Ethereal

Chapter Five: Amisha

"Were almost there, right?" I asked.

"We's here already," Andy replied.

"What?" I looked around. That was fast. "Were in a city. How could we be there."

Matt put his headphones on. "Yeah, the classic deception of a hell gate is some dark place. No so dark." He smiled and swayed his head side to side with the music he was listening to.

"So we jus' gonna follow some hippie 'round. Girls, follow me. I ain't got my head in cloud nine fantasizing, unlike Matt here." Andy used his thumb to reference Matt.

"Excuse me, my music isn't that loud. I can still hear you."

"So, I ain't seein' you take responsibility 'round here." Andy walked closer to him as though Andy were sizing himself up to Matt. Andy appeared to grow taller the closer to Matt he got. "You's gonna listen to this." Andy yanked the headphones off Matt's head. "Go get it." He tossed the headphones into some woman's purse as she walked by. "Let's go. Amisha's needin' to leave now."

"Fu--" Matt stopped himself before the swear word slipped out. "Damit, no! Come on." Matt lead us down a closed subway staircase. "This is where the hell gate is."

"Okay, maybe it wasn't so wrong. The way to a hell gate does look a little shady." I told everyone.

"You ain't wrong," Andy added.

There were a few old newspapers here and there. "This way," Matt said in a blunt tone. He turned and walked off the ledge where the trains would usually go through.

"Uh..."

"Come on!"

Andy was in front of both me and Ranhita. He walked off the ledge as well. We were close enough to see that Andy walked off the ledge like the ground was flat. Ranhita and I jumped and landed. We followed Matt into the tunnel. We walked in the dark for a good ten minutes before he turned and told us to stop. Matt smacked the wall and a small red pin pad popped out. It lit up some of the surroundings. Andy walked over "I's thinkin' you need my assistance." He typed in a code then smacked his hand on the pin pad. "Fuckin' thing. Ain't workin' right." The pin pad retracted into the wall slowly. "Know you's workin'." The wall shifted, then rapidly opened. "Common, don't be 'fraid. Nothin's in there." He walked into the room. "Only I's in here now." Andy let out a deep slow laugh.

"Come on, you heard him, girls." Matt herded us into the room. The room was dark, for the most part. There was a giant wheel in the middle of the room. The air was moist from the sewer. The wheel rose out of the ground. Faces were plastered into the stone of the wheel.

The wheel spun, then came to a sudden stop. It stopped at Andy. "State your business." the wheel said.

"I's here to bringin' a sweet angel woman to see hell," Andy replied.

The wheel turned to face me. The face sprang out at me. I jumped back as the wheel's face was in front of mine. Two pointy arms were revealed from behind the face. "State your name."

I was stunned. "Amisha," I said quietly.

"State your name." The wheel repeated.

"Amisha," I said a little louder.

"State your business Amisha."

"I want to see what hell looks like. They," I pointed to Matt and Ranhita. "I think they're staying.

The face was silent for a while. "Farewell." The wheel said. The face quickly retracted into the wheel. The ground dropped out from underneath us.

Everyone screamed accept Andy as they fell. "You's enjoyin'?" Andy said with his creepy smile.

"No, not really!" I hollered. Multiple giant stone arms came out and caught us before we hit the ground. The hands pulled us all into separate tunnels. The tunnel was so small, it was claustrophobic. I tried to stop myself in the tunnel but I was moving far too fast to stop myself with my hands. They just got scraped when I tried to hold myself. Four smaller hands extended out and grabbed me I was flung around like a rag doll before I was set down calmly. My wings were strapped down to my back and I was wearing a black cloak. The hand grabbed my waist. "Please no." I felt like I was about to die. Feeling sick, the hand moved me in front of Andy. I was on my hands and knees. I looked up at Andy. "Did this happen to you?"