Sympathy For the Devil [Keith Richards]

And I Was 'Round When Jesus Christ Had His Moment of Doubt and Pain

The next time Keith opened his eyes, he was in a forest.

Trees, soil, leafs and the like. An ordinary forest. Still there was something very eerie about it that made Keith's stomach restless and it wasn't only the absent of light. The leafage of the trees were too thick to let much shine through, making the clearing they were on rather dark, but that didn't bother him. There was something else which worried him: there was absolutely no noise. No birds chirping or any rustling of the leaves in the wind... Just nothing. It was so strangely quiet that he wondered  if nothing in this damn forest was alive. No matter how ordinary it might look, Keith knew there was nothing ordinary about it. They were in Hell, even if he had no idea what this exactly meant for him, nor was this exactly how he had pictured it in the first place, but he supposed that too fell under the bad publicity part, she had already mentioned a few times. A forest probably didn't seem as scary as a torture chamber filled with eternal agony and suffering. 

"Where are we?" He asked aloud.

She sighed. "Not here. They can still hear us. I- I promise I'll tell you everything, when we get to the Reason."

Keith frowned. During all the time he knew her, she had seemed so sure of herself and now she held a certain uncertainly about her, which made him nervous too. Furthermore he had no idea what to think about this "Reason" she mentioned.

"The Reason?"

She nodded. "Yes and now be quiet. It's a bit of a walk."

Keith wanted to ask her what exactly was going on or who exactly this  "Reason" was, but even before he could open his mouth, she send a glare his way that nearly screamed 'Shut up if you don't want me to hurt you' and he gulped down everything he had ever wanted to say. The Devil was definitely as dangerous as she was breath-taking beautiful.

She went ahead and Keith just blindly followed her as if he had any other choice. He had no idea what was going on and the Devil hadn't really shared much information with him to begin with, but something told him that there was more behind this than only the collection of his soul. She had mentioned before that Hell was like a firm so why should they need a forest? Couldn't the two of them just have appeared in a bureau or a court? Blimey even a torture chamber sounded more fitting than this.

The walk wasn't easy at least not for him. She walked through the forest gracefully with her long dress waving behind her, reminding him of a model on a fashion show, where as he was tumbling over every single root that came along his way. Even if he strongly suspected the forest shifted those damn things around, wanting to make him fall.

He started to concentrate on the ground rather than her or the still worrying absent of sounds, to avoid any near falls again and therefore managed to walk right into her, which send him to the ground. Keith rubbed his back groaning and wondered if she was made of stone or something similar hard. She hadn't even flinched and he felt like he had walked right into a wall.

"We are here."

"So where is this here then?" He asked as he slowly got up and had a look around. Before them stood a small wooden hut, which looked rather shabby. The wood was decayed and desperately needed a paint, whoever lived here had definitely neglected his home. If this Reason lived indeed here, it had definitely not looked reasonable after his housing.

"Go in and all you questions will get answered," she said, but didn't move an inch.

"And you?"

She shrugged. "Someone needs to keep watch."

Keith frowned. "Why?"

"The Reason will tell you everything you need to know. I'll join you as soon as I made sure that the sight is clear. So get in," She said rather annoyed, but Keith didn't care. He was tired of being pushed around by her without any explanation. He had already lost his life and the least thing she could do for him was give him some information.

"No not before you tell me what's going on!" He demanded.

She took a deep breath."Do you have to make this complicated now? Listen, you can either go in or get helplessly lost in the forest and get eaten by a soulless one. In your place I would take the first option."

Keith had no idea what a soulless one was, but it definitely didn't sound like something he wanted to encounter and well until now she hadn't hurt him in any way. He could at least trust her to a certain degree, but still she was the Devil and how much could her word mean?

"Why should I trust you, you're the Devil!"

She rolled her eyes irritated. "Do you always characterize people by their jobs?"

Keith snorted. "Excuse me, but to what else should I refer to you then?"

She sighed. "Persephone."

He furrowed his brows. "Perse- what?"

"Persephone, that's what they call me. Never heard of the Greek legend before?"She asked him annoyed and crossed her arms before her chest. 

Keith shook his head. "Not that I can remember... Should I?"

Again she took a deep breath. "Hades, the lord of the Underworld was very lonely and so Aphrodite, the goddess of love had pity on him and enchanted him to fall in love with the next person he saw. Hades gaze fell on Persephone and well he kidnapped her to live with him in the underworld."

"And what does that have to do with you? Don't tell me you're some Greek goddess."

For the first time since they had arrived in this strange forest she smiled again. "Apparently I can enchant everyone to go to Hell with me... And well I am not Greek, I'm from Phoenicia."

"Where the fuck is that?"

She shook her head smiling and Keith nearly felt relieved to see her back in her playful mood again."Did you sleep during your history class or didn't they teach you anything?"

"I am musician why should I need to know that? Or do you know how to play guitar?"

"What do you think? When I was born, they weren't even invented yet."

Keith whistled. "Damn you really must be ancient."

"You could say I was 'round when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain, but as lovely as this talk is, you really need to go in. Even if you don't trust me, what other choices do you have?"

She was right and he sighed as he walked up to the hut. Slowly he opened the door and was immediately blinded by a very bright light. He covered his eyes until it had faded to an acceptable degree, only to come face to face with the last person he had expected to meet in Hell.

"Charlie?"

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