My Worst Nightmare

This was my English homework given by my low standard lecturer. Not in the mood to talk about him but it's just that, his English is so terrible yet he acted like he's very clever. Speechless and he's a true locally produced lecturer. Very very very, local minded. Never plan to write that long but well, i just had fun writing about it but the ending sucks cause i realized that a 200 words essay became a 10x more words than the originally planned essay so i rushed to end it. Got the idea from Percy Jackson :D I realized there's still some grammatical error n stuff like that but lol lazy wanna go through it again.

My Worst Nightmare

I woke up with a startle. There were screams around me and the air was coated with the smell of burnt woods. As I regained my senses, I realized that I am not in my room. I am in a cavern-liked room and was sleeping on a hard unforgiving bed which was crafted from a slab of stone. I climbed down from the bed and tried to shake off the backache I had. I spared myself a few moments to absorb the fact that I am not in my bedroom but instead, I am lost somewhere which is unlikely anywhere nearby my place. The best assumption I can come up with is that I am kidnapped by someone while I am fast asleep and I am under their captivity in a cave. On the other hand, what was it with that eerie screams echoing from the outside of my room? Not to mention, the smell of burnt woods.
I do not know whether it is a wise choice for me to open the wooden door which has a very weird carving of an upside down cross but then again, there is no point for me to wait in the room with lots of unanswered questions. As I approach the door, I feel an intense heat around me which was literally “hot like hell” and even the doorknob is hot even though it is made from wood. Fear rushed through me as I open the door for what I saw was horrifying. I realized that I am indeed inside a cave but, the only difference is that three feet from me is a big chasm with fire in the other end of the chasm. I looked up and down and noticed that this cave is as high and huge as a building with 20 floors or so from the top to bottom. The floor above me shone with a bright golden glow and higher than that is an open ceiling where I am able to look at the sky. It was nighttime. I am on the floor which looks very humane enough compared to the ones below me.
I saw men and women were being pushed down into the chasm by Minotaurs. Minotaurs? Am I seeing things? I pulled back into my room and tried to digest what I saw with my eyes. Fear crawls around me and I was going into the state of shock.
“I cannot be afraid. I must go on with what I saw. Nobody is going to rescue me but myself. I should find out what is going on around me”. That’s what I said to myself.
I closed my eyes and recalled what I’ve just seen. One thing for sure is that I am still alive because I can feel my heartbeat within me and I’ve just catch a glimpse of the sky so, I am not in hell. I opened the door again and this time, there was a five feet tall lady in front of me. I reasoned that she is in her early 30’s and she wore a white flowing robe. She has the face of a mother and her expression was nonetheless like a worried mother. Her hair is the most attractive feature that I can made of which grows shoulder length and it’s golden-silk in color.
“I am Persephone, Queen of the Underworld. You must escape, child, from being imprisoned and executed by my husband”, she said.
Queen Persephone? Underworld? Isn’t that Greek mythology? Her husband? Why am I being imprisoned and soon-to-be executed by her husband?
“Aree…arr…are you really Queen Persephone from the Greek mythology? Am I dead?” I asked as polite as possible fearing to offend the lady who just claimed to be Queen of the Underworld.
“You are still a mortal, your time has yet to come and I am not a myth. You must hurry, child. You are in mortal danger and cannot be seen by the guards” replied Persephone as she grabbed my hand.
I shook off her grasp and said “Wait, this isn’t real. I must be dreaming. Why am I in danger? You are not Persephone as you claimed and this place doesn’t exist. I am simply hallucinating. What is this place? I saw people were being pushed into that fire pit and there are screams all around me. Is this some kind of torture chamber? Are you guys inhumane?”
“I am Queen of the Underworld and they deserve what they did. They simply received the punishment for their bad doings during their roam as mortal.”
“Prove to me that you are who you claim you are.”
“I will show you who I am and you must escape from this place as soon as I show you who I am.”
“Deal.”
With a click of her hand, flowers and grasses grows in the room I’m in. Flower sprouts and the fragrant emanated from the plants confirmed the truth. I was astound yet shocked that gods and goddesses really do exist.
“You..yooo…yooouu arree Persephone! But, why are you that young?”, I said with shocked.
“Immortals do not age and this is the human form I preferred. I will more explain as we move”, replied Queen Persephone.
I ran along with her through the narrow corridor where one wrong step might mean the end of your life tumbling down into the big chasm not to mention soon-to-be human barbeque. It seems that I am the one doing the running as from what I saw, she was simply walking but she walks extremely fast!
“We’re in the entrance of Tartarus and you were…transported here by the Furies under the order from my husband.”
“Why am I being imprisoned? I did nothing wrong and you said that I am not dead. Which mean I wasn’t supposed to be here.”
“Yes, but my husband did not see to that. As far as he’s concerned, you are the son of Pandora.”
“Pandora? The one who opened a jar which gives emotions to us, the human? How could I be her son? I have a mother and her name is Mystelyne Chap.”
“Yes but…oh no…”
We were turning around the corner to the stair to the upper floor where we were blocked by a three headed dog the size of a monster truck.
“Cerberus… Why are you here?” asked Persephone in a shock.
“PERSEPHONE!!! How dare you try to take this prisoner FROM ME!” shouted a man from nowhere with a voice equivalent to the lightning strikes.
“That is my husband. It’s best you do not meet him. Take this, and when you’re in trouble, give it back to the earth. I will distract Cerberus and you make a run for it.” said Persephone in a distressed voice as she passed me what looked like seeds.
She waved her hand and vines grew out of nowhere leading to the stairs and she continued “Follow the path I have created and do not fear my child. You will be safe, you have my blessings. Now go…”
“What about you? Hades seems to be very angry and how are you going to distract Cerberus?” I asked with worries and fear.
“He will not be angry for long. I’ve been by his side for centuries and I know my husband’s temper. Worry not, child. You must leave.” said Persephone with a warmth smile that I know I will never forget.
“Thank you Lady Persephone” and I ran for the stairs.
The sight of Cerberus is really distracting and I wished to say that I ran towards him without fear and scolded the dog but in reality, I was repeating “Please don’t bite me, please don’t bite me” until I passed the Cerberus. Persephone managed to hold the dogs down by her commands. She was after all, the dog’s master. He whimpered at the sound of Persephone’s lecture but the left head of his which was nearest to me looked at me and growled. I can see that some of his (or her?) teeth were covered with bloods but I’ve decided to move on without inspecting what is inside the mouth any further.
I was glad I was not being pursued and immediately I regretted for having that thought. Blocking my path on the front was what looked like skeleton soldiers who carried swords and guns from all centuries. I tried to find for a place to hide and I was glad that not far on my right was a place which looks like heaven and I immediately recognized the place as fields of Elysium. This is the only place where it is like a paradise for the dead. Only those who are virtuous or heroic during their time as mortal are able to reside here. I snuck into Elysium and found it peaceful and isolated from the outside world. I’ve decided that when I die, this is the place I wanted to be in. I waited for the skeleton guards to pass and continued my escape from the Underworld.
Finally, I saw the end of the vine which ended with a blossom of roses the height of a car. On the back of the rose was what looked like a vortex and my instinct tells me that that will bring me home. I ran as fast as I could with the thought that this nightmare is over soon and again, how wrong was I to think of that. I feel that I am being jinxed for having such thoughts. In front of me was a man carrying a boatman’s pole and from what I recalled in Greek Mythology, this man is Charon, the man who carries the dead across River Styx. It seems to me that he was dispatched by Hades off from his normal duty to stop me from escaping the Underworld.
“Hahahaha…tryin’ to run ‘way aren’t ‘cha kid”, laughed Charon in the most evil way you can imagine. “Sadly, this is where you stop HAHAHAHA!!!”
“Please, Charon. Let me pass. I need to go home. I am not dead yet” I begged.
“Lord Hades had purposely dispatched me from my normal duty to stop you. You must be something eh…hahaha! Now, die and you’ll have no excuse for escaping hahaha!”
Apprently, the pole of his wasn’t as fragile as it looked. He missed me as I sidestepped but on my left, I can see that he made a big pothole with his pole. Without a moment of hesitation, I bend my knees and rammed him with my shoulder. He fell with an ‘oof’ and so do I on top of him. Man, this guy needs a bath! His stink was worse than a skunk’s! I gathered myself up and ran towards the portal. He was behind me now and I was fifty feet away from the portal when all hell breaks lose. Literally! A big hole opened before me and hellhounds climbed out from the hole. I heard the sound of wings flapping from my back and as a confirmation of my worst fear, Furies was flying and coming from the back. They are one of the worst Underworld monsters and I knew an end has come for me. I am cornered and nowhere to run. Furies screeched while hellhounds growled. There were around 20 of those hellhounds.
Charon got back up with an unpleasant look on his face.
“You are finding trouble aren’t ‘cha? Do know that when you die, I will not ferry you across River Styx till I feel like it and I won’t feel like it at all HAHAHAHA”, said Charon.
I was too speechless to do anything and soon I found myself in a desperate corner and the end of me was sooner I realized. Wait! This it isn’t the end. I was still holding the gift from Queen Persephone and she told me to give the seeds back to the earth when I am in danger. I give myself two seconds to confirm whether this is considered as a danger.
“Yes, of course I am in danger! How dumb I am”, concluded myself and dropped the seeds.
I waited for what seems like eternity which in fact are not more than one minute but nothing came. It doesn’t work and I am dead soon!
“GET HIM!” barked Charon.
The hellhounds rushed forward to get a taste on my flesh while the Furies dropped down and whipped me with their whips. I shouted and trashed. The feeling that my flesh was being torn by a pack of hellhound makes me shiver. It was the end of me and I am dead with the pain I could no longer bear. I have decided to give up and closed my eyes.
The sound my polyphonic cell phone’s alarm woke me up. Immediately, I opened my eyes and was delighted to find that this was all just a dream. I am just having a worst nightmare in my life. I was sweating even though my room was air-conditioned. I switched off my cell phone’s alarm and I realized that there was something I was holding on my right hand. I took a look at it and it was a leaf engraved with some words. It was written “I’m glad you made it child” and fear rushes through me. Is that my nightmare or is it real?