The cirque of horrors

13

Alley Campbell

As we descended to the underworld of despair I could see many things, horrifying ones, that no human ever seen.

I felt my body weak, maybe because of all the bloodshed in that hole suggesting me, the gambler looked at my expression giving out a sadistic laugh of joy, seeing me fret from all this moribundity
"You're enjoying? Aren't you?" I dared to say hearing him
"Quite a lot actually, you hear all this alews from the sinners?"
"Yeah... Yeah I do" he turned his neck like an owl, changing into a creepy voice
"Good, because that's all you will hear for a while, don't worry! Eternity will seem like a mere second once you're used to it".

In some way my feet finally touched the ground, I thought about the few people I left up there... The cirque, my boss, and no one else, a hand got my ankle, and as soon as I got my eyes on the moribund I could recognize a few traits similar to mines
"Dad?!" I unfortunately was right, his body was rotting from the flames, and near him my mother screaming blasphemies
"Alley! My daughter, why are you here?".

That question made my skull shiver, I felt like Dante coming down here, parallel to him, I'm for real the first alive human to come to hell, at school our teacher was so excited to talk about it, saying how his imagination was so fervid, I just abandon that disgusting sight, I believed my parents didn't do anything, that I didn't deserve to go to hell! But yet, sins are unforgivable, from the worst to the least serious.

"Why are my parents in hell!" I asked the demon pulling his clothes, as he shaked off my hands and cleaned the infection I caused on his body, he then answered
"Because they both sinned, gluttony, lust, greedy, they did it a lot, your father one time choose his job over helping your mother with her fatigues, while she got you as a children instead of helping her family, poor grandparents huh?".

I looked at him, and he seemed surprised by my shock
"What?" The demon asked
"You mean even the least bad action is counted as a ticket to hell?"
"Yup"
"But... It's not fair! People should be sorted in the afterlife comparing the good and the bad actions" he had a good laugh about my proposal
"Well, are you God?"
"No?"
"Then things will be like this for a while, now, let's go to my beautiful, stunning, absolutely comfortable home, shall we?".

He was sarcastic about it, we walked through the green flames and the rotting corpses, I had in me a psychomachy, where my body tried to turn back and run away, and my soul continued to be sirenized by the horrors never seen before, he opened a door in this red square, where many other people were sitting, I didn't know them, but I could see one similar to the jesters of the cirque, with a blue and purple costume.

"Now dear, forget everything ok? You're here now, I won't make you suffer like the other sinners, you're special! And you will do exactly what I tell you, now, we should start the transforming process"
"What do you mean by the turning process!? And why is here a jester from the cirque" he cleared his throat
"First, the turning process is basically the way to make you become a demon too, in order to what happened to you in the terrain life, do you know the law of retaliation?".

"Was Dante right about it?" He rolled his eyes
"In part, yes, he didn't invent what he wrote, a lost book was his inspiration, he took all the informations from there and just smashed himself as well as the other characters in this world, imagining how things would be like in it; but his little book is really far from being scientifically accurate or relatable, but anyway, you'll be transformed either for analogy or contrast, we'll see what fits you more, second, yes, the little guy died a few weeks ago, eaten by one of the demons, how cruel right?".

My eyes started to tear
"I... Feel used, Virgil didn't hesitate to bring me to the abyss, and save the life of his errors" the smile got even more and more wide as I spoke my mind
"Continue darling"
"I was duped by such tricks, and got caught in a string that I couldn't pull myself out of" the gambler snapped his fingers, and got a sling bar made out of wood with 9 strings
"You felt like a marionette, am I right? Abducted to do things you didn't really want"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I was about to say" and then I noticed the tool.

I got back, and tried to just escape but... His eyes froze me, so he attached the wires, 1 on my head, 1 on both temples, 1 for the chest, another for the back, 2 each for my hands and feet
"Now, my dear, you will feel what I feel each and every second of my existence" the pain was unbearable as the wires pierced my skin and got into the body, he snapped his fingers and everything went off, like if he switched the lights off in my head.

I don't remember what happened in that moments, but all I know is that what I saw when I woke up was a dark, cold room, with a little curtain in front of me, and when it opened, the cirque crew, with Virgil, Maciste, Echidna and Icarus, as well as the other fellows behind watching me, as the gambler moved my strings to make me move to his likes, I felt dizzy, I wasn't able to control my body, but even if I felt like dying, I didn't.

Quite strange to say, but as much as I felt pain, no sign of relief or end was being showed, I waited for what seemed years, but in the end I accepted the fact the gambler was right... I felt what he was feeling... Each... And every second of his existence down here.