“They’re looking at us,” whispered Tom through gritted teeth as low as he could.
Edmund cast a look around the shadowy darkness where the faceless people watched their every move and didn’t tear their hollow eyes from them.
Why were they staring at them like that? It was so creepy. Had they done or said something, he’d understand at the very least, but those things just… watched.
“Hey, Edmund!”
“What is it now?”
They were halfway across a rickety bridge as dark as coal when Tom brought his attention to something he hadn’t noticed before. Then again, it wasn’t so strange he missed seeing and hearing it.
The wailing spirits in the crimson river screamed their heads off and tried to drown out all the other noises. Thousands, perhaps millions and billions of people, cramped in the bloody river and flowed to the current of macabre tunes.
“Look over there! Look!”
Edmund followed the boy’s gaze to the distance. There, through the pitch-black darkness blanketed in walls of fiery fire and drowned out by harrowing screams, a peculiar train emerged.
“What in the whole world…?”
“Do you know what that is? Edmund?”
“No, I…” Edmund briefly looked away. A thought dawned on him, one that he thought he had long since forgotten. He sought Tom’s eyes. “It’s… it’s that train!”
“What are you talking about?” Tom said in a hushed tone, acutely aware of the faceless people drawing closer now that they were reaching the other side of the bridge.
“It’s that train that took my mum with it! I- I’m sure!”
“I don’t understand. Edmund? You said she died giving birth to you. Hey! Edmund!”
Edmund averted his eyes. Thousands of questions spun in his dire mind and disturbed his thoughts. What was that train doing here? Here, in the abode of the damned!
Could it really be…?
Those nightmares of his mother screaming for help, could those really be real after all? But what if he was mistaken?
He… he had to investigate and find out the truth! But this was easier said than done. Had he come here all alone, he wouldn’t bat an eye and follow the train to wherever it went. But he promised Tom that he’d bring them both home.
“Tom, the thing is… I have these dreams, nightmares if you will, that I’ve had ever since we moved here…”
“Nightmares? What kinda nightmares?”
“That train… I keep seeing it. And then I’d hear my mum’s voice calling my name. I… I think she needs help.”
“How do you know it’s her, though?”
“Who else would it be?”
Tom cocked his head. “I dunno, the Devil Himself, maybe? Since we’re in Hell and all that circus – literally.”
“Why would the Devil lure me to Hell? I’m just a kid!”
Tom shrugged. “How would I know? You’re the one who hears and sees weird stuff. Allegedly.”
“You think I’m making all this up!”
“No, that’s not what I—”
Edmund raised his voice. “Look around you, Tom! Do you really think I’m some kinda weirdo, who- who makes up stuff just for the sake of it?”
“Geez! Keep your voice down, dude!”
“You know what? I shouldn’t have told you to come with me!”
“Edmund, for crying out loud! Keep your—”
They both turned in the direction of the booming voice.
“Humans…?”
Tom grabbed Edmund’s arm and hid behind him as the menacing cross between a demon and a werewolf approached. With its black fur and red eyes, it brought the suffocating darkness with it towards them.
“W- what’s that thing?” Tom whispered.
“How would I know?”
Tom was about to snap back at him when the hybrid creature beat him to it.
“Speak! Both of you! How did you get in here?”
Edmund wet his lips. “We… we…”
“Speak or I’ll cut your tongue!”
“We- we got in through that- that portal, sir! The one inside the shipwreck!” Tom chimed in as politely as he could, although anyone could see as clear as day that this thing was anything but a gentleman. It was a brute in its purest form.
“Shipwreck?” the demonic creature repeated. “What shipwreck?”
Tom was about to reply, but Edmund beat took over.
“Where’s- where’s my mum? I keep hearing her voice ever since we moved to Gaddon Township. She’s gotta be here!”
Tom watched with his mouth gaping wide. What had happened to the kid who was so antsy that he couldn’t even form sentences a second ago? But the brute didn’t seem to mind his dare-devil question.
“Gaddon Township, you say?” The creature looked away as if it was pondering something before looking around itself with two lines etched between its thick brows.
“Too many prying eyes here. You two, follow me.”
As soon as they crossed the bridge and followed the hybrid creature, the faceless people retreated to their shadowy hideouts and kept at bay.
Tom leaned in. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“What do you mean?”
“What if—”
“We’re here,” the hybrid demon stopped dead so suddenly that they almost stumbled into it. “You two stay put and don’t go off anywhere, all right? Nod if you understand.”
They nodded in unison and watched the demonic creature enter what looked like a mighty building in the midst of the fiery pit surrounded by scorching magma.
“Okay, let’s make a break for it before it returns!”
Edmund, “It told us to stay put and don’t move, remember?”
“We don’t even know what that thing is! And you’re seriously gonna do as it says?”
“Well, do you have a better idea then, Mr know-it-all?”
“If you must ask, yes!”
Edmund knitted his brows, trying to figure out whether the blond boy was pulling his legs or being serious.
“Yes…?”
“Yes!”
“Y-es?”
“Yes!”
“So? You’re not gonna tell me what this ‘yes’ is all about or what?”
Tom flashed a proud smile. “I thought you’d never ask.”
“Well, then? Go on…”
“See over there?” Edmund followed the boy’s finger to a group of people setting themselves on fire. “Those people, do you see them?”
“What about them?” he asked, genuinely confused.
“Well, can’t you see what they’re doing?”
Edmund took another look at the strange crowd screaming their heads off while they turned themselves into liquid time and again.
“I don’t get what I’m supposed to see here. They’re literally setting themselves on fire, that’s all!”
“Not those people, dumb-ass!”
Edmund’s eyes became narrower.
When he finally spotted them, the faceless people, he couldn’t help but knit his brows and seek Tom’s eyes as wide as the absent moon.
“Can you please tell me what’s going through that head of yours? ‘Cause I’m lost!”
“They keep following us, don’t you see? It’s like… it’s like they want to tell us something! But as soon as that creature shows up, they just poof! disappear!”
“You ever thought they might want to hurt us, and not that demonic thing?”
“But they didn’t!”
Edmund couldn’t deny this. The faceless people did indeed have all the chances in the world to attack them. Even back when they were in the woods, instead of hurting them then and there, they let them pass without doing anything.
“That doesn’t mean they won’t hurt us later on…”
“Well, I’ll cast my vote for those faceless things. What do you say?”
He was caught between a rock and a hard place. Tom had a point, but something about those hollow eyes bothered him in ways no words could capture.
At the same time, he couldn’t fully trust that brute, either.
“Edmund? Please…!”
“All right. But how are we going to communicate with them?”
Tom shrugged. “I’m not sure…”
“But you’ve got an idea I hope?”
“Well, I thought that kid could lend us a hand.”
“Kid?” Edmund looked at the faceless people again. “What kid?”
“Oh, she’s not one of them… Honestly, I don’t think she’s a demon, either.”
“Who on earth are you talking about?”
“The one on that train! The girl with the sleek, long hair!”
“The tra—that train?”
“Hmm!”
“But we don’t even know where that train went off to!”
Tom stepped aside. Now that he no longer obscured the view, he noticed that the train parked only a few steps away from the gigantic building in front of them. Moreover, the undead passengers were all getting off.
Lo-and-behold! Tom was right. There was indeed a girl not much older than them departing the train among the sea of undead. With her sleek hair, fair complexion and white gown, she looked more like a fallen angel rather than a sinner sent to Hell.
“Hey, Tom! Hold on a sec!”
But the blond guy sprinted towards the passengers before Edmund finished his sentence. When he finally caught up to his new friend and the peculiar girl, they were already on great terms and laughing hard.
Did those two know one another?
He couldn’t tell even if they did. But it sure did look that way – so much so that a strange feeling grew in the pit of his stomach as soon as he noticed how their smiling faces turned expressionless as he closed in.
Was that girl really inside the train? Now that he thought it over, he wasn’t so sure anymore. He didn’t see her inside the train. And as far as he was concerned, she didn’t actually depart the train either, she just… she just was there all along and pretended to join the crowd of undead.
But that wasn’t all. The way Tom stared at him… It was so weird.
Now he recalled why the other kids back at Gaddon Township told him not to play with the blond guy. There was something strange about the way he stared at people.
It was almost as if he tried to pierce through their souls and read their minds with his sinister eyes.
He stumbled backwards without really knowing why.
“Hey, is everything okay Edmund?”
A subtle smirk played on the girl's mouth as Tom reached out to him with a concerned look on his face. Edmund pushed his hand away as gently as he could, afraid that the other would catch onto him.
“I’m… I’m doing okay. Don’t worry.”
“You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something…”
This time, the girl wasn’t even trying to hide the wolfish grin on her face. He grabbed Tom’s arm and pulled him away so that the girl couldn’t hear them.
“Do you… know that girl? Tom, you gotta be honest.”
Tom stared down at his feet. Edmund was right.
“Actually… I do know her.”
“H- how do you know her? Tom, look at me! How do you—”
A wicked grin crept on his face. Edmund stepped away, startled more than anything, as he tried to digest what he was seeing.
But as soon as he took a step back and tried to make a break for it, Tom snatched his arm with such speed and strength that Edmund couldn’t break free. This, he thought, was not a human being.
“Hey, Edmund, isn’t it?”
He glanced at the approaching girl.
“Who—what are you people?”
“Do you believe in fairytales, Edmund… Keyes?”
Tom, “You better do! ‘Cause you’re about to join one!”
“W- what are you—”
The steel gates swung open and the demonic creature exited the towering building. When it caught sight of them, its round eyes focused on Tom before shifting to the girl. Before he knew it, the demonic creature leapt forwards and paid his respects to them.
“My Lord, forgive this poor slave who failed to recognise your grace!”
Tom rolled his eyes. “Get up! How many times am I gonna tell you not to call me that in front of other people?”
“Forgive—”
“Enough already! You’re making our guest uncomfortable!”
The girl, “You just had to come and disturb the fun! We were just getting to the fun part!”
Confused beyond anything, Edmund observed the strange conversation going on, trying to make sense of how and when things got out of hand.
Tom dismissed the demonic being with a swift move and cleared his throat.
“You asked me why I believed in the Gospels, right?”
Edmund couldn’t even nod his head.
“But let me ask you one thing before I give you a reply. After all, nothing in this world is for free.”
“I…”
The girl, “Just answer yes or no, stupid human!”
“You stay out of this, Mary. I’ve got this.”
She dropped her head. “Yes, brother.”
Edmund briefly averted his gaze upon hearing the name of the peculiar girl.
Mary…?
Mary as in—he looked up.
“Mary Magdalena. You’re right, Edmund.” Tom paused before adding, smiling wide as if bemused by a sudden thought taking over his mind. “I thought you didn’t believe in the Gospels… but seems like you know more than you let on.”
“I…I…”
“You, what? You seriously thought the Gospels were a made-up fairytale? Come on, Edmund! You can do better than that!” He paused again, taking his sweet time and teasing. “You know who I am, don’t you? I bet you do…”
“You’re… you’re…”
“There you go. Come on, you can say it. Loud and clear, so everybody can hear. Say. My. Name.”
“You’re…”
“Yes! Who am I, Edmund? Come on, say it already!”
Edmund dropped his head with a peal of laughter, turning bright red and wiping the tears of joy away all at the same time.
Tom and his sister exchanged perplexed looks fraught with horror upon observing his maniacal laughter.
“If you so will, I’ll call you by your birth name, Lucifer…. my son.”
Tom and Mary fell on their knees, pleading with him for mercy, as did the demonic creature that observed them in the corner.
“What did I say about luring humans into Hell?”
“It won’t happen again, Lord! Forgive me—”
“And you, Mary, being punished for making foolish humans think you’re the Voice of God wasn’t enough?”
“Forgive me, Father! Forgive this poor spirit and grace her with your divine—”
“And here I was thinking my creations were going wild when it was your doing all along. But I gotta admit, son, opening the Gate of Hell in such a peculiar place, was a clever move indeed.”
Tom wet his lips as he took a gander at him.
“It- it won’t happen again! I- I swear, Father!”
“Since things have boiled down to this and what’s done cannot be undone, I’ve prepared something I think you’ll both like.”
Tom, “Please, Father! I- I won’t do it again! Father!”
“Neither will I! Please, Father, forgive our sins!”
Edmund turned his back to his son and daughter made of the finest fire. As he walked away, slow and deliberate, each step caused an earthquake and turned every nook and cranny into dust.
From their hideouts, the faceless people, once the youngest residents of Gaddon Township, stormed out of their hideouts and charged forwards.
Ripping Tom and Mary’s faces off and exposing their true selves, the faceless people regained their humanity one piece at a time.
When nothing was left of the two wicked siblings made of fire, and Hell no more, the angels descended to the heart of Hell and escorted the children to the only place they belonged.
