He stood before a dark gateway looming high above him. Behind the gates he could only see darkness, a darkness that seemed to go on forever. He felt as if the darkness was seeping through his clothes, through his skin and into his bones. A shiver travelled down his spine and he felt an emotion that he had never felt before. He could not quite place it…could it be – fear?

In the distance something, or someone, was coming towards him: a person, emanating light. It must be an angel! But then, why was he suddenly overcome with a strong sense of foreboding?

The person walked closer and he saw that it was a woman – beautiful, so beautiful. He didn’t know what a teenage delinquent like him had done to be accepted into heaven, but he would be forever grateful.

The woman stopped in front of him, casting a shadow over his face as she towered over him. Strange, he thought. Although she was illuminated by the strange power inside her, her surroundings became darker.

“You must be an angel,” he whispered softly, afraid to break the serene silence that engulfed them.

“No, not an angel, little one,” the woman replied, with a bright twinkle in her ice grey eyes, “but the messenger of the devil.”

He knew that he should be frightened, but he was certainly not surprised that he had ended up down here. He had done many bad deeds, from bullying to selling drugs to classmates. His most despicable act had been stealing money from a fragile old woman. He had always known that the things he had done were bad, but he had loved the challenge. He had no regrets.

“You will soon,” the devil’s messenger smirked as if to mock him. She could read his thoughts. She knew every bad thing he had done. She knew what he deserved.

She bid him to follow her through the gates of hell. She explained to him his crimes and that his sentence was eternal punishment. He may be young, he may have changed his ways had he lived longer – but she had no mercy. Sinners needed to be punished.

They walked along a narrow path and all around them were dead souls doing penance for the sins they had committed in life.

A man was cut open at the stomach and crows pecked away at his innards. His scream mingled with others but he could not end his suffering – he was already dead.

A woman was tied to a chair and a tong controlled by an invisible hand was pulling at her tongue. Already it was abnormally long, at least twice the length of a normal tongue. She had been a compulsive gossip.

Hands sweating, heart beating rapidly, nauseous, the teenage delinquent continued to follow the devil’s messenger. She had been right – he did feel regret. Why had he done the things he did? Everything he had thought important in life appeared trivial now, compared to an eternal sentence.

“Feeling sorry for yourself, are you?” the messenger asked. “Well, since you’re young, I’ll give you a little lee-way. Instead of being assigned a sentence, you can choose.  You can choose any that you see while we walk this path.”

As they walked on, he saw worse sights. He was now completely overcome with fear and dread. He remembered the old woman he had stolen from. She had been kind looking, everyone’s grandmother. When he had walked up to her, she had smiled at him and asked how he was, even though they had never even seen each other before. At that time, he had only felt pity for her – being such an easy and unfortunate target – but now, he only felt regret.

In a few moments, the path came to an end. At the end of the path was a mud pool, with twenty or so people half submerged into the mud. Finally, a sentence more bearable, less painful. The people in the pool seemed miserable but pain-free.

He pointed his bony index finger towards the pool. “I’ll go there.”

“Good choice, little one,” murmured the messenger.

The teenager was glad that he had decided to walk all the way to the end of the path. A mud bath would be a nice way to relax and forget the frightful events he had witnessed during the course of this short day.

He slowly let himself into the pool, loving the feel of the warm mud on his dry skin. But something was wrong – the smell! An awful smell! The smell was everywhere and he could not escape it. He gagged. The mud, the smell was coming from the mud. In actuality, it was not mud at all. He opened his mouth to protest, but he did not get the chance.

The devil’s messenger clapped her hands and began to address the people in the pool. “Everyone, rest break is over. Proceed with your punishment. Next break will be in a century.”

The teenager watched on in surprise as one by one, the people in the pool held their breath and dived under the pool. None came back up.

“Now, you’ll be free to regret your actions for eternity,” said the devil’s messenger as she walked away.

The teenager had no choice. He held his breath and dived under the pool of human waste.

*          *          *

This story was written more than ten years ago for an in-class test. I can admit now that this story is kind of a a remake (my own version) of an existing story which I'd read when I was little.