[1st POV]
I was in hell.
Literal hell.
But hell was very different from what I imagined. It was not flames or lava spilling out of mountains, and people were thrown into this burning lake.
No, hell was a room. It was a dark and dirty room where they cut you apart piece by piece, over and over and over again until the agonising slice of a knife felt like a breeze hitting you.
Not because the pain was gone, but you simply grew used to it.
Hell never ends. A disgusting liquid was shoved down your throat, never the kind that quenches your thirst, but instead chokes you with its dirty thickness until you feel like you could die.
But you didn't, you couldn't die. The heart just wouldn't stop beating.
Your body sewed itself up again and again, growing flesh and bones that were only going to be taken apart the next moment. Hell smelled like blood and decay, a smell all too familiar to me due to the past I had lived.
That was my hell.
A fitting hell, I might add, although cruel. I was a butcher by profession. And I was being butchered, cut apart and tortured like all the pigs I've sold to make a living.
Perhaps hell was designed to punish you for the sin you committed.
I did not know how long I was in hell. When your sentence was eternity, time ceased to matter altogether. Maybe years had passed, perhaps centuries, since I felt the first blade separate my limbs.
The demons cut me up; they never tire, they never stop. But one thing I was glad for was that I had grown used to the pain.
Constant led to normalcy.
Maybe that was why I started noticing strange things in hell. I began to hear conversations between the demons. I began hearing sounds like the opening and closing of doors.
When I was not completely overwhelmed by the pain, I began to hear my own thoughts after what felt like forever.
And then I start thinking.
And thinking.
And thinking.
...
"Look up, open your mouth!" A hand grabbed me by my long hair and forced me to look up.
Demons were never kind, even during the small breaks they took, waiting for my body to build itself again.
Thick liquid was poured in my face, getting into my nose, blinding my eyes and overflowing on my face. I knew from countless experiences to open my mouth wide to take in that liquid that never quenches thirst.
I was alwasy in pain to even care, and alwasy too scared to see them when given the chance. But after thinking, I opened my eyes and saw through the red liquid what my captors looked like.
A face greeted me.
A rather normal-looking face. A human face.
It was quite the contrast from the demonic figure I was expecting. No horns, no sharp teeth, or a twisted face without skin. He looked rather normal. A fat asian in his mid-thirties.
"What are you looking at!?" A fist slammed on my face instantly with a brutal crunch of soft bone breaking.
And immediately, the plastic wrap was put on my head again, giving me a blurry sight amid the red liquid.
Blood.
I had that experience for few more times until I started thinking.
I began thinking.
And thinking,
Maybe I was not in hell.
Maybe I was not dead.
And maybe...I can escape.
...
"Look up," I heard the same voice. I couldn't express how much more humane that sounded this time.
A hand roughly grabbed me by my hair and pulled me up. At this point, most of my body had been cut off. I was only a chest and head, with something wrapping around my neck to restrain me. A rope, perhaps.
Blood was poured on my face again. This time, I opened my mouth wider than ever so that I could take as much blood in as possible.
The red liquid healed me, built me complete and made me stronger.
When I regrew my limbs and my feet touched the ground, I did not allow myself to fall. I put strength into my legs and stood up.
I felt my body building into something much bigger than usual. My face began growing into something that did not resemble a face to me. It was bulging, enlarging , and I could tell it was ugly.
"What the..!!!"
*CRUNCH!!*
The sound of bones being crushed between my jaw reverberated inside my mouth. I did not know how or why I did it. But I simply bit off the head of the human.
The man spurted out a fountain of blood from his torn neck before he fell with a wet thud. I chewed the skull a few times before I swallowed.
No food has tasted better in my mouth.
That gave me clarity, which I have not experienced in a long time. I opened my eyes and looked around where I was.
A bloody room with no furniture whatsoever. The only thing I saw was the rusted butcher's knife, the bone saw and the other inhumane weapons that were used to take me apart piece by piece.
I moved my body, which felt foreign. Every action was intentional. Nothing came as a reflex or out of instinct like how it normally did.
I undid the rope around my neck before looking at it. It was a thick old rope. It should've been strong, but I easily ripped it apart with my bare strength.
There was nothing in the room, and I was lost on my next action.
I was not in hell, that was for sure now. I saw a door on the left side of the room. I stared at that for some time, but going outside was not the first thing my gut told me to do.
I turned to the headless crops that lay beside my feet. And for whatever reason, my first instinct was to feast on it.
Was it revenge, was it hunger? I was not sure. But I crouched down and began tearing the body and eating the human flesh.
A minute was all it took for me to swallow every piece of flesh and bone on that man. There was no longer a corpse. But I did not feel full at all. On the contrary, I felt a never-ending hunger call inside my body.
And I felt stronger.
Stronger than I'd ever felt.
I finally picked my naked self up and headed towards the door.
It was unlocked, so with no other care in the world, I pushed open the door. Outside was a hallway; it would seem I was in some sort of building.
Not hell, not hell. I was not in hell.
"Right or left?" I asked myself, it was a surprise I still remebered how to talk. And my voice was so clear, even though it was different.
"Left because I'm leaving this place," I said and began walking to the left hallway.
After walking a bit, I heard footsteps coming my way from the corner. I stopped and waited for the footsepts to arrive.
Eventually, another man turned the corner and saw me.
He paused when we made eye contact.
"A devil...!?" he panicked. I saw fear contorting his face, and that excited me, so I rushed in.
I closed the distance faster than humanly possible. Before he could make any other sound or reach for the weapon in his belt, I swallowed his head and bit it off.
I did not know how or why my mouth could open that wide, but it did. And I was not complaining because it allowed me to eat the man again.
But this time, I did not eat everything. I left the clothes on the floor so that I could wear the blood-stained fabric to cover myself.
I did not miss a single chunk of flesh. After I was done, I only got hungrier, so I licked every drop of blood on the floor.
After I was done wearing the clothes, I walked where he came from. I suppose wherever he came, that would lead to the exit.
I saw a window at the corner of the hallway. I went there and looked out from the glass. What I saw was a city expanding outwards. I was high up in some building which I did not recognise.
After thinking about it, I decided to open the window and jump down. There could be other humans in this building that would try and stop me from exiting the place, so I suppose jumping down was a better idea.
I jumped.
I fall.
But I didn't fear. I was not sure I would survive a fall from such height, but at this point, I would be glad if I really died.
Hell would be better than whatever I had all those years.
*BOOM!!*
I landed on the road, the sound of the vechile skidding to avoid me and the sound of horns blasting filled my ears. Along with the surprised scream of people around me.
I stood up, my body unfazed. I felt no broken bones or wounded flesh.
The bright sun in the sky was a contrast to the dimly lit room and the creepy corridor. I spread my arms and bask in the warmth of the sun and the smell of fresh air.
Yes, the smell of a polluted city was still better than decaying flesh and blood.
I didn't care where I was.
But I knew I was free.
..
..
[IMAGE]
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