Kchan: lol Mephistophilis, from my short story An Old Photograph, makes an appearance in this story. Last fragment of this story, unfortunately. : ( I really don't want to write out the whole thing (it'd be long. VERY long...)

Warnings: Cursing and a bit of gore. :starts poking Mephy: And the whole subject of death. Phweee! : 3

Part2
Welcome to My Hell

I was floating, a weird sensation after feeling a blinding pain not 5 seconds ago. But the pain was gone, all of it. Hell, even my vision had cleared, and I could easily see everything around me, plus I didn’t feel drunk and fuzzy-headed anymore. I was vaguely wondering why all this was happening, as I looked on at the fiery car. Somehow, I had made it out of the vehicle; pretty amazing considering that an 18-wheeler truck had rammed right into where I’d been sitting. I looked down at my body and saw not even a scratch; it must have been a miracle. I looked back up to the burning car and the 18-wheeler that was stuck into the side of it and wondered how I even got out.

My brother and a few others were huddled together near a police car, talking with one of the officers. Ethan, my brother, was bleeding out a large gash on his cheek and had several bruises already forming. Everyone else looked similar, with cuts and bruises. One guy had an arm that was twisted at a funny angle, while the girl with the huge chest was being carried away on a stretcher to an ambulance. The oddest thing though, was that Ethan was actually crying.

Mind you, this is Ethan, the big old bad ass that is always working out and is always grumpy. Crying. I felt a little awkward, not knowing what was wrong or what to do. I mean, we had all made it out. Maybe it was the girl on the stretcher that freaked him out? Regardless, I walked up to him to say something. As much as I hate him sometimes, he’s still my brother.

“You okay?” I asked, “Nothing broken?”

He didn’t even look down at me, which hurt a little. Instead, he continued talking to the police officer in a broken voice. “I dunno where the truck came from, it was just there and … and why are you asking me all this?! Leave me alone!”

The police officer, a fat man with a walrus mustache heaved a great sigh and said, “I know this must be hard for you. He was your brother and all. But any information that you have would be helpful”

My brother ignored the man and broke down into an uncontrollable fit of sobs, which seemed so wierd. This was Ethan, my dumbass, tough-guy brother. I reached out to pat him on the back or something, but seemingly missed. I tried again, feeling nothing. I tried once more, and realized with horror that my hand went right though his back when I tried to touch him. Panicking now, I tried to grab ahold of him and anyone else nearby. I screamed at them, tried to punch them. My arms always went right through and my screams went unheard. They obviously couldn’t see me either.

So I stood there in the middle of the road while the police finished asking them questions. Every now and then I’d try to make contact with my brother. Once, he actually turned when I called, his eyes widened and filled with tears, and he stumbled towards me… only to walk right through me and into our mother, who was standing right behind me. I frantically tried calling to her, knowing she’d never hear me.

I heard someone clear their throat and say in a raspy voice, “You’re dead, kid.It happens I guess.Don’t worry though, you don’t have to stay dead for long”

I turned to look at who ever had actually spoken to me, excited that someone could actually see me. Maybe I wasn’t really dead, and this man, whoever he was, would tell me this, and I was just hallucinating about being transparent. One look, and my theory was proven wrong.

The man was horribly disfigured. It looked like his skin was melting off him, and I could even see bits of muscle and bone in some parts. His eyes were completely white and blank, bulging out of their sockets. His tongue lolled out of the side of his mouth, blue with black rot, with pale blue lips (how could he even talk with a wreck of a mouth like that?). His teeth were yellowed and sticking out at odd angles. Some were fine points, while others were broken or completely gone. For all the world, he looked like a rotting corpse. Plus he smelled like one. Was this the Grim Reaper? Wasn’t he supposed to have a black cloak and a scythe?

At the sight of the man, I doubled over and tried to puke, but nothing came up. The man was laughing at the sight of me trying to hurl (if he could even see at all). The laugh made me want to puke even more; it was a horrible gurgling sound, more like someone drowning. I backed away from him, tripping over myself and running through several people. I attempted to pick up a broken beer bottle on the pavement to throw at the man, but of course my hand went right through it. I looked back at the man, who was shuffling towards me.

“What the fuck are you?” I yelped, stumbling back “Get the Hell away from me! I’m not dead, and you’re not really there, are you? I had too much to drink, that’s all. You’re just in my mind”

The man grinned, I think. Either that or he was baring his crooked, yellow teeth at me. He said in that gurgling voice, “You are dead. I told you that already. You want proof? Besides the fact that you can walk through people, I mean? I can show you…”

He motioned for me to follow, curling a rotting index finger beckoningly. That done, he shuffled off towards the car that had been on fire until a few minutes ago when the firemen came and put it out. I hesitated a second before following the strange man. He stopped in front of the car and pointed towards the smashed window. “Look in there. Just poke your head in; you can do that now” he commanded, “See for yourself, and then tell me you’re not dead”

I gulped, knowing already what I’d see. He was pointing towards the window I’d been sitting next to. A gap between the truck and the side of the car was just wide enough so I could look right in. The problem was, I didn’t want to look in. I already knew what I’d see. Nevertheless, I looked in, letting my head and shoulders pass through the glass and steel of the car. I felt that sick feeling again, and backed away, horrified at the sight that was now burned into my mind.

What I saw was myself, or what was left of me. My body lay across the backseat of the car, mostly burnt red and black. The side of my face had been crushed inwards on impact, probably crushing my brain, which would explain how my death had come so quickly. My hair was mostly burnt and singed away, as were the clothes I had been wearing. I could still tell it was my own body though. I just knew.

I dropped to the ground, blankly watching my brother and everyone else slowly leave, while I was stuck here with my body and a walking corpse.

Said walking corpse finally spoke up after a long silence, “Well, that’s what happens. Don’t they teach you kids in high school that you shouldn’t drink and drive?” He looked at a watch on his rotting wrist with his blank eyes and said, “We have to get going. I got other things to do tonight you know… … deals to make between people and the devil, pick up some more dead, get some coffee…It IS late you know”

I threw myself onto the ground and yelled hysterically, “I’m not going ANYWHERE! You fucking well hear me, you fucking corpse?! I’m not going anywhere, especially not with you!”

He answered calmly, in a voice that said he wasn’t listening to me, “That’s fine and dandy, but you’re still coming with me. Lucifer’s going to fire me if I let another one of you damned humans go."

“Hell no! No fucking way!” I yelped, practically clinging to the ground. “I just died and lost everything!”

“That’s kind of the point” the man said. I felt something hit the back of my head and my vision went black. Before I passed out fully, I wondered how I could have been hit by something when I seemed to pass through everything else.

.:--:.

I woke up feeling like shit, pardon my French. The back of my head hurt and I couldn’t seem to figure out why. I sighed and rolled over, my eyes still closed. The rustle of fabric told me I was lying in a bed. I lay stock still at this thought; I was lying in bed. So, that means that the thing about me dying and getting into a car crash was just a dream? A horrible dream that was way too vivid, but a dream nonetheless.

Yeah! That’s it! A dream! I’d wake up any minute and see my own bedroom. And then Ethan would walk in and say that I had gotten really drunk, and that our parents were mad at me, and I’d go to school the next day and forget about that horrible dream.

Unfortunately, I heard a rather familiar voice in my ear. It didn’t sound like a drowning person anymore, thankfully. I groaned still, not wanting to see that strange guy again. Oddly enough though, I didn’t smell that ‘rotting corpse’ smell anymore. I cracked open an eye and saw a man in a black shirt and black jeans standing next to the bed I was laying on. He had spiky jet-black hair, even darker eyes (if that was even possible), and nicely tanned skin. He was… well… he looked too good to be human. I mean, not even movie stars look that good.

He flashed a devilish smile at me, revealing a set of pearly white teeth. “You sleep like the dead”

I groaned again, planting my face into the pillow. I muttered in a muffled voice through the pillow, “Mmm… go away. I feel like crap”. I heard the man walk around the room, the rustle of curtains. A minute later, bright sunlight was pouring into the room. I sat up at this and blinked stupidly. “Who are you anyways”

The man’s dark eyes glinted mischievously. And without warning, those dark eyes rolled to the back of his head to reveal nothing but the whites. His mouth opened to reveal this white teeth and pink tongue, which started to rot before my eyes. His skin seemed to melt off his bones and sag down. I screamed at the sight. But as soon as I had, the man had returned to his ‘normal’ look, instead of looking like a corpse.

“What the fuck are you?!” I spat, staring fearfully at the man, now knowing he was the same walking corpse I’d met at the accident.

He smiled at me, revealing teeth that were white again. I couldn’t help it, I was afraid that they’d start to rot again along with the rest of him. He said in a smooth, soothing voice, “I’m the demon, Mephistophilis. What you just saw was my usual form.”

I glanced at him skeptically, hardly able to believe that this man and that corpse were the same person. “Yeah? So you were born as a rotting body?”

Mephistophilis shook his head at this. “Wrong. I was born as both and neither. Both this body and that are mine, and yet they aren’t” he answered. At my puzzled look he just laughed, "I'm just fucking with you! I'm a demon, I wasn't 'born' in the way you were. I just ... existed one day. That's how it goes around here". He shrugged, "No use explaining it all to you. You won't remember in a few days anyway"

“Why’s that?”

He sighed impatiently, plopping down on the edge of the bed. Well geez, I’m sorry that I died and you have to explain this to me. Bastard. Isn't this sort of you're job?!

He said, “You know, you were a good kid a few years ago, weren’t you? The straight-A’s type. Boy, do kids change nowadays. Back in the day, if you had acted the way you did the other night, your parents would have literally killed you”. He paused frowned at me, "If you were my kid, I would have at least"

I pushed off the heavy sheets and covered and sat cross-legged, peering at Mephistophilis curiously. “What’s that got to do with anything? What’s wrong with wanting a little change?”

Mephistophilis rolled his dark eyes at this. “Oh, nothing’s wrong with it. Except that you committed more sins in one night than you did in the rest of your life put together. And for that, the Laws of Karma say that you’re going to go to Hell and have a miserable time. Or something like that” he said and made a vague gesture with a hand to show it really wasn't all that important, or at least not to him.

I had barely any idea what he was talking about, but I did recognize one word: Hell. I looked around the room frantically, but saw nothing that resembled Hell. No flames, no little devils with pitchforks, no bats, or anything dark like that. Instead, there was just this room, with the walls painted a lavender colour, and the sunlight streaming in from outside, and this guy here who says he’s a demon. “Ummm… would you get mad if I thought you were crazy?”

He, however, just laughed at this. “Mad? No, because it does seem far-fetched. But you are in Hell, believe me. We’ve just changed the look several times since the beginning of time. Do you really expect us to live in a fiery pit for all eternity? Psh… you’re the one who’s out of his mind”. He strode over to the window, motioning for me to follow. I slid off the bed and did just that. Beyond the window was most definitely not my small-town neighborhood. It was like a city out there.

“So, this is Hell? What’s so bad about it?” I asked, pressing my nose to the glass and looking around. The house we were in was one-story that sat on a small plot of grass. Beyond this was more houses, and then towering skyscrapers. And way in the distance, I saw a mountain. A few people were wandering around, but they all looked rather normal. None of them looked like they were about to sprout leathery wings and come chasing after me breathing fire. “I thought Hell was were the bad people’s souls got tortured or whatever”

“Is that what the priests are teaching nowadays? I loose track of it all. It’s rather boring, religion” Mephistophilis said in a dry voice, “No, we just tally the number of souls that pass through here, and then let them move on to reincarnation. It's in your next life that you'll experience Hell.” He turned back to grin at me, "But of course, if you'd been good you wouldn't have such a shitty future life"

“Tally? So you mean, all you demons and angels do is keep track of the number of souls going in and out of this place?” I asked, confused, “And reincarnation is a real thing?”

“Well… yes. Our job is technically to tally the number of souls that pass either through Heaven or Hell. It gets rather competitive though, and each side likes to end up with the most number of souls, so angels and demons go to earth to influence people to lead them to one path or anther. And yes, reincarnation is real, because that’s what you’ll be doing soon, like I said. Pay attention”

I frowned, my head spinning with all this information. I thought back to my brother, and how he’d taught me to be less ‘geeky’ and dress and act differently. “Was a demon possessing my brother when he taught me to be more like him?” I asked.

Mephistophilis snorted at this. “No. You and your brother are just stupid, that’s all”

“Oh” was all I could say. I felt a little hurt. A new question, however, formed in my mind. “What was that you said about the Laws of Karma, again?”

He glanced down at his watch, an grabbed my wrist to drag me out of the room. “We’re going to be late” he grumbled, and blinked down at me. “What was that again?”. I repeated the question and he answered, “Oh, that’s what really makes Hell. See, if you do bad things in life, it’ll come back to bite you in the ass. It’s like the phrase ‘what goes around comes around’. So, in your case, since you decided to be a little less than moral last night, you were destined to die in a car crash. And I bet you have more bad luck coming up in the next life. You'll probably reincarnate as a bearded lady. Have fun with that”

I quickly walked after the man as he dragged me away by the wrist out of the house. The air outside was surprisingly fresh. I thought it’d smell like smog, like it usually does in the cities. The sunlight felt rather nice as well, though there was a chilly breeze. I giggled as I wondered whether or not it snowed here. That would be something. Snow in Hell. I frowned at Mephistophilis’s explanation. “But why didn’t anyone else die at in the crash? Why am I the only one?”

He picked up the pace and practically ran. “How the Hell should I know?” he snapped back at me, “Why’s the sky blue?”

I was about to say, “Because molecules in the air scatter blue light from the sun more than they scatter red light”, but decided this wasn’t an apt time to get into physical sciences. Instead, I ran with Mephistophilis all through Hell and back again. We got a little lost along the way.

---

Kchan: Well, if Mephy isn't THE SINGLE MOST sarcastic grim reaper I've ever seen I'll eat my shoes. Well, ... not really. A new look into the Afterlife as well, because I just love going against old beliefs like that. >> Whatever, hoped you liked.

.:Kyande:.