Elizabeth

Nathan looked around. He was encompassed in a gigantic cube. The walls, the floor, the ceiling all had a raging crimson tint to them. He immediately felt caged in.

“Time… works in mysterious ways here.”

In a heartbeat glance Nathan peered to source of the echoing voice. At the farthest point of the room was a pedestal with a throne. A vaguely humanoid shape sat slouched on it. It chuckled dryly seeing Nathan’s confusion.

“Do you know where you are, Nathan?”

“Uh… no. I don’t.”

A jolt of panic spread contagiously through every nerve in Nathan’s body. His breathing sped up.

“Do you remember how you got here?”, its voice echoed loudly.

Momentary flashes of his totaled Honda Accord appeared before him. He could feel the warmth of the burning car. He thought of Elizabeth… His eyes widened. 

“No… No. This- this isn’t happening! Let me out!”

Nathan frantically searched for an exit on the wall behind him.

“That’s right, Nate…”, the echoes grew louder.

Nathan closed his eyes on the verge of tears.

“…You’re dead”, it whispered into his ear with a familiar voice. Nathan’s voice.

Nathan turned to see himself. Shocked, he didn’t even notice his doppelgänger lacked most of his skin. He felt the blood dripping down his doppelgänger’s fingers onto his shin. His double looked grotesque, bones shattered and broken, his body ragged and his eyes completely void of life. The double leaned in and with a raspy voice, whispered:

“You’re in Hell.”

And with that, Nathan’s body went completely limp. The floor burned his skin as he was being dragged to the throne on the opposing side of the room. His torturous reflection restrained Nathan’s body onto the metal cathedra. It burned even more. Nathan’s skin was sizzling. He tried to scream in agony, but his larynx couldn’t produce anything more that a silent squeal.

“Now,” the doppelgänger sighed, “there will be two phases to your suffering. The first is meant to break you, both physically and spiritually. The second,” he roared with laughter, “you’ll see.”

“This can’t go on for too long, can it?” Nathan thought. “I’m going to keep count. I can overcome this.”

The doppelgänger summoned 20 needles and a hammer out of thin air. He leered at Nathan and came closer.

“Now, for every major lie you’ve told, you’re going to be punished. For every lie you’ve told, I am going to shove a needle under all of your nails and drive them further in with this hammer simultaneously.”

Nathan started counting to himself. “One. Two. Thr-“

Before Nathan could finish, he felt 20 needles seep into his fingers and toes. He let out a desperate cry, but he kept counting. “Three… Four. Fi-“

The needles slowly drained out of his skin and immediately struck back. Again, and again, and again.

“11807. 11808. 11809.” Nathan kept counting. He didn’t even realize that the torture had stopped. He looked at his forearms. His skin was charred and bubbled from the burning throne. He wanted to cry, to alleviate the pain somehow, but his tear ducts were completely dry.

“Is… is the second phase about to begin?” Nathan pleaded.

“Oh, no. We have a long road ahead of us. You will be atoning for every decision you’ve made that hindered another person’s life. You’re up to 11821, right? Make sure not to lose count!”

Nathan panicked. “How does he know? Has he been keeping count too?”, the thought slipped his mind when the spitting image of himself summoned a whip.

Nathan endured every hit. He endured the acid that would later drip into his veins. He endured the barbed wire that was used to remove his skin. He never lost count.

“234574. 234575. 234576.”

The doppelgänger ceased his attacks. “Now, for your last atonement,” the double summoned four springs with fish hooks on them, “you will be forced to watch the consequences of your worst decision yet.” 

The car… Elizabeth… Nathan remembered it all too clearly.

The doppelgänger sunk the fish hooks into Nathan’s eyelids and connected the springs on the back of Nathan’s head. Nathan was unphased. Physical pain didn’t bother him anymore. He was petrified at the thought of what is to come.

“Drinking a bit of whiskey before picking your kid up from school - what’s the worst that could happen, right?”, the doppelgänger mumbled. Nathan heard the cracking fire of the car. “Well you had the good luck of dying on impact, you fuck!”, his reflection shouted as he revealed what was behind him. “Now bask in the consequences of your shitty choices!”

The Honda Accord. Upside down. Totaled. Burning. Elizabeth…

“Daddy! Daddy!” 

Nathan recognized the voice. His wails echoed throughout the room. He lost count. He started from scratch.

“One. Two.”

The door of the car opened. The burning, skinless corpse of his eight year old daughter was clawing its way towards Nathan. He tried closing his eyes, but ended up tugging harder on the springs.

He started counting anew. “One. Two. Three.”

Elizabeth’s withering cadaver was pulling his feet. “Daddy, why did you forsake me?”, she let out as she turned into a pile of ash.

He wanted to start counting once more, but he heard his daughters screams from the car again.

He wasn’t sure how many times he saw his daughter die before him. He lost count. Once he accepted his torture, he felt the absence oh his restrains. The car, the doppelgänger, Elizabeth - they were all gone. He slouched on the sizzling chair.

Nathan saw a humanoid shape appear on the opposite side of the room.

“Time… works in mysterious ways here,” Nathan said without even realizing it.

He chuckled dryly as he recognized the confusion on the human’s face.

“Do you know where you are, Nathan?”, he asked.