Visions of Hell
Sitting in bed one day I had a haunting vision of one version of hell. You wake up one day on this pathway in the air that extends both ways as far as you can see. Below you there are only clouds, above only sky. Inevitably you must travel in one direction: you attempt to run, but soon run out of breath. It seems like this direction goes on forever, but how can you be sure? You must keep going or turn back. Time does not exist here, you soon find, at least not in terms of daylight. The sky is always just as blue as a noonday and there is no sign of the sun. At some point, you figure days must have passed since you started walking in this direction: perhaps it does go on forever, perhaps the opposite direction was the direction you should have followed. But how can you be sure where you started? There is no middle, no marking point, nothing to denote where you've been or where you haven't been. You turn around anyway, it's all you can do. This direction seems to continue forever too. You turn to madness: pulling out your hair, attempting to mutilate yourself to finish this endlessness. Then you reach the point of insanity where jumping off this floating pathway seems like the best option. You take a deep breath, hold it and jump. But almost before you can let go, you land painlessly on a new pathway, identical to the one you were just one, which has now disappeared above you. You are left to experience infinity forever, without pain, a companion or anything to entertain you. You don't expereince hunger, thirst or problems with health. All is monotonous. After what must be months or years of trying new things, you finally give yourself up to walking forever in one direction. Even in your insanity, you know this is all you can do.