Hazbin Hotel: Sins and Second Chances

Chapter 3

For a moment, Zack didn't say anything. He just stared at Charlie with the look of a man whose life had been turned around in an instant. Her words swirled in his head, but none of them seemed to connect. Special? Potential? What was she talking about? What's happening?

"I can tell you're confused," Charlie said, her tone gentle with a hint of teasing, almost like she was talking to a child who couldn't quite grasp a single concept. "Let me explain."

Zack shifted in his seat, his mind struggling to catch up with every thing that had happened in the last... how long had it even been? He didn't know, but he felt a headache coming on as Charlie continued.

"You see, Zachary—" She looked at him for a moment. "You mind if I call you Zack?"

He blinked, still too flabbergasted to reply but motioned with a hand that he was fine with it. Charlie smiles and continued.

"You see, Zack. Hell has a bit of a...reputation, wouldn't you say? Fire and brimstone, endless suffering, the lake of fire, endless misery and woe, all that fun stuff." She waved her hand dismissively. "It's not entirely wrong, of course. Souls come down here because, well, they did something bad. Some arrive here at young ages, cut short due their choices they made. Others, well, fate and karma have a way of catching up with everyone eventually."

Zack raised an eyebrow, listening intently as she went on. "But Hell isn't all fire and brimstone. We've evolved. We got indoor plumping now. And cable!" She gave a proud grin, but then her expression relaxed as she leaned forward, resting her elbows on her desk. "Still, the point is, souls come here because they need to be. It's where they land when their choices, their lives, take them down a certain path."

Zack remained silent, his confusion still gnawing at him. He had heard plenty of interpretations of Hell, both during his religious upbringing and from the many broken souls he had counseled. Having it explained to him so casually by what he can only assume was a demon just felt unsettling.

Charlie's smile faded slightly as she straightened, her eyes locking onto his with a strange intensity. "Many fall into a pit they are unable or unwilling to get out of. Many, but not you. Zack. I want to know, what woke you up? What made you change? What got you out of that pit you dug yourself into?" She tilted her head slightly, her tone gentle, her look inquisitive. "Why did you manage to pick yourself up when so many others didn't?"

For a moment, Zack's mind went blank. He blinked, his mouth opened, then closed again, unsure what to say. It wasn't like he hadn't thought about it before. He had. Plenty of times. But putting it into words now, in this strange place with this strange woman, felt like being asked to define the turning point of his entire life.

"I...I don't know." He admitted, his arms resting on his legs as he leaned forward in silent contemplation, his hands clasped together as his thumbs rested under his chin as his hand touched his face. His heart felt heavy, the memories bubbling up to the surface, the darkest moments of his life. The rock-bottom nights, the endless spiral of self-destruction he brought to himself. He swallowed hard; his throat tight as he tried to keep his emotions in check.

But he knew. Deep down, he knew the answer. "It was everything." He started slowly, his voice low and rough. "Losing my wife to my own stupidity. Waking up in a puddle of my own vomit in a trashed-up apartment. I hated myself for what I had become. I hated that I was the one who had done it all... to myself.

Charlie remained silent, listening intently, her red eyes not leaving him.

"I lost my job after coming in drunk." He scoffs, shaking his head. "Here I was supposed to be helping people but there I was, intoxicated, disheveled and slurring every word I said until I had to be escorted out. I got angry... I was an angry drunk." He takes a breath, voice trembling, his hands shaky as they clasp, his grip tight. "I was a fuck up. A major fuck up. Nothing but a pathetic mess. And I hated it. I hated me. But I didn't know how to escape it."

He would fight back tears, eyes shut as he opened up. "I thought about ending it. More than once. But... something kept stopping me. A part of me didn't want to give up. But I was alone. I..." He would feel his eyes water as he starts reliving the awful moments he put himself in. "And then one day someone knocked on my door. Co-worker. I barely knew him. But he saved me. He saved my life."

He swallows, Adams apple bobbing in his throat. "He showed me that I wasn't alone. That I didn't have to give up. I can keep trying. Eventually I threw out every bottle I had, every drop of alcohol in my place. I wanted to be better. I needed to be better. And not just for me."

Zack opened his eyes again, wiping away the tears that were building up and took a deep breath to steady himself. He would slowly meet her gaze. "I wanted to prove I wasn't just some pathetic, drunken loser. I wanted to show that I could be more than that. And when I started getting my life back together, I made a promise to myself I would help others. I would be there for someone when they felt like I did. Because I know what it's like to feel that alone."

For a moment, the room was quiet. Zack's chest heaved slightly as he let the weight of his confession sink in. He had never said all of that out loud. Not like this. Not even at his AA meetings.

Charlie would look at him thoughtfully. And then, slowly, her smile appeared, a soft warm smile that brought a strange sense of comfort to Zack. She seemed to glow just a little brighter. "And that—" she said, her voice gentle. "Is why I believe you're the perfect person for the job."

Zack blinked, his expression shifting from vulnerability to confusion. "Job?" He asked, his brows furrowed as he stood up straight.

Her smile widens, revealing her sharp fangs again. She leaned forward, hands clasped together in front of her, as if preparing to offer him a proposal.

"Yes, Zack. A job."

The words hung in the air, thick with meaning and mystery. Zack's mind whirled with questions.

What kind of job?