Foreigner

Chapter 1: Limbo

Beatrice told me to prepare whatever I need, though she did say that anything on me won't come through the portal like phones, keys and personal items. She did say my clothes are unaffected, perhaps there was one time someone came in naked and made her add that rule onto it, as I see a sticky note that reads, 'Please wear something. Just anything that isn't too sexy.' I wore the uniform Beatrice first gave me...I wasn't sure why, I could have simply wore my casual clothing and it will be just fine. But then I remember I need a cover-up story. I'll just say that my job has a training program that all new employees go through! Sounds definitely not a lie at all! I pat myself on the back by how bad I am in lying.

Early morning rise, I made my way into the bakery. I knocked on the closed door and soon came Beatrice, who unlocked it and ushered me inside. She soon locks the door since technically today is her off day. Looking around, I noticed that the tables and chairs were not set up like usual, it was an empty space and it felt unnatural. I look over at Beatrice, "So, what do I need to do?" I inquired as Beatrice mutters incoherent words to herself, pacing back and forth before looking back at me. "All you need to do is get to the very end of Hell. There should be a gateway that leads you back to the Human Realm." I stared at her baffled at her response. "And no, you can't enter where you first entered, a demon in particular will immediately shut it behind you if you try to flee." I stare at her very annoyed. She quickly backtrack and explains, "Ah well! You see, this demon in particular is the reason why gateways existed! Gateways are powered by the energy that is invisible to our eyes except the demons. I don't know what is the phenomenon of this or why we even have this. But that's nature baby!" She finger guns at me as if this was all a comedy sketch. I look at her unamused. I felt like I actually sighed up my early demise by listening to a poor young woman with the interests of demonic behaviour. She seem sheepish and simply coughed awkwardly.

"All I know in Limbo is that there is only one person that actually helps the people who go there. However, people misunderstood his intentions and they ran away, into holes of explosions or lava or just about anything." She unhelpfully informs me with this random fact. I stand in front of this innocent door, the door's surface was scratched by fingers and a few footprints were stomped aggressively against the poor wooden door. Beatrice looks at me and back at the door before continue, "Well...people have tried to barge the door open from the inside and I did try to open it from here too...As you can see, it doesn't work." I wonder why you kept trying even though it doesn't work the first time. If setting something on fire doesn't work twice, I would have decided to leave the problem to someone else instead of trying. I grip the door handle, I felt the sudden surge of energy through me, as if zapping me with electric shocks. I can barely hear anything from Beatrice, I could vaguely see her frantically trying to pull me away. But, I witness a black hand grip my hand on the door handle, it allures me close, as if beckoning me to witness what was beyond the door. My vision fades, with the last thing I hear was Beatrice screaming.

...

...

...

"Ugh..."

"Where am I..."

I wake up. I sit up and look to see I was lying against a hard surface. It was all red, like what a cartoon show would depict hell like. Memories catching up to me, I realised I am already here, in Limbo.

I look around and saw many people, their appearance may look human but the transparency of them made me question on what the actual crap is happening. Some were grovelling at a statue of an angelic figure with a sword while others were yelling at the redden skies. I soon hear screaming of people as I saw a crowd was being chased by vaguely human beings that resembles of birds with their gigantic grey wings. Their claws, bloodied and sharp, on the hunt for many unfortunate souls who come here. I check myself, to see if I was still alive. I realised I am still the same, I wasn't see-through nor do I feel nothing. In fact, I felt like I am on fire. A sudden scream can be heard when I look up and see creatures that look a mismatch of between human and beast chasing after the poor souls that come after...Souls? Souls...Yes, these transparent humans are souls. Not of the material body of the human, they only resemble the image of the once human body they embodied. I get up, a miracle that I wasn't injured in the slightest during my sudden black out. I turn and see that the door that I go through, it was barged shut, with comically large locks and few graffiti words that reads, 'Nice try suckers!'