The doorman.
Some say on Halloween night, if you go past seven black gates, you will see the seven gates of hell. I thought it was a myth at first, until I tried it out. I went past seven black gates around my neighborhood, then when I went to sleep, my dreams were of a furious fire. It stopped, and there was a man, tall and bulky. His eyes were rather squinted, showing his age, and his legs and hands were thin and looked as if they could barely support his weight. He spoke with a scratchy and dying tone, saying, "Emoclew ot eht neves setag fo lleh." Chuckling, he opened the gate. My whole body became numb, and I was unable to fight it as it moved on its own. Struggling did not work. Without any control of myself, I went through the first gate.
Gate 1 - I saw fire, and corpses that were horribly mutilated, desecrated, and burnt. They were sobbing so loudly that I couldn't even hear the crackles of the fire. One came to me, with one eye and bullet holes all over him. He said, "We are the desecrated corpses who did not get a proper burial. We are to stay here till the judgement day." I went past him and to the 2nd gate. It was in a building.
Gate 2 - I was in a dungeon. There were people tied up, screaming in pain. One was being sawed in half very slowly, his body repeatedly healing, ready to be sawed again. One was in an iron maiden, with the door being opened and closed, but never causing any visible harm. A man in an executioner's mask said to me, "We are the torturers tortured by our own devices." I went past him to the exit, towards the 3rd gate.
Gate 3 - This time, I was in a forest. It was silent except for a few yells. There was a man hanging from a noose. Another man fell off a cliff, reappeared, and fell off again. I began running away from a horribly burnt woman chasing after me. I already knew what this one was. These were the people who committed suicide. I ran through the 4th gate, which was in a palace.
Gate 4 - Suddenly, I was in the palace, surrounded by emperors, politicians, and really wealthy people. An emperor was being gnawed on by lions. When the lion ripped a limb off or slashed him, the appendage grew back and the injury healed. A politician was being beaten by what looked like shadows in prisoners' clothes. A man in a suit came to me and said, "We are the corrupted people. The people who used our power to help ourselves, not others." I walked to the next gate, the 5th.
Gate 5 - I was in another room. There was a man tied up on a bed, being lashed by floating spiky leather whips. A woman was being burnt by a lighter, but her screams and cries were muffled by a cloth that was used as a gag. A rather large man came up to me and said, "We are the rapists and the sex offenders, paying for our crimes on earth." I ran to the 6th gate.
Gate 6 - I was in another room. A man and woman were being stabbed, their wounds healing almost immediately just like everyone else. Another person was being buried alive, and someone else was being hit and jabbed with a floating metal bar. I knew who these people were - murderers, being harmed the way they killed their victims. The exit was the 7th gate. "The final one. This nightmare is almost over. It's almost over," I said to myself.
Gate 7 - I was outside. There was a man wearing a shroud over his head coated with explosives. He blew up, regenerated, and blew up again. Another one was being beaten, stabbed by sharp metal objects, and burned by torches, lighters, and matches. They were held by people who looked like shadows. One of them came to me and said, "They are the mass murderers, the terrorists, the suicide bombers. I am a shadow of one of their victims, beating them and taking revenge for killing us on earth." I ran to the exit.
When I woke up in the morning, I became horribly scared. The images of what I saw ran through my head. In fact, that was all I could think about for the whole year. It became Halloween again, and I didn't dare go outside at night. I just went to bed. It took me a while to sleep. When I did, I was in front of the first gate of hell. There was a teenager like me, staring at me. He was shocked to see me. My body became numb, and I could not control myself again. I said to him in a scratchy, dying tone, "Emoclew ot eht neves setag fo lleh." I chuckled and opened the gate for him. After he went inside with an expression that looked like he was fighting something and struggling, I looked at myself in the reflection of a goblet, filled with what looked like blood. I saw the gatekeeper. I became the gatekeeper. In fact, I am the gatekeeper.