Joan

Chapter IV

"Damn, I must've been quite the heathen."

I've yet to arrive at my final destination since being dragged down this black hole. It's as if I keep going lower and lower into the layers of hell- the lowest layers where the Hitlers of history dwell.

"I knew I was bad but I didn't know I was this bad."

At last, below me, a blurb of light is coming up fast. It's not a vision of fiery brimstone, but rather a white then sky blue hole. It's only when I fly through it and am surrounded by blue skies do I reevaluate where I might be.

"Maybe I was decent enough to get into the waiting room of hell."

What is approaching me from below is a growing body of water in the middle of a forest. The point-of-view is pretty cool, not going to lie; it's like a camera shot from some big cinematic masterpiece. It's also like going skydiving without a parachute (gotta check that off my bucket list).

"You know," The lake is coming up fast. "My velocity is pretty fast and that water looks pretty still, now something tells me-"

"Shit!"

Smack!

For a dead girl, I sure do feel that landing like being slapped all over my naked body with a wet fish. It's precisely that moment when I realize I'm still alive and haven't been dragged to the inner depths of hell.

For a second, it feels like I broke every damn bone in my body from that impact. I even scream in pain under the water- like a dumbass- before kicking up to the surface where feeling returns to my nerves.

After that traumatic landing, I can't even swim to the grass so I utilize those 4th-grade swim classes and lie on my back to recuperate. Staring up at the sky I was shat from, I squint against the sun's glare to see if I could spot where there might be a hole, but I find no trace of where I fell from.

"Still not convinced this isn't hell or some sublevel of it." That landing's making me doubt if this is a better substitute for the real, fiery deal.

Even my eyelids took a brutal beating from that landing- I'm probably black and blue all over now- so I closed my eyes and simply drift until I hear an item drop.

"Oh no."

Slowly, I open my eyes but don't look over at the voice on shore as I want to stay afloat on my back still.

"S-she's- oh no."

I close my eyes again. Sounds like either a rough-sounding girl or a light-voiced boy, I can't decide which. One thing's for sure, they're in a dilemma.

"Oh my, wh-what should I-" Judging from the quick crunch of leaves, they've begun to pace.

I bet they don't see the sly smile on my face right now because they're still panicking.

"How will I get her out? Oh no, oh no."

Letting them fret a few seconds more before quickly glancing over at them to see their back facing me, I quickly plunge under the water, disappearing from sight.

Chilling out under the surface for a little, I force open my eyes under the water. Though my body still feels like an abused punching bag, my devious Loki side has emerged, blocking out most of the pain.

Like a lake monster, I quietly swim to the edge where the overly anxious person was standing. Just to keep from being detected, I swim a little farther down so the light can't reach me as well.

Thank God for these runner's lungs.

I get into the perfect position before I strike. Now, I propel myself out of the water as quickly as possible, bursting through the surface like a shark.