Frunk Forth

Chapter 1: The Sanctuary

August 5th, 1405

Truth be told, it may be convincingly admitted, that a man in anxiety may only have resorted to his own fabricated fears where before that may perhaps be nothing in actuality.
  
Yet sometimes, fear or no fear, reality could be adverse; posing as though hostile where in contrary may be ones pathway to salvation. I could say that was my situation unswervingly or otherwise, which I did not understand, when then I went to hell, or at least another of its semblance. I was there that day August 5th but a later part of it, therefore, marking my first time having only lived five years as an earthling lad. 

   To me hell was real when I went there, and I saw its heralds and what lurks in its shadows, that being gravely scary enough shrilled down my spine to my inner tail. The blocks of that hell, high up the ground with walls my height thick, and gates creaking heavily whenever breeze blows with violent mishap. And there, were big trees within the walls with shadows large enough for a hundred exhausted labour; trees with branches stretching out that screech the window panes, which in that hell alone was enough torment for an earthling ear. In that hell was a hanging scent of puss mixed with boiled cabbage, onions, fish oil, and perhaps a grotty belch, that sucked through my nostrils to deep down my soul, to the corners of my trachea with enough disgust, to have me puke against its inner walls. Its walls had palm prints telling enough horror, some dragging across it in blood and others in mire or finger scratches of different patterns which tell daunting tales in certainty.   

  I shut my eyes at intervals, walking in the inner building, scared for my soul from the horror that I may meet. I was not alone however, there was a bigger hand holding mine up, swinging it at interval to give me a little courage. Only that to my surprise, she pulled me down one of its halls in calmness of mind, that hell was to her a place of salvation. So I looked up briefly and said to her in a shaky voice, 
   'What is this hell called Mrs Pike?' but she looked down at me mildly and smiled forcefully.
   'It is not hell Frunk, this is the Sanctuary. Home of the troubled mind' she said staring back at her path. The Sanctuary indeed or what some may call an asylum. 
   'Home of the troubled mind' I repeated feeling lost.
   'You may not understand Frunk' she said still staring forward.
   'Yes, then what have we come here for?' I asked through my tiny throat feeling curious and uncomfortable.
   'We have come to see a man. I will tell you when we meet him' she said walking on.
   'He lives here?' I asked 
   'Temporarily Frunk, temporarily' she said slowly as we walked still ahead.
‘So he lives within a filthy wall in the middle of nowhere’ I said feeling confused why a man would prefer such place for an abode.
‘Actually Frunk, this land is called Nowhere, a vast space of waste land where no house is, except the Sanctuary. And it is outside the towns of Whistlehole to the east’ she said briefly so I could at least satisfy my undying curiosity.
‘But…’
‘No more lad; I am growing weary of words and wish to spend the rest of my distance in absolute decorum’ she said nodding slightly as her face looked down with thorough blankness. Truthfully, I did not mean to be a menace but one must inquire about the potentiality of harm, if one desires to live as long as humanly possible. Notwithstanding, in my case, I could neither help my situation of fear nor pull my palm from the bigger one that held it within hers firmly. I did almost naught beyond wandering my gaze at those extremities. And I could even say that nothing at that moment aside my face could have been more candidly expressed as a tempest of dread. But given that I had no obvious choice, I continued ahead in solemn steps after hers with my head buried deeply in my chest. Then a thought prompted me, so I looked up at her again briefly and could see discomfort in her stare, I saw the pain in her eyes but she would not look at me any longer so I may not be worried. But she was alongside calm, walking up ahead in gentle steps. She appeared really determined to see him I supposed; after all we had travelled for three suns to have us in the hall at that moment. So we walked on still towards where 'the man' may be, and as I observed the weather, I realized that it was early evening.