Persephone, I Located Hell

The gateway to Hell is in an industrial wearhouse. I found it last night in my dream.

It was pouring rain outside and the city lights went out, so I crept into what seemed to be an abandoned building for shelter and warmth. My teeth chattered and my stringy wet hair clung to my face. I walked through the building by the light of the moon that shown brightly through the raindrops and caged windows twenty feet above me. I heard music off in the distance and followed the sound hoping that it signaled a warm place to dry up.

Along my path intricate macabre objects like bones and clumps of hair started to multiply. Velvet blood red and dark purple furniture narrowed my walkway. The music grew louder and the words became more and more difficult to decipher. I walked closer calculating each step as curiosity and chills pulled me in. I met two large black studded wooden doors at the end of my path. I stared at the doors contemplating whether I should knock when I suddenly felt two icy fingertips on my right shoulder. I turned to my right and stared at an extremely pale, tall, and slender man who smelled like a combination of rain and campfire smoke. His hair was raven black and so were his gentle eyes. As I looked at him he warned me not to go beyond the "gates".

He looked simultaneously young and freshly dead. I scrutinized his features discovering layers of his persona unfolding like a onion. I trusted his advice even as I noticed a smudge of blood on his cheekbone. I looked at that smudge until I fell into it and before I knew it I was in Hell. The "gate" meant nothing. The "gate" was a facade created to trick the world into believing Hell was formal and trying to make a destinction between the world and itself. Hell was warm and made of dirt and smelled like rain, campfires, and jasmine. The gardner in me wanted to stay. I figured it is raining and cold outside, so why don't I stay until Spring like Persephone. During Spring I can burst back through the earth in the form of a beautiful vibrant flower and then stare lovingly at the clear blue sky.