27. 20007-8
20007-8 (twenty double zero seven eight) is the number of his apartment. Twentieth floor in the seventh dimension, lot number eight. Hades is the name of the condominium, and the developer is Vesper’s and Lucifer’s good pal, Beelzebub. It has two horned structures, a dome in the middle, and a towering inferno, which from afar likens to a goat with a torched tail.
The Morning Star had amassed quite a sum for himself; he is a rock star, after all. And this penthouse in the West Horn of Hades, having its foundation hammered and rigged in the electrifying bowels of Hell, is his personal purgatory. Souls are traded and bought in the open-air marketplace fronting the prism lake of flames. Branded, owned, and taken to an evil spirit’s abode for torture and filleting as of the purchasing demon’s trademark designs.
Lucifer is picky. He only skyjacks the souls of G.o.D’s disciples. Saints. It’s a vendetta; since he can’t get to the deity, he deceives and nets his subjects. Imagine their shock and horror after a lifelong servitude when they find themselves short of G.o.D’s bosom upon death, and instead, in a bargain bazaar operated by imps and werewolves.
This elaborate gambit is orchestrated by hacking into the subconscious of unsuspecting followers, and altering the wires of their psyches to drift towards Hades’ pull, rather than Heaven’s gate. The homing beacon is cloaked with distortion, a visual loop of paradise ahead, but in actual fact, the course of the fooled spirit is southbound, heading towards damnation, instead.
But then, Vesper, who takes on the task of conviction, is a kind evil. Aeons exposed to internal sufferings, like sunrays on skin causing cancer, but later healed by the panache of boggling miracles, nursed by the good graces of Samaritans, (not to mention his own super-willpower), makes this devil pragmatic in heart and thought. After intimidating G.o.D’s devotees by standing them in front of the living-room wall of his five-star abode for ‘a while’, similar to five-year-olds punished for disobedience, he forgives them like father, making them understand the reason for the chastisement. Sure, at first they claw at the cement, crying out to their master, uncertain whether to curse him for their foolhardy faith or repent of a secret sin; but they soon realize that Vesper is kinda nice.
Eternity is opened before their very eyes, and they grasp that life infinite (or rather just life, regardless momentarily or always) is more than mere belief. The omniverse cascades before their eyelids, imprinted on retinas, even as Vesper leads them by the hand like a lover to his balcony to absorb the absolute view of a marvellous sunset - the orange globe descending beyond the sparkling gems of reflection ignited on the lake of fire. Vesper promises to show them the rest of Syurga and the constellations next door as well as afar, and they switch allegiance to his older brother in a snap of the swindler’s fingers.
I notice in the room that only men lined the wall. They were shaking, as if facing a firing squad. “Where are the women?” I asked, curious.
“In the TV room,” came the reply.
“I decided to separate them,” said the voice of Vesper.
The new addition to the Evening Star’s fetish is the inclusion of Lolla Lollipop, his latest muse and lieutenant. “It was her idea,” the poltergeist hum added. She was in a jarring rainbow coloured cat-suit. Ex-Bitch of Mercy smacked the buttocks one by one, copying the exploits of a school disciplinarian; and I enquired, “Who’s guarding the chicks?”
“One of my boxy toy boys,” Lolla responded before shouting, “Strip!” accompanied by a candy-cane thunder on Vesper’s timber floorboard.
The men, in tears, frightfully obeyed.
“Looks fun. Can I join in?” I stated, and without waiting for an answer, quickly removed my attire and stood at the corner, in between an ugly balding fat man and a skinny hairy hippie; breaking the distinguishable shape of ‘a perfect 10’ they made standing side-by-side into two.
‘Whack!’ I felt Lolla slapping my bum even as I grimaced in pain; an absurd mug of happiness crossed my face even as I…Whack!…Whack!…sensed the same joy cruising in my neighbours’ gaze.