Sample Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9
The Penthouse

Eventually I got bored in Hell. All I did was eat, sleep, take medications, and attend group therapy. I had no idea how long I had been in the netherworld. Two demons even appeared to be my mother and my father. The Bible says to test the spirits because even Satan can masquerade as an angel of light.

“Did Jesus come in the flesh?” I said to the demon that looked my mother. If she said, “No,” then I’d know she was a demon. If she said, “Yes,” then I knew that either I was still alive or this was an angel sent to rescue me from Hell.

“What are you saying, Ken?” said the demons appeared to be my mother. My test of the spirits proved inconclusive. The demons were more clever than I had anticipated. Eventually, I complained to a demon named Tony that I was bored.

“Would you like to go somewhere with more activity?” Tony asked me.

There’s another part to Hell? I began to wonder whether I really was in Hell. First of all, I had read in the World Book Encyclopedia that Catholics believe Hell is the total absence and separation from God. I cried out to Him and begged Him to take me out of Hell. Secondly, lots of Bibles lay all over the place, on tables, on couches, and in the book shelves of course. The Word of God can be found in Hell?

Within a day, two demons escorted me out the door and into a hallway. They took me to an elevator, which went up one floor. The new place in Hell was much more lively than the other level where I had been. A ping-pong table stood in the middle of a hallway. A pair of souls played ping-pong on it, and they really seemed to enjoy themselves.

Other souls painted watercolor pictures, put together jigsaw puzzles, or played cards. Souls had a lot more independence in this new place. Some souls even taught me how to play 21, and a tall soul named Eugene tried to teach me how to play Poker. However, with my state of mind I just didn’t understand the rules.

“Welcome to the Penthouse,” said an obese woman soul named Pilar. These souls of the damned seemed pretty happy considering where we were. Even the demons were more friendly that those in the lower level. In addition, signs with inspiring phrases and quotes covered the walls. “Even though darkness falls, eventually the morning comes,” said one of the signs. The writer attributed the quote to Reverend Jesse Jackson.