A Forever Nightmare

Letter 4: Hades' Hidden Underworld

New York City outskirts, October 1st, 2014 (a week before the trio's arrival)

...New York City was the last place I can remember being at before our arrival at Hades' Hidden Underworld. It was a vicious night with a raging thunderstorm piercing its way through the skies as if an angry Thor had been resurrected, no person was treated rightly on that depressing night. As we barely escaped our pugnacious-ridden orphanage, we finally reached atop a hill where a park for playful children rested motionlessly. Eager police sirens in the distance roared with excitement as they gained closer and closer, but we were more greedy for the charm of freedom...

...It wasn't a pleasant situation, but we managed to find a dry patch of dirt underneath the twirly yellow slide. We were planning to head south to Ocean Springs, Mississippi where our lazy-of-a-man uncle reposed, we hadn't ever met him before but he was the last tie to family we had left.  He was a very odd man, occasionally ringing us at the orphanage to tell us of our family fishery company and all kinds of fish he had caught; vermilion snappers, black groupers and other extraordinary subaqueous species. The only problem with him was money, he would always tell us if he had more of it he would sweep us from the orphanage in no time...

...As I looked down at my 13-year-old brother, Theo Schmit, I decided to brace the piercing coldness by wrapping my fluffy coat around him. It was not long until his shivering discontinued that I started rummaging into our backpacks looking for anything to please our stomachs. At last I found an unopened mini box of cheez-it originals. Opening the bag, I split the crackers into half and half; one half for Sniffy and the other half for I. But upon seeing Sniffy vacuum his share of the bag fairly alacrity and give me longing eyes for more, I decided to give up my share... as long as there were more food, I could risk skipping a meal...

...Tomorrow I want to at least reach Trenton, New Jersey, we have to keep moving or all of this would be for nothing... It would be... for... no-...

...I woke up to a penetrative scream that could've been heard on the other side of the city. Looking around, Theo was nowhere to be seen and the box of cheez-its was left at the gate of the playground. Realising the scream could've been Theo, I holstered our backpacks onto my arms and ran through the frenzied thunderstorm to the edge of a large forest. I didn't remember ever seeing a forest before reaching the playground, but the sound of more spine-tingling screams reaching my ears forced me inside....

...Painfully, I fought my way through the many overcrowded branches, bushes and leaves as the cry for help grew closer and closer. It felt like I fought my way through the thick wilderness for a millennium before one of the backpacks got caught on a spiky branch. As I attempted to retrieve the chunky bag, a giant slash occurred on the side and all of its contents filtered out like a giant waterfall. In awe, I attempted one last try in retrieving the backpack, only for the strong force to push me backward. OW! One giant scream escaped from the inner depths of my voice box for the whole wood to hear. My body couldn't handle the amount of pain as one of the spiky branches had dug itself into my left thigh, making itself comfortable as tear drops of blood escaped the wound like it were in an Olympic race...

...The only thing left triggering my fight or flight was the ever-so-present screams being produced from Theo. Ignoring the backpack, I whimperingly grabbed hold of the branch and forced myself off of the clingy wood. Extraordinary amounts of pain leaped out of my leg as splinters and gushes of blood made itself ever so apparent on my jeans and skin. I couldn't walk on the leg and only had one backpack left, but the yawping of my brother encouraged me to escape this hell-ridden wood...

...Finally, after hours of being strangled, attacked and assaulted by a vicious wood I managed to escape. What remained on the other side of the abnormal wood was a giant Transylanian-looking hotel. A luminous and bewitching moon peaked from the top of the hotel, smiling down on me with grace and illuminating an endless ray of white light upon everything below. The thunderstorm and police sirens was of no more, but the ground was made of mean patches of wet dirt. Although the hotel looked horrifying to look at, there was a sense of longing coming from the inside; its windows were barred with pieces of wood or smashed and its many magnificent walls were spray painted with ravishing artworks and people's names. It seemed the hotel was excited to see new visitors...