You don’t understand loneliness until you’re standing above your dead body, staring into your lifeless eyes. A feeling of sorrow consumed me, but I was comforted when I saw bright light beaming down. Maybe I’ll be reunited with my parents. I can take solace in that.

Before I could follow the light, I felt a scorching pain around my ankles. A pair of bloody, calloused hands gripped me tightly and began to pull me downward into the ground. I wept as the descent continued, horrified as to what awaited me. When my soul was pulled through the layers of the earth, I was kneeling beside a bloodied throne made of broken bones that still had pieces of muscle still attached to them. I looked up and locked eyes with the Devil. His eyes were pure black, his teeth as sharp as razors, and his skin had been melted off in several places on his wretched body- not even the devil could bare the wrath of Hell.

“You belong to me now”. He bellowed out a malicious laugh as he threw me down into a pit below. It was an ocean as far as the eye could see, of burning people screaming for help, begging for their pain to stop. Everybody looked the same. Nobody had clothes, and the flames burned off everyone’s hair and any distinguishable features they had before their time in Hell.

Then, a tunnel of light appeared above and a mountain of people had formed like a skyscraper, toppling over one another trying to escape. I wasn’t sure if it was some sick joke Satan was playing, but I didn’t hesitate. I moved as fast as I could and climbed over everyone in front of me, digging my ankles into their flayed flesh. Satan flew down from his throne, and began ripping people off of the pile while shouting “nobody escapes the Devil”. I continued to climb, doing my best to avoid him. I finally reached the top and was just a few inches away from the tunnel of light. I closed my eyes and prayed as I reached up, hoping I wasn’t about to be torn down as I did.

“CLEAR!” I heard as I felt a jolt of electricity throughout my body. My eyes opened and I saw a group of doctors standing around me. “It’s a miracle! Welcome back”.

Exhausted, I tried to get some sleep. When I opened them again I was in a hospital bed. Was that real? I looked at my arms to make sure my skin wasn’t still melted off and was relieved to see they weren’t. The door opened and I was glad to know that a doctor was coming in to check on me. Except it wasn’t a doctor. It was Him.

“I told you. Nobody escapes the Devil.” And he ripped my soul from my body. The flatline on my heart rate monitor was the last thing I saw before I began my second descent to Hell.