“Weird,” Serena thought as she lay face down on the ground, where the Collector had literally dropped her. She always believed hell would be much warmer; it was actually a bit chill.
“Get up,” the Collector’s voice called, not unkindly, from above.
As Serena obeyed she saw that they were in a big metropolitan city, where crowds of people were always on the move. They were shopping, going to business meetings, and those on the phone, she guessed, were talking to their lawyers or bankers. Everyone was in a hurried- no-nonsense mood and they all looked really unhappy.
When an old man fell as he was getting out of a taxi, Serena noticed no one came to his aid.
“Is this hell?” she dared to ask.
“No, this is not hell, but I can see why you’d mistake a place where there is indifference for hell. I did not get you here to show you heaven or hell, I brought you here to show you humans, lots and lots of them.”
“I have seen people before,” Serena muttered under her breath.
“Not with our eyes.”
Serena flinched when the Collector reached for her face, but then decided to let him… (She had also decided right then, that the Collector was a male and so she witnessed his features became a little more masculine.)
“You, humans, see what you want to see; I will show you what you need to see” the Collector said as he covered her eyes with his hands.
“You were never evil, Serena “said the Collector as she felt her eyes burn.
“You just ran away from them everything meaningful since your mother left you. You let your fears dictate your life, you never took responsibility, and you tried to drown your precious flame in booze…”
Serena screamed as she sank in a world of darkness.
“Even in your afterlife you are squandering your second chance. You walked the labyrinth for a long time and you were not able to open any doors except one… and you ran away from what was waiting for you inside. Even in death, you are not able to face your demons. We want you to understand why it is important.”
When the burning stopped, Serena sighed in relief. Seconds later, she was able to see again but it was a very different experience from what she knew.
It felt like she was seeing for the first time.
The material world was made of more dimensions that she could count. As for people, she was able to see them beyond flesh and bone; she could see them as shells in which a bright fire burned in blue flames.
The intensity of the flames varied from one person to another. Serena noticed that while most people housed an average looking flame burning strong, a few had flames that were barely visible and flickered as if bothered by an invisible wind. A fewer still, had flames that filled their shells completely and caused them to be engulfed in a blue aura.
There was one particular person though, who piqued her interest. He had no flame, instead there was a deep darkness inside of him. He was a slightly overweight middle aged man in a very expensive business suit. He caught Serena’s eye as he was busy distributing equal verbal abuse towards his assistant, and to whomever he was speaking on the phone.
“His flame has burnt out,” the collector explained and pointed, “Look.”
The businessman was suddenly in great agony. He was clutching at his chest, trying to scream out. When he reached out to his assistant, the latter looked at her purse and stepped back.
While a few people stopped this time to see if they could help the man, Serena was busy studying the assistant, for it was at her the Collector had pointed.
The assistant was now holding something small tightly onto her chest . The businessman tried to reach out to her once again with eyes consumed by rage.
When his heart finally gave out, he mouthed incomprehensible things and dropped to the ground. People yelled and there was some commotion.
Serena witnessed the assistant’s flame go from an average size down into a flicker of a flame, no bigger than what you’d find on a dying church candle. She saw her calmly turn her back and leave. Not too far down the street, the assistant threw, what she held so dearly only a moment ago, down the bin. It looked like a bottle of pills.
The Collector then approached the businessman, whose body was now a cracked shell, and Serena followed. As she was busy studying the foul smelling fumes that exuded from the cracks of the body of the once wealthy man, two dark figures surprised her when they stepped out from the shadows.
They waved to the Collector and said, “We are many,” to which the Collector replied, “We are one.”
The tall one had his face covered in rags but, inexplicably, he did not feel as menacing as the shorter with the charming smile. Serena felt so uneasy she hid behind the Collector like a four-year old.
“Oh, hello child… Don’t be afraid” said the shorter one as he extended his arm towards Serena, “Let me introduce myself. I am Beelzebub, but you can call me Mr. Bee.”
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