My Story

The Visit to Satan's Throne

I can't remember how long I've been here, in hell. At least a month, I guess, but there are no clocks or calendars. The only indications that time is changing is the gongs in the "morning" and the light changing at "night." All day, all I can think about are the scrolls, and every night, I dream about Delia.

The scrolls still don't make sense. I look at them again everyday, but they never change. The white one is still blank.

God Will Save You From Yourself. What does that mean? I need to be saved from Satan. I need to get out of Hell. 'Myself' isn't the problem. What does all of this mean?

I still haven't seen Jose and Alphos since the Hospital. The little girl comes every morning and night with some more of that awful bread.

There's a sense of waiting in the air. I know that I'm waiting for something, but I don't know what. All day I just stay in my cell. I pace back and forth, sit on the floor and on my bed. I sleep. I recently started climbing on top of the dresser, just for a change of location.

Finally, one day, my door opened, and somebody other than the little girl (I later learned that her name was Bonnive) came in. It was Jose.

"Jose!" I yelled. "Where have you been?"

"I've been meeting with the Evil Emperor."

"Who's that?"

"Satan has commanded us to call him that."

"But.....I thought it was 'Great Ruler'?"

"Not anymore."

"So what have you been talking about?"

"That is confidential. But in the meantime, you're coming with me."

Oh no, I thought. Is he taking me to a different cell? I need to stay in this one! The scrolls are here!

"Well, what are you waiting for? Come on!"

"Wait, will I be coming back to this cell?"

"Whatever the Evil Emperor decides."

I sighed, knowing that I had no choice, and left with Jose. As we walked down a hall, a door on the side opened and Alphos came out. Inwardly, I groaned. Outwardly, I ignored him.

"Well, what have we here?" He said.

"This is Tanya," said Jose. "You remember her, don't you?"

"Hey, that's not my name!" I nearly yelled.

Jose slapped me. "Yes it is," he said. Again, I knew it was useless to protest, so I remained silent. As we walked, I tried to think of happy things, like.....well, my friends.....but.....who were my friends? Did I have friends?

The only name I could remember was Delia, and I've already told you her story. She wasn't my friend. My family? What was my moms name? What did she look like? Did I have any brothers or sisters? I realized I couldn't remember anything about my life on earth, just blurs, scenes. I couldn't remember the people at all.

We entered a big room. I saw clothes hung in the walls, ugly black and red dresses, with pins and mental balls covering some of them. I realized that I was still wearing what I had left for school in that morning long ago, but it was dirty and tattered. Even so, I didn't want to get rid of it. It was all I had.

"All right, get changed into something," said Jose. They left.

I didn't know what to do, but I knew there was nothing I could do about it (seems like all I say nowadays). I decided to just out one of those....'dresses'....on over the clothes I was already wearing. I shore the least hideous thing I could find.

It came down to my feet, and the bottom half was black, and the top half (which was sleeveless) was red. The material was scratchy, and there were some spikes along the top, but other than that, it was okay.

I kept my shoes on and walked over to the door and opened it. Alphos was waiting outside.

"Come," he said. "The Evil Emperor can not see you today."

I thought that meant that he would take me back to my cell, but he didn't. He led me back to the throne room. This time, it was empty. Even the throne where I had last seen Satan was empty.

He led me up to the throne.

"Sit," he said.

He pushed me towards the throne.

"I don't want to sit on that," I said. I remembered what it was like last time to even be near it.

"Don't worry," said Alphos. "This won't hurt a bit." He smiled. I don't know if it was supposed to be reassuring or crafty and sinister, but either way, it didn't help. I started inching towards the throne, expecting to faint at any minute.

I finally reached it. I didn't want to sit down. I was feeling faint. I started to move back.

"What are you doing?" asked Alphos.

I pushed passed him and ran, all the way back to my cell (it's weird, but I knew the way exactly).

The door was open, and I rushed in, closed it behind me, and threw myself on the bed. I was exhausted, but full of energy at the same time.

It was a couple minutes later when I started to be afraid. What have I done? I thought. I was afraid that any minute, the door would open and Jose or Alphos would come in and hurt me.

After a little while I realized that I was being paranoid. I was just scared. Nobody would hurt me.

I threw off the dress and lay down. Right before I fell asleep, I remembered that I hadn't checked the scrolls that day.