Welcome To Hell, Pt. 6

A little after six, an announcement finally came out, announcing that passengers for line
U75-A to make their way to platform 10.

Daniel got up from his seat, and briskly jogged over to Platform 10, and noticed a crowd
already lining up to board the bus. As he went in line, a man cut through in front of him,
much to his annoyance.

"Yo," Daniel quipped. "I was here first, man."

"Tough luck bro," the man replied nonchalantly. Daniel, enraged by the insolence, grabbed the
man's shoulders and tossed to the ground before stepping forward in line. The man then stood
up, grabbed Daniel's arm, and delivered a blow to his jaw.

Daniel responded by kicking his stomach, before they both started rolling on the floor, trading
blows with each other, before a driver and security guard broke up the fight.

"Alright, what's going on?" the guard growled.

Daniel pointed at his assailant. "He started it. He cut in line, so I pushed him away
and he started beating me up," he said.

The guard stared at both of them, looked at the onlooking crowd, and pointed to a mousy looking
man. "You there," he began, "did you see what happened?"

"Y-yes," the man replied. "It was exactly like he said,"

"Right," the guard turned around to face both Daniel and the man. "Normally I'd give the both
of you a few good whacks and a night in a lockup, but since the next bus doesn't show up until
next morning, I'll let the both of you off. Now shake hands and make up."

Both men looked at each other, both hesitating to extend their hands.

"Oh, for Satan's sake," the guard sighed. "I'll do this, I want both hands extended on three. Okay,
ready? One, two, three," and at "three", both men extended their hands and shook.

"Good," the guard said. "Now get in the bus. They're waiting for the both of you."

Both men then walked into the bus, and took their seats and opposite sides of the bus, the man
opting to sit at the back of the bus while Daniel sat in the middle, facing a window.

"Everyone here?" the driver asked, turned around, did a headcount, said, "that's all of you,
alright. Let's go," he said, starting the engine. After the engine started hacking and coughing out
acrid smoke, the bus finally started moving.

As the bus went into traffic, Daniel looked at the surroundings, and was surprised at what he
saw. Contrary to what he had expected of hell, hell appeared to be rather normal, almost like
home, except most of the people on the streets and in the surrounding buses and cars happened
to be demons, with the occasional human walking by them.

The more the bus went through town, he saw restaurants of all kinds, stores, small and large.
There were clubs of all sorts, parking lots, even billboards, both static and moving.

One particular sign grabbed his attention, and he leaned forward to read it. It says:
"Metal assault special: Dimebag Darrell and Jesse Pintado on guitar, Cliff Burton on bass,
Chuck Schudlinger on vocals."

"Oh wow," Daniel thought to himself. "That's pretty cool...but shouldn't they be tortured or something?"

He slowly walked up to the driver, and sat behind him. "Hey buddy," he began.

"Yeah?" the driver replied, hardly taking his eyes off the road. "What?"

"Did I see a sign for a metal supergroup just now?" he asked.

"You sure did," the driver replied. "They're playing at the end of this month. A lot of kids
are pretty excited about it."

"Shouldn't they be tortured or something?" Daniel asked curiously.

The driver shook his head. "Not these guys. Humans that contributed greatly to humanity like
musicians, writers, philosophers, those kind of guys normally get royal treatment here. Partly,
because their sins are minor at best, but most importantly, demons like the stuff they come up
with, especially music."

"What?" Daniel whined. "That's not fair at all."

"It's fair enough for me," the driver reasoned. "I mean, these guys put in a lot of effort for what
they did, they didn't cause harm to anyone, and a lot of people enjoyed the results of their hard
work."

"Yeah, I get it," Daniel replied, and went back to his seat. Before long, the commercial buildings
made way towards a series of parks and apartments, with varying qualities as they passed through it,
with various types of humans and demons moving around the area.

Daniel began to wonder about the quality of his apartment. Will it be old and dilapidated? How large
is his unit? What floor will he be located on? How far will it be from his workplace? Will it have
the necessary amenities? Can he get his amenities at a respectable distance?

Before long, the bus pulled over a block of apartments which seemed fairly new, with a decent amount
of people walking around the area, which, Daniel assumed, meant that his lodgings will be decent, at
least. The driver then opened the door, and said, "before you guys go to your apartment, make a stop
at the supermarket if you guys want to stock up on groceries first."

They then slowly walked out of the bus, and looked at their signboard to determine the location of their
blocks and the supermarket in question, and went on their respective ways. Daniel decided to make his
way to the supermarket first, which was a solitary rectangle building in the middle of the apartment
complex, and went in, and was surprised at how clean and well-stocked it was.

As he looked around, the cashier noticed him.
"Are you new here?" she asked.

Daniel turned around to face the cashier, and was surprised to see that it's a human manning the counter
instead of a demon.

"Yeah, I wanted to pick up my supplies here, what should I do?"

"Do you have your form with you?" she asked.

Daniel took it out of his backpack and handed it over to her, and she then keyed the order in, before
another supermarket staffer returned with the products he wanted, and the cashier then placed them into
several plastic bags, and handed them over to Daniel.

"You'll have to buy your own from now on," the cashier said robotically. "You can buy them using credits you've
accumulated through your job, have a nice day."

And with that, Daniel decided to leave the supermarket and headed towards his apartment complex, and once there,
he took a look at his key number, and to his surprise, it meant that his unit is on the fifth floor. He then looked around
for a lift, but to his disappointment, no lifts were installed, instead, a huge staircase awaits him at the middle
of the lobby.

He then trudged slowly upstairs, the weight of his groceries straining both hands, and he walked one step at a time,
until he reached his unit. Putting his groceries down on the floor, he unlocked the apartment unit, and was surprised
to see that it has already been furnished. To his left is the kitchen, with a cabinet filled with crockery and utensils,
a sink, a stove and a refrigerator. Daniel immediately placed his groceries in the cabinet, before walking out to the
living room.

In the living room, he saw that there was a large window overlooking the neighborhood, with a television resting on a cabinet
along with a couch facing it, a table in between, and oddly enough, a loudspeaker mounted to the wall just above the couch itself,
and a dining table just next to the living room. He then walked into the bedroom, and was again surprised to see a bed installed in his unit,
along with a cupboard for his clothes. He then took a look into his rather small bathroom, and decided he's satisfied enough
with what he's getting.

He then decided to see what's on television, and after setting his bag in the bedroom, went back to the living room and
sat on the couch. He removed his shoes and socks, and placed his bare feet on the table, before turning on the television set.
"The striking workers have come to a consensus with the authorities themselves. Union officials have met government officials on this issue,
and both parties have decided to agree on some points. They include..."

Daniel flipped through the channels before he decided to turn it off. As he placed the remote back on the table, he noticed a piece of paper
lying on the table. He picked it up and read it.

It read;

Dear Mr Merton. Welcome to your new unit, I hope you'll find it much to your liking. Please be informed that we have adjusted your torture
schedule to the following:

a) You will be beaten up at 9 pm at any day on an almost daily basis until further notice;
b) Music will play throughout your apartment for an hour at the early hours of the morning, usually around 2 to 5 am;
c) Your personal items will be stolen from time to time, and it may happen in your apartment or at your place of work;
d) Certain provisions will be denied from you from time to time.

We hope your stay in hell will be a pleasant and enjoyable one.

Yours truly,

The Management.

Daniel started sweating without realizing it, particularly the first point about him getting beaten up on a daily basis. What do they mean
by that? And, more importantly, what's the time?

Daniel looked around his apartment, and to his dismay, he found the clock hanging over his television, telling him the time.

8.50 pm.

Daniel collected his wits, and within a moment, he realized that he can avoid his punishment simply by leaving his apartment. He hastily
put his shoes back on, and made a dash to the door, but found the door knob wouldn't turn even as he tried. After a minute of struggling
with the door knob, he sat back on the couch, and looked at the clock, tickling slowly as he waited for his punishment.

Nine pm.

Daniel looked at the door, and heard a knock.