Where All Souls Meet

by S. E. Campbell

  Rebecca sat by Lizzy's hospital bed in a white on white room. The room was quiet and lonely.

  "Oh, please, please, wake up," Rebecca said. "Please."

  There was once again nothing but silence. Rebecca stared at her friend, pleading with her to wake up. Her bottom lip quivered.

  "I gave up my fashion show for you, Lizzy," Rebecca said. "The one thing I've always wanted more than anything else in the whole world. You understand why you have to wake up now, don't you? Don't you?"

  In his rage about what he had just seen, Satan stood and Eden screamed as she rolled onto the ground at the foot of his throne. Even the shadow demons backed away from him now, frightened of his wrath. Satan stepped down from his throne and seized her by her neck. Pain seared through her soul at his burning touch and the sound of his voice.

  All five of his heads spoke. "You blocked your thoughts from me. Where are they? What have you done?"

  "You… lose…" Eden said.

  Satan, understanding, dropped her on her back and turned to gaze at the chapel to his right. With another growl of anger, he stormed toward it, only now a bright white light ripped through the heavens and the ground shook below them. The dark red beam of light shooting from the Blood Stone temple was replaced by a bright white light. It cut through the darkness in the sky and parted the darkness as if it was a curtain of blackness.

  I did it. I actually did it. Eden lay back on the ground with her eyes wide. I can't believe it.

  The ground rumbled and, with a roar, sunlight appeared again in the sky of red. The shadows let out screams of horror as they guarded their faces and fell backward. Just like the black veil in the sky, the light tore through them; they dissipated into a mist and were gone. As the darkness disappeared completely, there was the sound of many Satan Spawn screeching came from behind her. The mist, which was at her feet, began to withdraw at a rapid pace. As the golden light touched the retreating vapor, the clouds disappeared in steam, floated upward, and then disappeared.

  Satan stood, all five heads gaping and wide-eyed, and let out a loud, ringing wail. He screamed again and again, louder and louder. His voice cut through her ears, causing them to burn.

  The sound of sweet, heavenly music filled the air as dots poured from the sky and flew downward. It took Eden a moment to realize what those dots were. Angels. Angels poured from the open gates of heaven. She sat up and spun around and watched as the dead plains in front of her went from yellow to green, the smell of flowers filling the air. Eden shut her eyes and listened to the call of the heavens, so moved she felt as if her heart was full. She had not realized how dark the world was until this moment, until she felt the presence of God again. It was like being overwhelmed with love that filled every inch of her soul. It was warm and hopeful. Beautiful. When she opened her eyes, she beamed — in relief, in hope, in so many things. It was over. No more fighting demons in dark pits, no more anything. She had accomplished a greater task than she had ever imagined possible, and with her success, she felt something she had never felt before. Pride in herself and the belief she was actually worth something.

  She was a person worthy of being here. Self-love filled her, the one thing she had needed to learn. A smile crossed her face as she realized there had been a reason behind her task after all.

  Are my friends okay? She ran from the street, ignoring the sound of thuds behind her by an unknown source, and sprinted toward The Blood Stone chapel. When she arrived, her five friends left the chapel along with Henry and Thema. Bathed in light, the chapel didn't appear formidable anymore. It looked sad and small. It was hard to imagine so much evil had poured from the building.

  "Eden," Yuri said when he saw her. He crunched over broken glass upon the ground as a big grin lit up his face.

  "Eden," Thema said.

  "You're okay," her mom said.

  "Thank Heavens," Edward said. "We all thought you… you…"

  A strange expression crossed Adanna's face. She appeared to be staring over Eden's left shoulder.

  A bright light flashing above her distracted her from Adanna. The light was not like she had seen before. She saw flowers and sunlight and smelled Earth. She realized she was about to be sent to heaven.

  "Eden, behind you," Adanna said for the first time. Her voice was deep for a girl's, just like she remembered it.

  The world stilled. Seconds before she was pulled upward to enter the disk of light, two cold hands wrapped around her waist; she smelled death and tasted sulfur upon her tongue. Her friends gasped and she stared straight into Adanna's eyes.

  "I may not have the world, but I will get you," Satan said from behind her. "Did you think I would ever let you go after what you have done?"

  Then she was ripped backward at such a rapid pace her eyes blurred. A pair of hands locked her to a cold chest. Satan's five heads glared at a shattered piece of glass on the ground. Before her friends could react, Satan stared down into the reflective glass and growled. In the image, Eden saw a world of darkness and endless plains.

  She realized she was not going to heaven. She was going somewhere worse than Zemithstai and the other world. She was going to hell.

  Chapter Ten

  When Eden was pulled through the mirror, she arrived in a world full of endless darkness. Hell was different than what she had imagined. There was no endless fire which filled the soul and seared the heart. There weren't even pits of lava or caves in sight. No, the first thing Eden could say about hell was loneliness. There was barren land all around her and sizzling heat. Terrible, terrible heat from an unknown source.

  Eden spun around and stared at Satan.

  "Welcome to hell," he said. "The place I call my home. The place God has condemned me to."

  "He didn't send you here," Eden said. "You sent you here. You shouldn't have betrayed Him."

  "Still a mouthy little monster, even here where God has no voice," Satan said, grabbing her neck and holding her. "He sent me here, and all the people in the world who could not complete their precious tasks will end up as my personal guests when the world ends for good. You didn't know that about your God, did you? The humans don't need me to destroy them. They'll destroy themselves, and at the end, this is where most of them will end up. Some kindness he shows you. Some mercy. But I'm not complaining. So many will belong to me and so will you."

  With a growl, Satan threw her to the ground. The soil was so hot it was like being placed on a skillet, but this time, her energy didn't go anywhere. All she felt was searing agony.

  "Ugh," she said, jumping to her feet. She danced around, fighting down the urge to scream, even as her feet seared through her shoes. Her fists clenched as she tried to endure the agony.

  "No reincarnation once you get here, either," Satan said. "Just pain. Endless. Wonderful."

  Get me out of here. Eden continued to hop from foot to foot, wincing each time her skin made contact with the ground. Her breath left her chest in shaky gasps. She found herself sympathizing with meat on a barbeque – the heat and pain were endless. Her feet should have been shriveling and bubbling with blisters.

  "You are going to regret everything you have done, Eden," Satan said. "You are going to be trapped here. But first, I'm going to leave you alone."

  "What?" Eden felt shocked.

  "Don't you know?" Satan asked. "You are such a pathetic race. You claim constantly, 'I do this on my own, I do that on my own. I don't need anyone.' Meanwhile, God stays behind you wiping your butts and pushing you the right way when you get lost. Here, there is no God. You are going to feel it now. Somebody like you, who has been helped the most, is going to miss Him and I am going to enjoy watching."

  "Wait." Eden raised her hand.

  But Satan was gone. She didn't know how he managed to disappear so quickly or where he had gone to, but Eden found herself standing alone in the middle of heat-filled hell. Suddenly she felt deep, intense loneliness. It crept through her soul and straight into her heart. A groan of despair burst from her throat b
efore she could stop it. You have to walk… Have to walk… Have to get out of here.

  She tried to fight down the horrifying thought there was no escape. Not this time.

  ****

  Eden walked and walked and walked until she found herself staggering. There was no magical way out. There were no glistening soul lights in the distance. There was just her, her and unimaginable heat. It was worse than being trapped in a prison cell, worse even than being pursued by every demon in existence. It was being truly alone and knowing it.

  And being angry.

  And being sad.

  It was perpetual Morsus with no hope of escape. Plus, the more she hiked, the more she felt as though her feet might sear off completely. Though she knew her feet would not burn off, she would be forced to endure the agony for all eternity. That was a fate worse than reincarnation or anything else in purgatory.

  "Help me," she screamed as she walked. "Yuri, Mom! Please help me! God? How could you let this happen to me! It was supposed to be over!"

  She stared up and heard no reply but her own echoing voice. It was a sound she had begun to loathe. Why am I stuck down here? I gave God everything. I completed the task. Surely there was no way God would abandon her down here in such an empty place.

  Her answer was not seen but felt.

  "How could you do this to me?" Eden screamed, hearing her own voice echo back at her yet again. "How could you abandon me in hell when I did everything you asked of me? How could you abandon me? How could you?"

  She heard her words echo along the chamber. "How could you abandon me?" She wrapped her arms around herself, shuddered, and continued her journey.

  ****

  Eden did not know how long she had been in hell. Days, weeks, minutes. All she knew was she felt maddened. All of her time in Purgatory, all of the horrors, could not equal those she felt while being alone here. It was torture of the mind, the lingering loneliness and the hurt from memories she had tried to shove aside. She missed her mom, missed her dad, and missed Yuri. Finally, Eden got so tired of the same terrain she tumbled onto the ground, drew her chin up to her knees, and began to rock back and forth. The heat seared her behind, but she was long past the point of caring. She barely managed a wince. Shutting her eyes and rocking made her feel less alone, if only for just a minute.

  Despite how long she lingered in the heat, it did not weigh less on her thoughts. It was searing and intense. Far stronger than anything she had experienced before. Her memories of her family were a curse as well as a gift, because they reminded her of what she was missing down here in the pit. Sitting and waiting and remembering.

  Fifteen-year-old Eden stood on the fire escape, staring out at the cold New York horizon as her breath left her mouth in a cool haze. When she checked her watch, she saw it was two o'clock in the morning, but she didn't care. She didn't care she was freezing, either. Where is she? Eden thought. Where is my mom?

  Still Eden waited, and then there was the sound of loud chattering as well as someone kicking an aluminum can somewhere down the road. She then heard the sound of laughter as somebody rounded the corner and appeared at the base of the alleyway. A second person followed after. Eden couldn't help herself. She leaned further down, curious.

  Sure enough, it was her mom. Rebecca ambled down the road arm in arm with a bearded man with a bulging stomach. Eden shivered and shook her head.

  There was the sound of a glass door opening behind her, and she spun slowly around and saw her dad standing at the threshold of the door. There was exhaustion in his narrow eyes, and Eden saw the burning anger there too. She took a step forward to head inside, wishing he had not come outside, especially now.

  She heard the sound of loud giggling behind her again and then her mom said, "Stop it, Doug. Stop it."

  Her dad headed out onto the fire escape and stared down. Eden wrapped her arms around herself, expecting him to start yelling. Instead he kept peering down, silent. Her mom and Doug formed a large, bulging mass against the wall as they kissed and whispered things to one another.

  "Come on, Eden," her dad said, offering her his hand.

  "What?" Eden frowned at his palm.

  "Just come on." He grabbed her arm and pulled her inside the apartment.

  Once the two of them were inside, her dad walked toward the television and flipped it on and sat down in front of it. Confused, Eden followed behind him.

  "Dad?" she said. "Aren't you going to stop her?"

  "No," her dad said.

  "Why not?" Eden asked.

  "I don't care about what she does," her dad said. "What I care about is you."

  She silently approached the couch as her dad changed the channel. With a frown, Eden sat next to him and stared at the screen as he turned on a movie. There was a throw blanket on the couch and he tossed her one end and kept the other. The two of them were silent for a moment. Eden couldn't help but wonder how long her mom would remain outside, embarrassing herself.

  "Dad…" She glanced at her father.

  "Mmm." Her dad did not look at her.

  "Aren't you jealous?" Eden asked.

  "Of what?" he asked.

  "Of the man with mom," Eden said.

  "Eden, you have seen your mom and how she behaves." Her dad shook his head. "Maybe in the beginning I hated it, but now, I don't care anymore."

  "You… aren't going to get a divorce, are you?" Eden asked.

  "Not unless your mom asks for one," he said.

  Both of them were silent. Zombies stormed a lone woman standing in the middle of a street on the television. They tore her apart. The actress shrieked and disappeared amongst a mass of undead. Eden shivered.

  "Do you love mom at all anymore?" she finally asked.

  Her dad didn't say a word. Eden stole another glance at the zombies, devouring the woman on the screen, and now she felt as if the actress was her. She was drowning beneath the undead. Her dad had taken a part of her and her mom had too. She jumped to her feet and her dad glanced up at her.

  "Don't you want to watch the rest of the movie?" he asked.

  "I'm scared of zombies," she said.

  "Since when?" her dad asked. "You've been watching movies like this since you were eight years old."

  "I'm tired, Dad," she said. "Got school tomorrow. You got work, too."

  "Who needs sleep?" her dad said, but then he flipped off the television, stood up, and walked toward his bedroom. Eden silently stared after him and then went to her bedroom too.

  The sound of thundering feet brought her back from her stupor. She glanced up, straight into the eyes of Satan himself. He stood before her, five-headed and angry. He had appeared out of nowhere.

  "You," Eden said, struggling to her feet. For some reason, she felt exhausted though she was a soul.

  "Yes, it is I," Satan said.

  "You left me down here for weeks," Eden said.

  All five of Satan's faces grew a cruel smile. "No, I didn't."

  "How long was I down here for?" she asked.

  "An hour. I've been watching you." Satan began to walk around her, grinning. "Do you want to know the best part? This is it. You will never leave. How does it make you feel? In hell, there is no hope. No hope at all."

  "No," Eden said. "I don't belong down here." She paused and glanced up at the sky. "God, please help me. Come get me. Please."

  There was once again silence.

  "He can't hear you," Satan said. "But my fun has just begun."

  "What do you mean?" Eden asked.

  "Didn't you hear me say I was going to torture you until you could stand no more?" Satan asked. "You cost me everything."

  Eden couldn't imagine being hurt worse than she had already been. She couldn't imagine being lonelier or in more pain. Yet Satan stepped closer and seized her by her hair. He ripped her against him, causing her scalp to sear worse than her feet. She cried out and struggled, desperate to escape.

  "I've noticed you appear to be fond of going into the memories of others," Sa
tan said with a grin on his face. "You've seen the good in your friends, but now I am going to show you the evil in them. Every. Last. One."

  Satan shoved his free hand straight into her heart and she felt pulsing heat. She was burning, burning from the inside out, and then she was gone.

  Chapter Eleven

  Eden stood in Adanna's room staring straight ahead. Eden remembered the room from Adanna's memory. A purple book bag sat on the bed. Adanna turned around and retrieved it, swinging it over her shoulder.

  I get to skip school today. Yes. Adanna practically clicked her heels together at the thought as she walked toward the door at the base of the attic. Once she opened the door, she heard her parents screaming. Her parents never fought. She froze.

  "But I want to go with Adanna on her birthday," Thema said. "Please, please, please."

  "I'm sorry, Thema, but we shouldn't even be letting Adanna skip school," her mom said. "But a thirteenth birthday is a big deal."

  Thank goodness. Adanna frowned. Having Thema along would be a nightmare, not a birthday present.

  "We'll be home tonight, and you'll get to go with us to take Adanna out to dinner and to have cake." Her dad's voice was warm. "Come on, Thema. It's all right."

  In response to his words, Thema burst into tears and loud cries filled the hallway. Adanna continued to linger in the hall and waited it out. She frowned at her feet.

  "Okay, okay," her mom said, raising her voice so it could be heard over the wailing. "It really isn't fair Thema doesn't get to go. Maybe we could—"

  "No!" Adanna said, jumping out at them. She panted. "I don't want Thema to come. I want it to be just us."

  Silence filled the hallway. Thema gazed at her with big eyes and tears poured down her cheeks. Her two fat ponytails were askew and her bottom lip trembled. I hate it when she looks at me with such big eyes. A nine-year-old shouldn't be so good at pouting. Thema stepped toward Adanna with her hands open as if to give her a hug. Adanna stepped backward until her back hit the wall and frowned at her.