[ WP ] Every 200 years , those in the punishment afterlife can visit reward for a day , and those in reward afterlife can visit punishment . One person from each side decides to do what has never been done : stay on the side they visit .

It's not like plenty of us have n't tried to escape the punishment, after all. I mean, we're down here because we're not the most trustworthy bunch to begin with. Still, no one ever really makes it. Every few hundred years ( who keeps track after the first thousand or so? ) they let us have a day of respite, and someone always tries to stay behind up there. It never works. I do n't know why they let us taste reward to begin with. Probably to make the misery even worse or some shit like that. I do n't even know who they are. 
 
 
 I do know why I'm here. And man, let me tell you. I deserve it. 
 
 
 Still, that does n't mean I like the torture. After a few centuries, the agony and the weeping, it just gets old, you know? So I decided that this time around, I was going to try for it. I was getting into the good place and I'll be damned if they were going to drag me out of there. Quite literally, in fact. 
 
 
 There are no calenders here, no clocks, no sunrise or sunset. Just darkness and pain and the terrible knowledge that it will never end. But one day ( night ), things change. You can hear, faintly, birdsong. You can sense, but never see, sunlight. And you know that it's the day of rest. The dawn breaks across the barren landscape like salvation, and for the first time in two hundred years, I know what pleasure feels like. 
 
 
 There's no special procedure, that day. One minute you're down here, the next, you're up there. I spent a few hours just basking in the difference. You do n't know how much you miss water until you've been gnawing on hot coals, let me tell you. In fact, it's when I'm bathing in the stream that I see her. She's different than the others, I can tell right away. She's got that beatific glow to her, sure, but her eyes are restless. 
 
 
 She's bored. 
 
 
 I splash my way over to her, missing the days when you could make a girl blush by skinny-dipping right in front of her. Up here, nudity is all innocent and childlike. Bullshit, that's what I say. And, judging by her poorly-concealed interest, that's what she says, too. 
 
 
 It's almost embarrassingly easy to draw her into conversation. I stay low in the water, hiding the scars. I smile real wide and make sure my eyes crinkle. I laugh at her idiotic jokes. In every sentence, I imply that it's really not so bad down there. Finally, when the time is right, I remind her that, today, the road is a two-way street. If she's bored, which she is, if she's curious, which she is, and if she's brave, which she is, she can come visit down there. 
 
 
 Just for the day. I promise to keep her safe. 
 
 
 After that, it's simple. I gallantly escort her to the edges of her world, and beyond. Just like that, we're back down there. And, of course, she knows right away she's made a mistake. I mean, just look at the place. She turns to flee, but I've got her tight. She starts to whimper - I'm hurting her. I feel that slow, sweet satisfaction that I thought I lost when I died start to build in my belly. I decide to hurt her more. 
 
 
 Oh, I hurt her so much. She ca n't cry when I'm done, ca n't even crawl away. Which is the point, after all. 
 
 
 The birdsong fades; the day is ending. I need to act now, or I'll lose my chance. I kneel beside her, gripping what hair I have n't pulled from her head to force her to look at me. It's got to be willing, you see. A soul for a soul. I ca n't stay up there unless she promises to stay down here. Poor girl does n't understand, though. She thinks that I'm the worst that can happen to her. She'll do anything, promise anything, to keep me from hurting her anymore. She does n't understand how it can get any worse. I shake her, I curl my fingers inside the wound in her side and *pull* at whatever viscera I can reach. I tell her, graphically, exactly how I'll flay her alive. 
 
 
 Look at that. I guess she can still cry, after all. 
 
 
 But in the end, she promises. She'll stay, please, please stop, she'll do anything. And just like that, I'm back up above. Her blood still dripping from my fingers, my body still singing from the excitement, and the sun shining strong and bright in the sky. Oh, I'm going to have so much fun. 

