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Earth

Jason quickly changed direction. He was alone now, and the bare, cold street seemed endless. The cool, crisp wind blew in his face, when finally, he came to an alley. He took one final look at Times Square, brightly illuminated in the dark winter sky. Jason slowly stepped deeper and deeper into the barren alley. He was unaided, the pitch black night engulfing his body. Jason pulled the cloth out of his pocket, his hand reached inside, firmly gripping the handle. The cloth fell to the floor, revealing the sleek, silver pistol. He thought about his mom, his dad, and his sister. He raised the gun to his forehead. He took one deep breath. The sound of roaring thunder echoed through the city. Just then, everything went black.
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Purgatory

Jason woke up with a blinding light all around him. Squinting, he could make out his surroundings: a door that led out of the room and a bed, which he was sitting on. Jason got up and walked toward the door. His hand turned the cool knob, and after he stepped outside, he saw hundreds of people moving about, talking with one and other. The people were on a golden platform, which was slowly ascending. He then spotted a red platform with only a few people on it, slowly moving down. Finally, in the center, there was a silver platform, which was completely empty. Jason slowly walked towards it, reluctantly stepping on. The path of light behind him instantly vanished, and clouds appeared above and below him. Jason noticed for the first time the he was wearing a white sweat suit, not his leather jacket. Suddenly, a booming voice spoke.
“Welcome to Purgatory, Jason.”
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Earth

The police were called late that same night, and the search didn’t end until 7:00 a.m. They found Jason’s body in the alley. When they brought him to the morgue, he was rejected due to crimes against the state. His mother wept for the entire day.
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Purgatory

“You have not been a good boy, Jason,” the voice spoke.
Where the hell is this voice coming from? Jason thought.
“Are you just going to ignore me? Or are you going to speak, Jason?” the voice spoke.
Jason thought about this for a minute, opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Where the hell am I? he thought.
“Fine. Play that game, Jason. I can listen to you inside your head, anyway.” What?!
Jason mustered up the courage to speak. “Who are you? What do you want from me?” The voice laughed, and a white, billowing cloud swirled in front of him.
“Oh Jason, I know you, and you know me. You just don’t know it yet.” The cloud disappeared, and standing there was a man in his mid-thirties, wearing a white robe and sandals. His white beard gave away his identity.
“Are you…Moses?” Jason questioned.
“You learn quickly, don’t you, Jason Steele. I am here to help you.”
“I don’t need your help, you animal lover. I just need to get on the next train to heaven. If I am even dead.” Jason spat.
“You are a very long way from heaven, Jason, and even if I approve you, there are two more after me. I am the kindest of all heavenly rulers. You will not be as fortunate with the others.”
“I could care a lot less. Just give me your recommendation, or approval, or whatever. I want to get on with my life.” Jason said.
“Don’t test me, Jason Steele. Just because you have ‘street cred’ doesn’t mean that it carries over into purgatory.”
Purgatory! Why in God’s name am I in here! Suddenly, the surroundings turned blood red, and Moses unexpectedly grew four feet taller.
“You will not use the Lord’s name in vain! That is one of the Ten Commandments! Even I will not let that slip by me! You are in a sacred place!” Moses yelled. Moses slammed his hand into the ground. Jason’s eyes widened with fear, and a monstrous crack appeared on the ground. He fell into the abyss below him.

He felt like he was falling for a year, but finally, he came to the bottom. When he hit the ground, he heard a sickening crack. He winced, but no feeling of pain came over him. He stood up with ease, and realized that he was perfectly fine.
“Jason, you are not allowed to speak that way here. Even though you have never followed the rules down on Earth, you must here.” Jason turned around to find Moses, regular size again.
“Um, sorry. So, what just happened? Now where are we?” Jason asked.
“Now, you are at P-Sub 1. This is one level below Purgatory. If you continue on this path, you will descend down to the worst place known to God himself. Hell.”
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Earth

The circle formed, and the meeting began abruptly.
“Jason Steele, our best affiliate, is dead?” the leader mumbled.
“Yeah, he was found in an alley yesterday morning. We don’t know how he died.”
The leader nodded, and the circle broke apart. They went their separate ways.
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Purgatory

“I am only meeting with you so we can analyze a part of your life, Jason, so if you want to get this over with, let’s begin.”
“Oh, joy. Let’s get it over with, then.” Jason moaned.
“Right now, we are going to look at your younger years, from birth to five years old, exactly.” Moses preached. He is beginning to sound less and less philosophical, Jason thought.
“Please, sit down.” Moses waved his hand, and a school desk appeared right next to Jason. He sat down. “Let’s dig into your younger years, shall we?” A blinding light flashed, and suddenly Jason was standing next to Moses in his old living room. Jason saw himself sitting on the floor, transfixed in the wonders of Dr. Brown and Marty McFly. His parents were sitting next to him, and together, they all looked so happy.

“Do you remember this movie, Jason? It was your favorite.” Moses questioned.
“Yeah, Back to the Future. Why?”
“This movie kept you innocent throughout all of your younger years. I don’t think that you had a better time until you were seven years old!” Moses said.
“Yeah, so? What does this have to do with anything?” Jason asked.
“Your parents raised you to be a respectable, peaceful young man. Somewhere in there, you screwed up and destroyed the foundation that they planted for you. That is where you went wrong. Do you see how happy they are? Do you see how well behaved you are? That is how they wanted it to be. But you messed up. You...” Moses faded out into nothing, and Jason appeared in his room, the white room, in Purgatory.
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Purgatory

Jason woke up from his deep sleep. He stood up and began to walk towards the door. As he put his hand on the door knob, he felt a jolt rush through his body.
“You can’t leave.” Jason whirled around, startled. Sitting on his bed was a strong man, most likely in his late forties. His voice was extremely deep, and it bellowed through the room when he spoke.
“What do you want from me? Why can’t I just go to heaven already?!” Jason yelled.
“You are going to listen to me, and you will not make a rude comment again!” He raised his voice, and the temperature in the room spike forty degrees. “I am Paul the Apostle, creator of the church, and Jesus’s most faithful follower. You will respect me, and I will look through your life from your year’s five to ten. Let’s start where you left off with Moses.”

The setting of the room changed, and Jason realized he was back at P-Sub 1. Paul was standing next to him.
“Let us begin.” The scene shifted to Jason’s room, with Jason sitting on his bed. Jason’s eyes widened, as he remembered this day.
“I’m about to fall off of my bed!” Jason yelled. Simultaneously, Jason lost his balance, waved his arms, and fell backwards off of his bed. His head hit the floor with a thump, and Jason’s eyes fluttered shut.
“This was the day that you hurt your head, correct?” Paul said.
“Wow, maybe you should watch that again. I obviously just slammed my head on the floor.”
“No backtalk, Steele. I could disapprove you already.” Paul said.
“Sorry, Oh Great Apostle. Let’s just get the point.” Paul flared with anger, but he contained himself from doing anything rash.
“As you can recall, I hope, after your injury, your attitude changed completely. You started to talk back to your parents, you became an unpredictable child, and your manners just disappeared. You turned into the ‘homey’ that you are today. You started to mingle with the type of people you should have stayed away from. You became the son that your parents regretted. Jason Steele, your parents placed a foundation for you, a mold for you to have a good life, but you screwed it up. Then, to top it all off, you started to ignore your family, and when they got mad at you, you would leave the house for the night. You became another low life. Just another low life, Jason. Your parents wish that they raised you better, Jason, but they did the best they could. You were just another low life.” Paul faded into nothing.
A booming voice echoed through the room: “Welcome to P-Sub 2, Jason Steele.” Jason was back in his room.
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Earth

Jason’s funeral was small and quaint, as his mother had to hold it in her backyard. The church refused, due to the many blasphemes that he had committed. Only a small portion of Jason’s family came to the funeral, as Jason’s guts were hated throughout his family ties. Only a few of his gang members showed up, the rest were trying to find the loser who killed Jason. His mother was at the coffin for the entire day, and his father and sister were having a catch, trying to get their mind off of Jason.
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Purgatory

Jason was in his sleep, and he saw his mother. He saw his coffin, his sister and father playing baseball. He saw his gang, hoping that they didn’t find out that he killed himself. If they knew, they would kill his family. He was nudged, and he woke up with a jolt.

Jason shot up out of bed and scanned the room. Nobody was there, but he had a weird feeling that he was being watched.
“So far, you have not impressed the adjudicators, Jason.” The loud, calm voice startled Jason so much that he fell onto the floor. When Jason looked up, a blinding light was shining overhead. Shielding his eyes, he stood up, and the light began to fade away. When the light was very dim, a silhouette of a person could be made out in the sky. The person started to float down towards the ground, and as he got closer, Jason could make out his appearance. He was a tall, slender man, and he was wearing a white robe. He had long, brown hair, and his beard and mustache were unmistakable. Jason was looking at Jesus Christ.
“Are you—?” Jason was cut off.
“Yes, I am. And I can see that the other adjudicators do not like your attitude, Jason Steele. That will be something worth changing, if you value your eternal decision.”
“I’m not in the mood to talk about this. I just want to see why I’m here and not up there.” Jason said, gesturing to the sky above.
“It would be wise of you to not get snappy with me, Jason Steele. My vote will count twice. It will either save you…or break you. If I vote yes, you will be back at the level of purgatory. But if I vote no…” Jesus stopped talking.
“If you vote no what? What will happen?”
“You would go two levels down. Jason Steele, do you know how many levels of P-Sub there are?”
“No, why, should I? Is this a test?”
“Yes, this is your test, your test of heaven. Jason Steele there are only three levels of P-Sub. If I vote no, you will be swallowed into the worst place any mortal, apostle, or angel has ever dreamed about. You will go to the devils den, most commonly known as Hell.”
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To Be Continued…
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