one where Lucifer is supposed to reside?”
“Yes.”
“Lucien, Lucifer…. Coincidence?”
“That isn’t funny, Aimee.” Lucien muttered and looked away from me.
I kissed his cheek, because his lips weren’t facing me. “I’m sorry. I was only teasing.”
It suddenly got very cold and my footing slipped on the ice. Souls were frozen beneath my feet, their eyes darting back and forth, the only thing they could move. Then we were home again.
“That was it?”
“Yes, Aimee, that was it. Are you disappointed?” He let go of me and walked away.
Why was he acting like that? “No, but --” I looked back and he was gone.