Awarded 2nd Prize in Short Story and Poetry Competition 2010.

666 BULLETS TO HELL

One of the oldest tales in the Wild West is the story of Stephen Morris and his trip to hell to rescue his wife. His wife was cruely killed. She had 20 bullets in her body. Some people in town said that she was punished by the devil. Others said that her own husband killed her. Nobody really knew how Stephen Morris went to hell, or they apparently didn’t want to tell us. But the important thing is that he left everything to save his wife. Stephen had a son called Colin, who told me the story of his father. Colin spoke to me as his father had previously spoken to him:

“One night, in the dark, I discovered the doors of hell, so I entered. I knew that I had a chance to rescue my wife, but I had to go to the court of King Carmesi. It was a heavy trip for a simple human. The place was very cold and there were a lot of creatures that I had to kill to clear the way. I felt that it was as good as killing people in a bar when you are drunk. While I was walking in the middle of the souls, the voices of dead people warned me that it was a dangerous place and that I might never get out and see the ligth again. But my love for my wife was the only light in that place. A feeling and a question came to my head: why do people fight for a dream that can’t become true and they still keep fighting? I answered to myself: because it is the only dream that you care for and nobody can call you mad for that.
Here I am, exploring hell and looking for my wife. Finally, I arrived at the court of King Carmesi. He told me that I was a fool because my wife couldn’t be saved, except if I gave him 666 souls. In that case he was going to return me my love. I asked how. He gave me a gun and a list of all the people that I had to kill. He touched my head and I fell down. When I got up, I was again in the real world with a gun in my rigth hand. I read the list and started my long trip.

Colin continued: when I saw my father again, after that, I saw a crazy and sad look on his face. I didn’t say anything to him. He told me that he needed to do a job, and he said that my mother was going to be back after doing it. I asked him if he needed help, but he refused. After some months, I saw my father again. He told me:

“I shot some people with this scary gun; it kills people by absorbing their soul. I killed 665 people, now I’m going to kill myself, which was the deal with King Carmesi. Then I will return to hell to speak to the devil. I am very sad because I won’t see my son grow. I came to say bye to you”.

My father was crying. That was the last time I saw him. Now I live with my mother, and I feel that my father is in heaven. Every morning, my mother and I shoot a gun towards the sky; we do that in Stephen Morris’ honour, for his bravery in the quest to save his beloved wife from hell.



Pen name: GA
Category B