Utter darkness 

Walking through the dark gateway to an afterlife

 

Around me is a disgusting green fungi covered in tar

surrounded by glowing lava

ash flutters by like a dead moth falling to the floor

or blowing around from a gust of wind

a gust, but from where

I wonder

 

It’s all endless

a void of pain and suffering

 

I hear a man’s scream in the distance

 

an echo

but no man to be seen

 

I look for the man screaming

 

I hear another scream

a girl’s, then a woman’s, then another man’s

I’m overwhelmed with unfamiliar loud piercing screams 

 

Until they’re familiar

 

The screams of people I once knew

 

people I killed

slaughtered 

 

beaten to their demise 

by my own fists

my blood stained fists

 

 now I pay the toll

 

Their screams continue 

forever

and ever

and ever

and ever

neverending

 

until they end

 

Suddenly the screams stop

 

complete and utter silence

 

I beg him

 

please make them start one last time

 

I miss them.