* * *
In old English tradition, the word "hell" is derived from the the old English word "hel" meaning a black, fiery world of eternal torment for the damned. However, because the Vikings were converted to Christianity, the Old Norse "hel" was both a place and a being. Hel, as referred to as a place, is a world where oath-breakers, evil, wicked persons and individuals unlucky enough not to have died in battle, abide. This underworld is very cold, unlike the Roman Catholic version (Mediterranean). Hel is also the name of the goddess of hel. She is the part blue, part white and part black daughter of Loki and Angrbotha (in Celtic legend).
In English folklore, there is no specific entrance to hell, only a general assumption that hell is underground, hence the name "underworld." Allegedly, bottomless pits lead straight to this underworld. There is a pool called Hell Hole, in Norfolk, England, that often had bubbles rising from it. It is believed that after Tunstall Church burned, the vicar and the church wardens argued over whom would get to keep the church bells. Because of this, the Devil carried them all down to the underworld, and the bubbles that periodically rise to the surface show that they are still en route to hell.
Other legends involve bottomless pits called Hell Kettles or Devil's Kettles. These pits supposedly fill with scalding water to boil the souls of sinners, purifying them.
* * *
Judith knew she was wrong. She watched the rain beat the window, listened to the pit-pattering of the drops. What if her mother was not in heaven like Judith had been told?
Judith thumbed through a book entitled, Degrees of Separation: How Teenagers Deal with Death. She closed the book and set it aside. "It's wrong." She said out loud to herself.
She remembered what her father told her the day her mother died. "A beautiful angel swept her away before she could feel any pain. She's in heaven now Judy, with the angels."
He lied to her. She knew that now. She wasn't in denial, like the book said she'd be by now, she knew her mother was, in fact, dead; she was angry. Judith was angry that her mother was taken from her, she wasn't angry with "god," she was angry with people who told her that her mother was happy now. And, in part, Judith was angry with her mother.
* * *
"How could she possibly be happy without us?"
"Judith, don't say things like that. Your mother loved us very much. Of course she was happy here. She's just...happy there too." Judith's father tried to console her.