BookRix

Hell.

It brings shudders to everyone, if only in our secret thoughts. What do YOU imagine it to be? A nightmarish kingdom such as the one Hieronymus Bosch envisioned, perhaps? A perilous account by Dante, guided by Virgil?

What would happen if you were unjustly sentenced to go there...without an explanation why? For all Eternity?

I received a package in the mail recently, wrapped in a battered and soot-blackened wrapping. Intrigued, yet somewhat wary of the contents that might lie within, I poured myself a cup of strong coffee, retired to my comfortable chair in the living room of my modest home in front of a cheerful fire, and then opened it tentatively.

There was no note; no explanation concerning the "gift"--who might have sent it, or by what post it was initiated. A thin book, in worse condition than the package wrapping. Scarred by fire, bent at the edges, altogether distressing.

No title. No author name.

I carefully flipped the cover, curious but unafraid by then. I had opened...a diary. An account written by the hand of a man named Terence, as I was to discover. The first words captivated me. "He's watching me. He beats me when I cross his path." The rough script nearly illegible at first.

And so, I read on. This was NOT Dante, but it was fascinating. See for yourself. Take a seat before your warm, crackling fire, and then walk with this soul through Hell.