Chapter 1
Black. That was all I saw, all day, every day. Endless Black. I can faintly remember the soft pinks and the glow of the yellow sun, but greedy Black has stained those memories, throwing shade over my eyes like a mourning shawl. I scratched my skinny arm with my long fingernails. I felt blood. Could be from where they whipped me, or where my chains wrapped around my arm. I sat there staring into the darkness. I have often thought about escaping, but where would I go? I can’t move two feet without my chain yanking me back. So I sat there and let the blackness wrap around me like a blanket.
I jolted awake, my mind rushing back to me as I felt around to see if I could use something, anything to write with. I picked up a bone off the ground and began scraping until my fingers bled. All the while my mind was on one thing: color.
Blackness has made me insane, but light has pushed me on. I began to feel weak, very weak. I collapsed into a pile of flesh and bone. I used all of my strength to not let the Black in, but I couldn’t restrain all of it from getting inside. I began pounding on the wall, using my fists, then my shoulder, and my whole body.
Rocks began to fall down around me, some piercing my thin skin. One landed on top of me, as big as a school desk. I struggled to get it off of me, my fingernails breaking with a snap and twist of my fingers as I clawed at the rock.
I blacked out, not that that was much of a difference. When I woke up, it seemed as if I had been away for some years. The rock was gone, and a beard grew long and rough on my face. My tongue was no longer fat from dehydration. I quickly sat up. Someone was here with me.
“H-Hello?” I called, my cracked voice echoed down like water sloshing through a pipe. I haven’t heard my voice that loud in years.
“HELLOO!” I called again, louder and louder each time. Nothing, for what seemed like hours. My eyes darted through the dark.
“helloooo” answered a quiet, raspy voice.
My heart felt like it was a pancake being flipped.
“Hello! Where are you?! Please, I’ve been alone so long, please,” I stretched my lids, scanning the Blackness.
“We are close to each other, feel around and we will find each other,” answered the airy voice.
I began to crawl, realizing that my chains had been broken off. I felt a cold, bony hand, with the texture of a snake moving across it. I jerked my own hand back.
“Well hello, and who might you be?” asked the voice.
“I-I’m Jude, my name is Jude”.
“Hello, Jude, I am Lucifer.”.
“Lucifer, please, you gotta help me, I don’t know where I am, or how I got here, or how long I’ve been here, I-I just, I’m so thirsty and I haven’t slept in months I get these nightmares about betrayal and death as punishment for wrongdoings, and I’m just so scared, I don’t understand-“ I blurted out, streams of hot tears burned the dirt off my cheeks and my throat sinched closed like a draw string bag.
“Don’t be afraid, do not be frightened,” Lucifer called from above my head. A wave of terror splashed onto my back like hot oil. I felt along the wall to find the spot where I had chiseled at. As I drew closer, I heard booms and thuds, like cannon balls being fired. This was my chance to be free.
I prayed, for the first time in my life, hoping that one ball would land upon the wall I clung to. Then, I heard it, a whistling sound getting louder and louder, until BOOM!!!
Rocks sprayed everywhere, knocking me backwards. I awoke and heard ringing in my ears. Something was different, I could actually see my skinny calves and cracked fingernails. I turned my head.
I saw a vibrant splash of green and pink and blue surround me, the black was now being beat. I looked around, and stepped out of the debris, letting the soft sun warm me from my many years of being in the cold.
