Gehenna

Author's Note: This story has been posted to Literotica.Com with the full knowledge of the original author, JimBob44. No part or whole of this story may be reprinted in any other format or on any other web site without the express written consent of the original author.

Any and all persons engaging in any sexual activity are at least eighteen years of age.

This story has been edited by myself, using Microsoft Spell-check. You have been forewarned; expect to find mistakes.

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Leida Byrnes staggered out of Tina's house, almost tripping as she traipsed down the steps from Tina's porch to the walkway. She took a moment to steady herself, even shutting one eye against the swimming landscape before her.

Marlowe's weed had been potent, not like that punk ass crap he'd had the last time. And, smoking three bongs while pounding down the Pumpkin Spice shots... Leida was truly utterly totally entirely completely torn.

"Torn and worn," Leida mumbled, still feeling Kaleb's semen seeping from her pussy into the crotch of her panties.

"And then, and then, fucking asshole says 'Tina's tits are bigger,'" Leida slurred, staggering down the brick walkway to the uneven, cracked sidewalk.

"'Corse her tits are bigger. Hell, all of her is bigger, dumb ass," Leida mumbled, trying to remember which way to go.

She lived less than twelve blocks from Tina's house but it was not a direct route. The route was difficult enough in the daytime; every third street was a cul-de-sac and there were so many similar names in this neighborhood. Connelly Circle. Connelly Way. Connelly Road. Connelly Square.

"And don't forget Rose Lane, Rose Circle, and Rose Drive..." Leida slurred, trying to determine which direction 1210 Connelly Path would be.

"This way," she said, believing she recognized a large inflatable jack-o-lantern in front of one house.

"Cute outfit but you're too old for trick or treating," a man called out from just beyond the large pumpkin ornament.

"You're never too old," Leida laughed, playfully lifting the cape of her 'Little Red Riding Hood' costume, flashing her barely covered rear end at the man.

"And asshole Big Bad Wolf is running around all worried about Tina's big tits," Leida muttered as she tried to draw the red cape a little tighter about herself.

Walking to Tina's address, and inside of Tina's large sprawling home, the minimal costume had been fine. Since it was growing late, the temperature had dropped considerably. Leida continued plodding along, until she saw a similar inflatable jack-o-lantern on the opposite side of the street. Pausing, she stared at one, then the other pumpkin ornament.

"Shit!" she spluttered. "Now I'm completely lost."

This particular road curved so she could not even see Tina's house any longer. Looking at some of the other decorated homes, Leida was beginning to panic.

"Hey Lay, What you say, how you doin' today?" Joelle Stevens said, walking up next to Leida.

The former baby sitter had always greeted Leida in this manner; finding many words to rhyme with 'Lay.' Though she pretended to be aggrieved by this, Leida had delighted in the beautiful brunette's gentle teasing.

They were several yards away from the nearest street lamp. The weak light cast more shadows than light, but Leida could see that Joelle's costume was a tattered, decaying black dress. Her corpse makeup was applied very well; it looked like portions of Joelle's nose and cheeks had rotted away and her flesh looked quite pale. Her lustrous brown locks looked patchy in some places and clumped together in other places. Her eyes reflected no light from the nearby street lamp.

"Joelle!" Leida shrieked; overjoyed.

She hugged the young woman tightly, even as Joelle's body odor was horrendous. Kissing Joelle on her lips, Leida felt a wave of revulsion sweep through her; Joelle's breath was that of rotting meat.

"Why I'm a vegetarian," Leida thought, stepping back from the former acquaintance.

"Hey Lay," Joelle smiled, revealing yellowed and browning teeth.

"OMG, that, who did that?" Leida asked, noticing the carefully drawn Pentagram on Joelle's forehead.

The black lines looked like they'd been burned into Joelle's flesh. There were even little spider lines along the symbol, adding depth to the dark, sinister design.

"Just some friends of mine," Joelle said, beginning to walk.

Leida fell into step with the young woman. "As they walked underneath the street lamp, Joelle turned her face slightly away from Leida.

"So, how you been? I mean, God! How long has it been? I mean, one day you was there and then Mr. Joe said you'd gone to college," Leida babbled as they were once again between street lamps. "My dad tried to get you; his company was giving him some kind of award and he tried getting you come babysit me but your dad said you wasn't there and..."

"College?" Joelle scoffed. "Leida, really? College?"

"Well yeah, that's what he said," Leida said, looking over at Joelle.

"Leida, stop and think about it for a minute," Joelle said, voice dripping with scorn.

"Oh. Kay," Leida said slowly. "So, what am I missing here?"

"College? I suddenly left and went to college? What day was it when your dad called?" Joelle asked, glancing away as they stepped under the circle of light of the streetlight.

"Um, Halloween was on a Thursday, so it would have been in November... November eighth," Leida said. "It was a Friday night."

"Riiight. I all of a sudden went to college in November. Leida, tell me one college that STARTS in November," Joelle said.

"Then where?" Leida asked as they continued to walk.

Joelle said nothing. Leida thinking was in a fog; the alcohol, the marijuana and the intolerable stench wafting from her companion wrapped her mind in a gauzy haze.

"You know," Leida blurted out. "I, when you would baby sit, I, I had such a huge crush on you."

The first few times Leida was aware of Momma's special perfume, she would throw a fit. That perfume meant Momma and Daddy were going out. They were going someplace special and they weren't taking Leida with them.

At first, those nights meant Mrs. Jensen would be coming over. Mrs. Jensen was not fun. She was short-tempered and fussy and liked to sit and watch really boring stupid TV shows and made Leida bathe and put on her pajamas and go to bed extra early.

Then Joelle became Leida's baby sitter. The teenager was so beautiful and funny and sweet. She would hug Leida and kiss Leida and tell Leida how beautiful she was. Leida adored the teenager, adored having her come over and play with her.

"I know," Joelle giggled.

Even to Leida's fogged brain, she recognized Joelle's giggle. It was the same giggle the younger Joelle would use whenever Leida had done something foolish, something that Leida was sure to get in trouble for doing.

"I, I even, I prayed you loved me," Leida mumbled, blushing hotly as she confessed to her former crush.

Joelle said nothing. Leida felt her heart constrict; she'd just confessed her deepest feelings, a long-held secret of hers to the object of her infatuation. The silence cut deeper than any verbal rejection or scornful laugh could have.

Leida suddenly noticed that there were no street lamps on this road. There were no homes visible by the pale moonlight. Slightly up a rise, she saw a church, its sharply pitched roof adorned by a slender cross. The cross cast a long reaching shadow, illuminated by the waning moon behind it.

"Where, where are we?" Leida tremulously asked as they plodded slowly along the gravel path.

Joelle pointed across the gravel path from the solitary church. Looking into the still darkness, Leida saw a heavy fence. Beyond the fence's spiked posts, Leida could just make out various headstones and grave markers.

"What, why, why are we here? Joelle, why, why are you showing me..." Leida asked, voice rising in panic.

"It is Halloween night," Joelle answered, turning to fully face Leida.

"I know, but..." Leida sobbed out.

As Joelle fully faced her, Leida now saw that it was not skillfully applied makeup; her former baby sitter's face was slowly deteriorating. The pentagram symbol was not carefully drawn lines; the symbol had been branded into Joelle's flesh. Her eyes were vacant holes in her skull.

"I had a boyfriend," Joelle said, voice devoid of any emotion. "I had a boyfriend; he wanted to belong to the Church of Gehenna. And on All Hollow's Eve, they held a ritual."

"And? Why, why are you telling..." Leida asked, wildly looking around for any escape.

Joelle gripped the neckline of her dress. With a savage jerk, she rendered it open.

Leida stared in horror at the cavernous hole in Joelle's chest. She saw how the flesh sagged, how parts of Joelle's flesh had rotted away through decomposition.

"They stripped me and laid me on the altar of the Eternal Pyre, bound my hands," Joelle said, showing Leida where the rope bindings had torn the flesh from her wrists.

"I, I..." Leida stammered, looking toward the solitary church, hoping for refuge.

"Then, as I screamed and begged for mercy, they took the sacred dagger, the dagger of obsidian and cut my beating heart from my chest," Joelle continued.

"I didn't, Joelle, I didn't do this to you. I, I loved you," Leida pleaded. "Please, please just take me home."

"I will," Joelle promised, reaching out and gripping Leida's wrist in a fierce grip.

"Let, let me go, let me go!" Leida screamed, trying to wrest her wrist from Joelle's determined grip.

"You loved me?" Joelle giggled her mean, hurtful giggle. "Then become me. Enter me and allow me to enter you..."

Leida frantically grabbed at the small gold crucifix that hung about her neck. It had been a gift from her Nana, her maternal grandmother. Leida had received the elegant crucifix when she'd made her First Communion.

Just as Joelle moved to fully embrace her, Leida jerked the crucifix free and pressed the solid gold religious artifact firmly against the very center of Joelle's Pentagram symbol on her forehead. Joelle shrieked a long wail of horror, then vanished.

Leida staggered, almost falling. She'd been pressing the crucifix against Joelle's head, leaning and putting her full weight behind the frantic attempt to free herself from Joelle's evil intent. Now, Joelle was not there and Leida stumbled.

Righting herself, Leida looked around and realized, she was in front of her home. Her father's brand new pickup truck was not in front of the house; apparently he and Leida's mother were still out, enjoying their Halloween party.

"That, wow," Leida mumbled, digging her keys from her purse.

In her room, Leida removed the handmade red felt hooded cape and looped the drawstrings over a hanger. Unzipping her very short red shorts, she again felt Kaleb's semen pooling in the crotch of her blood red thong panties.

She bit back her angry words; she was still quite spooked by her, her, was it a hallucination, a bizarre dream?

"Was some pretty good shit," Leida said, thinking of Marlowe's potent marijuana.

Removing the long sleeved red pull-over top, Leida froze. On her wrist, her left wrist where Joelle had grabbed her, Leida could see the markings of a rope. The rope had dug into her wrist as she'd laid on the altar of the Eternal Pyre, thrashing and screaming for mercy.

Leida looked at her very pale reflection in the mirror that stood over her low dresser. Her small gold crucifix dangled enticingly between her small breasts. Trembling, Leida grasped the small crucifix and vowed she would never ever remove it.

The End

**Author's Note: I write these stories for my pleasure. I post them here for your enjoyment. I thank you sincerely for reading my stories.

I especially thank those that take the time to leave comments, good and bad. I also thank those that take the time to rate my work, those that 'Favorite' my words.

This story is written for the Halloween 2024 story contest. Please be sure to take a moment and cast your vote for this and for any other stories from the other excellent writers that post for this contest. Thank you in advance.

Also, there are no characters from any other JimBob44 story appearing in this tale.

Have a swell day. And some of you, have a swollen day.