My Journey In Hell

The burning pits of hell roared with fire as the shadow-like figure followed me towards some chamber. The doors looked as though they were seven-feet tall with spikes and studs adorning the red paint, the door knob was brass-plated with the head of the devil himself, smirking. The shadow-like figure lurked closely to me, hissing if I slowed down for even a millisecond. I tugged at my collar a few times, during the hike because of the heat in that sulfurous place. Inhabitants, doomed to spend an eternity in hell, stared coldly as I walked past. What in the world could they possibly want? What in the world was I even doing in hell? I don’t remember dying, nor do I even remember arriving. All I remember are the doors, the doors that stand before me now, the doors which my fate is to be revealed. I stood in front of the door, my hand extending to the devils handle as the pestering shadows high pitched laughter. I opened the door, to reveal a man behind a fire red desk, the devil himself.

“Hello, Jaylen.” The devil’s stare seared through me, leaving a burning sensation running through my body. I wasn’t sure how to respond to his greeting, so I stood before his desk with my hands stuffed into my denim shorts.

“Do you understand why you’re here, Jaylen?” He asked. I could do nothing but shake my head and shrug, as I honestly had not the slightest clue.  My response triggered his satanic laughter.

“You did some bad things up there on earth, you know,” He said to me.

“Like what?” My question truly showed that I hadn’t remembered a thing about my ‘death’, as the devils eyes seemed confused which shocked me, as I had never imagined the devil to get confused.

“You really don’t remember, do you?” He asked me, shocked. I shook my head once again.

“Jaylen, Jaylen, Jaylen…,” He said with a hint of laughter, “Tell me what you do remember?”

I shrugged. There wasn’t much for me to explain. I didn’t remember a thing that would have caused me to belong here. Here in this hell. Instead of explaining, I kept my lips shut, but let my eyes wander around his semi-large office. The Red desk, adorned with the same studs as the door. A small water cooler in the corner, beside a bookshelf filled with authors from Aristotle to Woolf. By the door, a coat rack in which an Armani coat hung from an arm. His desk cluttered with papers, pencils, pens and picture frames along side his, what looked like a brand new laptop computer.

I could feel his irritation rising as I continued to hesitate, as it seemed that the temperature seemed to rise. Rise to an unbearable level of heat.

“Jaylen, my boy, you must remember the family that was killed by your two hands,” as he spoke, my head shot towards him in shock. I would never do such things, what gave him that crazy idea? I shook my head in protest, but was cut off just before I opened my mouth.

“The family of six, the poor Mother pregnant with they’re newest arrival. The awaiting Father, who had taken off to care for his wife. Dear little Joshua, who had so much going for him,” He went on, in a mocking sort of tone as if to burn their images into my head, “and don’t forget the twins, Amy and Susie, both four years old. They were so talented, so innocent. But you, had to kill them.”

Satan’s voice roared, as he emphasized the ‘you’. He rose to his feet, and slammed his hands onto his desk as he continued, his gaze seemingly worse than before, it was a gaze that would definitely kill. If you weren’t already in hell.

“You stalked them, the children. You sent them warning letters in which they ignored. You snuck into their house that night and killed each one of them on the spot, driving your devious knife into their hearts, carving away at them as though they were Thanksgiving Turkeys,” Satan exclaimed. His anger was not what I had ever expected it to be. I expected an event like this to make him happy, but I was wrong. I didn’t do it, and he wasn’t going to let me tell him otherwise. I opened my mouth to protest, but was again shushed for this inexcusable act in which I was being accused of. There had to be some way to tell him that he had the wrong person, but in what way? He wasn’t going to listen now, for if I did protest, I would probably be in much more trouble than I’m already in. 

“Get out, I hope your stay here is unbearable.” He said, unenthusiastically, as the doors I had walked through before swung open.

“But I-,” I tried to get out, but my body seemed to be pushed through the doors. The doors shut behind me, banging violently as it sealed tightly. There had to be a way to prove my innocence. I didn’t belong here, I had to get out.

* * *

            The shadowy figured had pointed me in the direction in which I was to find room and board. The walk seemed like any walk I had taken on earth. Sidewalks, stores, and restaurants, but each had dismal faced inhabitants rather than chattering ones. Trees and plants, animals and people. Normal? It looked so, but it wasn’t the case. Hell couldn’t be this way could it? As I had continued to walk, I saw some tall building which looked just like my apartment building on earth. The shadow pointed towards the building and said one thing.

            “Yanluo.” It said, before disappearing. I had no idea what the hell that was, but I could only assume that I was going to find out.

            The eighteen story building had a giant sign above it that read ‘Diyu’, this didn’t look good at all and the fact that I didn’t understand the name of it made it worse. Entering the building, I immediately walked over to what seemed like a directory of sorts. It listed each of the floors.

Ø      One – Wind and Thunder

Ø      Two – Grinding

Ø      Three – Fire

Ø      Four – Ice

Ø      Five – Oil Cauldrons

Ø      Six – Dismemberment (Sawing)

Ø      Seven – Dismemberment (Chariots)

Ø      Eight – Mountain of Knives

Ø      Nine – Tongue Ripping

Ø      Ten – Pounding

Ø      Eleven – Torso Severing

Ø      Twelve – Scales

Ø      Thirteen – Eye-Gouging

Ø      Fourteen – Heart Digging

Ø      Fifteen – Disembowelment

Ø      Sixteen – Blood

Ø      Seventeen – Maggots

Ø      Eighteen – Alvici

I stared for a few seconds, studying each word. Each sounded horrible in their own ways. I was very tempted to turn around and head out. But as I tried I appeared before a counter, with a bell on top. So far everything looked normal, almost like a hotel lobby. The bell before me, glistened in the fluorescent lighting, compelling my hand to hit the bell. It made a sound that was loud and ear piercing, I immediately grabbed my ears as the sound waves continued.

            “Welcome to Diyu,” A large semi-armored man, said in a deep accent thick voice. The man’s face glared, and almost seemed unwilling to be there. The man’s face was a red and his hair standing on top of his head. When he spoke you could see his razor sharp teeth, and snake like tongue.

“I am Yan Luo, and this will be your home for however long. So can I have your name please?”

            “Jay-,” I started to say before being cut off, that was going to have to be something to get used to as it seemed to happen. Yan Luo turned to the computer on the oriental desk and began to type in my name though I never actually gave it to him. He stared at the screen for a few more minutes, typing every few seconds until he finally looked up.

            “Your room is on the eighteenth floor, room 6664344,” He said before handing me a key, the shape of the key of what looked like a sword, “you can find your way up there by yourself.”

            I stared at him irritated, at the mere thought of going up to the very top of the building. There had to be a way to get the out of here, but how?

***

            The small restaurant seemed nothing like the ones I’d seen up on earth, but in a sense it looked exactly alike. It’s a little difficult to explain, but at the same time it made sense. As I sat alone at the small table, beside the big window that overlooked the seaside, I couldn’t help but feel as though there was something there watching me. I looked around cautiously, but there didn’t seem to be anything that was particularly out of place. I returned to stare down at the menu I had been handed when I came in, the same feeling of being watched had returned.

            “What the…” I began to say aloud when, I peered over the menu to spot a figure standing before me. The figure was pure black, its body was one of a man’s, but rather than flesh, this man was made of ectoplasm.

“Hello Jaylen...,” the voice spoke softly yet sinisterly. It was awkward not knowing who someone was, especially of he were as hideous as a troll. My head shot up quickly, as my name was spoken. I stared blankly at figure, whatever it may be.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes.”

“…who are you?” I asked, setting the menu down, somewhat concerned as to how the fool new my name. I watched slowly as the shadow like figure took the chair across from me.

“You didn’t actually kill that family did you?” He asked me, with almost a chuckle in this tone. I shook my head and explained that I’d never done anything of the sort and that it had to be an inside job, but I lacked the details. The figure laughs, now, louder.

“Dear, naïve man, of course you didn’t.” The figure said, with maniac laughter. There was something I was missing, and I’m not sure what it is.

“Don’t you wonder why you’re even here?” I nodded, and again he laughed.

The figure went on about how on earth, wrong names were used when it came to my specific “crime”. Wrong names were used to keep themselves from the pits of hell, the same pits in which I was stuck in. I had the information in which could get me out of here, I just needed a way back to see Mr. Devil Man…

***

The Devil sat behind his desk, in awe as I shared the story the figure said. When I had left the little coffee shop, I had lost the figure, which meant having to hope he would believe my word. I couldn’t tell but in some ways his face seemed understanding and others, as though he wanted to burst out laughing. Either way, he was listening.

“Say you didn’t actually commit that heinous crime, what makes you think I’m going to let you leave now?” He asked with a smirk, before rising in his seat. At this moment, the fire around me seemed to grow hotter, and come up higher than it did before. I stared at the mystifying flames for minutes before looking up, at the over towering devil. He was grinning evilly and now seemed to be about nine feet tall.

“No, you have to let me go. I don’t belong here,” I exclaimed, almost pleadingly. Like that would work. The devil crept closer and closer to me, I tried to move, but it seemed that my feet had lost as control and refused to move. Shit! I winced when I could feel the devil so close, he was touching me. So close, I could feel the heat escaping the pores of his body. In a mere second everything had become pitch black, silence and darkness. Where was I now?  I opened my eyes, and looked around finding myself lying in a bed. My bed. Was I really back in my own apartment, back in my apartment on earth? Did the devil spare me, or was that all a dream? I stood up and ventured over to the bathroom of my earth apartment, examining my every feature in the mirror. It had to have been a dream, just had to. What was this? I looked at my mirror and examined the bottom right hand corner, a sticker of sorts that hadn’t been there before, of the devil?