Focus on his clothes . If I must look at him , I shall focus only on what he is wearing , and not on the state of him . This worked for only a few seconds , before he felt like his body was conspiring against him . His eyes slowly scanned upward , reaching the man ’ s neck , now stained with dark bloody trails leading down from his head to the stone slabs below . Still , Giles ’ eyes continued looking up for what felt like an hour before reaching the bloodied caverns where the man ’ s eyes once were . The lids , or the tattered shreds of skin that remained , sunk into the sockets , which had been pecked clean by starving gulls or some far worse carrion that the Devil himself had sent to torture them both . A feast for imps and demons that had carved and hewn the man ’ s face without care as they searched for some foul vittles to satiate their cruel desires .
Repulsed , Giles turned away , and heaved as his empty stomach , perhaps acting on instinct , tried to vomit . “ Is it not bad enough that I have been sentenced to this fate ? Why must I torture myself ? Why have I been sent here ,” he cried out , half hoping to hear some response . I am alone . This Hell is too horrible even for someone as barbaric as those who left me here to rot . Giles looked up to the sky again , and felt small tears welling in the corners of his eyes . It was almost refreshing , as he began noticing the intense summer heat broiling his skin . The tears dripped down cooling his scorched skin until they fell to the rocks and evaporated almost instantly . In a moment of lonely desperation , Giles looked over at his fallen comrade . “ At least you got out . At least you suffer no longer --” Giles ’ voice cut out when he realized why he could only see the man ’ s torso . He foolishly believed the rest of the body was submerged in the hot ocean like his own , but he saw the shredded body bobbing up and down with each passing wave . The cavity , from what Giles could see , had been picked clean by
26