Fluttering wings.

The sound was faint but enough to stir my ears and awaken my mind.

But I didn’t feel very rested.

There was a cloudiness to my vision as I opened my strangely heavy eyes. I saw a blurred door on its side and vaguely put together that I was laying on my side. My body shifted slowly as I moved my hands toward my face to rub the sleep out of them. Feeling the soft sheets of the bed under me made me think I must have taken a nap and proceeded to pull myself up and move my legs over the side of the bed.

As my eyes adjusted to the room I was in, I slowly realized that the room I was in wasn’t my own.

Not really.

There was all the same furniture as I remember, but they were all upgraded. There was a fancy tinge to all of it, even my beds sheets were a lot whiter than I recalled.

My gaze focused on the brown door in front of me. It was closed.

A strange feeling ran through my chest. I suddenly wanted to see what was on the other side.

I stood from the bed. My footsteps were slow and a bit unstable. It was almost like something was moving them instead of me, but I let my feet be moved. It felt strangely relaxing as my mind was still in the process of waking up.

My hands reached up and pushed the door open. A single, loud creak struck my ears as the door opened and the hallway was presented in front of me. I could see a light at the end of the hall along with a portrait of something I couldn’t quite make out. This only raised my curiosity more.

My feet continued to move me through the dim hallway. There were other smaller portraits hanging on the walls on either side of me but my gaze was only focused on the large portrait in front of me. I had a small impulse to look back at the room I woke up in but it passed quickly.

As I got closer and closer to the portrait, I could finally make out the picture settled in the center of the frame. It was the painting of a large black bird spreading out its long, black wings, its feathers flying off and fluttering down toward the bottom of the frame.

My feet stopped moving once I was standing right in front of the portrait. I took in a deep breath, fully awake now, but my chest felt rather empty as nothing was flowing inside of it.

I blinked a couple times, fully aware of the situation I was in as well as my surroundings.

“Greetings,” A sudden, deep voice suddenly came out and made me jump.

“W-wha…?” I took a step back, my eyes darting from side to side but I was the only one in the hallway.

“You cannot see me.” The voice answered simply.

I slowly turned my gaze back to the black bird painting with widened eyes.

“I am here to give you a mission.”

I tried to find my voice. “M-mission? Why… where am I? And who are you?” I tried not to sound rude but he was the one who started this conversation with such a loud, startling voice after all.

“I am who your ancestors called ‘Abraxas.’”

“Abraxas…?” My expression remained blank.

“Some call me an angel. Some call me a demon.”

“That doesn’t really make me feel comfortable,” I mumbled quietly.

“Comfortability is what you’re surrounded in at this moment.”

“What do you mean?”

“You are in the in-between.” The voice answered calmly.

I blinked. “The…w-wait…” My eyes slowly widened. “I’m…dead?”

“Why do you feel nothing in your chest when you breathe in and out?”

I promptly placed my palm over my upper chest. “H-how did you know that?”

The voice seemed to sigh quietly but impatiently. “I told you. I am an angel. Or a demon, whichever you want to use. I am Abraxas. I know what you have gone through in your past life and why you have woken up in the in-between rather than Heaven or Hell. And I am here now to give you a mission.”

I had so many questions and was about to start asking them, but somehow, I knew the answers to all of them. Asking them would be pointless, so it seemed like the only thing I could do now was listen to this entity, regardless of what his title is.

I took in a deep breath. “…what kind of mission?”

“Surely you remember the five young men you called your friends in your past life.”

Upon hearing those words, images flashed in front of my eyes, making my breath hitch and my entire body tremble. I saw only simple, short images of those five young men, every one of them smiling at me or with each other. Their faces then sparked my memory of their names. The things they loved. The things they dreamed about…

Before I knew it, tears were forming in my eyes and a strong wave of pain washed over my stomach.

“They…must be so sad now…” My head lowered

“Indeed. In fact, they are suffering much more now than when they were living.”

My eyes widened again as I looked back at the painting. “W-what? Don’t tell me they—“

“They took their own lives.”

I couldn’t speak for a moment.

“Engulfed in immense sadness and grief, they made the decision to end their lives.”

“…all…all because of me?”

“Not necessarily.”

One of my eyebrows rose in confusion. “…then why?”

“You were so happy together, so it makes sense that you didn’t know they were suffering. But now you have a chance to save them.”

“How?” My voice was bitter. “They’re all in Hell, right? How am I supposed to save them? Once you’re in Hell, you can’t leave!”

“I will grant you access into their sections of Hell.”

“Won’t Satan have a problem with that?”

“I will make sure he doesn’t. Now will you accept this mission or not?” The voice once again took on an impatient tone.

I went quiet again. “...but how can I save them?”

“They do not realize they have passed, and, more accurately, do not wish to accept it. Once you help them to realize and accept their fate, they will be set free, purified of their sins from their past lives, and will be able to go freely to Heaven.”

I swallowed, deep in thought. “H-how am I supposed to convince them they died?”

“That is up to you.”

“B-but—“

“Do you want to save them or not?” The voice seemed to lose all patience and the sudden raise of its deep tone echoed throughout the hall.

I slowly turned my gaze toward the room I first woke up in. The door was still open and I could see the clean bed looking very inviting even from the short distance away. But as familiar as it felt, thinking about the safety and happiness of my best friends made a warm feeling pulse through my chest.

After staring across the hall for a couple seconds, I slowly let out a breath and turned back to the portrait.

“Okay. I will try.”

“Go to the door to your right. You will find the first person behind it.”

My gaze flickered to the right before settling back on the portrait. “It’s that easy to get to Hell from here?”

There was no answer, just the subtle sound of a birds’ wings fluttering in the wind. A small puddle of black ink started to form under the picture frame.

After watching the ink drip down the wall, I took another deep breath and turned toward the door to my right. It was closed but didn’t look or feel too intimidating.

Okay…this shouldn’t be too hard…

I walked toward the closed door and carefully placed my open hand on the knob.