Storytelling Week 14: A Hellish Dream

Garrett didn’t know where he was. He was officially lost after trying to find his way for two hours. “Great,” Garrett said to himself. “I have no idea where the hell I am in these dark ass woods. Why did I think it would be a good idea to walk to this party…FIVE MILES AWAY?”

Illistration by Matthew Anderson. 

As Garrett was walking in what he thought was the right directions, he noticed a bright light in the distance. It was getting closer to him. He was officially freaked out, but kept walking towards the light. The closer it got he realized it was a man. Garrett was scared, but there was something familiar about this man. He got closer and closer and then he realized it was Michael Jackson, his favorite artist of all time. But wait…he was supposed to be dead.

Garrett rubbed his eyes and looked again, yep it was Michael all right. Michael told Garrett that he needed to lead his through a place that he must see in order to one day be in a better place. Garrett was hesitant. “The ghost of Michael Jackson was asking me to go somewhere with him…um hell no,” Garrett thought to himself.

But something inside of him told him to go with him. Michael explained on their journey that they were going to tour hell. Garrett was so confused and freaked out, but was also curious.

He agreed and walked with Michael further until they got to a gate that had inscripted on it “abandon all hope, you who enter here”. Garrett was scared but Michael explained that they were about to see the different levels of hell and the various reasons people ended up there. He told Garrett that he would see angry people, scary people, and people laying there content with where they are. Then they entered the first level.

Michael explained that people in this level were there for vanity. These people cared too much about what they looked like and not enough about the people they were. This level was sitting in chairs forced to look at themselves without blinking. Their eyes were bleeding and they were in so much pain. They moved on to the second level.

The second level was for people who spent too much time using cell phones. The people in this level were forced to constantly talk. Most of them couldn’t anymore so their throats were on fire. They looked so miserable, Garrett thought.

The third level was filled with gluttons, people who consumed too much junk food. They were forced to sit in heating lamps. Their skin was burning off and bleeding.

The fourth level was filled with liars, people who lied on the Internet and to one another. This level was forced to hear constant buzzing in their ears. Their ears were bleeding and they were crying from pain.

Garrett heard the buzzing. It was hurting his ears so bad. He couldn’t stand it. The buzzing got louder and louder. Garrett didn’t know why he was hearing this too. He started to shake back and forth. The buzzing is getting louder and louder. He just wanted it to stop.

Finally it stopped as Garrett opened his eyes and realized he had been dreaming. The buzzing was from his alarm clock. He looked around in a panic sweat and realized it was just a dream. He picked his Inferno book up off the floor. Garrett guessed he must have fallen asleep while reading for his test tomorrow. “I better be really ready for that test now,” Garrett said to himself.

Author’s Note: This week I read Dante’s Inferno. I read the book in high school and honestly enjoyed it. I thought it was a very interesting take on what hell might be like. And that is still true today. I enjoyed this condensed version and was glad I got to refresh my Inferno knowledge. For those of you who haven’t read Dante’s Inferno, is it a story about Dante who gets lost in the woods and runs into Virgil an old Italian poet and they take a journey through hell or inferno, the Italian word for hell. They encounter 12 different circles of hell and each circle has people who committed the same sins, as the circled progress the sins get worse. The first circle is the pagans and the last circle has Lucifer. So each circle get progressively worse and worse. I decided to write a very condensed version of the story because it is so long and would take forever to retell the whole thing and it also wouldn’t make much sense to just tell the story from one section. So that is how I decided to write mine this way. I wrote mine with a very modern approach. I think its interesting to take old stories and write them in a modern way. I also used sins that have more to do with modern society. I decided to end my story in a very different way, as a dream because I think it is a very interesting and shocking twist. In the original, Dante gets out of his tour of hell and returns to Earth. In my story, Garrett also leaves hell and returns to Earth just in a very different way. I hope you enjoy.

Bibliography: Inferno. Divine. Dante Alighieri. 1400.

Reading Diary B: Dante's Inferno

The Minotaur and the Centaurs- Like a bull, breaking loose at the moment when it receives the fatal blow, that cannot go forward but plunges here and there, so I saw the Minotaur, and my cautious guide cried: 'Run to the passage: while he is in a fury, it is time for you to descend.'

The Harpies and Capaneus- Then my guide spoke, with a force I had not heard before: 'O Capaneus, you are punished more in that your pride is not quenched: no torment would produce pain fitting for your fury, except your own raving.'

The Old Man of Crete and Geryon- And I again: 'Master, where are Phlegethon and Lethe found, since you do not speak of the former and say that the latter is formed from these tears?'

Descending on Geryon's Back- There is a place in Hell called Malebolge, all of stone and coloured like iron, as is the cliff that surrounds it. Right in the centre of the malignant space, a well yawns, very wide and deep, whose structure I will speak of in due place.

Jason and the Demons- My Master said: 'Malacoda, do you think I have come here without the Divine Will, and propitious fate, safe from all your obstructions? Let me go by, since it is willed, in Heaven, that I show another this wild road.'

Caiaphas- I said: 'O me! Master, what do I see? Oh, let us go alone, without an escort, if you know the way: as for me, I would prefer not. If you are as cautious as usual, do you not see how they grind their teeth and darken their brows, threatening us with mischief?

Ulysses and Diomede- I said: 'Master, I beg you greatly and beg again so that my prayers may be a thousand, if those inside the fires can speak, do not refuse my waiting until the horned flame comes here: you see how I lean towards it with desire.'

The Giants- My guide said: 'This proud spirit had the will to try his strength against high Jupiter, and so has this reward. Ephialtes is his name, and he made the great attempt, when the Giants made the gods fear, and the arms he shook then, now he never moves.'

Ugolino- 'You must know that I am Count Ugolino, and this is the Archbishop Ruggieri. Now I will tell you why I am a neighbour such as this to him. It is not necessary to say that, confiding in him, I was taken, through the effects of his evil schemes, and afterwards killed. But what you cannot have learnt, how cruel my death was, you will hear: and know if he has injured me.

Satan- When we had gone on far enough that my guide was able to show me Lucifer, the monster who was once so fair, he removed himself from me and made me stop, saying: 'Behold Dis, and behold the place where you must arm yourself with courage.'

Illistration by Di Fruosino.

Reading Diary A: Dante's Inferno

Dante and Virgil- After I had rested my tired body a while, I made my way again over empty ground, always bearing upwards to the right. And, behold, almost at the start of the slope, a light swift leopard with spotted coat. It would not turn from before my face and so obstructed my path that I often turned in order to return.

The Gate of Hell and Charon- 'I will tell you, briefly. They have no hope of death, and their darkened life is so mean that they are envious of every other fate. Earth allows no mention of them to exist: mercy and justice reject them; let us not talk of them, but look and pass.

Limbo- The anguish of the people, here below, brings that look of pity to my face that you mistake for fear. Let us go, for the length of our journey demands it.' So he entered, and so he made me enter, into the first circle that surrounds the abyss.

Poets and Philosophers, Heroes and Heroines- When I lifted my eyes a little higher, I saw the Master of those who know, Aristotle, sitting amongst the company of philosophers. All gaze at him: all show him honour. There I saw Socrates, and Plato, who stand nearest to him of all of them

Paolo and Francesca- The first of those you wish to know of was Empress of many languages, so corrupted by the vice of luxury, that she made licence lawful in her code, to clear away the guilt she had incurred. She is Semiramis, of whom we read, that she succeeded Ninus, and was his wife: she held the countries that the Sultan rules.

Cerberus and Plutus- Like a sail, bellying in the wind, that falls in a heap if the mast breaks, so that cruel creature fell to earth. In that way, we descended into the fourth circle, taking in a greater width of the dismal bank that encloses every evil of the universe.

Fortune and Phlegyas- So we covered a large arc of the loathsome swamp, between the dry bank and its core, our eyes turned towards those who swallow its filth: we came at last to the base of a tower.

The Fallen Angels- And that lord, who had led me there, said to me: 'Have no fear, since no one can deny us passage: it was given us by so great an authority. But you, wait for me, and comfort and nourish your spirit with fresh hope, for I will not abandon you in the lower world.'

The Furies and the Heretics- Then he was silent. Each one was tearing at her breast with her claws, beating with her hands, and crying out so loudly that I pressed close to the poet, out of fear.

The Remorse of Orestes