From Heaven to Hell


Growing up, there was a stark difference between my siblings and me, as they were always getting into trouble at both home and school while I was praised by almost everyone as an angel. This drew a rift between us as we grew older, and we never made up even after we graduated from school and entered university.


As we grew older, our bonds never really recovered; and eventually, one by one, all of us passed away without having talked to one another. It was something I regretted after death, for once I rose to heaven, I was the only one from my family there. Not even my parents or grandparents were in heaven; I was surprised. According to heaven, they were all in hell…


I asked them why everyone was down there, and they said that my parents and grandparents were no better than my siblings when they were young; they were troublemakers and never prayed, so they never belonged in heaven. I couldn’t believe how strict their policies were. I asked heaven if they could make an exception to at least visit my family once, but they declined. The arch-angels asked me never to speak of “such nonsense” again. They said my family got what they deserved.


I knew I had a rocky relationship with my family, but never did I imagine things to be this complicated. One night, I saw my parents in my dreams: they seemed happy in hell, and it looked surprisingly carefree there. They called out to me, asking me to join them. I woke up wondering whether it was a vision; it just felt too real…


It was then that I took the matter to the top. God was visibly furious, demanding that I return to enjoying my afterlife in heaven, but I couldn’t let it go. Heaven was, in fact, boring. Everyone was to be quiet and go about their day; the only time anyone was allowed to gather was when we prayed. The social isolation slowly grew to be painful as only prayers echoed through my head on a daily basis. This led me to make a bold move one day.


I disrupted one of the prayer sessions the following weekend, making the same silly jokes and pulling the same wild pranks that my siblings so often did as teens. Heaven was mortified. They banished me that same day and threw me into the pits of hell. There, I was finally reunited with my family, who were all enjoying one another’s company without any rules or regulations to hold them back. One of my siblings came up to me and said they knew I had it in me the entire time and was waiting for this moment for a lifetime. We all laughed and started the celebrations.

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