It is almost an absolute rule of the universe that whenever more than two teenagers, especially friends, are gathered in a room, there will be conversation. Lots of it. At moment, though, it seemed that that particular law would have to take a break; five teenagers--two girls, three boys--were sitting in a bedroom, all in various positions and locations around it, being completely silent.
Terra's eye twitched as she stared at her book. Who had started the idea of a Saturday study group to prepare for the finals, again? Dan, she thought, and on her mental to-do list she added 'poison Dan's cereal'. Dragging her imagination away from the idea of laughing over his twitching body, and then being able to do whatever she wanted for the rest of the day, Terra again tried to continue reading Dante's Inferno before finally giving up and shutting it as forcefully as you can shut a paperback.
"This is such bull!" she growled, glaring at the cover. Stupid Dante. What kind of a name was 'Dante', anyways?
Jim and Calais looked relieved at the sudden interruption, not having enjoyed "study time" very much either. Dan just sighed, while Ellie looked up, frowned at Terra for breaking her concentration, and tried to continue studying for her European History final on Monday.
"I thought you liked that book, though?" Calais asked.
"I did..." Terra said in frustration.
"And what's wrong with it now, that you had to distract us for?" Dan asked. He really didn't want to fail his Pre-Calculus class, and was taking extra precautions to memorize all of the formulas necessary.
"Well," Terra began to explain, "I didn't really want to do anything else, so I decided to read a few cantos ahead. Have any of you read Canto XX?" Everyone shook their heads.
Terra flipped open her copy of Dante's Inferno to the page she had been on, and began to read:
"And when my gaze moved down below their faces,
I saw all were incredibly distorted,
the chin was not above the chest, the neck
was twisted--their faces looked down on their backs;
they had to move ahead by moving backward,
for they never saw what was ahead of them."
When she finished reading the two tercets, the others were quiet. "And... why does that make you upset?" Jim raised an eyebrow.
Terra sighed, flipped a few pages, then read an excerpt from the translation notes, "'15. for they never saw what was ahead of them: Note the appropriate nature of the punishment: the augurs, who, when living, looked into the future, are here in Hell denied any forward vision. See lines 38-39.' Yep. Well, I'm basically going to hell."
Once again, silence met her quotation. "Does it say anything about turning into a moth being a sin?" asked Calais. He smirked, obviously the only one to find it funny.
"No, but apparently turning into a beast is related to the sins of Violence," Ellie pointed out. "And Terra, just remember that that was written in the Middle Ages, a time when personal opinions greatly influenced how people interpreted God's words."
Terra sighed. "Yeah. I know. Whatever." She turned her attention back to the Inferno, and decided for once to just skip that canto. She could always get someone else to summarize it for her, later.
The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, translated by Mark Musa.
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