If this was a prank, it was a very cruel one, Serena thought as she hit her fist against the wall and dropped to the floor.

She noticed that her bare feet had started to bleed. No wonder it was painful to walk.

She so wanted to give up and just die, or at least have a drink. It had been hours trying to find a way out of the labyrinth. So far, she learnt corridors just led to more corridors and doors were pointless, as most of them were locked, and those that were not led to empty, windowless rooms.

She had tried everything, except… except, trying the doors with the carved words on them. They scared her.

Every time the voice at the back of her mind told her these were the only doors worth opening, she opted against it. There were disturbing sounds behind those doors. Noises that made her wonder if it would be better to be stranded in this weird structure forever, rather than face what was behind them.

But this door she was now staring at, the one across from where she sat, was different. The word carved on it did not frighten her, it drew in some ancient feelings instead.

“What was the worst that could happen with a door that spelled her mother’s name, Anna,” she asked herself as she stood up and placed her hand on the door knob decisively and twisted.

The door was heavy. She opened it slowly and cringed at the loud squeaks it made. Serena saw there was a big window dominated the room. It opened to a big green field where children were playing. And just before she could scream “Freedom!” and leap out, a voice spoke behind her startled her.

“This is not real,” it said.

Turning around, Serena saw that it belonged to a withered old woman.

“These are just memories, and faulty ones at that… My children never played in a green field. More like in city playgrounds, but this is how I choose to see them.”

“Who are you?” Serena asked quickly, “Where am I?”

“I am Anna,” the old lady replied and looked confused as to why she was being asked that question.

“Little girl,” she continued, “as to where you are, you might be somewhere bad, but not evil. You can find comfort in that while really bad things may happen to you here, nothing truly evil will fall upon you.”

“I don’t understand… Where the hell am I?

“Well, you are not in hell, little girl.”

Frustrated, Serena screamed at the old lady “Then where the fuck am I? I need to get out, I need to get back to my life!”

The old lady started laughing hard, so hard that tears came out of her eyes.

“Life? What life?” she said in the sweetest old lady voice Serena had ever heard. “You mean you want to go back to being an alcoholic brat who randomly destroys other people’s lives? No, you can never go back, after all you are dead.”

Serena did not know why she believed her, but somehow it seemed obvious.

“How?” Serena asked, her voice was barely audible .

The window then started changing. The spring breeze that came through was replaced by an evening chilly blow. The children and field were gone, and now the window overlooked her sister’s dinner party, the very same one Serena crushed.

Serena cringed as she saw herself get drunk and flirt with her brother-in-law’s business partner, Rob. She now saw how he tried to let her down politely, and how uncomfortable he looked. Weird, it wasn’t how she remembered it,at all. She also saw how anxious her sister was getting, and how her brother-in-law stepped in and pried Rob away from her.

She then, saw herself get naked screaming what must have been ancient celebratory cries. Serena buried her face in her hands out of embarrassment. Did she truly do that?

Serena’s sister ran to cover her up with a sheet-- she remembered that-- but she pushed her away and ran to the pool.

Drunk as she was, she slipped and hit her head on the edge of the pool and fell face down into the water. What followed was the hardest to watch.

The pool turn red before her brother-in-law could fish her out.

Her sister screamed cried her name, as they carried her to the hospital.

She was tied into a hospital bed, and clung to life for three days.

She died.

“Welcome to purgatory, daughter” said the old woman.

Serena collapsed.