he doubled over with an almighty hacking cough, making me shudder with terror, a grating noise which shook the very depths of hell. his lips were black, his face grey, like pallid leather stretched over a skull. dirty skeletal fingers gripped the rusted railing; his knuckles would have been white. he looked groundward through dark sunken eyes, vacantly, not aware of anything but his own wretched state. clouds of rotten smelling spores belched forth, at last seeking escape from the accursed abode where once they dwelt. then a most ghastly terrifying screech filled the air. i leaped back from my purchase above, almost screaming aloud. the noise was akin to awakened bats amplified a hundredfold, yet it issued from this man, doomed for eternity in the darkness known as hell.