H.

created by me.

"shhhhhht" followed by a scream.

the line moved. i breathed fire back on to the brander. red hot, on the shoulder of the next poor soul. "shhhhht this one didnt scream. the souls behind him looked impressed. i left the brander on longer then needed. and the line moved. again the thought that humans reproduce like rabbits crossed my mind. then they die. then they come to me to be branded as the devils property.

the next soul in line was a trembler.

"relax. it hurts, but if i mess up then i have to do it again."

the soul looked up at me; i was fighting a smile. i loved my job.

i just hated being trapped here.

this boy just could not stop shaking so i sent him to the end of the line to relax.

I heated up the brander with my breath again.

"Next." i yell

up came another soul as it got closer i could make out the girls body and clothes. short skirt; low cut shirt and red heels.

then i saw the the gun shot wound in her forehead with bruises on her wrists.

the shape of large hands.

"When I was alive I was close to being rich, how does someone get rich down here?" she asked

"you don't everything goes to the devil" i said.

"Is that right." she said.

"ssssshhhht" i branded her. i felt weird for causing further damage to her.

"Will these ever go away?" she said pointing at her wrist.

"when you forgive him i guess" i said "when your soul is clean of nastiness like hate you get to go to heaven"

"Whys the devil so rich anyways?" said an old man who had heard

this man looked like a miner. he was dusty and his head looked kind of funny; to long and not wide enough.

He turned his head to look at the lady who i was still branding. when he turned i saw the his head had been smashed and cracked open.

letting go of the girls arm i said "he feeds us and does his best to get us out of here." "if he gave us money we wouldn't learn to be kind." "we would just fight over it like we did on earth."

the line moved i took the miners arm

"What about you?" he said "Don't you get money for branding us?"

i blew fire on the brander again.

"no but he gives me presents."

"Presents?" he said

"yes. like just yesterday he gave me a bird egg,"

"Really?" he said "Why would he give you something that would die?"

"will put it back in a year or two." "its just a pet"

"What about a dog?" "Could we have dogs?"

"If we work hard enough." ... "maybe someday i could have one..."

I blew fire on the brander to make it hotter then usual.

"SSSSHHHhhhtt"

the miner trembled as i let him go

about 20 souls later the boy came back to the front.

"Sorry about being a bother" he said

"thats alright, hey why dont you stay here with me for the rest of my shift?"

"would you let me brand someone?"

"would you want too?"

"not sure?"

his voice rose making sound like a question

I made the brand hot and handed to him.

he held it like a weapon.

"you cant hold it like that. Its not a sword its a brander like for cows." i paused " and move your hand forward your dead, what are you scared of?"

the line moved.

the boy moved it so it looked like he was holding a stamp.

"that's better"

a soul came up. it was a man in his twenties.

"alright now just press it on to his shoulder."

"SSSHHhhtt"

I gave the boy my card and he told me he should be going. that he had to go look for his Aunt Koria.

i doubted he would find her.