Purgatory reds

The Sentence

Zachary's eyes blinked a few times as he tried to adjust to the low light of the room. He just had an absolute nightmare!

Seventeen years old and chasing Amanda down the street as she ran. He wasn't sure what he was going to do once he caught up to her, his instincts weren't that...good but Zach hoped he would've been decent. His intention wasn't to be...whatever she feared he would be.

None of that mattered in the end. She managed to cross the street. He didn't.

The Pizza King delivery truck saw to that.

"Hello?" Zach called out. He was surprised to hear his voice echo as if he was in a deep cavern underneath the ground. By this point, he had gained enough bearings to realise that the crash might have actually happened. Was he in a coma?

"It's okay, rest now Zachary," a melodic voice whispered to his ear. A feminine voice.

"Wh-where am I?" He tried to look around to only see vague shapes.

"Oh I think you know," the voice now sounded mirthful with a hint of malice. "Do you not remember your conversations with the judge's lackeys?"

Zach flushed at those words. Those voices! "Go redo the bad parts," they said.

"I'm..I'm dead?" He asked quietly, tears flooding his eyes. "I'm in hell."

"Yes. And no," the voice said. "You are dead but you died young, not old enough to be consigned to hell. This is purgatory where you will be punished for a long while before being admitted to heaven."

Her voice was now sharper. He could see the distinct red glow from her.

"What are you?" He whispered.

"A demoness," the voice said bluntly as her full form came to view. Zach began to scream in horror writhing as the beastly creature knelt next to him.

She just snarled, black sharp teeth flashing. "Ahh, shush boy, I'm not going to start your punishments till the morning. And this isn't hell, I'm not allowed to hurt you too much."

"Please," He begged.

She just shook her head. "Close your eyes. I was just about to give your orientation now bed you wake up. My name is La, I have been assigned as your punisher for the next two centuries."

"Punisher?"

"I'll mostly be spanking you a lot but we can escalate if you'd like," she grinned, making her even more grotesque. Her true form was always terrifying to anyone, people projecting their deepest horrors onto her.

She forced his eyes shut but Zach was still trembling. "Would it help if I took the form of someone less demonic?" La offered. "I'm not here to torture you like in hell. You were bad, perhaps even evil but you were just a brat and you're just gonna be punished like one," La gently stroked his hair. "Though our relationship doesn't have to be adversarial. Purgatory is a vacation for us demons. We just want to relax out here and have fun. If you're good, I'll let you enjoy a normal life for one last time..."

Zach was overwhelmed by her words, not quite piecing all of them together. He was dead. He had gone and spoke to some guy by the pearly gates, he could remember now. He was denied entry and was told to redo the bad parts and he snapped his finger.

"What is redoing the bad parts?" Zach questioned.

"Oh, you're redoing your childhood again. From the parts where you started becoming bad," La explained. "Except you won't be in that abusive hole you grew up in. I'll be your parent, you'll be raised in a stable loving household. You'll be punished for your wickedness, your bottom would be raw and so tender it's on the verge of falling off your bone for a good portion of your life but you... Well, you might like this stay judging by your past."

La did feel for the boy a little. Humans were a product of their environment half the time and his environment was deplorable at best. He was still shaking so she just sighed.

"Close your eyes and rest, okay? When you wake up you'll be in your new home and I'll be around to wake you up," La stroked his cheek. "In a human form. Because I'm so nice I'll let you pick. Think of the woman you'd like to be with and she will wake you up with a kiss."

With that, his world became pitch black.

Zachary dreamed, twisting and turning. He dreamed of Chelsea Servi, the nice woman who was good to him before his thoughts came back to Amanda, the woman he chased... His crush all his life. For some reason, all he could think of was her, those wavy brown locks which went to her shoulders. Of her playful smile and preppiness around everyone.

He felt his body getting hotter and immediately it became colder to the point of freezing before settling into a nice temperature, comfortable.

His dreams changed. He was now four months after his twelfth birthday. His gang is still with him. Charlie and Becky and Robbie. The four street punks who terrorized West Castle public school...except it was now West Castle Preparatory. They weren't homeless or in foster care anymore. All of them were upper middle class.

Zach could still remember the mischief, the bullying. What he was now seeing was hours upon hours of crying and being bent over someone's knee, her creamy soft legs. Of crying into her soft massive breasts, the pain across his rear and the scolding tone of a woman who he instantly knew he loved. He remembered just yesterday, of punching Billy so hard he ran crying and he remembered her voice telling him that come morning he was in for the worst spanking of his life.

"Zach, wake up."

His eyes blinked twice as he turned his side, trying to focus on the person who he was with. Her face came into view and Zach screamed with pure terror. "Mommy!" He shook.

Mommy was Amanda! Older, fitter and  exceedingly beautiful. She gave him that look, thick lips curled into a gentle smile. "Welcome to the first day of the rest of your afterlife."