Suffer the little children

Lucas stood in front of the old rusted gates, he ran his fingers over the etched plaque on the side. He traced each letter in order, fascinated by the sign. It read: " Despair all hope, yee who enters." The old gate opened on its own, just enough for Lucas to slip through. In front of him laid a red clay path winding its way into the landscape ahead. Lucas could not see where it went, but he knew he couldn't go back. As Lucas made his way down the path, the scenery around him changed, not gradually like leaving a forest and entering a city, but suddenly. What had been a forest was now a desert. He turned around but could find no tree in sight. He continued down the path.

As he reached the top of a little hill he saw his Uncle Tony. Lucas had missed Tony since he went away, not quite sure were he went. His daddy had called it suicide, but Lucas didn't know where that was. Tony greeted Lucas with open arms. " What are you doing here, Lucas? This is no place for a child." Lucas didn't know what to say. Instead he asked Tony if this was suicide. " Suicide isn't a place Lucas, Its something you do. But this is where you end up." "There's nothing here, Uncle Tony. Why would you want to do suicide if this is where you go?" A tear rolled down Tony's cheek, he quickly wiped it away as he changed the subject. "You don't belong here, Lucas. You should continue on the path." Tony pointed towards another staircase. Lucas looked at the stairs, then turned to say good-bye to Tony, but Tony was already gone.

Lucas started up the stairs. First climbing stone steps, Lucas was surprised by the creek of the wooden stair he had just stepped upon. Lucas recognized where he was, it was Mrs. Birch's house. Mrs. Birch used to live next-door to Lucas. Mommy and Mrs. Birch didn't like each other. Mrs. Birch was hit be a car. Mommy said that Mrs. Birch was "an envious old hag", Lucas thought it was a funny thing for his mommy to say. Lucas passed by the living room and saw Mrs. Birch sitting in front of the window looking out at the big houses outside. Lucas thought how bad Mrs. Birch house looked compared to the big houses. He didn't want to disturb her so he quickly moved to the next staircase.

The stairs changed again as he went up. Now he was in his Daddy's office building. His Daddy's office was closed, but John's door was open. Lucas didn't like John and it seemed that John didn't like Lucas either. Both John and his Daddy were lawyers, but Daddy said that John had tried to " Screw him under" so John and Daddy stopped working together. Lucas peeked his head into John's office. He could see John and a lot of money. Everywhere Lucas looked there were piles of money, but every time John reached for one of the piles it disappeared. John didn't see Lucas, he just kept reaching for the money and the money just kept disappearing. Lucas saw another staircase and quietly made his way to it.

Lucas was happy when he reached the top of the stairs this time. He was home. He ran down the hallway to his parents room. The door was a little open and he looked inside. His mommy was laying on the bed. She was naked, her arms and legs were tied with ropes to the bed. She was whimpering and begging, " Touch me, please. Somebody touch me." Lucas had seen his mommy like this once before, with Daddy's partner John. Mommy scream at him last time, told him to never walk in her bedroom again. Lucas had cried for a long time after that, until his Daddy told him that everything was okay and that Mommy was wrong. Daddy said he would take care of Mommy and John. Lucas didn't want to get yelled at again so he ran up the stairs. He didn't remember stairs there before, but they were there now.

Lucas ran so hard up the stairs that he didn't notice that he was now in church. He saw Father Mike kneeling at the alter. Father Mike used to be the priest at the church until he raped a female parishioner. Lucas had overheard his mommy and daddy talking about it. He thought he knew what a parishioner was, someone who went to church, but he had no idea what rape was. Lucas figured he would know when he got older. Lucas went up to Father Mike to say hi, but Father Mike just sat there. As Lucas got in closer he saw that the priest was feeling along the ground for his eyes. Father Mike finally turned towards Lucas, with two dark sockets in the middle of his face. This scared Lucas, he ran from Father Mike, ran faster than he ever ran before. He ran past the organ and up the stairs in to the darkness.

Lucas finally stopped once he realized that he was no longer in church, he was now at school. He was in Mrs. Hannigan's old classroom. Lucas didn't like Mrs. Hannigan. She used to make him stay after school for no reason, just him. Then she would touch him. Touch him in ways he didn't like. Lucas was about to leave when he noticed the fish tank. Mrs. Hannigan used to have the neatest fish. Lucas wanted to see the fish so he got close to the tank. There were no fish in the tank though, only Mrs. Hannigan. She was tiny, helpless, and trapped. She was swimming all alone in the tank and Lucas found this funny. He didn't like being in school when he didn't have to be, so Lucas went back in to the Hallway and headed for the next stairs.

It got real dark as Lucas reached the top of the stairs. Ahead of him was a door with a little tiny slot about half way up. Lucas couldn't find a way to open the door so he looked through the slot. Inside the room was his daddy. "Daddy, its me, Lucas." His father looked up startled. "Lucas, what are you doing here?" "I guess I'm here to see you. Why did you have to go Daddy?" "I did a bad thing Lucas. I killed your mommy and John, and then I killed myself.' " I saw you. I didn't want to be left alone. So I used your gun too. I'm sorry Daddy. Please don't be mad." " Oh dear God." Lucas' father began to sob. " I'm sorry Daddy, I'm really sorry." His father stood up and screamed, "Isn't this imprisonment enough torture? Did you have to take my son too?" Lucas was afraid, he ran off crying. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Lucas came up to the top of some stairs again. This room was new to him. It was a large circular room with strange beams of different colored lights coming down off the ceiling. In the center of the room were two men. One was dressed in all black with eyes of blood and fangs for teeth. The other man wore white, his hair perfect and a bright smile. The man in white took Lucas by the hand and lead him to a bright staircase. The man in black spoke with a voice that rumbled the ground under Lucas. " The boy should be mine. He killed himself. There's rules." The man in white spoke softly. " Yes, and the rules say that if your soul makes it this far, you go to heaven." The man in black was furious. " But no one gets this far. You must tell me how he made it." "He had hope on his side." "But that's impossible. The sign at the gate, once read, all hope is lost." The man in white sent Lucas on up the stairs then turned back with a smile. "It's true about your sign. But you see, Lucas can't read."

Daniel R. Wickline

12/11/94