Not Another Bloody Prophecy

Chapter 35

It had been two days since Chloe had spoken to Lee, and during that time, Chloe had spoken to five more souls.

Out of those five souls, Chloe only saw one actually walk through the door. A woman whose 4-year-old son had died in a car crash when she was at the wheel, and the guilt had condemned her to Hell. The Hell-loop had been the woman living through that experience and having her son die in her arms over and over again for all of eternity. The poor woman hadn't even known she was in Hell until Chloe explained it to her. It had taken some time, but Chloe had been able to convince her that if she walked through her own door, then she could finally be with her son again.

The woman had been convinced that Chloe was an angel, even though the detective denied it and told her that she was just dating one. They had shared a laugh. The woman had hope in her eyes as she walked through the door.

Chloe couldn't see anything but pure light on the other side. Much like how she could see nothing but darkness beyond Hell's doors.

Unfortunately, the other four souls had chosen to stay, unable to see beyond their guilt. Chloe hoped that the seed she had planted in their minds grew, and they joined the woman.

Dilo followed Chloe around Hell, but he didn't join her in the loops. She hadn't told anyone of what she was up to, but she was sure Dilo had his suspicions. He may be gullible, but he wasn't completely stupid. But even if he had figured it out, he didn't say.

Chloe chose another unchained door at random, preparing to go inside. Dilo stood silently behind her, just watching her curiously. "Here we go," Chloe said as she stepped through the darkness.

Chloe found herself in a wooded area that felt eerily familiar. It was nighttime, and the lights of Los Angeles could be seen. There was a bench overlooking the vast city, and Chloe was more than surprised to see Amenadiel and Charlotte sitting there.

She clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the gasp when she saw someone. Someone she thought she once knew.

Marcus Pierce... Or Cain, stayed hidden behind some brush, aiming a gun at Amenadiel.

This must be Marcus' loop, reliving the moment he killed Charlotte. Chloe didn't know what to do, so she stayed silent and stayed where she was, only a few feet away from her ex-fiancé. She certainly hadn't been expecting this, and she had many mixed emotions regarding it.

Marcus took aim, and pulled the trigger. Chloe didn't want to watch, but she couldn't pull her gaze away when the bullet seemed to fly at them in slow motion. Charlotte suddenly stood up and blocked Amenadiel, only she wasn't Charlotte.

She was... Chloe.

Or a demon dressed up as Chloe. "NO!" Marcus yelled in horror as the bullet pierced demon-Chloe's chest, staining her shirt red with blood. Amenadiel just seemed to vanish into thin air without a trace. Demon-Chloe collapsed unto the ground and coughed up blood. Marcus dropped the gun and ran to demon-Chloe's side.

Chloe -real Chloe- watched as the world's first murderer cradled the woman he believed to be the one he loved and sob as he apologized, saying that he thought she was someone else.

Chloe didn't know what to do. She expected herself to feel sympathy for someone in such pain, but she couldn't. When she looked at Marcus, at Cain, all she could see was the trail of dead bodies. All she could see was Charlotte's lifeless body being cradled in Dan's arms. All she could see was the pain this man had caused. Some intentional, and some not.

Chloe couldn't think of anything to say to convince him to walk through his door, and she found that she didn't want to.

Chloe had many mixed emotions as she turned around and headed back to the rest of Hell through the other door that stood in the woods.