My voice trailed as I saw slithering across the ground, my best friend in the world. “FLUFFY!!” I shouted, seizing him in my hands and rubbing my tear-stained face against him. I could tell he was excited and happy to see me too, and happily nudged me and wrapped around my arms and neck. “Oh God, where did you come from?! Are you hurt?!”

He shook his head, but I checked every inch of Fluffy to make sure. To my surprise, he was looking fine. In fact, better than fine. He was in perfect condition.

“Baby, you’re looking amazing,” I said, looking down at my stained dress with a teary-eyed laugh. “Better than I do right now. This appalling dress is just a sad piece of cloth now.”

Fluffy slithered around my body, and I laughed and stroked his head in glee.

“Things are already better now that you’re here,” I looked around. “Where is here? And what are we going to do?”

Fluffy started giving me suggestions for things to do, which wasn’t many things. Mostly playing around. It was weird though. I could always understand him in a way because of our close bond, but now I felt we were connected even deeper.

“I guess I’ll have to work on changing my life around somehow…” I said with a sigh. “Maybe if I do, my prince will come and take me out of my tower-”

As if reacting to my words, the heavy iron door flung open. Who stepped in however was definitely not my prince. A young curvy woman waltzed in, with rich red skin and pointed horns on her head. On her back were a set of devil wings, and on her ass was a pointed red tail. Her hair was flowy and purple; the woman looked effortlessly pretty. I immediately felt myself give in to envy of her, and my teeth clenched as we locked eyes. The woman could see my anger and smirked.

“First punishment finally done, huh?” she asked with crossed arms. “How was it?”

“What?” I asked, confused. “What punishment?”

“Those things that you saw? They were your first of many, many punishments!”

“Oh…” I hugged Fluffy closer. “You said it was the first…?”

“Yep, once a year,” she laughed heartily. “For all eternity! Oh yeah, and I’ll tell you, time is a bit rocky during punishment. Yours lasts about three months.”

“Felt longer…” I mumbled.

“What was your name again?”

“Beatrice.”

“Our first Hawthorne!” she cheered. “I’ve had my eye on you for a while. I’m Lisha, the devil who rules Hell. I try to make it a point to visit all the newcomers. Especially the particularly bad ones.”

“...Hell?” I asked in a small voice. Yeah I was bad, but… I never thought this is where it would all put me.

“What? You thought you would go to Heaven or something?” she asked, laughing so hard she looked ready to pee herself. “Girl, we could write your track record across the Grand Canyon and still need more room!”

She looked at my dejected face. Great, they were all right. I was so bad that I was sent to Hell. At least I wouldn’t have to see their faces disappointed to see me again.

“Don’t worry,” Lisha said, smiling wickedly. “I’m sure with your reputation and body, you’ll make some quick friends. You’ve got a lot of people down here who’ve talked about you.”

“Well I hope so,” I said proudly. “I’m a Hawthorne. It’s a well known and respected family name.”

“One that you dedicated your life to ruining.”

“Oh shut up,” I growled. “What do you know?”

The woman’s cocky ass smile faded in an instant, and she shot a fiery red glare at me, which I returned with my own emerald stare. This woman clearly thought she was the top of the food chain, and didn’t like people talking back. But if someone was about to talk to me like that and give me an attitude, I’m going to shoot it back.

“You think you can tell me, the ruler of Hell, to shut up?!” she asked furiously. “Have you already forgotten who I am?! What I can do to you?!”

I wasn’t about to take this lying down. Literally or metaphorically. I stood up to try and gaze at her from a level playing field, and I was almost up to her height, only a couple inches shorter. I got a grin on my face as I got a full view of her body. She wore it well, but I didn’t need to let her think that. Not for much longer.

“The only thing you look like you have domain over is the kitchen,” I jeered, cleaning my nails. “Seriously hun, that figure belongs in an ice cream container.”

“Tough talk from a twig,” she countered. “I could snap you in half and throw you in a lava lake if I wanted to.”

“Should join me then. You’d benefit from burning a few calories away.”

“There’s hardly anything left of you to burn.”

“Funny, you say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“You look like a bean sprout.”

“Better a bean sprout than that muffin top, hun.”

We glared at each other for a few more minutes, clashing our red and green gazes until Lisha lowered her tough demeanor. She smirked.

“I have to say, I’m impressed,” she said, nodding. “I’ve never met someone who could match my attitude before. It’s nice to see a new face I can’t destroy in just a few moments.”

I gave her a wicked grin back.

“Glad we feel the same way.”

“Come on, let’s get out of here,” Lisha said, motioning out the door. “Let me give you a personal tour of Hell.”

She left the room and I quickly followed. It was a sight I didn’t expect. There was a sprawling underground city with lakes of lava and brimstone roads. The city itself looked beautiful, but the people didn’t match. They looked exhausted and beaten down, walking without purpose and like the end was near. It made sense. I hoped I wouldn’t end up like that after a few years of punishment. I would change, and crawl out of Hell! After what I saw, I would change myself. I would stay bold, but be kinder. Maybe I could save myself before my next punishment if I tried hard enough…