The InBetween

Twelve Hours Of Hell (Jacob's POV)

That time Jacob did the lava road walk in Hawaii.

That time when Jacob took a nibble of a ghost pepper on a dare and went three minutes without water or milk.

That time he wore a black winter coat during a heatwave with only hot tea for refreshments.

None of those moments could ever compare to the absolute TORRIDITY he had been feeling the last three hours. The air was so thick and humid, taking a breath was like inhaling hot ash. Before he'd writhe around the cart in agony. But now all he could do was lay on the floor and watch his arm sizzle slowly while attempting to take normal breaths.

Tyrone was lying on the seats, he hadn't spoken in a long while now and that worried Jacob. He tried nudging for his friends attention before but he just coughed and spluttered out ash. That's when he stopped calling for him and assumed he passed out. That was fine, Jacob knew it wasn't like he died or anything.

Chaos reveled in their anguish. She laughed and teased them the entire ride down and even kicked Jacob a few times for good measure. Nothing infuriated Jacob more than seeing Chaos being happy and right about everything that was going on. At times she'd even c***k a horrible joke like, "Warm weather we're having, huh?" followed by shrill, ear-piercing giggles.

He made it clear before but he had to say it again: Jacob hated that woman.

When they at last arrived at the second ring Jacob was greeted by how much more darker and messier the place looked. Different kinds of demons cheered and jeered at the window. Some looked corrupted and mutated, with their horns poking over their heads and out of their elbows. They were colored a moldy green and grey, and had eyes infested with a blood red. Jacob couldn't bare to look at them for more than a few seconds. 

"Ugly things aren't they?" Chaos sneered.

"They're a sight for sore eyes compared to you." Tyrone's voice coming out of nowhere almost made Jacob jump.

"Aren't you supposed to be a roast ham by now?" Chaos asked, raising her hand to strike the child again.

She kicked open the door and the kids fell out of the dingy, smoldering cart. Outside was still like a hot dessert, but there was a warm wind lightly blowing, which made everything so much cooler than it was in the cart. 

Chaos picked up the boys and held them by their necks as she carried them through the crowd, encouraging a few mutants to spit and mock them. Once they suffered through that, the boys were face to face with beings that stood out from everyone down here. They had pitch black figures with black and white raging fires for heads. Their eyes were big and blank, totally devoid of emotions. The babysitter handed the boys over to these things "Take them up to the dark castle. Chain them there and keep a close eye on them."

"Isn't that your job?" Jacob asked, not that he was gonna miss all the bonding time he had with her.

Chaos narrowed her eyes at him "Nothing a shadow-imp can't do. Besides, they were created for this!"

"And more?" Jacob had no idea a shadow imp could talk. They didn't even have mouths. Just a synthetic voice coming out of the demon. Chaos laughed her usual, cocky, boisterous laugh as she handed the imps the keys to the location. "No idiots! JUST THIS! What else would we need demons like you for other than basic service."

"Maybe they can show you how to apply makeup?" Tyrone gave out one last insult for the road. The girl just scoffed and waved her hand "I don't have to deal with you losers anymore. Have fun being tortured and sacrificed! I'll be there front row with Scaram!"

"Make sure you brush your teeth then." he replied as the imps carried them away to their new holding place.

When Chaos called this place the 'dark castle' she really wasn't kidding on the 'dark' bit. It was a black gothic pointed tower with webs, bats and other unheard of rodents running up and down the outside walls. Walking through the corridors was like walking into a mortician's office, or through the basement of serial killer if you wanted to accurately describe the smell.

"Ugh, WHY does it smell like Miguel's old gym bag in here?" Jacob couldn't help but reference a time their friend called them over to help clean out a growing fungus at the bottom of the satchel. Granted, that bag could never compare to the smell in his nostrils NOW, but the same feeling from back then resonated.

"Mother Lilith has not wandered these halls in thousands of years." One of the imps answered casually.

Neither of the boys expected an actual answer from their new captors. "Thanks..." Tyrone said, suspicion and wariness hinted in his voice.

"No problem. It is what we imps do."

"Lock kids in rotting castles?"

"No, providing assistance to the citizens of hell. Any of the nine circles, in fact."

"Sounds dumb."

"Not at all, we are very happy." The imp's partner - the one holding Jacob - looked at the other with a kind of "Are you sure?" expression. But Tyrone's holder just shrugged off his friend's look as they finally made it to the place the kids were going to be kept in.

It was a bathroom containing  a moldy sink, hairy bath tub and clogged toilet yet was somehow the least foul-smelling thing in this whole castle. The boys were silently chained to the radiator and the imps just sat across from the two, staring emotionlessly at them.

"Do you think they have an off switch?" Tyrone whispered to his friend.

"I heard that." One of them said, though without mouths, Jacob wasn't sure which one.

"Oh sorry," Tyrone said "Do you have an off switch?"

"No," One said "Or, I don't think we do-"

"We don't idiot." the other snapped.

"Do you guys have names?" Jacob asked.

"Names? What's that?" the imp on the right asked.

"It's like how these two refer to themselves as 'Tyrone' and 'Jacob', I believe." The left one explained.

The right one lowered his head "I want a name."

"Oooh! Oooh! I can name you guys!" Jacob kicked his feet excitedly. "I have great naming skills."

Tyrone was more doubtful. "Remember what you named your dog?"

"Pupstar," Jacob relished in the memory of first getting the dog one Christmas and calling his friends to try name it. He ignored all their suggestions and went with a pun.

"Will that be our name?" the imps asked in unison.

"No no, I'm calling you-" he pointed to the one on the left with his big toe "Skimply."

"Oooh!" Skimply gasped in awe at his new name.

"And you-" Jacob pointed to the right one "Timpy."

"They rhyme." Timpy observed.

"They do." Jacob agreed.

"You are a mastermind of naming Jacob," Tyrone said rolling his eyes "THIS is exactly why we took so long naming the group."

"No, it took long because you and Miguel never listened to me!"

The two paused for a moment remembering Miguel. Jacob wondered how he and Connie were doing back in that forest. What was called? Limbo. He hoped they made it out because apparently a soul staying there long enough could mean they BECOME  a part of it. Forever stuck in the in-between. He liked that idea a lot more than being stuck here in hell waiting to die all over again for a god that doesn't know basic house-keeping. Timpy and Skimply were nice though. Well, they weren't nice, they just weren't mean.

Either way, the four sat for a good while trading comments and opinions about the most basic earth things like learning to walk, talk and fingers, and the boys trying to explain why all those things are important.

"Gloves keep those fingers warm and intact?" Timpy enquired.

"Indeed they do," Tyrone said, a lot more extroverted than a few hours ago. "Do you want to try some on?"

"Try some on?" Timpy repeated.

"Yes please!" Skimply explained. 

"Let's go to the lost and found, surely they have gloves there."

Until the imps began unchaining them, Jacob thought they were all ACTUALLY going to get some gloves. But when Tyrone slammed the door on the imps and locked them in the bathroom Jacob had his game face back on again. "That was a close one." Tyrone remarked "Good idea naming them. Acting all innocent so they can let their guards down."

"Uh, yeah, totally." Jacob faked a smile through the surprising guilt he felt.

The pair began rushing down the hall while Tyrone talked "I just didn't think it'd be THAT easy. Like, gloves? Really? I thought we'd be there for hours convincing them. I mean, I have NO IDEA if there IS a lost and found place here."

The pair stopped at the end of the hall, facing double doors. "These must lead outside." Tyrone declared, pushing them open despite Jacob's objections. Instead of seeing the bitter outdoors, they saw a musty library with books littered across the rug. In the corner, a mold blob the size of a Labrador rested in the corner.

At least the boys THOUGHT is was mold. Until it opened it's beady, lifeless eyes and gazed right over at them.