Tartarus

"I could have you killed!" screamed The Congressman, spittle, frothy and flying from his puffy lips. His face was bright red with fury, shit-brown eyes bloodshot and bulging. He stood at the end of a dirty mattress, haphazardly thrown on the floor. He was naked, flaccid phallus, tiny and thumping against sagging testicles. The Congressman rumbled and raged his tantrum against the small girl that was chained to the wall across the room.
Aurora
She threw her head back and laughed; loud and deep within her throat.
The Congressman rushed toward her, skirting to the left side of the mattress, grabbing a fist full of her shiny, blonde tress. He pushed her head down, twisting her spine into an uncomfortable question mark. Still she laughed, hardly ceasing to draw a new breath to freshen her guffaw.
He drew his right arm high above his head, soft hand open and ready for contact with her cackling mouth.
"Shut up, WHORE!" he threatened and still she laughed, unimpressed by his rage.
He slapped her then, hard and direct; splitting her bottom lip open in the left corner. Blood surfaced in little blossoms before creating crimson rivulets to cascade down her bony jaw. She continued to laugh, he slapped her again. As he raised his fist for a third strike, he was suddenly and forcefully thrown against the far wall behind him. He felt as if a giant hand had grabbed him around his ample beer belly, squeezing the breath from his lungs. Gasping, the Congressman slid to the floor. His right side was dull and heavy. Blood trickled from the left corner of his lip, his eyes became leaden and closed on themselves.
Aurora laughed again, dragging the Congressman from his faint.
He stirred, just enough to regain reality for a moment. Barely able to chase away his light-pins of concussion. His bloodshot eyes found Aurora, she had resumed her sitting position and smiled almost unable to stifle the echoes of her humor.
"Bitch" mumbled the Congressman's fat lips.
Aurora leaned forward, pulling the chains of her shackles so taut, her shoulders dislocated with a sickening Pop. Her arms angled above and behind her head, made her look for all the world, like an angry swan poised for attack. Though she lacked the vibrant, white feathers of their wings. For now.
Even the tinny clink of her chains sounded like mocking laughter to the Congressman's ears.
Blood continued to trickle from his mouth, his breathing becoming more labored as Father Time ticked off the seconds of his life.
The Congressman looked at Aurora and her mad smile through his blurry vision. Though patience was never a virtue of his, (and let's be honest, the 'man' has only ever had vices), he waited for Aurora to speak. Her laughter had finally faded, leaving a hollow silence in it's wake. She strained against her shackles, bony shoulders only held back by flesh. Flesh, that a short moment before, had been radiant, now seemed to take on a sickly pallor. Porous, brown scabs bloomed all over her body. Pussing sores festered and taunted him from across the room.
Her shiny hair, bright as the dawn light became lank and lackluster; limply hanging in a ragged curtain over her gaunt and ghoulish face. The object of his desire had instantly changed into a monster of nightmares. He was nauseated and repulsed, in utter disbelief he had ever lay an affectionate hand near to her, let alone fucked her three times just today.
The Congressman vomited all over his lap; a hot mess of bile, bourbon, and half digested pharmaceutical narcotics. Pain exploded inside his chest. He bent over, wracked by dry heaves. His already constricted lungs helpless to expand as he desperately tried to inhale sweet oxygen. Everything inside of him burned. He couldn't move, breathe, or speak. Couldn't do anything except surrender to the all consuming agony that had invaded his body.
Finally, he managed a feeble intake of breath.He held it inside his lungs, cradled it like a mother does a dying infant. It fought inside of him, determined to break free . Relinquishing his vice grip with a defeated sob, the breath of life once again fled his chest. The wasted carbon dioxide choking him as it sought refuge in the ether outside of him.
Dry blood accompanied the escape, dusty flecks spattering the dingy wallpaper, a few finding themselves far enough to kiss Aurora's lips.
She licked them away with her long, thick tongue, maintaining her toothy, ghoulish grin. Eyes rolling back into her skull as if to explore the darkest depths of subconscious. They would find nothing. There was nothing to find.
The blue cataract orbs completed their journey, arising from the bottom horizon of her almond shaped lids.
She could hear the thunder of Congressman's rapid heart beat as he watched her little parlor tricks.
He slumped against the far wall, paint chips and splinters dusting him like  fresh snow. He watched her through hooded slits, unable and too frightened to look away.
Aurora's mouth opened, pointed teeth standing crooked in her gaping maw.
"How do you like me now?" she asked.
Or he thought she asked, though her lips were stretched thin and her tongue never moved. He voice sounded like a summer's worth of cicadas beating their wings in time with her desired rhythm of syllables.
The Congressman remained still, quiet, refusing to except her vile existence.
"One is able to achieve great feats with a forty watt bulb and a little old magick," she continued in that late summer cacophony.
Only silence answered her.
Aurora rattled her chains, the Congressman opened his eyes just a bit wider.
Though he thought impossible, (if he could think at all in this moment),  her grin widened revealing more stalagmites she considered teeth.
"Good, you're still with us.Thought we lost you to the Agony already. How does it feel?" sang the cicadas.
The Congressman, slumped against the wall, fighting for every shaky breath he could muster, covered in a binge weekend's worth of prescription drugs and expensive liquor.
He watched what had to be the most ghastly creature that could be pulled from his imagination.
He wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all, but was only able to emit a strangled gurgle of bronchial mucus and blood.
The cicadas mimicked teasing laughter, "I can empathize exactly how you feel," They confided, "You have been endowed with all the World's agony. Feel blessed, Congressman, you share this Sacrifice with a chosen few."
The Congressman gurgled again.
"What do I want from you?" They buzzed his question for him.
"Climb in my mouth."
The Congressman stared at the gaping cavern in front of him. Her once rosy lips now met the ceiling, formerly delicate jaw scraping against the rough, wooden floorboards. A dank, musty odor assaulted him over the smell of his own regurgitated hedonism. Gathering what strength he had left, he gave the most imperceptible shake of his head, No
"Climb inside" whispered the cicadas, echoing louder and louder until the room began to shake.
The Congressman's pain was renewed, every nerve in his body alight with fire. He gurgled a short scream.
Climb Inside
The words wrapped around him, squeezing the last atoms of breath from his one good lung. Darkness rushed forth from Hell's Gates, embracing him in the arms of eternity.