Wishing Hell

When a loving family in a new home decides to need some water, a well is dug. But sometimes the things you reveal from digging are the things that should remain...buried!

Juicay and Flunky had taken a short break while down in the hole they had dug. It was nearly eight feet deep at this point, and they felt proud; among all other emotions. “We’ve gotta be close to hitting water, I can just tell!” Flu said, her smile wide for the first time this trip. “Like, wouldn’t it be cool if I just pushed real hard on the shovel now…and…” She drove her steel wedge deep and returned a sharp, PING noise. Why, she’d hit something! More metallic than a rock, and more solid than a water!

“What the? Lemme see that!” Juicay bent down and, using her hands, uncovered a bronze belt buckle! She grabbed it with excitement and marveled at how warm it was! “It’s so warm!” she said, her eyes looking to Flunky for consideration. Flunky reached out and touched the rectangular buckle and recoiled with excitement! “It’s not warm; it’s hot! What happens?!”

Flunky’s excitement for more treasure pushed her to dig further, but Juicay leaned back against the earthy wall and studied the relic. “Oh very cool, very cool. There’s a cross in the center of this, and look!” She overturned the buckle, and wiped it off to reveal an engraving, “…It says, ‘Thanks for everything, priest. 1733…’” Juicay was shellshocked! Hadn’t she read in her schoolbook textbooks about the colonies of the state they were in back in “those” days? She could swear that she remembered that priests never removed gifts, so how did it make sense that they had found this item here so deep in the brown bosom of the terra? Could a priest have been here; either alive or maybe even dead at some point? If so, where was his body?

“Wait! I think we should stop!” Juicay exclaimed – but it was too late. Like, seconds! Flunky’s shovel shot down through the ground as dirt started falling inward like they had cracked through something! Water began to fill up from the bottom, but it was hot. Not like “do you want some tea?” water, but like, “the bath is too hot to get in right now we should wait like ten minutes or so,” kind of water! That sure was weird. But did you know it was also bright red, this water? Well it was!

“What is going on! Ahhh Juice we gotta get out of here!” The rising water made for an easy and inexpensive getaway as the two girls exited the hole in the ground. The red water stopped just short of the surface, and the two looked down at the nearly filled hole. Their two faces peered down as the reddish glow seemed to thicken, and in a triumphant burst, a pillar of red steam sprang from the water, leaving it clear and cool like normal delicious Nastlé brand bottled water. Juicay couldn’t be sure, but felt she saw the red steam absorb into their house. She felt worried, and couldn’t be certain, but she also felt something was wrong!

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WHISHING HELL
DIRECTED BY Mark Gunk
PRODUCED BY Art Luman & Mark Gunk
APPROX. 17 pages
HV014-1016