Free

Cressida

I run down the iron staircase, my feet clanging against the ice-cold metal. Flames leap around me, trapping me in an endless cage of crackling, spitting fire. Time and time again, the flames brush against my skin, sending a burning shard of pain deep inside me and making me stifle a cry of pain. But no matter how many times the flames touch me, they don't leave a mark; they don't leave the faintest scar against my dark skin. If anyone is watching me, they might even be fooled into thinking that literally racing into the mouth of hell doesn't affect me. That the pain, the flames, the darkness just flies past me without touching me.

They're wrong, of course. Deep down, I know that I'm not as untouchable as I want people to think. The things that seems to fly past me do leave scars, even if they're invisible.

I keep running. I can't let the pain slow me down. Not today, not ever.

My eyes scan the ground desperately, searching for a welcome flash of glass, but the ground below my feet is empty and I can't see anything beyond the wall of fire. 

How can the mirror have travelled this far away from the portal? It must be much nearer to the staircase than this. I've just decided to turn back and look for it back there again in case I missed it, when the wall of fire suddenly thins until there is a fairly large gap between each flame. maybe big enough to jump through?

And that's when I hear the screaming.

Terrible, terrible screams all around me, coming from a hundred different voices, a hundred different directions. Screams of pain, screams of fear, screams of anger. I flinch, doubling over as if I'm trying to fold myself away from the sound. I press my hands to my ears, but the sound doesn't get any quieter; it's as if it's inside my head. I want to do something... I want to help, but the noise is keeping me from thinking straight. I swallow, and I don't know why, but suddenly I'm leaping through the flames into the darkness beyond, wincing as the flames bite into my skin.

The screams only get louder. All around me is pain and suffering. Scenes of destruction meet my eyes, some so horrible that I can't describe them. All the people who have fallen into the portal, some people who haven't even visited the Underworld, are being punished for their crimes. People are being beaten, stabbed, tortured, burned- But nothing leaves a mark or cut. The screams are the only things that betray how much pain they're in, but everyone remains the way they are. Nobody bleeds, nobody falls. You'd think that this was a good thing, that the prisoners were lucky. But of course, the fact that no punishment physically affected them only meant that there was no escape, no end to the torture. They would have to bear it for all of eternity.

Suddenly, I felt a hand clamp over my wrist. Swallowing a scream, I look down to see a woman kneeling at my feet, her whole body shaking with sobs. She slowly tilts her chin upwards to look at me, her matted curtain of black hair falling away to reveal a thin, pale face streaked with tears.

"Please..." she rasps. "Please... Help me..."

I back away slightly, my mouth falling open in horror. "I... I will," I say to her. "W-What do you need me to do?"

"Please," she chokes out again. "I deserve it, I know, I know, I know what I did, but it's been so long... Please. Make it stop. I'm sorry. I want to change it. I want to undo it. I want it to stop."

I hesitate, then slowly lower myself onto my knees so that I'm level with her. Having her kneel in front of me... It reminds me of my past life. The memory makes me shiver, in spite of the heat.

"I wish I could stop it," I whisper. "I would if I could, but I can't do anything-"

"I deserve it, I deserve it, I'm sorry," she moans. "Is that what you want to hear? I did it, it was me, I'm sorry... I killed him, I killed him... If I had the chance, i would change everything, I would put it right!"