Spoopy Stories

"A Day In Hell" By: Neontempo

Hell is a room with two doors.
The first shuts behind you as you step inside. It locks into the frame, never to open again. The second door stands at the opposite wall, a solid, implacable barrier, its purpose utterly inscrutable.
As soon as both door are closed, your torment commences. The room houses a single unique punishment, dealt out at the deft sadistic hands of your custodian. You will scream, you will cry, and as you watch your wounds heal just enough to keep the pain fresh, there will nothing you want more than escape.
Once you have endured 24 hours of punishment, you are permitted a day off.
The second door will swing open, revealing a bare, soft lit room. Any time you wish you can pick yourself up and shuffle, unimpeded, through the doorway into a grey stone room. The space is featureless except, as always, for two doors.
As the door shuts behind you, your wounds will heal, your pain will subside and for 24 hours, nothing will happen. There are no special comforts, but in the quiet absence of ceaseless torment you drink every second like ambrosia.
Here's the thing however. When your time is up, when the second door opens and you're pulled inside, you will be in a new room, with a new torment and, importantly, your new punishment will be noticeably worse.
Some take a while to notice the pattern. Some notice immediately but just can't take the pain. They dash through the door as soon as it opens, eager for a day of peace. Those people have it the worst. They descend quickly beyond the realms of imaginable suffering, and their yearning for release will only make those 24 hours more inadequate. All of them will start to think of their earlier punishments alimony fondly, lamenting that they ever set foot in the grey room but unable to stop.
But the real trick is played on those who learn restraint. Those who realize the bone rending torment they're going is better than anything beyond the grey room. Their heart breaks a thousand times, every moment they decide not to step into that next room. Their soul shatters the moment they decide they're going to stay in that room.
Hell is a room with two doors.
The first shuts behind you as you step inside. It locks into the frame, never to open again. The second door stands at the opposite wall, open and waiting. Reminding you with every agonizing second, that this is a Hell you chose.