The Last One Standing: Part One

My Beloved Ghosts……Megan Smith’s Beloved Ghosts…… all sitting next to me. The ghosts weren’t scary, they were just sad. The whole pavilion, even worse, the whole Underworld (Greek god, Hades’ kingdom where deceased go after death) seemed to cry. All our life’s good and bad were about to be judged in the Judgment Pavilion (a place in the Underworld where the dead go to be judged on what location to be sent to in the Underworld). It all depended on three people. I could remember their faces from my history book. Thomas Jefferson, King Minos (a mean, treacherous, and greedy king who deceived the gods), and William Shakespeare all decided the future of the dead.

 I tried to remember what my Greek Mythology Teacher, Mr. Chase, said about the Land of the Dead, the Underworld. There were three ways you could live your afterlife. I looked to the left. If you did an evil deed in your lifetime, you would be going to the Fields of Punishment. I squinted and saw punishers pushing the wrongdoers into a pit of fire but the souls kept on coming back against their own will. This section of the Underworld served eternal torture. I looked to the right and saw paradise. For Real! A wonderful barbeque scent came from inside the golden gates. I could hear children playing and adults laughing. Cherry trees and wildflowers lined the gates. On the other hand, the only plants I saw in the Fields of Punishment were poison ivy and other carnivorous plants. I saw the tops of Greek buildings, Roman marble mansions, and Victorian villas everywhere. I was looking at the place that is even better than real life. I was looking at the Elysium. Inside the Elysium, I saw three islands. The Isles of Blest. It is for those souls who, after entering the Underworld, are judged and return to Elysium three times in a row after being reborn. The islands looked gorgeous. It had continuous sunlight. I heard only few people make it to the Isles. Some choose to stay in the pleasant Elysium, rather than risk rebirth and end up in Asphodel or the fields of punishment in another life. Lastly, I looked in the middle. The Fields of Asphodel. It is very dark, there was little noise, no light, black grass, and stunted black trees. It looked really depressing. But compared to the Fields of Punishment, this was heaven. I looked to the right and hoped I had done something extraordinary that would take me to the Elysium. But, then I smelled something I was too much familiar with.

TO BE CONTINUED…