As my eyes opened, I expected heaven. When I opened my eyes, the sky was dark. The stormy, grey clouds rolled on forever and ever. I looked around, it was clear I wasn’t in heaven. I tried to move but I couldn’t, I was stuck. Then, I looked up, and I saw two things. A long, snaking, thin line going in both directions. I also saw, a man I knew very well standing directly in front of me in line. It was Eddie Richards, Eddie had led a good life. It was that moment, that he turned and smiled.


Eddie’s smile was the greatest I had ever seen, so genuine and understanding. His hair was back, and he looked fitter. His cough was gone. That was the part that was most unsettling about watching your best friend get lung cancer, it was the cough. It started like a normal cough, but progressed into a husky death rattle in the final months. We never knew why Eddie got lung cancer, he wasn’t a smoker. As glad as I was to see Eddie, I realized as he told me that we were going to be judged based on our lives, that I was in trouble. Oh, how I wanted to switch with Eddie then. I hoped that there was a witch doctor or something who could switch our fates with black magic or something. However the person behind us didn’t look that appealing. His teeth were yellowed and crusty, his skin had brown spots all over it, and he didn’t exactly smell that great either. Just then Eddie pointed out what we were heading to, and just underneath the clouds I saw the castle.

The castle was made of dark, smooth obsidian. The spires rose high, and it looked very imposing. I looked to my sides. In sharp contrast to the grey clouds, a very vibrant set of scenes was occurring. I saw a large, concrete wall, and it had barbed wire on it. I saw thin people running around being ordered by officers in grey uniforms with swastikas. In the next panel, I saw people coughing, they were not coughing as Eddie had cough, with its slow, dry husky tone. These people were coughing up blood, and had large black buboes on their bodies. I told Eddie what I had seen, he looked at me like I was insane. He said he didn’t see those things, he saw the glitz of the Roaring Twenties and the prosperity of the 1950s. I asked about the sky he said he saw clear, bright cerulean with puffy cumulus clouds. Then, I figured out that what you saw here, depended on your life, and fate.

My life, much in contrast to Eddie’s wasn’t very nice. It was April 19th, 1945, I had just come back from the war. I was young and stupid, so I thought it would be a good idea to go get a candy bar from the convenience store just up the road. I had my money, I walked into the store got my candy bar and went to the checkout counter. The clerk was dressed in a white t-shirt and blue jeans. He said I didn’t have enough money. I had $1.49, and I was one cent from buying that candy bar. He told me to get out of line to serve the next customer, but I didn’t move. The man in line behind to me shoved me out of the way. My hand feel to the gun in my pocket. I always carried a gun for self defense. The cold metal felt so soothing. I was extremely angry. Without really thinking about it, I pulled it out and shot that clerk. It was a clean shot, ripped through his body and out. Then, I was scared, I didn’t want to go to jail. So, I killed everyone else in the store. All eighteen of them. I got away with it then, I don’t know if I would be so lucky here.

When I walked, I talked to Eddie. He was content to talk as we always talked, very light-hearted. When Eddie talked he rambled on and on about this and that, and eventually he would get serious about something. Then, you had to pay attention, but then he would continue rambling and you would continue tuning him out. I continued to watch the scenes up to the dark castle. I realized that they got more faint as we entered.
We were in a large cavernous hall, there were obsidian floors and ceilings. The whole place was majestic. On our sides there were smooth, flat metal doors . These doors appeared to change shape as people entered them. I saw, wood, metal, plastic, materials I had no name for, ornate doors, simple ones, but they all faded into the ominous silver sheen. As we walked I was getting more nervous. I saw a creamy, white marble door .

I walked in and saw a thin man in black robes. He had a grey skeletal face with shaggy black hair, his eyes were empty and sad, a dull gray color. He spoke with a reedy whisper. I could see Eddie as he silently sat at the opposite end of an ornate wooden table. Carved into the dark cherry wood was a beautiful picture of a cotton field, however the serenity of the carving was marred by the inclusion of several people, they were picking cotton. One was being whipped. I couldn’t believe that someone would ruin such a beautiful carving with such a somber image. I was about to ask, then the man pointed to a small chair on the side, so I sat in it. Then he spoke, “Edward Richards” he said formally. “ Your life has been a good one has it not?”. Eddie got a confused look on his face, “Umm” he said nervously. He clearly was trying to not give the wrong answer. He finally settled on “Yes, sir” after a few moments of quiet deliberation. “You” said The Ruler pointing his gnarled, and mangled finger at me, “Has he led a good life.” I was about to say “Yes, of course he’s my buddy” but I froze. Suddenly, a feeling of revulsion and jealousy swept over me. It was the same kind of anger that I had felt on that day I shot 18 people. I have tried to forget that day, that anger, but I never truly have. Oh, how I wanted to be in Eddie’s place. Eddie looked at me pleadingly. “No, his life was awful and horrid” I said. The Ruler looked at me sadly and said “You are lying to me, this just further confirms my ruling on your life”. It was that look that he gave me that disdainful, disappointed, slightly hateful look that made me instantly regret what I said. Eddie clearly hated my guts now, I just sat confused and shocked as to what had just happened. Eddie went to the 1950s. The last thing he did to me was give me a long stare. He never broke eye contact with me his entire way through the room. Those eyes, those once beautiful, happy eyes were now full of hatred.

It was my turn. The Ruler turned to me, he looked at me, emotionless our faces reflected in the dark cherry wood of the table. He spoke “Your decision was an easy one. Your life was horrible. I will not even bother asking a trashy, ignorant person like you, your opinion. In your heart you know what I say is true.” I was not surprised by this, but I thought he would let me off easy. Then he declared “ For your awful life, you will live forever in Mississippi as a slave. You will have no name, you will leave no indelible mark. I was about to protest, but I noticed an invisible force carving another figure into the dark cherry wood. I realized it was me, I was getting lynched by white robed men.

I looked up at The Ruler, who was emotionless and watching me. “Please, sir” I said in a voice not my own. “Spare me, Spare me”. Suddenly I broke down and wailed. “please PLEASE” I wept. The Ruler looked on with disdain. “ You he said are the same as the other lazy, mean cons who come in here and waste my time. You are too ignorant to realize how deceitful and mean you are, but when you are told by me. You break down and cry like the people affected by your unfortunate life. You make me sick, get out of here.” I stayed, not wanting to believe what I had just heard. “I said” he seethed angrily “GET OUT OF HERE” His voice boomed and echoed across the spacious empty room. I ran out as fast as my legs could carry me. I walked the passageway with doors. Suddenly, a door changed, it changed to a ramshackle, wooden door, it had bloody streaks across the frame. As I entered, I looked up at the door number, it read 666.