awesmazings | 005

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[Anyone who knows Jimmy at all might have noticed that he's been unusually absent from the Network lately. Ignoring new arrivals, and only talking to people sparingly- and it's always, always via text. In fact, Jimmy hasn't made a video post to the Network himself in several months, and it seems like that hasn't changed.

It's jarringly unusual behavior, but the sudden message that pops up on the Network this afternoon might be the most surprising thing of all, even moreso than the radio silence. No attempts at filtering, either.]

What do you think 'Hell' is?

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[Funny, this happens to be something that's on Blake's mind pretty often.]

Let me see if I remember right. The lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels, blah blah blah gnashing teeth, and around then you haul the idiot to the cooler until he can stop yelling on street corners for a while.

That's about how the standard line goes.

so you dont think it exists, then

[It's hard to translate through text, but he's dead serious. This is important because of reasons, Blake.]

I never used to believe in all that religious crap. I forgot all about it as soon as I got old enough that my ma couldn't haul me to church on Sunday anymore.

I knew what reality was. No magic, no miracles, no devils. No monsters.

well
like a lot of people in this place come from different worlds
different worlds where a lot of different things are real
so would you think it's not too far off that Hell might exist in one of them?

I've heard of enough weird shit around here that I could believe somewhere there's a world on fire, full of guys with horns and pitchforks and all that shit.

Thing is, the whole point of it never made a lot of sense to me. The idea is to make you regret what an asshole you were when you were alive, right? That's what the signs always say. "Repent."

But if you're on fire, you don't have time to think about anything you're sorry for. You're not wishing you'd loved Jesus. You're wishing this son of a bitch wasn't hitting you.

Let me tell you, no matter how many fancy ideas you have, if you're getting hit, all you're thinking about is getting them to quit it. Now, if there's something they want out of you, that's a decent way to get it. But if the point is to make you feel bad about anything but the pitchfork in your ass, it's not going to happen.

i really dont know, to tell you the truth
like ive never heard any of that before
i didnt know that it had a 'point', other than that its
well
its really familiar to me. like, the way everyone describes Hell as being
only what i know is
it's not really pitchforks and a world on fire so much...

Now, that's if the idea really is to make people regret what they did. If it's just your good old fashioned punishment...

Some people deserve to burn.

[After a minute, he actually pays attention to what the other guy said.]

What do you mean, familiar?

well
the place where i live back home is a lot like how people describe Hell
almost all of these descriptions are either spot on or really close to what its like and all
i mean some things are different, and its not called Hell, but Miseryville
but im trying to just figure out if theyre the same place

[Now, of all the reasons Blake expected to hear for being curious about Hell, "I'm from there" was nowhere on the list.]

You're saying you lived in Hell.

What the fuck did you do?

[...you'll have to give him a moment, Blake, because the bluntness of that kindof threw him a bit.]

i dont know

How do you not know? You don't remember being alive?

i dont remember anything really before Miseryville, no
just a couple things, but its not much

Jesus. How are you supposed to repent for whatever you did if you can't even remember it?

[Blake feels a strange, fascinated horror creep over him.]

Were you alone?

[That's exactly what he'd like to know, admittedly.]

um
i dont really know
i dont think so but i cant....remember
i just remember that before i lived in Miseryville, wherever i was had snow

I mean in this hell place.

[Blake can't quite believe he's taking this seriously, but who's here to see?]

What's it like?

it's uh
well, the sky is red. thats one of the first things i noticed that was different here...the sky's blue, not red
there are two suns, and the ocean is red too. it has different kinds of monsters living in it
there are lava worms living in the sand at the beach, and its really hot a lot of the time

[Blake is leaning close over is phone. Sweat is beginning to stand on his forehead.]

Were there demons there?

[After the descriptions of demons he's been given, there's no real use in denying it anymore, is there?]

yeah. lots of them

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