Highway to hell! Stairway to heaven?

I lived a lazy life filled with poor judgements. I worked as a programmer and hacker during the nights. I lived a fairly wealthy if not good life. When I was 40, I died, I chocked on a KFC chicken wing bone.

“Hello there, Martin.” As I died, I saw in front of me a man dressed in a white suit. “Hello... who are you?” the man smiled. “I’m no one important, I’m but a guide to the afterlife.” I looked around; I was in a white void. There was nothing but the man and 2 doors. “Where exactly am I?” the man opened his arms. “Welcome to the room of choice.” I looked at the man and the empty room. “What choice? Who is choosing what?” man gave a devilish smirk. “The choice of your afterlife.” “WHAT!?”

“I thought there was someone deciding all of that for me.” The man returned his arms behind his back. “Well, it used to be so, but we decided to change how we do things, we decided that everyone deserves a one last chance of choice.” He came to the door on the right and opened it.

“You see, before there used to be an angel, who would judge everything that a person did and value if it’s good or bad. He ended up feeling disgusted by humanity and gave up on it. So, we chose to do something else instead.” He showed the door on his left. The other side of the door shone brightly, in felt almost blinding at first, but then my eyes adjusted.

“This is the stairway to heaven.” I looked confused. “Really... just like the song…” he gave a chuckle. “Yes, apparently, he somehow got into this place without dying. No one knows how.” He led me into this room, and we stopped by the stairs. I looked up. I could not see the end of the stairs, they seemed to go on forever. “How long are the stairs?” He placed his hand on my shoulder. “For some, it’s just a step, for others they are never ending.” “What do you mean?” “Well, you see, these are not just normal stairs, they judge if you’re worthy.” “What?”

“This is the staircase of your life.” He waved his hand towards the stairs. “It has all of your memories and past experiences. Even those you deemed not worth remembering. For example.” He placed his right foot on the stair. An image of kids playing in a beautiful garden came to be. “This is my long-forgotten memory of me and my brothers and sisters playing. Memories like these will shorten the distance, but…” he moved the same leg one step higher. And image of him fighting his brother for God knows what reason. “Memories like these, memory of greed, anger vengeance or anything else, will lengthen the trip. So, the nicer and better you were as a person, the faster you get to the top and into the heaven.” He stepped off the stairs.

“Now, if you put both of your feet on the stairs, you will never be allowed off until you either reach the top, or your soul withers away.” I looked at the man… I guess the angel with worry. “What do you mean withers away?” “Well, as everything else in the reality, the soul has a limit, a pain threshold. Every step you take up these stairs will weaken you, slow you down and drag you back. You will never be able to rest the soul, no matter how long you sit on the stairs. All the pain and exhaustion the soul feels, will remain.” He looked up at the sky. “But. If you do reach the top, you are guaranteed entrance into the heaven. It won’t matter who you were, what you did or what rules you’ve broken. If you can make the climb, you are to be worthy.” The angel looked back at me. He saw me terrified of the stairs. “If you don’t want to take the stairs, there is another option.” My eyes widened. “What option?”

He led me out back into the room of choice. “Well, not only the stairway has been seen by a human eye.” He said as he opened the door. I could see a wide-open road, a red corvette standing few feet from the door. “This is the highway to hell.” He led me to the car. “It’s the more comfortable path to take, but the end might be a lot less pleasant.” “So, you want me to choose between risking my soul and going to heaven, or just damning myself to hell for all eternity?” he shook his head. “No, no, no… while the road does lead to hell, it doesn’t mean you will stay there. This highway is meant to show you everything you’ve done wrong.” He sat down in the car. He placed his hands on the wheel. “As you drive down this road, depending how many bad things you’ve done, the road will be longer or shorter, but the thing is, the road will test you.” “How will it test me?” “I don’t know, all I can say is that… nobody has passed the test.” I looked down the road. “Nobody?” “Nobody. There is a silver lining. If you go down this road and end up still in hell, you have a chance to go to heaven after you have served your time. That is, if the kings wills it so.” “Does he ever will it?” “To be honest, quite often but it never really happens fast, nor to everyone.”

I stood before the doors. “Can I change my choice at any point?” the creature shook his head. “No, once you put your 2^nd foot on the stairs, or sit down into the car. That makes the option final.” I stood there for a few more moments and then said. “I’m taking the stairs.” The man smiled “a good choice my friend. This way if you please.” He led me back to the stairs. I put my 1^{st foot} on the stairs, looked up and took a deep breath. “You can still change your mind if you wish.” I looked back at the man. “No!” and I hastily put the other foot on. As the surrounding faded away, the man gave an evil grin and before he disappeared, he said. “Wrong choice.”

               I took a step after a step. I saw images of my past flow by. I saw my 1^st steps, my first words and my family around me. It seems as if my soul shone more with each image. Problems started when I reached the days of my teens, that’s when it started to go bad. I saw my fight with my friends and my family. My steps started to get slower. I saw my first love, my graduation. My steps seemed to get lighter with each good thing I saw, but that’s when the piling started.

I saw myself in my dorm. The time I was so pissed at my roommate I hacked his laptop. I released his browsing history plus the camera footage oh him. I saw the time I broke into the college system to change my grades. The fights I had with my parents after I got kicked out of the school. The anger I felt back then, it piled on me. It felt like every time I saw a new image, I gained a 10-kilo bag on my back. No matter how heavy it got, I kept climbing and climbing. Saw the smuggling of data from the company I worked in, the accounts I hacked for a quick buck. I even saw the poor girl who was asking for money, and I ignored. Every single image just made it harder. As the images came one after another, I realised. It’s not that I didn’t live a good life, the problem was that I was an ass and blamed everyone for my faults. I stopped on the steps. I saw my funeral. There was nobody there, not even my own family wanted to say goodbye. Only rain and the gravedigger were there to put me away.

As the image burned me, I felt to my knees. I looked at myself. I saw my skin burning away, I tried to get back up, I tried to force myself forward, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t move an inch from that step. I knew it was the last one, I knew there was nothing more. If I could make it, I could find my peace. And just as I was about to give up, I saw a line shine on me, and a hand reach out. It was Lillia, the only woman I ever loved and truly loved. I reached out to her, and just as I touched her hand, all my weight seemed to disappear. I stood up, I took one last step and the stairs disappeared. I was standing in an empty space alone, but I wasn’t really alone. I saw a man, the same man walking towards me. He had spread his arms to give me a hug, but just as I got near him, I fell to the ground.

“So, you made it all the way up here.” He paced around. “You know, you were not supposed to reach this moment… It was supposed to be impossible, yet here you are.” He said with a bit of anger in his voice. “Oh, right, I guess I didn’t truly introduce myself now did I. My name is Lucifer Morningstar, but u can just call me The Devil.” I looked at him. “But what… why?” he bent over towards me to reach my level of sight. “Well, you see, they say the biggest lie I’ve ever pulled was to make people believe I don’t exist.” He gave a laugh. “I believe they are wrong. I believe the biggest lie I’ve made you all think was that I give you a choice. You believe I let you choose to do something.” He roared out a laugh. “I control you, I know what you’ll do before you even think about it. Your puny brains can’t even comprehend such a simple thing, yet you deem yourselves the supreme species… rats have more freedom than you all.” He spat on the ground. “Disgusting little creatures, you all are. Well, no matter, what’s done is done.” I laid there, confused about it all, but with just one thought in my head. “I made it here.” “Yes, yes you made it, so I will help you out. I will let you forget all the pain and suffering you just did. Just come on over here and stand up.” I forced myself up and walked over to hm. He laid his fingers on my forehead. “Now, in a few seconds you will forget all the pain you suffered on the stairs. You will regain all the energy you’ve lost.” Tears swell up in my eyes. “Thank you.” He gave another evil grin. “You’re very welcome.”

“Hello there, Martin.”