Bound to Hell

Chapter One: The Hole in Us

Chapter One: The Hole in Us

 

In order to hide Paige’s horns, she has to wear a hat. Her horns were about two and a half inch long; it rose an inch from her temple making her look like a demon. The hats were mostly bought by her abusive adoptive mother-Emily. In school, Paige was like a shadow-quiet, mysterious and some find her dark. But she finds herself darker-a demon living with humans.

They started to grow when she was ten years old, it was June and in one morning she looked herself at the mirror and noticed there was something growing on her head. She was of course horrified; she went to Emily who immediately called a doctor. The lab results ccouldn't explain how she got the horns. Emily, who thought her adoptive daughter was cursed, locked her in the basement and demanded her to pray and ask forgiveness, hoping the horns will vanished soon. She remembered Emily had tried to cut them off when she was thirteen. She was able to reduce them a bit but they still grew. Years passed and the horns remained as if Paige was destined to have it.

The first day of her sophomore year has started. She was walking across the crowd as they stared at her. Her stomach roared and was remembered that she did not eat breakfast because Emily  preffered to buy liquors and cigarettes than food. She kept her head down, trying not to make any scene that would catch anyone's attention. But she did not know that as soon as she stepped onto the hallway and strode for her locker, she already caught their attention.

She reached for her locker and noticed someone wrote something on it with something like lipstick. Welcome back to school! Freak! She rolled her eyes. She opened her locker and grabbed a book with a bold text A Hole in Us from her bag. She put it into the locker and then someone slammed the door. The loud bang shocked her. Beside her stood a blond, tall girl whose body looked very athletic. Hannah.

“Looks like you still have your signature huh?” Hannah said as she frowned and crossed her arms on her chest. “Trying to be famous in here? Trying to get our attention?”

“I’m not trying to be famous,” Paige replied, trying to calm her voice. Annoyance was engulfing her soul. “And you know I hate those people who give me attention unlike any other. A perfect example is you!” She strode for her classroom as fast as she can. She suddenly turned back and said, “And thanks for closing my locker!”

Paige headed to the last seat and she kept herself busy writing a poem as her classmates arrived. Once the teacher arrived, he presented himself as Mr. Higgins. With him was a boy Paige has never seen before around the school. The boy’s hair was light brown that perfectly matched his brown eyes; he was muscular in built; he was wearing a blue sweater and a pair of black jeans. He’s probably a transfer, she thought.

“Good morning everyone!” Mr. Higgins said. “We have a new student.” He turned to the boy, “You can present yourself.”

“I am Spark Jones.” His voice was very soothing to anyone who hears it. “You can call me Spark.” He smiled.

Mr. Higgins nodded. “You can sit now.”

Paige looked all over the room and tried to search for a vacant seat except the one in front of her. Then, happiness burst into her as she saw another unoccupied seat at the back of Hannah. Though there was something wrong, Spark strode for the seat in front of her. He smiled at her and sat.

Thirty minutes had passed, until the Mr. Higgins approached Paige. He was frowning at her as every muscle in her body shook. He gave her a look filled with intrigue and disgust. “What’s your name?”

“I’m Paige Albreeze.” She tried to sound polite.

“Why are you wearing hat in my class?” he said and started to tap his foot on to the ground. A sign of impatience, she thought. “Can you remove it right now?”

She caught a glimpse of Hannah laughing at her. “I’m so sorry but I can’t.”

“You can’t?” The tone of his voice was angry. Her ears were used to hear angry voices, mostly from Emily.

She just simply nodded.

“How foolish!”

She looked around and everyone in the room was laughing at her secretly.

“Let me remove it!” he said as she stretched his arms to reach for the hat. But she jerked back and pushed him away. He was thrown and stumbled over the seat behind him. The student who was sitting on it was also injured.

The room was silent; Paige felt a burning sensation on her head. She ran from the class and headed for the comfort room. Her hands were shaking; she stared at her reflection on the mirror and removed the hat from her head. Her horns were glowing red; the heat was coming from it. There was something wet coming out of her eyes-tears. She put her hands on them and tried to pull them out but instead, her hands were burned. “I’m not a demon!” she screamed. She put on the hat hoping it won’t burn to ashes. She was called in the principal’s office. She was quiet the whole time as Mr. Higgins told what happened.

Paige went home bringing the news that the principal needed to talk with Emily. It’s going to be trouble, she thought. She slid herself into the house and saw Emily drunk and asleep on the couch. She left the television buzzing. Foul smell of smoke and liquor filled her nostrils. She tried to go upstairs until she heard her said, “Hey! What happened in your school today?” Her voice was shaky.

“Look, mom. Something happened this morning; I accidently injured our teacher- Mr. Higgins.” Paige said. Her voice filled with worry.

Emily sprung up from the couch. “Injured? Come here you demon!”

Paige went to her and said, “It wasn’t my fault. He wants to remove my hat but you know I can’t do that.”

“No excuses and no explanations!” she screamed as she held her by the wrist.

Paige dropped her bag and said, “Mom, please! It wasn’t my fault!”

Emily pulled her into the basement and locked her daughter in there. “Ask forgiveness to God!”

Paige stood and looked around: it was dark but as far as she remembered, there was a window somewhere. She found the window; she kept herself busy staring at the street. There was a house and in front of it was a lamp post.  After a few minutes, she saw someone passed by the lamp post. Under the light, his hair was the color between yellow and brown-Spark. He seemed to be trying to find something until another figure came: her hair was golden under the light; her skin was like porcelain-Hannah. Then, they were gone. She sighed. She went to an old cabinet and opened. Dust filled her nostrils.She grabbed a charcoal from it. She used to collect the charcoal that scattered around the basement so she could write on the walls when she would be trapped in here. How many poems have I written? Twenty five, she thought. Most of the walls were filled with her writings; one wall had ten poems on it. She wrote on the wall where she has written six poems. She said, “The hole in us.” As she wrote every word she whispered.

Paige did not feel guilty because she was not doing what Emily asked her to do,ask forgiveness from God. She knew she was not the one who should ask forgiveness. Then, she was over with the poem; she wrote another just beside it and said, “Bound to hell.”