Heaven and Hell is pretty cringe, actually: Part Five

*This story is underneath my folder “Heaven and Hell is pretty cringe, actually”. Gacha Club character designs are under this forum: https://www.youngwriterssociety.com/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=116005&start=1245. Enjoy!*

The girl has long, black hair that touches the floor. There’s dirt on the ends of it that makes it look brown. She’s hugging her knees close to her chest and rocking back and forth, like she’s scared. If I still had a heart, I would feel it twist in sympathy for her.

Which is weird, because this is the first time I’ve seen her. Why do I care?

The girl turns her head to look at me. Her hair covers most of her pale face, but I can see her red eyes underneath assessing me, judging me. Though she looks frail and papery, I feel like it would be a mistake to run. Like turning back would send me into a doom greater than Hell.

“You’re a demon. You must have opened the door.” The girl rasps, still staring at me. She has not blinked once.

“Uh…yes? But who are you and what are you doing here? Matter of fact, what are y-“

“Funny that you should be the one asking that, considering that is my house.”

The girl coughs profusely after saying that, deep purple liquid spilling out of her mouth. I still feel the hint of fear, but I don’t if I’m scared for her or of her.

Maybe it’s both.

“This is your house?” I ask. I thought that people once lived here, but I didn’t think it was the home of…whatever she is.

“Yes, it’s my house. You and Amanda spent years coming here and you never thought to let me out? Don’t you know how many years I spent in this little closet, hoping to see daylight, dreaming of fresh air? I-“

The girl starts to cough again, the clunky purple liquid shooting past me and right in the corner where Dane is standing. He bends down to look at the liquid closer. He’s not scared.

How is he still not afraid?

“You see what all of your questions did to me? All these years locked up and-I’m sorry. It’s not your fault. Humans can’t open this door. Only demons can. That’s how my Mom enchanted it to be.” The girl says softly. Her hands have fallen to her sides, as though she has given up.

She sounds young. Like she’s not much older than Dane. Her hands are bandaged up, but I can see dried purple spots under them. I think that’s her blood.

“Your Mom locked you in here?” I ask.

She nods and moves a bit of hair from her face, but not enough so that I can see it.

“Yes. I was six years old. She used her magic to lock me here because she didn’t think that a half-human would be capable of hurting people. I don’t know why she thought that when I liked spending time with her, but I that’s my Mom for you. Always assuming the worst out of people. I’m Lisa.”

Her voice sounds less raspy and more like a young girl’s now. I’m guessing that she’s…thirteen or fourteen. Definitely not that much younger than me.

She stands up from the ground and wipes her hands on her black dress. Purple blood leaves her hands and stains her dress. She has bandages on her knees too. They’re gray, like the color of chains.

“Stella, you’re coming back to Hell with me. You too, Dane. You took a risk and for that, you must pay.”

What-Dane?! I had a feeling I’d be sent back to Hell at some point, but why Dane? What did he do?

I can’t see Lisa’s face, but she’s turned her head towards Dane, so I know that she’s looking at him. He’s looking back at her, smiling from ear to ear. How is he still smi-Amanda smiles a lot. Even when she’s scared. Especially when she’s scared, because she doesn’t want to scare anybody else.

I don’t think twice as I call out for Dane to run. He’s not doing that. He’s just grinning at me. Why is he not-do I have to-

I put one foot in front of the other and leap off the ground. It’s a simple jump at first, but I try to focus on using my wings to make me move faster, to fly me off the ground. I never actually used these wings before. Now that I’m using them, it feels like when me and my family all went bungee jumping in the Catskills, except there’s no trampoline for me to fall back on, no cords keeping me from shooting towards the sky. So it’s basically not bungee jumping, but if I don’t think about it too much, then it is.

I grab Dane and hold him tight with my claws. He’s squirming for some reason. What? It’s not like I’m kidnapping him or anything. If I can fly us out of the roof, then I can get him away from Lisa and back to safety. Whatever it is he’s done, it can’t be so bad that he’s deserving of Hell. I mean, he’s twelve years old. Punishing a twelve year with eternal damnation sounds like the plot of one of those corny horror movies. What, he’s “secretly evil” or something? I hate those movies where there’s this kid who is just evil for no reason. It’s all done for shock value and has no substance. Adele likes those movies, because of course she does. But this is real life, not a movie. There’s no way I’m letting go of him.

Except he is still trying to get away from me and my god, he is sweaty. The ceiling didn’t look that far from me before, but now it looks so distant and there’s this force that’s pulling me back, but I can’t let it, I have to fight it, I-

There’s a loud whooshing sound in my ears as the ground rattles below me and the ceiling rushes towards-the ceiling?!

What is Lisa doing?!

………………………………………………………………….

I’m back in the hallway Adele, Lauren, and I were walking in, except now Lisa and Dane are with me. The hallway looks just like any old hallway that could be in any old place, with brown carpeting and a beige ceiling, but I know better. I know that we’re in Hell.

I’m lying down on the carpet, so I sit up. Adele runs over to me and extends her hand towards me like she wants to help me up. It’s not like her to want to help me, so I get up on my own. I don’t need her help.

Adele blinks at me with a smile that seems to strain her face. What? What’s that for? Is she shocked? Did she really think that I would trust her at all? After everything?

Yet there’s something inside of me that almost feels bad for-NO! She doesn’t deserve my forgiveness! I don’t have to forgive her!

“I thought you’d disappear forever or something. It’s good that you’re here, though. Who’s the kid?” Adele asks, pointing to Dane.

“I’m Dane and this is Lisa!” Dane grins, pointing to Lisa, who seems to be engaged in some kind of staring contest with Lauren. At least, that’s what it looks like. I don’t know if there’s anything more with the staring and whatnot.

“Lisa is a daughter of a demon and she was trapped in Cherwood House, but Stella let her out and now I’m in Hell! That’s the short version of it, anyway. It’s nice to meet you. You must be Adele, Stella’s twin sister. You look a lot like her, but you don’t have cool white hair.” Dane says, extending his hand out towards Adele.

Adele stares at him for a bit before she accepts it. When they’re done shaking hands, she turns to me and whispers in my ear:

“What just happened?”

“I-“

“No more talking! A peek into Lauren’s mind told me that you are all trying to leave Hell! Celeste didn’t tell you everything, but I will!” Lisa calls out.

Adele hesitates. I’m a little angry at Lisa for interrupting us, especially when I was in the middle of a conversation. I never thought I’d want to talk to Adele, but I guess there’s a first time for everything.

“You will? How are you going to do that? You were locked up!” I yell out. I don’t see why she’d want to trick us, but I don’t want to take any chances.

“Yes, but I’m not dumb. I know how things work. If you’re careful enough, you can stay out of Hell undetected. It’s what my Mom did. You don’t have to come back here ever again.” Lisa says.

Is she for real? Does she mean that? Who is her Mom, anyway?

Adele looks back at me with a small, hopeful smile before she joins Lisa and Lauren. The three of them begin to walk away, but Dane is still standing in front of me, still grinning.

“Is there a reason why you’re so happy? Aren’t you scared? Like at all? I mean, this is Hell and-why is everybody just okay?! Am I the only one making sense here? Am-“

“It is a little weird, but this is a good thing. I used to look for demons and other creatures with my friend Naomi, before…before we went to that abandoned bakery.”

I see that Lisa, Lauren, and Adele are still walking away, but I still see them. I don’t think they’ll get that far from us. Besides, I don’t want to leave Dane alone. He’s quieter than he was back at the house and I don’t like it. He looks scared.

“What happened?” I ask. My voice is soft. I’ve only ever heard it come out like this with Amanda.

“We were going to an abandoned bakery during this summer vacation we had once. The bakery was said to be haunted by a demon, so we went in there to look. We went in too far though, because something took Naomi. I didn’t see what it was but I didn’t need to. It was a demon. I knew it. Now that I’m here, I might be able to find Naomi and get her out of here. I just needed a demon like Lisa to help me out.”

Dane sounds like he’s so confident about this, but I’m not sure. He doesn’t know much about demons, but he thinks he does. Now he’s in Hell because of it.

“What if she doesn’t want to help you? What if she traps you instead?”

“That’s okay. She can trap me, but not Naomi. It wouldn’t make sense for her to trap Naomi anyway, because she’s a good person. She’s not bad like me. Besides, I think I can handle Hell.” Dane beams.

“You’re sure about this?”

“Positive.”

Dane stares at me as if he’s going to stay more. He doesn’t. He just walks away and joins the others.

I still don’t think Dane is all that bad. Okay, yes, it was stupid of him and his friend to go to an abandoned bakery haunted by a demon, but that’s not his fault. He just didn’t know what he was doing. I like that he cares about Naomi, but what if he gets himself hurt? What if he dies and doesn’t care? Or pretends not to care so that others won’t worry about him? Amanda did that-

Amanda. I’m doing this to be with Amanda. He’s doing this to be with Naomi. I have to keep going. For her.

The things I do for love.