I opened my eyes. The lights shown harshly into them making me blink several times. The pale room dazzled with a white that was almost clinical. Groggily, I gradually hauled myself upright, as I did so I felt a wave of callous nausea crash over me like a caustic tidal wave. I heaved forward, jerking my legs till my head was between my knees, I pushed back a flourish of acidic vomit as I sat there waiting for the sickness to pass at an excruciatingly slow rate. Being mindful not to move my head too swiftly, I looked around. Hazed lines began to form into row upon row of tiles lining the walls and the floor of the small room I found myself in. In a corner of the room, a metallic steel door trapped me in the claustrophobic space. A metal plateau of sorts, which was placed judiciously in the middle of the room, suspended me a few feet in the air. Suddenly, I noticed a long plastic tube connected to an IV pierced into my arm. Abruptly panicked, I swatted it out of my limb and the repulsively long needle slipped painlessly from my appendage. I sighed rather embarrassed at my, in hindsight, irrational squeamishness. I swung my legs over the metal plateau, and again felt my head swim in a disgusting pool of queasiness, I immediately ceased to move as I let it wash away. As I did this my weary eyes observed a tray full of what was presumably medical equipment, there I founda used needle placed carefully onto the bizarre tray. “I wonder what it was used for...” My heart froze as the simple phrase vibrated into the air. I rapidly revolved my head to face the direction of the anonymous speaker. Standing at the heavy door, was a tall figure in a suave black suit with red pinstripes. He’s slicked back hair reflected the intense light perfectly. With strangely defined facial features he smiled devilishly at me. Surely he was not standing there the entire time. Even if he was not, I did not hear the door open, surely a door of that size would make some sort of noise. “W-w-who?” “Who am I?” His charming, courteous voice rang in my ear like a swarm of bees. I did not understand why but I knew I could not trust the man in front of me. I nodded slowly still pondering how he entered the room without tearing my attention away from my waking. As well as a sense of mistrust, my stomach swelled with a feeling of putrefying dread. It was as if the very presence of the man made me uncomfortable. “I am the man who shall bail you out for this place.” My mind shifted to a feeling of confusion and anxiety. Why would I need someone to bail me out of the room? For that matter, I had no idea where the room was. “Where am I?” my voice was discomfortingly shaky as I spoke. Why did his man strike such unease into me? He simply smiled at me never breaking eye contact, a silence began to set in as he mused how to answer my question. “You’re in Prison, my friend.” My heart stopped. A Prison? Suddenly I found myself racking my mind for any possible reason as to why I would be in a prison of all places. “Why!” I shouted terrified of any possible response this mystery man could give me. His smile simply seemed to widen like he was taking pleasure in my anxiety. “Answer me!” “I hardly think it matters, does it? The past is the past nothing more.” It was only then did I realise that he had been using the same tone of voice since out peculiar conversation started. I was stunned, completely lost for words. A silence set across the room, me purely unable to speak, and him purely not needing to speak. “Fine...” I sighed “Have I completed my sentence?” “Something like that.” He replied with his smug grin. He was being purposely cryptic with me. I could feel the heat building in my cheeks, my patience was wearing thin and I knew I was about to break and immaturely lash out at him. At last I began to breathe deeply, and I felt my anger cool down to mere irritation. “Please just stop with the mysterious crap and just tell me something that wouldn’t add to my confusion!” As stared insistently into his eyes which seemed to have a slightly red hue to them, he began to walk, no glide, towards me with seamless paces until he was face to face with me; I could smell his potent aftershave like a bad odour. “You want to hear something straightforward?” he hissed in a suddenly insensitive hiss, which made his question more like a statement. “It’s time to go.” He slapped a claw like hand onto my shoulder as he said his verdict. My mind exploded with revelation at his touch The feeling of her blood. The Police Officer’s harsh grip. The juries look of hatred and the Judges words which echoed in my head. The cold stab of the needle. Then finally, the feeling of my entire world fading to darkness. I looked over with tear-filled eyes, as I saw him by the now open steel door. I saw the light reflect off of his hair slicked back with tears. I saw how sophisticated he looked in his black suit sewed with red pinstripes made from the blood of sinners. Shamefully, I took step after step towards the door, the gate to my eternal punishment. He followed me through the door. I left the room with Lucifer by my side.
