8. Childish Beliefs

Valerian Jones sat before a dining table, his remaining family members seated around him. Their eyes fixated on his figure.

His words had ushered in a few moments of pin-drop silence, as his parents and siblings tried to properly process his announcement.

"What did you say?" His dad felt forced to ask, genuinely curious about his son's outrageous words.

"I went there… I experienced its horror… I felt it. I still feel it. Hell is real," Valerian poured out his thoughts, immediately losing his cool.

Memories of Sheol rushed into his mainstream consciousness and his fingers began to tremble. Soon his entire body followed suit and he got reminded of what he had been saved from.

That sight caused panic to spread among his parents and sisters, as his father jumped to his side in hopes of stabilizing him.

"The doctors said he was completely fine!" His mother exclaimed; distressed, already storming out of the kitchen in search of her phone.

"Call someone, anyone!" Ronald ordered placing his hand on his son's shoulders, but Valerian's hand suddenly touched his and his focus returned to his child.

"No," Valerian objected. "I'm okay," he added but was already focusing on a weeping Lilia.

Madison already had tears streaming down her eyes, but she tried to calm her younger sister down while the event played on.

"I'm okay Lilia, Madison," his gaze switched between the two of them and he made sure to make eye contact with them.

"I apologize for the commotion, the weight of my memories was too much for me, but that's fixed now," Valerian admitted turning to stare at his mom who already had her phone on.

"Mom, please sit down. You too dad," Valerian pleaded; back to his calm state now.

His parents; already skeptical exchanged glances unsure whether or not they should listen to him.

"You can allow the doctor to check up on me, but not now. Not today," he furrowed his eyebrows. "We still have things to discuss."

His parents had no choice at that point. Looking at the time, it would take a while for any doctor to arrive there and he truly looked fine.

"First thing tomorrow morning we're going to see the doctor," his dad announced taking his seat, and his mother could only follow suit.

"Thank you," Valerian declared, truly grateful.

"Before I move on to my very sane experience," he started. "I have already forgiven you for your shortcomings."

"Dad, even if your actions towards me were the worst of things a father should do to his son, I understand that you were in a very sensitive portion of your life and you needed someone to vent on."

"And I, your useless son had been the closest. Still, I forgive you," he clarified with a smile on his face, even if his words caused his dad to experience another round of emotional pain and regret.

"Mom. You abandoned me to my fate, and never moved to stop the abuse, but like father, I understand that you weren't at your peak, so I forgive you," he explained.

"Madison, Lilia. You two have no fault in this. I never moved to make a conversation with you and simply blamed everyone for my hurt. So you don't have to worry about it. Your brother has learned from his mistake," he directed his words at his sister and Madison began to weep.

"You are all forgiven. Heck, I don't care anymore about what you did or didn't do. All that matters is that I was given a second chance," he continued already moving into the main topic.

"Hell is real. Its suffering is. I experienced it for what felt like decades, and I don't want any of you to go there," Valerian announced boldly. Sure his pronouncement sounded unbelievable and even embarrassing. But his embarrassment compared to what he had experienced in Sheol was nothing.

Nothing in the world could beat what he had experienced. That place contained things he wouldn't even be able to with for his worse enemies. It was worse than nightmares.

Every nightmare he could recall felt like fun and adventurous fantasies compared to what that place was. No amount of fear he had ever experienced could hold up with it, not even his fear of dying was on par.

After all, during his time there, he wished he could die, but had thought he had already done that. He couldn't even die to escape his torment.

There was no horror and terror worse than desiring death so badly, but knowing it would never happen.

He would prefer to not have been born than return to that place.

And now that he had a bit of the information at hand, he knew he would need to take a few actions to ensure that he never returned there.

His family had their eyes on him, and Valerian could tell that all of them kept their worry from their expressions, except Lilia of course, who most likely didn't understand much.

"So you mean there's a place people go to when they die, and it's full of suffering," his dad's cracked voice echoed in the formerly silent room. Valerian nodded in response.

"And you went to this place. Hell?" The heartbroken father asked, and almost allowed tears to stream down his cheeks when his now only son nodded in affirmation.

Being a tough man, however, he could only heave a sigh that contained too many emotions to be translated at once.

There was silence in the room once again, and each of them had their own thoughts.

The Jones family had never been one of religion or spirituality. This reality came from the fact that the head of the house had never exactly thought any of the words of those who did have religion, true.

People spoke of beings far beyond the power and understanding of humans, some said there were many, and others believed there was only one being that truly stood above all things.

However, the existence of so many beliefs only further made him steer away from what he had eventually begun to term childishness.

He saw those who relied on the imaginary gods to be childish and unable to face reality for what it was.

But even amongst the many beliefs, there had been something that sort of unified them, and it was of course the beliefs of a paradise and a place of suffering. Which were only places accessible to those who had died.

He found that belief even more ridiculous. "Humans become food for the environment when they die." He usually said to dismiss anyone who tried to bring up the topic.

Yet here he was, sitting in front of one of the most valuable persons in his life, to whom he had done a great deal of harm. This same person had brought up the topic and seemed very confident about his proclamations.

Ronald glanced at his wife, May. His eyes carried deep pain and he could also sense the same in her eyes.

They had been together long enough to understand each other's feelings without even words. And they both had agreed to something when their gazes locked.

Their son Valerian might need a check-up at a mental hospital after all. Even if they had done all they could to keep him away from that place.