Hathlin Behind the Gates of Hell

“What would you have done had I not been around?”

         “Dad!” Hath shouted. He had recognised his father’s voice at once. “Where are you?” he asked.

         “In this hole, the one at the corner of your cell. After calming the snake and laying you inside, I waited for you to recover.”

         “How did you find me?”

         “Some one directed me to you.”

         “It must have been Redasc.” Hath gleamed. “I really don’t know how I’m going to thank him.”

         “We must leave at once. We have to go before this hole narrows again.”

         “Are we going home?”

         “Of course, yes.”

         “Should I first call Dustin?”

         “That will be dangerous, you might get caught in the process. Let’s first go back home, I’ll come for him later.”

         Hath knew there was no point in arguing with his dad. Time had got itself involved in a battle against them and so he had to follow his dad there and then. “Where are we going to pass?” he asked.

         “In this hole. Just come and hold me; we’ll fall together. I’ve arranged for something to hold us on our way down.”

         And they started the lengthy downward journey, during which they got a lot of time to talk.

         “Where have you been all this time?”

         “In a certain world, suffering a lot. But that’s a long story.”

         Silence then followed. But then Mr. Parker broke it, in a rather staunch manner, “I’ve always wanted to tell you how your mother died. I think this would be the best time.”

         Hath uttered no word. He had always wanted to know all he could about his mum’s death but had never got the guts to ask his father who on the other hand avoided anything that had a do with the topic.

         “It was about fourteen years ago, by then you had just started to walk.” He began. “Her brother William invited us to their home saying that their father was dying of cancer. We rushed to their place and spent a week with your dying grandfather. Except for your grandfather being sick, everything else was incredibly normal. William who had studied science spent most of his time in his laboratory collecting antitoxins from huge captured snakes. One Sunday, our second last day of the visit, we went to a nearby church for prayers. At the entrance of the church, the strangest of all things started to happen. Either…”

         But then he was interrupted. Many faces that were embedded on the sides of the pit were screaming for help.

         “Should we help them?” Hath out of his silence asked.

         “Help them? How do you expect to do that? Just ignore them and listen to what I’m saying.”

         “Okay, dad.”

         And so Mr. Parker continued, “Either time was reversed or we were sent into a different world which was far more primitive than earth, say another version of earth. In front of us was the church that we were going to. This time, however, it was very old and very many people, all dressed as saints, were entering it. Outside it were very many traders, all selling dried fish. We were Christian but concerning saints, we were not that religious and so all of us, with the exception of your mum, decided to go back home. Your mum insisted that we entered the church and prayed but we just turned our backs on her. Seeing that she could not win us over, she gave me a few cents, told me to buy some fish and prepare lunch; then she entered with the saints. William and I, we had left you at home, started our way back on foot for we had failed to locate the car. Everything was different.”