Subj: Hobson's Choice
Date: 3/5/00 4:03:40 PM Central Standard Time
From: Marcos1

Hobson's Choice

~~~~

"And so that is your choice," Angelique said smiling, "Come with me and live in hell...or I shall destroy the Collins family, one by one."

"Not if I kill you, now," Barnabas said, reaching for her slender neck. But trying hard as he could, he could not touch her. It felt as though he were pressing up against a wall. Her powers were so great.

"Barnabas, do you feel the sword of Damocles hanging over your head? Try to resist me and you will be opening a Pandora's box of endless suffering and death."

"Since when do you quote the classics? You are nothing but a servant girl. A stormy petrel, landing, forshadowing only doom and disaster with the approaching storm."

"In hell, there is nothing but time, endless time. Reading becomes a needed diversion," Angelique replied. "Come with me. I shall become your Dulcinea, with a voice as sweet as Cordelia, faithful as Penelope, with beauty as great as Helen."

"Witch," Barnabas said in anger, "You have none of Circe's charms. Every word that you speak is like sowing dragon's teeth, causing endless trouble."

"You have no choice," Angelique said. "Barnabas, beloved, you know that." As she spoke, fire filled the sitting room of the old house. The fire consumed them and made them it's own.

The world was fire and fire was the world. Barnabas and Angelique were in the world of Hades.

"Well...well...well," Nicholas Blair said laughing, "How mighty are the fallen? Barnabas and my dear Angelique, how nice to see you both."

"Don't laugh too loud, Blair," Barnabas said, a single tear running from his eye, "I shall escape from this place. If it is the last thing I ever do."

"But the last thing, you ever did was come here," Nicholas said. "Now, there is no hope."

Watching from above, Josette duPres and Sarah Collins mourned. Feelings of sadness filled them and it spread to all of the Angels, casting a shadow on Heaven. Something must be done, but what?

~~~

The line of souls was so long that entire Earthly civilizations could rise and fall, before a soul at the end, reached the gateway. But of course, time was insignificant here at the entrance to hell. No one was in any hurry to enter. The souls had been people of every shape and size, some had been bad, others had been worse, and a few had been truly evil.

"What did you do?" Victor Long asked, the man just ahead of him. The man was short with a thick mustache. His physical features only visible, if you stared at him very hard, otherwise, he was just a blur of darkness.

"I was a pickpocket on London's lower eastside," the man replied. "I never cared much for religion...so I never suspected that there would be a place like this."

"Nor did I," Victor said. "I was an accountant in New York City, cheated on the books once in awhile...and on my wife.

"Name is Jacob Fields," the man said, reaching out his hand. "I was from the year 1897...what about you?"

"1969," Victor replied. "It's funny that we are waiting in the same line. You must have died before I was born."

"Time doesn't matter here," Jacob said. "I never liked fire...but I guess it's too late for regrets, now."

"Is hell really a place of burning?" Victor asked.

"Yes, " Jacob replied. "They say that there is nothing hotter than hell fire."

"Who are they?" Victor asked.

"The people in charge," Jacob replied, pointing at three people approaching. "Those are big whigs. I can always tell because they glow red instead of black."

"Straighten-up the line," Nicholas Blair said, his voice, hissing like a snake. "And no talking." He walked past, his eyes glowing yellow. His two companions were a man with a wolfhead cane, and a woman with long blond tresses.

"You are going to be so happy here," Angelique said, smiling. "Barnabas, we will never be punished. And we will be free to torment others as much as we want. In fact, encouraged. It is part of our job."

Barnabas walked along slowly. His face, lifeless as a string of fish. He wasn't feeling anything. He was past that. "If you say so. But I shall always hate you, Angelique."

"Now, now, lovebirds," Nicholas said, laughing. "Barnabas and Angelique, I get such pleasure from this situation...watching you both. A woman in love and a man in hate, perfect, just perfect."

"Blair," Barnabas said, with a slight glow in his grey eyes, "I will take my greatest pleasure in destroying you."

"In your dreams, Collins," Nicholas replied, his face hard, set like a piece of sculpture. "There is no hope here for anyone."

~~~

The man was tied to a stone wall by a long metal chain. The temperature here was hot. There was no hotter place in hell. His name was Icarus. His sin had been to fall in love with his twin sister. They had been separated at birth, and he had-had no idea that she even existed. But by a chance meeting, they had fallen in love. Her name was Mary. She was delicate and fair as moonlight, with golden brown eyes, and hair the color of a red rose. It had been so easy to fall in love! Anyone that saw her would. And she had loved him, too. But that was long ago. Now, Icarus had skin wrinkled like old parchment and a terrible burning in his throat. Water, he needed water. There a clear stream just out of reach. His chains would never allow him to reach it. Suddenly, he heard the sound of a flute. It was a sound never before heard in hell.

A young girl approached him. She had dark hair, and sweet, gentle, features. "Hello, I'm looking for my brother, Barnabas. Do you know where he is?"

Icarus tried to speak, but his speech was like a tangled chain; nothing impaired, but all disordered. His throat was just so dry.

"Do you want some water?" the young girl asked.

Icarus nodded. There was nothing that he wanted more.

"Well, then get some," the girl said. She put her hands over the metal chain, and there was a burst of brillant white light. The chains dissolved into dust.

Icarus ran to the stream. He jumped into the cool waters. He had never felt such utter joy. "You are as pure, as good, as an angel!"

"I am an angel," the young girl said, walking away. "It was very nice to meet you. But I have to find my brother."

"But what is your name?" Icarus asked. "Beautiful one?"

"My name is Sarah Collins," the young girl replied, walking into a wall of flames and crossing over to a deeper part of hell.

To be continued---