Through Hell and Back

Chapter 1

In our times it isn't uncommon for us to hear of a "bad human." Thieves, murderers, liars, cheaters; we have all either met one or heard of one. There actions are defined as bad because it hurts human life on this planet. Good people are considered law-abiding, poor-helping, money-giving citizens who help other people's lives. Our scope on life is small. We see the moment, not the future, nor the past. Civilization never learns from its past mistakes. But let me pose a scenario. What if a man, an evil man, were to get away with every crime and die with no justice. It is common knowledge to say that the man has gone to Hell. But what if...... there is no Hell to go to? That is where the story begins.

Our story opens up in the year 1951 with a common thief named Dante. He was abandoned at birth and was taken to an orphanage in Florence, Italy. Dante didn't remembered much of his childhood. He wasn't popular in the orphanage. He wasn't good at sports. Nor did he have many friends. Year after year, Dante practiced one skill over and over again. Never be seen, never be heard. That was Dante's motto. It's sad to think of this, but Dante knew life was hard from the moment he stepped foot in the orphanage. Never adopted, he left the orphanage as soon as he turned 18 in the year 1969. Now in his late teens, Dante was a well-built man. He was tall and lanky but was still muscular. Not too much muscle that he could rip the sleeves of his shirt, mind you, but just enough to have an athletic build. Dante tried begging around Florence, but at eighteen, be honest, how cute are you really? Dante didn't earn much money from begging. People scoffed and commented that he was probably on drugs or maybe just a lazy college drop-out that should work at McDonalds. Soon Dante was tired of Florence with all of its high-end snooty people. So he traveled by foot to Venice and there he became what is known as, a common thief. Oh, he never stole anything too large or too expensive. A wallet here or there, maybe a watch if he could manage. For 6 years, this was Dante's life. I say was because in the spring of his 7th year of pilfering, 1975, he stole a wallet from another thief. This thief turned out to be the love of his life. Her name was Kat. She too had a similar story, only her parents died in a fire when she was 2. After that she was taken to the orphanage in Venice. The two decided that maybe they should try to be good citizens, to get an education and a house, and maybe, just maybe, get married. Dante and Kat had gone to a college in Venice for over 3 years. They were engaged and to be married in the fall. But then Kat got entangled with an old gang she used to be in. She owed them 3 years pay. Kat refused saying that she left and that she had given her pay to leave to a man named Bones. When asked if he received the money from Kat, Bones denied ever having that money. That meant Kat had to pay. You see, Bones had a crush on Kat and had hated Dante ever since the man walked into Venice. He wanted Dante gone and out of the way. Any means necessary.