text: I couldn't remember how I got here, in this odd place. I stood in this gigantic room of a cavern, larger than I could see the other ends of. There was just this side that was behind me -- this ever-expanding wall of dull, grey rock, reaching up to a cavern ceiling that must've been hundreds of feet high. Where I was standing was this sort of shore made entirely of the same rock, which led out into a sea of black water, stretching out farther than I could see. "The River Styx." a monotone voice behind me announced. I had yelled out for a moment, as I thought no one else was with me. I yelled out again when I saw the horrific figure that had spoken. Taller than me by half my height (mind you, I am not short), he stood in a black robe that covered all but his face and hands. All four of his hands, for he had two pairs of arms, one coming from his shoulders and another below that, beginning halfway down his exceptionally long torso. And his face, such an unnerving face! Wholly expressionless, and with very little in the way of features. His face was like that of a mannequin's, but with these beady eyes. They were without life, reflecting nothing! "You have died, and it is my responsibility to ferry you across these waters," he gestured towards a rowboat with one of his arms. Death! I had died? Surely an eventuality, especially for someone of my age, but to think I was well and truly dead -- how awful! I sat down upon a convenient stone in my shock. I was dead. Dead. What had happened? My mind began to spin with all that I had left behind. Interrupting my terrified ruminations, the large and unearthly ferryman looked down at me and informed me, "The price to cross this river is two coins of gold." Gold!? I desperately searched my person, in a panic. Nothing! Nothing! Nothing! How obvious it was becoming that I had no gold on me. The creature, he stared at me with this inscrutably blank gaze. A second of awful silence had passed as I saw him looking at me with this gaze. Then another. I nearly broke down crying -- was I to be stuck here for all eternity simply for the misfortune of a lack of coin? "I-", I paused trying so hard to get the words out, dreading what I would be told, "I have none." Five more seconds he must have given me that same silent, untelling look. Then, a sigh, "It doesn't matter. Just get in." A great relief washed over me. It was enough that I had almost nearly forgotten of my own death. Hesitantly, I thanked this odd man for his kindness while he guided me to his boat. Laid in it were two large oars. The ferryman had picked up both, one in his left arms and one in his right arms, and then pushed us off into the void-like sea. Nearly had I placed my hand into it, when the ferryman seemed like deciding to warn me: "You'll lose your memories." Not nearly loud enough I tell you! Had I been less attentive, he would have already been much too late. I quickly pulled my hand back into the boat, and tried to keep myself completely at its center. I looked back as the shoreline receded into darkness. Odd that I could see so far with no light, but perhaps this was the nature of the place I was in. Where was I then? "So," I began, speaking to the only other person in the boat, "where have I gone then? Is this, well you know... Hell?" I waited for a response, but he did not reply. I asked again, a bit more loudly -- perhaps ferrymen of the underworld were hard of hearing. For a second it seemed as though he was looking at me with defeat, as he replied, "No, this isn't Hell." I almost got around to asking just where I was, having gotten to opening my mouth when he continued that, "This is Hades. If you wish to know your fate you'll have to ask your judge, not your ferryman." It seemed to me as if the man preferred his silence, so I decided to oblige. The two of us had sat there in silence for what must have been one or two hours, the only sound being that psychopomp's rowing. I began worrying of my mortality. Had I been a good enough person? What was I guilty of? Such questions were becoming heavy on my mind. I noticed then that the rowing had stopped, and yet, as I had been paying close attention to, there was no land in sight. "Ferryman, what is happening?" There was this dejection in his voice as he said, so simply, "I do not feel like rowing anymore." A second passed as I gained the sense to reply: "What?" He sat down, as tall as I was, were I standing, "I do not want to row anymore." What the hell did this man mean he didn't want to row anymore? "So, we're taking a break then?" "Hm? No. I am not rowing anymore. I see no point in it." I was speechless for a good few seconds. What inanity! "But... It's your job! What am I supposed to do now?" The ferryman thought for a moment, and replied, "You can row yourself." He tossed the oars towards me. I was not ready to catch them, and they collided against me. The one to my right began slipping into the sea! I madly lunged at it, frantically trying to catch the damned thing before it fell in. Now laying, my hands managed to clasp around the handle of the oar. I felt something pushing against my leg. In my haste, I had jolted the left oar to begin falling in as well. With a desperate quickness I brought my leg over the oar and then pinned it down against the floor of the rowboat. My breath was ragged from the sudden effort, but I was still ready to scream at the madman. But before I could, he said, and in such a terribly bored tone, "Hmm. That was a close one." and laid down, resting his head over the end of the ship to look at the cavern ceiling. That bastard! I pulled both oars in the boat, and began processing all the madness that just happened with a great ire. That careless bastard! I still held one of the oars in my hands. I stood. I felt a bead of sweat drip from my cheek. I placed a foot over the handle of the other oar. He looked from the ceiling at me as the boat rocked from my standing, unimpressed. I yelled, with all the menace in my voice that I could muster, "I'll push you off!" My teeth ground into one another. He leaned up to sit, meeting me at eye level, "That will not work like you think it will." His face betrayed no sign of being intimidated. He was not even cockily amused! The damn creepy stoic! "Even if you were to throw me off and row away, you wouldn't be let through the gates without a ferryman." Before I could even consider a reply, he leaned his head back again. A minute passed, when I finally came to the decision that he probably wasn't bluffing. Angry and humiliated, I began rowing. I had to alternate sides for each time I rowed the boat, since I could not hold both the oars at once. It did not escape me that this meant I had even more embarrassed myself for making such an attempt to save both oars. After a few minutes had passed, I swallowed my pride and asked the ferryman -- no, the passenger -- if my heading was correct. This time not even looking at me, he replied, "Probably. I haven't been paying much attention to be honest." GOD DAMNIT! After cursing him out, I resumed rowing. It was all I could do, wasn't it? Hours and hours passed of this exhausting, mind-achingly boring rowing, when finally -- finally! -- I spotted land! And from the land rose a great wall, and within it, a giant gate stood. I really had been going the right way! "Yes!" I exclaimed. "That's it, right? That has to be it!" The passenger tilted his head back even further, such that he was viewing the structure upside-down, and after a moment of contemplation, decided that, "Yes. That should be it." He leaned up and stood, turning around to face it. I began putting much more effort into my rowing, exhausted though I was, when I heard him thinking out loud, "Hmmm, if you make it there, then they'll have me go back and pick someone else up. And I can't imagine that you wouldn't try to get me into trouble." He turned back toward me. As he took a step towards me, I took one back. The boat tilted towards my end slightly. "What-what are you doing," I asked. He reached out towards me with both his right arms and pushed me off. My leg struck the edge of the boat as I fell off screaming into the River Styx. I surface, not knowing where I am anymore. I find myself wading in this strange black sea... I don’t know where I am. I find myself wading in this strange black sea... I don’t know where I am.