HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE

Alexander Puga

Everyone is a demon and we live in a world blazing in fire.
When pain is inflicted on one, another will laugh. Laugh so much they drown in their tears and slip on the discharge glazed onto the floor. Rolling around, their stomach tightens as a corset would slim their waist. Their throat clogged up so much that now they are choking, now they are suffering and now another will laugh. The cycle remains constant.
We are not made to feel joy, to grow numb to it. As if the sun’s warmth is meant to make us feel godly and invincible. In fact, if the fiery ball was to graciously shine directly upon us, we would be ignited into flames. The piping heat bubbling and blistering our skin until it turns black. The flames would devour us, engulf us whole, and turn our being into a crisp.
Hell before Hell. Our time here is preparation for the second world. A pre spawn of the unholy land. This land of vice and sin. Where no one co-exists. Everyone inflicting pain onto each other. Stabbing stakes at each other. Brandishing crosses and menorahs to impale each other. Belief serving as justification for pain and abuse.
We are born into stress, slowly shedding our human-like façade to reveal the demon within. Hideous. Losing our hair strand for strand, until our heads are a glossy bald. Only to inch down to our face. To find a land of high pressure. Some at the peak of erupting, ready to burst releasing the gooey, white, tainted, hot lava. The dormant ones look like craters on the surface of the skin. Crevices form around different areas, marks like the ring of a tree betraying age and diminishing appeal. Skin begins to sag and the bags become packed with so much shit they puff up.
We feel our organs ripped to shreds and yanked out of us each time we are reminded of death, divorce, finances, and fights. All the disappointments wear out our insides and leave us vacant. Our minds flipped around and forced to see the world upside down. The flames of hell now heavy above us. We carry all this anguish with us until our own deaths.