The First 18 Days

The First 18 Days

By Trisha M. Wilson

Edited by A.J. Wallace

A Damnation Tale

First Serialized at  WWW.COLBYJACK.NET

Copyright © 2015 by Trisha M. Wilson

Cover by Trisha M. Wilson

All rights reserved.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

A Colbyjack.net Serial Tale

Smashwords Edition 2015.02.25

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Table of Contents

The First 18 Days

Day 01

Day 02

Day 03

Day 04

Day 05

Day 06

Day 07

Day 08

Day 09

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

Day 13

Day 14

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

About The Author

Works from Colbyjack.net

Day 01

So this was Hell.

Not a bad place, I thought as I looked around. And not a thing like I’d expected.

I’d expected fire and brimstone.

Unbearable heat.

The beautiful sounds of the whip hitting flesh with the accompanying screams of agony.

Pits of molten bodies and blood flowing all around me like lava from a volcano.

What I’d gotten was small town on a high plateau. I hadn’t been here long, but the weather was nice and crisp. Spring-like. The birds were chirping. The sun was shining. It looked like there was going to be a perfect day on the horizon.

Not a single cry of pain could be heard.

There were no blood rivers.

Hell, there wasn’t even any fire or brimstone.

What a pity.

Welcome to Damnation, a woman said to my group. The woman wore a flowing white halter-top dress. Her hair was black and pinned up. I could tell that if it were ever released from confinement, it would be long and flowing, just like the lady.

Dangling from her neck was a thick gold rope with a small charm. I couldn’t make out what the charm was for I was too far away from her. Perhaps it was something from a sweetheart? Though, if we were in Hell, how would she have a sweetheart? Weren’t sweethearts something only people in Heaven received? I am Lilith and I will help settle you in. If you will all come with me.

Lilith turned and walked to the horse drawn wagon. With the help of a man in a white suit, she hopped in the back and said a few quick words to the driver, who was also in white.

Like the good sheep we were, we all got in a single file line and waited our turn to get into the wagon. I was in the middle of the group of ten, scoping out my competition. I knew we were being set up, though I didn’t know to what end. Would I have to fight my companions to the death? Or perhaps we would be ordered to kill each other in a battle of the smartest.

Damnation was not for the weak at heart and I didn’t believe I’d be living it up in some country club for the rest of my eternity.

As I sat down, I figured that if push came to shove, I would be able to defeat them all with little trouble, as long as the game was mental and not physical. Two of the men were muscled out and in a game of strength, they’d have no trouble crushing me like a twig. I would have to befriend one or both of them as soon as possible.

Or perhaps I would convince the others they were the enemy and have the group take them out before I picked off the other ones one by one.

Other than them, the other seven looked pathetically weak. There were five men and two women.

The women wore expensive clothing and had nails so long breathing on them would make them break. They’d probably been black widows. Marry an old man and then sponge off them until old age claimed them. Then cash in that life insurance and live high on life until they spent all the old man’s money and had to go looking for another source of income.

I knew that deaths welcoming arms hadn’t embraced their husbands because of old age. Poison? Smothering? Either was good and if you were lucky, nobody would question the old man’s demise.

Turning my attention from the Black Widows, I saw that none of the five men were alike. They wore different manners of dress. One wore a suit and tie, another jeans and a t-shirt. The third looked like a gang member while the one next to him looked like a schoolteacher. The last one wore all black and studied me as sharply as I studied him.

Perhaps he was like me, though what were the odds that two people in my profession would fall on the same day?

The man in black nodded to me and I nodded back. I didn’t think he was like me, but he was close. Yes, very close.

The second the last muscle builder took his seat, the wagon started moving and Lilith began to speak. You will all be living together for this first month. We like to keep our newest guests together until you have gotten the lay of the land. After that time, your situation shall be reevaluated.

Lay of the land? Living together? the man in the suit asked. If this is Damnation, shouldn’t we be toiling like slaves?

We don’t normally make newcomers work in the salt mines, but if you would prefer that to a nice house, plenty of food, and a good job, then I can arrange it, Lilith said.

No, he said. I’ll take the nice life. I was just asking.

If that is what you’d prefer, Lilith said with a shrug before turning her attention back to the rest of us. You all should know that here in Damnation, we have very few rules. You are free to do whatever you would like. All we ask from you is to work what is assigned to you and never enter Damnation Garden. It is located in the center of our peaceful little community and has bright red bars along its entrances. Do not go inside.

What happens if we do go inside? one of the Black Widows asked.

You don’t come out, Lilith responded.

There was a wealth of unspoken knowledge in those four words. The Damnation Garden was probably the gateway to a deeper ring of Hell, one which wasn’t as pleasant as this one appeared to be.

I knew I’d never go into the garden, but I wasn’t so sure about the others. The greedy look on the Black Widows’ faces told me they’d probably be the first to fall victim to the forbidden fruit, especially if I encouraged them. Perhaps after them the gang member and the schoolteacher would fall. It was hard to predict what would happen, but I did know the man in black wouldn’t, if I was any judge of character.

The wagon pulled to a stop before a four story white townhouse. The entire block was full of white townhouses.

Townhouses in Damnation?

Something just didn’t sit well with me. This was too much suburbia and not enough hell.

This is where you will live. On each of your beds, there is a booklet which will answer most of the questions going through your minds. I suggest you read the booklet and get settled in before you are picked up in a few hours.

Where will we be going? the schoolteacher asked.

Lilith smiled. To see your new workplace, of course. You will get the tour, learn what you shall be doing, and then be brought back here. I suggest you get as much sleep as you can tonight, for tomorrow will include a lot of learning.

Will we see you again? man in the t-shirt asked.

I am always around, Lilith answered. Good luck and read the booklet. It will be very informative.

We knew a dismissal when we heard it, so we all got off the wagon, the men gallantly helping us girls down.

How civilized, I couldn’t help thinking. It was as if we were someplace nice instead of Hell.

Correction, Damnation.

I was in Damnation not Hell.

The others trudged to the front door of our new home. I stayed where I was. I would have plenty of time to investigate the townhouse; it would always be there. However, I only had one chance to see what would happen when Lilith’s horse drawn wagon left us.

Lilith continued to smile at me as her driver in white urged the horses to go. That’s when I noticed it. Instead of the clip clop of the horse hooves, there was silence. The horses made no sounds, nor did the wagon creak.

The silence was unnerving.

Lilith gave me a small wave before she, the wagon, the horses, and her companions disappeared in a puff of white smoke.

White.

What was with the white smoke?

And the white clothing?

Weren’t we in Hell? Shouldn’t everything be in shades of red and black?

I turned and entered my new home only a few seconds behind one of the muscle builders.

The first thing that hit me was the color scheme. White on white with more white. It was horribly oppressive.

The stairs were white. The floors were white. The walls were white. All the furniture was white. You name it, it was white.

It took everything within my soul to contain the shutter going through me. White was definitely the new red and black.

I watched as the others wandered around the living room and kitchen, soaking in their new surroundings. Instead of joining them, I ascended the staircase. I wanted to find my bedroom and dig into that booklet. I figured if it had been important enough for Lilith to tell us about it and encourage us to read it, then that was what I should do. Lilith hadn’t struck me as someone who wasted her words.

Where are you going? the suit asked.

To find my room, I responded. It irked me to no end that I had to answer his question, but if I was to live with him, even for only a few days, I had to play nice.

The second floor was as monochromatic as the first floor had been I immediately saw. Also like the first floor, it was an open floor plan with three queen-sized beds lined up. On each bed there was a spiral bound booklet just waiting to be read.

Next to each bed was a side table with a lamp. Along the far wall were three floor to ceiling white wardrobes. The only privacy I could see was the full-size white bathroom.

I walked to the next floor and saw that instead of three beds there were four. Everything else was the same, including the bathroom size and color pallet. This would be for the men then, I decided, if we went with boys on two of the floors and women on one. I wasn’t sure yet if I wanted to go along with that plan.

The fourth floor was just as I’d expected with three beds, three side tables, three wardrobes, and a bathroom. I walked over to one of the light giving windows, which was between the middle bed and the bed farthest from the stairway. From this height, I had an unobstructed view of a green space.

Probably Damnation Garden, I thought. It was only right that they’d put the stupid newbies near temptation. This was Damnation after all.

The view made up my mind about where I’d be sleeping. I’d sleep on this floor, next to this window. I wanted to see the garden and observe the comings and goings, if there were any goings.

I sat down on my bed, which was the one farthest from the stairwell, pushing the booklet out of the way. I needed some way to claim this bed as my own so one of my stupid roommates didn’t try to steal it out from under me. I really didn’t want to get in a fight on my first day in Damnation.

I looked toward the headboard and saw a plaque with my name on it over my pillows. That plaque hadn’t been there three seconds ago. In fact, my bed was the only one with a name over the pillows. I must have somehow claimed the bed as my own.

Glancing over to the wardrobes, I saw there was a plaque with my name on the wardrobe closest to my bed. Good. I’d claimed everything which needed to be claimed and nobody could do a thing to change the arrangements.

I grabbed my spiral bound booklet and was leaning against my snow-white pillow to begin reading it when I heard a horrible commotion coming from the first floor.

Did I stay up here and read my book or should I go see what was going on?

I decided to indulge in my drama vice and put the booklet down. I would read it tonight, no matter how long it took me. Right now, I wanted to see what kind of fun my roommates were creating for me.

All the excitement was happening in the kitchen. Muscle A, as I would think of the taller one from now on, was fighting with Suit about something. Even as I sat on the white fabric couch watching the drama unfold, I couldn’t figure out what they were going on about. Muscle A just kept harping on how Suit shouldn’t have touched something. Suit was saying that it wasn’t his and that Suit would