The Devil I Know

I died and went to Hell.

Yeah, yeah — sounds dramatic. But plot twist: I’m not exaggerating. I actually died. Like, permanently unplugged. Heart stopped responding.

And listen — contrary to everything the priests, poets, and heavy metal albums told you, Hell isn’t hot. Oh no. Hell is cold. Like, someone-left-the-freezer-door-open-in-the-Arctic cold. It’s as if Satan outsourced the climate control to Elsa on a bad day.

Imagine being dipped in Antarctica soup a hundred times, blow-dried with glacier wind, shoved into a refrigerator for "eternal suffering," then punted back into Antarctica just because why not — apparently that’s the vibe down here.

My teeth are chattering so hard I’m about to Morse-code my regrets.

My name is Jazzy — Jasmine, if my parents are mad at me. I suppose they'll be saying Jasmine a lot now, considering I crashed their Ford Mustang and, you know...died.

Honestly, I thought death would come with more...warmth? Choirs, maybe? I mean, I'm no Saint but I at least deserve a five star treatment, right?

I shuffled down a frozen slope awkwardly. The air stung my skin, and the wind howled like it's mad I exist. Sorry, not wind — but something close? It smells of sulphur and...vinegar?

Everything around me gleamed blue and white — the jagged glaciers, the rivers of frozen crimson — but it's not remotely beautiful or charming, but rather twisted, as though clinging to the vestiges of something dark.

My hands twisted and my chest began to pound really heavily. I closed my eyes, hoping to regain my center of balance but it was no use. There was something eerie and odd in the silence.

I slipped once. Twice, and by the third time I was muttering that if this is the welcome Hell treats its residents to, I can see why people aren't so keen on being here.

Okay, deep breaths, Jazzy. You can do this. Just take a deep —

The ice under my feet cracked, and for a second I swear I saw something move beneath it.

I froze. Maybe it's just my imagination? A trick of the light? Some sort of hello-welcome-home! by whomever runs this place?

But I watched as it slide underneath my feet; it's massive, slow, as if it wanted me to notice it.

I took a hasty step back and nearly tripped over my feet, shrieking and grabbing the nearest thing to me. But it's really freaking cold! And it burns my hands!

I couldn't tell if what was underneath me was a creature, or a collection of very bad life choices that apparently brought me here.

A shadow slides past me, distracting me from the frozen lake. What was that? Is it possible to be jumped or mugged here?! In freaking Hell?

I took a careful step back. The ice creaked again, and for a moment, I wondered if you can die again even when dead. Another step — then crunch.

A rush of cold mist burst from the crack, curling itself around my ankles like smoke with bad intentions.

"Okay, cool, love that." I painted, backing up faster. "Nothing scary about weird mist surrounding you. Nope, not at all."

Somewhere deeper in this cave, something shrieked — deep, mournful, nearby, full of rage and hate.

My breath caught. Its fine. Totally —

My feet sprinted before my brain understood what it's doing, and like the fool I am with no sense of self-preservation, I screamed the whole way.

Shadows streaked across the ice as I ran, keeping pace with me. I was terrified — yelling, slipping, dodging every overhanging glacier like a terrified penguin — but the shadows kept coming. Unrelenting.

I made the pitiful mistake of looking down. And I wished I never did.

Because under the ice, faces were moving — hundreds of them — twisting and clawing just beneath the surface, like the whole glacier was made of souls trying to break out. Their mouths gaped open in silent screams, their eyes tracking me as I ran.

And yes, I'm stupid because I screamed like the next Banshee Queen. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! If this is your way of punishing me for that sweet ride I had, I am sorry!"

But I was trapped. The shadows kept coming, the faces kept howling, and there was no way I was gonna cross over that. I was literally between the sea and a rock.

Dammit! But I'm dead, I reasoned. I hated being logical when I'm scared out of my mind, but hey, who am I to refuse the thoughts of an overworking brain?

What if none of these things could actually hurt me?

A shadow shrieked behind me.

Nope. Not sticking around to find out.

I gathered my dress in my hands — this what I was wearing when I died? The horror of my body being found in this! But never mind. I scanned the edge, gauging the jump from where I stood to where I might safely land. Yeah...a rough one could snap my neck, a not-so-rough one could just fracture my legs.

Shrrriiiieeeeeeeee!

"Well, that settles it!" I yelled, and flung myself off the edge of the glacier.

The wind ripped the scream out of my throat as I soared. Oh good Lord! — I didn't even consider whether those ice-faces had hands! They didn't reach for me though — just kept howling, their frozen mouths gaping wider as I plummeted past.

Yeah, I'm definitely leaving this place 0-star rating!

I hit the ground like a sack of potatoes. Or in my case, bad decisions.

"Owwww!" The sound ripped out of me before I could think about dignity. My everything hurt — knees, elbow, possibly my eternal soul. I just laid there for a second, face-down in the snow, groaning like a broken radiator.

So this is what dying twice feels like.

I rolled onto my back, blinking at the upside-down glaciers hanging over me. My breath came out in shaky clouds, and I winced when I tried to move my leg. Nothing broken actually, thank...God?

Shit! The shadows!

I bolted upright and glanced around — no more shadows or faces screaming at me. Just eerie silence and endless frost stretching in every direction.

"Right. Safe place," I tried to convince myself, forcing my shaky legs to stand. "Preferably one with no shadows or creepy faces...or anything that hisses!"

I stopped.

Because in the distance, something moved. A shadow, tall and still, against the pale ice. and my eyes caught the contours of... wings?

It was unmistakable — massive, huge, — unfurled, black against the frost.

My stomach dropped.

He tilted his head, eyes catching mine from across the frozen ridge.

"Found you."

...Shit.