What is hell really? Spitfire and blistered skin? Unearthly demons, leathery skin stretched taught and colourless across their bones. Spider-like fingers with scythes for claws perfect for shearing the supple skin from your body. Tongues that bleed into your nightmares and drink your screams.

Memories burn, trauma freezes your muscle. It leaves an ache in your lower back that seeps deep into your marrow. It shows up in fruitless doctor visits where answers are the miracles of an absent fairy godmother.

At first I wanted to try a line like “that burns like hell” or something that burned so hot it must be like hell - think bushfires, house fires, anything large scale and traumatic. Instead I found one question - what is hell really? and just followed that thought back to reality, that hell is something we experience in life. All the moments that test us, make us scream and wail, begging ‘why me? why at all?'.

What would you write with this prompt?