1 The Red Hall

A man sat in purgatory wondering what fate had befallen him. He already passed on to the after life but nothing seemed to be different than before. He closed his eyes when a freezing cold grip pulled his soul out of his body. He now was sitting in a waiting room with about a thousand other people.

He kept trying to ask the officials that were standing around what was going on, but of course, no one had decided to answer him, as he was just another soul waiting around for judgement. What kind of judgement would he see? He ran through his head what he had done wrong throughout his life, but he didn't even remember any of what his life was. Did everyone forget their lives in the after life, or was it just him?

Was death just one step in the game of living?

He had amnesia. All he could remember was getting there. He decided to ask someone else. Maybe they'd tell him.

"I do remember my life." A young girl said. "I remember it all up to the point of dying in a car accident."

Why did he forget his life? Were they going to tell him? Where was he?

"Attention all souls, please come up to the window, in an orderly fashion."

The line had become a mile long, but was moving at an oddly fast pace.

People were handed tickets of different colors and variety of symbols on them. The little girl acquired a gold colored ticket with a smiley face in the middle. His ticket was red with a black skull looking straight at him laughing. He thought, this can't be good.

He felt sick to his stomach. What could be going on? That's generally an ominous sign.

"Alright, it seems that all of the souls here in this particular group (that comprised of at least 1000 souls) have been given a ticket. Go to the door with your color on it. Then a guide will take you to your symbol."

The girl skipped to the gold door. Where a person in a blue uniform with a smiley pin awaited. "Hello, and welcome to the gold door. Whenever everyone's here we shall figure where you all go."

The man walked to the red door. Where he saw a man in a green uniform with long pointed green painted finger nails. "This is the red door. Where you'll find there isn't much of a chance to escape. You will face ultimate challenges, but I'm not supposed to tell you this so, keep it a secret." He spoke like a snake, and he slithered like one too. His full body movements made him seem like a sneaky devil.

All of the others that were supposed to go to the red door had come. A lot of them looked like gangsters, pirates, mobsters, and some normal looking guys.

What had he been in his previous life? A confidence man? What could he possibly have done wrong? He wondered.

"Alright the whole group is here. I guess you get to find out what your fate is. I need your ticket, and your name please."

Oh no. The man thought. He did not know his name. The whole group went in front of him giving the man their tickets and names.

"Sir, please hand me your ticket. You don't have a choice, the souls have to keep moving along."

"Here, problem is, I don't know who I am. Is there a way for anyone to find out?"

"Oh. Let me check your ticket. Huh, a black skull. They'd be able to tell you who you are in that room. Come along, everyone will get to their room."

The green uniformed man walked to the door and pulled out a key shaped like a red dragon with green horns. A swirling black vortex opened up in front of the crowd of people.

"Alright, everyone has to go through the portal to get to the hall."

They went through the vortex, and they all felt a heavy sensation like the breath being sucked right out of them, even if they were just souls, they felt alive. This was the effect of limbo.

They eventually appeared into a maroon painted hallway with green and red checkered tile. There were hundreds of doors, closed and waiting to be opened by the men and women awaiting their fates.

"Okay, time to find out where you're headed. Who's first?" The uniformed man pulled out a ticket from a box like it was a lottery.

"Anthony Mills, red room with the teeth mark symbol. Time to go." The man who didn't know who he was wondered what that could mean. The uniformed man took Anthony, a short skinny brunette to the room with the teeth. The picture on the door was a mouth with blood and guts smeared upon the incisors.

"Excuse me sir, what does the room with the teeth mean?" Another man asked.

"That is not anyone's business. Of course, you can ask anyone else who has the teeth marks on their tickets. But, who would want others to know what horrible deeds a person should pay for?"

"I'm sorry I asked." The other man said.

The green uniformed demon went speedy through the tickets, and then he finally came to the black skull, by this point only the man with amnesia was left.

"Oh, wow. One of a thousand. Not surprising, as I don't get a black skull ticket that often. For good reason though. Time to go in. I'm glad I drew yours last. Actually, I've decided I want to take you to the room personally. Come with me."

They went all the way to last door of the hallway. It only took fifteen minutes to actually walk down to the 100th door, the spacial differences between the real world and this one were surprising.

The demon in the green uniform opened the hundredth door, and a glaring light blinded them as they ventured in. A magenta and black colored room appeared in front of them, with an altitudinous man wearing a red suit, smiling smugly.

"Hello Johann Hansel. Thank-you for joining me." The man with a spiky, red, lengthy tail and tall composure introduced himself.