Everyone Dies
A middle-aged man is escorted down a hall. Uncountable numbers of doors line each side of the hall. His escort is dress in a maroon suit with a cylindrical hat upon his head. He looks as though he is a bellhop of some sort. After walking for several minutes, they stop at a door. The bellhop unlocks the door and motions the man in.
The room is fairly empty. There is a couch in one corner and a desk in another. Upon the desk are a lamp, some paper and an inkwell. There are no windows. “So this is where I am supposed to stay?” the man asks.
“Yes sir.”
“Can I not at least have a window to see the outside?”
“Outside sir?”
“You know, outside. Beyond the walls of this building.”
“I am not sure of your meaning sir, but whatever you mean, you will not be needing to gaze upon it.”
“What about the bathroom?”
“Why would you need one of those?”
“I suppose you are right. I have no need of food, so why would I need a bathroom?”
“Will that be all sir?”
“I guess. You may go.”
The bellhop nods and rushes out the door silently. As the door shuts, there is the sound of the door’s lock clicking into place. The man glances about the room and then lays down upon the couch. He tries to close his eyes and sleep, but his eyelids do not obey his commands. He hits the couch in frustration when he realizes that he cannot even have the sweet reprieve of sleep to pass the time away.
The man stands and walks over to the desk. After rifling around through the drawers for a few minutes he finds a dusty journal. Its cover is leather and looks as though it could have been sitting in the drawer for ages. It may even have been.
The journal cracks with age as he opens it and begins to read:
To he that finds this tome:
Let it be known that I, Darius Blackstar, once stayed in this room. If you are reading this, you are about to suffer the same fate that I have, whatever it may be. I pity you reader, and if there is a chance that you may escape this fate, good luck to you. Hopefully, you can learn from my experiences here and find a way out.
-Darius Blackstar
Entry #1:
I just got here today. I have no way of measuring time as I wait though. When I got here, I tried to sleep, but I guess I just wasn’t sleepy because sleep wouldn’t come. After tossing around on that uncomfortable couch for who knows how long, I decided to look through this desk. I found this empty journal. I guess I will kill time by writing in it every so often until I can figure a way out of here.
Entry #2:
It has to have been at least a week since I last wrote. I have been unable to sleep. I don’t know why but when I feel weary, I lay down upon the couch and try to sleep, but it won’t come. I can’t even close my eyelids! As soon as I feel as though I can almost fall asleep, my weariness is taken away from me as though a blanket was removed from my body. What is this place?
Entry #3:
There is no day or night in this infernal place! This light bulb never burns out even though it is always on. I can’t find a switch on the lamp to shut it off, nor can I pull the plug from the wall. The cord runs straight into the wall as though it was an extension of it. I tried to smash the bulb but I couldn’t manage to lift the lamp no matter how hard I tried. I don’t understand it, the lamp is not that big, I should be able to lift it with ease. I also tried to unscrew the bulb or crush it with my hand but the bulb burned my hand and I didn’t have the strength to break it. I even tried kicking the thing, but it wouldn’t break. This constant light with no reprieve will drive me mad. Perhaps I can get the bellhop to come back…
Entry #4:
I tried to knock down the door, or at least get the attention of someone on the other side so that I could see something other than this room for once. I made a lot of noise, but I heard nothing on the other side of the door. Nor did I cause any damage to the door itself. Even if I did, I have no way of opening this thing. There is no doorknob, and the door opens towards me. I tried to remove the pins from the hinges, but that didn’t work at all. There must be some way out of here.
Entry #5:
What I wouldn’t do for a mouthful of food right now. I have not eaten a morsel since I got here, yet I am not hungry. I just miss the feeling of food dancing around in my mouth; entertaining my taste buds. Then the glorious feeling of satisfaction as my gut is full of food. I screamed out begging for some food, but I got no response to my pleas. What did I ever do to deserve this?
Entry #6:
I haven’t written in this thing for a long time. I have been lying on the couch trying to collect my thoughts. To the best of my knowledge I must have been here for ten years now. Every second is the same. Never changing. That damn light bulb still glows…
Entry #7:
I must have been in this prison for twenty years now. I have tried everything to get out. There is no way. This place has broken me. I still have not eaten or slept in all the time that I have been here. Why don’t they just let me die? I’m not gonna write in this thing anymore unless I have some real news. It is too depressing.
Entry #8:
Today it must have been fifty years since I got here. I was lying down upon the couch. I forced my eyes closed with my fingers and for the first time in fifty years, I think that I slept. When I reopened my eyes, I noticed that the light was no longer on. I was surrounded by darkness. Soothing darkness. After a while in the darkness, I felt as though I was vanishing from existence. It is quite an indescribable sensation. It was like being under anesthesia, but still fully conscious. Then I felt my thoughts slipping away as the lock to the door clicked open.
The door slowly creaked as the door opened up and the bulb suddenly flashed back to life. My essence too flashed back into being. The bellhop was with a young woman standing in the light of the door. When he saw me, a look of surprise flashed across his features as though he was not expecting me to be here. He quickly shut the door and left. Perhaps there IS a way out of here…
Entry #9:
I know now the way out of here, but I am not sure if I want to leave if that is my only way out. All I have to do is give up all hopes, all desires and allow my soul to expire. It is a way out, but to cease to ever exist or ever have existed? I don’t know if I am ready for that. I realize now, what this place is. I am dead, and this place must be hell.
I guess that I died when the elevator crashed while I was having an affair in that hotel. This must be my punishment for my sins. Damnation until my soul’s fire is completely drained.
Entry #10:
I must have been here for a century now. I have probably been forgotten on Earth by now. I am doing nobody any good by holding onto what is left of my soul. This will be my last entry. I have an opportunity to give myself rest, and I shall take it. My one bit of advice to anyone who reads this is to move on. Do not spend a century torturing yourself as I have. This is what they want you to do. Farewell.
The man stared at the words on the pages for a little while longer and then shut the book. He had been an assassin in life. He was murdered after he double-crossed a crime boss. He looked about the room in despair. He was in hell. He sat down next to the door and allowed his soul to slowly be released. The lamp in the room grew dim, and then extinguished. As the man’s essence slowly vanished. When he was just a shadow of a human being, the lock clicked open and the bellhop entered the room with a child.
Suddenly, the man snapped is soul back from the void and is essence became whole again. The bellhop did not notice as the man silently moved behind him. The man grabbed the bellhop’s head and with a quick twist, the bellhop dropped to the ground and vanished. The man sprinted out the door and closed it behind him, leaving the child inside.
He looked left and right, hoping that there was no one to be seen. There was none. He sprinted down the hall until he came to a flight of stairs. He opened the door to the stairway and ascended them. If he had a heart, it would probably have been pounding.
He climbed, two steps at a time, for maybe an hour. Finally, he came to a doorway marked “mortal plain” and there where also more stairs. Should he go back to Earth? Should he climb the stairs in hopes of finding heaven?
He pushed open the door and looked around. He was in a large room with a huge globe in the center. He ran up to the globe and reached for his home. Suddenly, he felt himself falling. He could see the ground fast approaching. Soon he crashed into the ground. He was alive again.
He had conquered hell. He was free! He laughed at the craziness of it all. Then he heard a laughing. The man got up and looked around. He saw the bellhop laughing.
“Did you really think that you could escape your sins so easily?”
“Who are you?”
“I have many names. I have been called Beelzebub, Lucifer, and Moloch, but you probably know me as Satan.”
The man started to back away slowly. Then he turned and sprinted. “You fool! You cannot escape me! You are only punishing yourself! By running I will have to destroy your soul as punishment!”
The man paused and then yelled over his shoulder, “You where gonna do that anyway! I read it in Darius’ journal!”
“You are mistaken. As was he. What you thought was your soul being destroyed was really your sins being forgiven after contemplation, a kind of ‘time out’ for your soul. When you realize the weight of your sins, your soul is reborn in a new body for another chance. By running you forfeit your chance to make up for it and your soul will be destroyed.”
“Yeah? And what about when I have no sins in life?”
“Then you go to heaven for eternity.”
The man screamed, “LIAR!!” He once again began his sprint. Suddenly, his body began to rise. It began to bulge. Soon his body exploded.
Satan nodded his head from side to side slowly. “I hate it when they do that.”
He then vanished.
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