The Mountain

Hell is the idea of a place to put people that have committed what may be thought of as sins. You can have your own personal hell, perhaps it’s being in a huge hall, listening to a never-ending lecture from that one professor you just can’t see eye-to-eye with. I personally would picture hell to be a large, empty desert with no water in sight, because I hate warm climates and sand; I would also like to think that it would be exceptionally humid as well, because if we’re talking about hell then it should be everything bad, whether it’s scientifically possible or not. Someone may be able to get out of hell through accomplishing a large list of difficult and dangerous tasks, whilst learning lessons on how to be a decent human being. That’s probably just because I’m a big fan of adventure, role-play games. Maybe some people would be able to get out, but a lot of my experiences have lead me to believe that if you did something bad enough to get into hell, then you are not the type of person to change. I believe in reincarnation rather than hell though, so I just like to think that they’ll be reborn as a mosquito and squashed in their prime. My own hell would be a hot, humid climate with nothing but sand for miles. No mountains for me to be on, either. My own hell would also be packed full of people that I don’t recognize, all extroverts, too. I can’t deal with a lot of talkative people at once; it both frightens and wears me out. I’d like to think that a hell of my own designing would imprison ignorant, close-minded people that can’t think for themselves and do nothing but misquote awful things to deny basic human rights. There’s a rather large list of people that would be in hell by my own standards.

            To get into hell wouldn’t be that hard, because nearly everyone is guilty of something. However, I would only want to make the truly awful suffer. People like rapists, or horrible dictators, or bullies that were proud they caused someone to go so far as to end their life are barely even considered people in my eyes. I have absolutely no sympathy for those that caused the suffering of innocents proudly, knowingly. They are the lowest of the low, and I only wish there was something worse than hell that I could put them into. The slightly lesser punished would be those that could not get over their prejudices, parents that kicked their children out of the house just because of who they loved, incurable racists, politicians denying basic human rights, and all of those groups of people. I wouldn’t be able to stomach deniers, people that deny rights to others just because their religion says so, or they think there’s some stupid agenda that people they aren’t like have. To be absolutely honest, if you were rude to waiters or employees of establishments there for your own convenience, I would probably throw you into hell. To treat someone who hasn’t done anything to hurt others as less than you is despicable. I guess I just have a lot of pent up anger towards just plain old mean people. Also, if you’re a bad driver that doesn’t use turn signals, I’m throwing you in there, just maybe not the worst levels.

            The punishments in my hell would vary by level. For the deepest, worst part, the people there would be subjugated to the worst kinds of torture. They would never be allowed out, because I don’t feel it’s morally right to forgive people like the ones I’ve described above. Rapists will have it the worst, and they would have to see how it affected their victims in the long run, reliving their crimes over and over again, and have the stories carved into their skin everywhere. The bullies and abusers would have to see how they hurt the people they did constantly, writing sentences that pertain to their specific crime over and over, and the pens would cut the sentences into their hands constantly, just like the quill from the fifth Harry Potter. The ones that denied rights to people would have to see the hate crimes done because of them, they would have to see how much suffering they have caused. The ones I mentioned that were rude to good people would be forced to work a dead end job with customers being horrible to them. See how they like it. I’m not sure how it would go down with the drivers; they just irk me so that’s why I put them in there. Maybe they’d have to watch a bunch of brutal accidents or something.

            Bright, sweltering sun shining down with no forgiveness. Sweat would be pouring down your blistering skin, burning a path through your body. Nothing but sand for miles, and one lone mountain that you can’t ever seem to reach. You’re nothing but parched and starved, the looming fear of death encases your body as vultures circle overhead, just waiting for you to die. Inside the fully rock mountain, there are cells. Screams are heard echoing through the desert, as people have nothing but their worst memories, their worst crimes echoed back at them. You can hear the anguish, and you cringe. Yet your curiosity gets the best of you, and you can only keep walking. Eventually, you find yourself at the top of the mountain, and you look at a very attractive person. They are the embodiment of your conception of beauty, glowing light. You wonder if it’s an angel, and if they’ll rescue you from this horrible place. You ask for their name, and they grin, eyes turning red, teeth growing sharp. You are suddenly descending through darkness, and your memories are played in front of your eyes on pieces of film. The good parts are blotted out with ink, and the film begins to melt and burn. You land and are found where you never thought you’d be, not even in your worst nightmares.

            You can only escape hell if you are in one of the higher parts, and even then, it’s difficult. You must go through many tasks, and to learn what these tasks are, you have to climb to the very top of the mountain to ask the guardian of hell. They will tell you if and only if you beat them in a game of riddles. I choose this because I like riddles, and they’re not as easy to come up with as one might think. Even if you escape hell, you will be placed into purgatory, which I picture as an empty, all white room. You’ll appear there and you won’t be allowed out again. Sure you won’t be necessarily suffering anymore, but it would probably be very boring. I just don’t feel as though the people that I put in hell really deserve to ever go to a paradise only meant for the truly innocent, kind people. 

            I’d like to use a gas mask as the symbol for hell. This is because I can only imagine the air to be toxic with fear and anguish. A living human would not be able to breath without one. Gas masks make me think of lonliness and fear as well, because of the Doctor Who episode, The Lonely Child. The tormentors would wear gas masks, so they wouldn’t have a human face, and you wouldn’t symphasize with them. I feel as though no would emotions would be seen if someone were wearing a gas mask. Not to mention that gas masks make people look like they’re unearthly beings from a dark and scary outer planet in the cosmos.

           

           Well, if we want to go into specifics, I have a few real people to put in there. Firstly, Fred Phelps would definitely go in there. What he and the Westboro Baptist Church have done is unforgivable, and I think I would put him and everyone participating with him in there. As I have stated, I can’t stand horrible, ignorant people like that. Imagine the look of surprise on their faces when they find themselves in hell! I would also shove anyone in the Ku Klux Klan there with them, because their intolerance is intolerable! Less importantly, I would throw Justin Bieber in too, because I’m absolutely sick and tired of hearing nothing but everything about him in the media. He’s a horrible person, I get it, now stop throwing it at me! Not to mention, he’s just an all around bad person in general. I can’t see why there is even anyone still defending that jerk.