A Place To Go
Ireland Taylor
Cover Art by Cora Graphics
Editor Tracy Stephen
Assistant Gayle Latreille
Photos: Narcostock_ Deviant Art / Lisa aka Bagherpour fairiegoodmother.deviantart.com
This eBook is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2013 by Ireland Taylor
C. L. Pardington, L.L.C.
All rights reserved
In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the author is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the author at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
First Edition
ISBN: 978-0-9889783-0-0
DEDICATION
I am dedicating this book to my children, Andrew, Patrick, Gavin, Ireland and Riley.
Even though it doesn’t always seem easy to take the right path, I have faith in you that you’ll always do what is right.
I’ll love you always and forever.
~ Mommy ~
“Open your mind to what I shall disclose, and hold it fast within you; he who hears, but does not hold what he has heard, learns nothing.”
Beatrice - Canto V 40-42
― Dante Alighieri, Paradiso
OBITUARIES
Abernathy, Pointdexter, 19, of
Miami, FL, passed away August 27.
Survived by parents, Mr. & Mrs.
Neil Abernathy; sister, Amy;
brother, Max. No memorial services.
“Where am I?” asked Pointdexter. Dex for short.
“In Purgatory,” called out an unknown voice.
“Where?” said Dex.
“Purgatory,” restated the voice.
“Oh,” said a confused Dex. “Well, how in the world did I get here?” he asked, for he had no recollection of what had taken place the night before.
“You died,” the voice replied coolly. “You got drunk with those boys you called your friends. On the way home, you made a right hand turn off a bridge and drove over the side, plunging into the river below. Your friends could hardly stop laughing. But don't worry. They got theirs about ten minutes later in a head on collision with a semi-trailer.”
“But I don’t drink! I’m always the designated driver,” Dex said.
“Your friends thought it would be funny to slip some Vodka in your soda,” the voice said. “After that, you and I got to be good buddies.”
“Oh, I see. Well, that explains the headache,” replied Dex. “Who are you?”
“My name is Brewski, but you can call me Brew,” answered the voice.
“Where are you?”
“In your hand,” the voice answered. Dex looked down and, for the first time, noticed in his left hand he was clenching a beer can. A vivid mental image suddenly popped before his eyes. It was of him swigging from a can while the street lights passed him by. The can in his vision was the same can he held now.
“Do you know how to get out of here?” Dex asked.
“Of course. I brought you here,” replied Brew. “I've been recycled at least ten times before this.”
“Well then, which way is out?”
“There are millions of ways in but only two ways out,” answered Brew.
“Well, which way should I go then?” Dex asked. His patience was starting to wear thin.
“Go any direction. They will all lead you to the same place,” Brew replied. So Dex immediately closed his eyes, stuck out his arm like a pointer, and spun around three or four times while saying, “Around and around I go, and where I stop nobody knows.” After he stopped, he opened his eyes, tripped once or twice, and promptly stumbled off in the direction he had been pointing.
After walking for what seemed like an eternity, he began to hear noises off in the distance. As he approached what appeared to be a room, he could hear many distinguishable types of sounds coming from two different directions. The dull clash of hammers, the sharp cracks of whips, and the loud screams of terror and pain assaulted him from below. From above, the gentle and soothing sounds of sweet and peaceful songs and melodies wafted down to him.
Finally, as they reached their destination, Dex noticed a line of people had formed across the room and realized he recognized the last three people in line. They were his friends—Dave, Todd, and Brad. Todd was the first to speak.
“Have a nice trip?” he asked sarcastically.
“You always wanted to learn how to fly,” commented Dave. “How was it?”
Dex shot them both a glare and decided to stand in line with them to see if this was the line that would take him to the way out.
As the line moved and they got closer to the front, Dex could hear the organizer calling off names as he divided the line into two groups. One group was told to go stand around a tall man with white hair wearing a white robe draped with golden sashes. He had a glowing aura about him. His energy felt warm and inviting. Whereas the other group of people were called to stand behind a rangy and utterly frightful looking man robed in red. His energy was quite the opposite of the other’s. His was dark and felt downright evil. Consumed with the vision of the nightmare wearing the red robe, Dex lost his balance as he moved forward in the line. He tried to be dignified about his mishap, but instead he tripped over his shoe laces and fell crashing to the floor with a loud boom which interrupted the calling of names. Everyone turned to look in his direction. He quickly stood back up and got into the line, hiding behind Todd, who was snickering along with his other two friends.
The line continued to move forward and within a few minutes the organizer called Dave, Todd, and Brad, one by one. Because of their history as known troublemakers when they were in high school, it was no surprise they were all told to go stand with the guy dressed in the red robe, which left Dex as being next up in line to be placed. He started to get nervous and sweaty. He didn’t want to be left alone here in this strange place, and was afraid of not getting chosen to go to the group his friends were in. No matter which group it was. But when the organizer reached Dex, he paused, furrowed his brow, and then fumbled through a couple of pages before finally looking up and asking Dex what his name was.
“Pointdexter Abernathy,” he replied weakly. The man couldn't find Dex's name in the book anywhere. Once he realized this might take a while to figure out, he sent the two groups ahead then turned to give orders to his messenger.
After a couple minutes, Brew noticed the two men weren’t paying attention to Dex anymore. “Psst,” he said quietly to get Dex’s attention.
“What are you doing?” Dex whispered. “Keep your voice down or they’ll kick us out.”
“Let’s go off and do our own thing,” Brew said, “and leave the rest of these clowns here. Forget following your friends. Why hang around them when all they do is make fun of you and mistreat you?”
“Because they're my friends,” Dex stated. “They're my friends,” he said again, as if to convince himself.
“Oh, forget them, we can go off and get into our own trouble.”
“No way! I’m not leaving my friends, now let’s go find them. Are you with me or not?” Dex asked.
“Do I have a choice?”
“NO! You don’t,” Dex said sternly.
&
nbsp; So off they went in search of his friends. After a couple turns down some hallways, he found the gangly terror in red leading his group to a staircase leading downward. “Watch your step,” said the terror.
Dex stepped up his pace to catch up with the back of the line where his friends were. Down they went, farther and farther. As the light from the top of the staircase slowly disappeared, it seemed as though there was no end and they would drop forever. Eventually, there was so little light left that Dex could barely see the steps in front of him. As they kept descending, he noticed his forehead was starting to bead with drops of sweat and found the air was more dense, making it harder to breathe. It was becoming stiflingly hot and he felt like he was going to suffocate.
“Where are we going?” Dex asked.
“Don't be such a worry-wart. Be quiet and keep going,” his friends replied.
Down, down they continued to go. His breathing was almost impossible now. He thought his eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness, but realized he was actually starting to see the soft glow of light ahead. The light seemed to dance on walls made up of what appeared to be hardened lava rock.
Curving around the last bend of the stairway, they finally ended up in a huge cavern. Their red robed “guide” held his hand up, motioning them to stop.
Dex’s eyes widened as he saw what was before him. The cavern appeared to go on forever. There were rivers of molten lava flowing everywhere, some of which dropped over the sides of the cliffs above forming waterfalls of fire. High above the cliffs, against the blood red sky, he saw ghastly lost souls swirling around looking for a place to belong. Below in the ravines, Dex saw creature-like figures pounding away on the rocks. He also saw what appeared to be men with skin the color of crimson, long tails coming from their backsides, and horns atop their foreheads. They were randomly standing around, some with long leather whips in their hands and others with black pitchforks. At that moment, Dex’s attention was snared as one of the figures fell to the ground and one of the devilish men unleashed his whip across the creature’s back. It groaned loudly, reached for its hammer and got back up on its feet. Hunched over in pain, it walked back over to the rock it was previously striking and continued on.
Dex was so perplexed by what he was seeing that he completely forgot how hot he was and how he could barely breathe.
Dex’s attention was drawn back to the layout of this crypt. He looked up to his left and saw another staircase leading up to a platform with many doorways.
Their guide then waved his hand forward. “Let’s go,” he said. “You’ll get more familiar with this area later on after your training.”
He led them over to the staircase and up to the platform with the doorways. “Wait right here. My master will arrive with your rewards,” he chuckled as he walked away.
“Rewards, awesome! Maybe he'll give us money, or maybe a plaque, or even a trophy,” Brad cheered. Dex looked at him stunned. “You’re such an idiot. Does it look like you’ll be getting any of those things here?”
The next moment two people presented themselves on the platform. One was wearing the oh so familiar red robe. He was very scrawny and timid looking. The other one was ridiculously large. He must have been about seven feet tall. He had skin the same crimson tone, a large thick tail with an arrowed tip, and horns on his forehead like the others below. He wore tight, black leather pants which enhanced the humungous muscles in his legs and across his chest were straps of black leather with silver metal rings holding them together.
“I’m Satan. Welcome to Hell,” he announced to the group. Without hesitation he continued on, “Listen for your name to be called, and then come to me for your assignments.” With that the first name was called.
“Deane, Sandy”
“Innes, Chuck”
“Pomerantz, Sharon”
“Regna, Carmine”
“Satz, Eric”
“Simpson, Brad”
“See ya, buddy,” his friends called.
“Suarez, John”
Slowly, one by one, each of Dex's friends were called up and received their instructions. When he was the only one left whose name hadn't been called, the devil asked his assistant, “Who’s this guy? We’ve never had extras before. Call him here.”
“You there, come here!”
“Who me?” Dex responded.
“Do you see anyone else around? Of course you!” the assistant replied.
“What's your name, son?” Satan asked.
“Pointdexter, sir. But my friends call me Dex, sir.”
“Well, Dex, your name isn't on the list. Are you sure you’re supposed to be here? Not that we couldn't use you.”
“I don't know where I'm supposed to go. I just followed my friends here.”
“I see. Well, let me call the Big Guy upstairs and find out where you're supposed to go. Meanwhile, I'll have my wife show you around.” Looking over his shoulder, towards the doorways, he yelled, “Linda, come here please.” He then sternly looked back at Dex and said, “You’ll call her Mrs. Naspinski.”
A couple minutes later the Devil's wife walked out of one of the doorways. She was a small woman, skinny as a rail, with a mean streak as long as eternity. Besides working in Hell, she was a high school teacher. She loved ruining weekends with long assignments and giving failing grades.
“So, bozo brains, what do you want to see? The fate of substitute teachers, the planning of world disasters, or my favorite, for real devilish people, a continual heavy metal party.”
“I don't think we belong here, Brew,” Dex whispered.
“Oh, be quiet or we will get thrown out of here,” Brew replied.
“I wouldn't mind that! Personally, I think we're making a big mistake,” Dex said under his breath.
“Miss Naspinski,” Dex called.
“Call me Nasty, everybody does.”
“But, I can’t. Your husband warned me to call you ‘Miss Naspinski,’” Dex said.
“Oh him. Don’t listen to him. He may seem intimidating, but he’s really a pussy cat,” she snarked. “I’m the one you need to worry about.”
“Okay, Nasty,” he said with a quiver in his voice. “I would really like to find my three friends first. But only if that’s okay with you, of course.”
She thought about it for a moment. “This way, fool!” she said. They traveled through a dark, dreary tunnel that was lined with torches affixed to the stone walls. It led them into another room. There they found Brad, Dave, and Todd being instructed on the proper method of haunting a person.
“Hey, guys! I finally found you. Boy, I thought I'd never see you again,” Dex exclaimed.
“Stifle it, bozo. They’re in training and can't be bothered,” Nasty told him.
Suddenly a loud disembodied voice announced that Dex should report to the assignment room, immediately.
“Damn, just when we were going to start having some fun,” Nasty pouted.
“NOW!” the voice rang out.
“Alright, alright already. I’ll let him leave,” Nasty shouted back into the air. “You take away all my fun.”
She then looked at Dex and said, “Go back through the tunnel we just came through. And if you remember, we passed another tunnel midway through on the left side. Take that tunnel and when you get to the end you will come upon a large metal door.” She then took his hand and placed an object in it. “Take this key with you to unlock it. Once you get beyond the door you will go up the white marble stairs and enter the room at the top. That room is the assignment room. You will wait there for more instructions.”
As she started to walk away, she looked back and said, “Good luck, bozo brains. Too bad I didn’t get to show you any real fun while you were down here.”
Dex ventured back into the tunnel and followed Nasty’s instructions down to a T and made his way to the metal door. He unlocked it using the key she had given him. Once through, the door slammed itself shut. He jolted forward a bit in fright. As he continued on towar
d the white marble staircase, all of a sudden he felt the key in his hand dissolve to dust. He raised his hand in front of him, and as he opened it, all the dust fell to the ground. “Hmmm, that was strange,” he said out loud. But then again what hasn’t been strange about this place so far.
He climbed the marble staircase two stairs at a time. He was excited to see if this was finally going to be his chance to find out where he belonged.
Once he reached the top, he saw the door of the assignment room was wide open. Still excited, he gingerly walked forward to the entrance of the room and stopped in his tracks. There was someone inside the room pacing. He was tall and wearing a white robe draped with golden sashes. He had more sashes than the last guy. Maybe that meant he had a higher importance than the other man he had seen earlier. He also had that same peaceful glowing aura about him.
As the man continued pacing, Dex’s movements must have caught the corner of his eye because he stopped and looked toward the door.
“Ah, you must be Pointdexter? Hi, I’m St. Thomas,” he said. “I am here to take you up to Heaven to see God.”
“Maybe now I'll find out where I'm supposed to be,” Dex sighed.
“Follow me, son. If anyone can figure this out it will be the Big Guy.”
On the other side of the assignment room was another door leading to another tunnel. This time the tunnel was pristine and bright. Dex and St. Thomas walked along until they saw before them a beautiful white staircase rising upward into Heaven. There was a white cloudy mist rolling down the stairs from above as if inviting them to proceed. As they ascended slowly, Dex's excitement grew with the thought that perhaps he had finally found his assigned home.
“St. Thomas, sir?” he asked somewhat cautiously.
“Yes, Pointdexter?”
“Could you tell me a little bit about Heaven? I don't know how to act or what to say.”
A Place To Go (In-Between Series #1) Page 1