"Seriously?" I asked looking around.

"As serious as you want it to be," my companion admitted. I tried not to look at him, because as much as he smiled, a scarecrow dressed in black with a jack-o-lantern for a head was far from a reassuring sight.

I swallowed thickly, speechless.

There were lights of all colors everywhere, cinnamon in the air, even a gentle autumn breeze, and I recognized several faces. Peasants who had died sacrificed. Just like me that night. We were supposed to go to a place of punishment, a dark world dominated by sin. It was certainly dark. Most of the walls were black and the ground was of the same shade, but the lights ...

"They told you you would come to suffer until the end of time," he continued, looking at me with his lantern eyes. Mine were focused on a couple walking hand in hand.

"Yes..." In fact, every day we studied the scriptures to save our souls, but the village elders decided who was the sinner who deserved being burned to death each year. It had been my turn that time, and I had spent the last hours of my life praying through tears. Not even my parents wanted to go say goodbye to me one last time. In front of me, two children ran through the square kicking a ball.

"How you love to spread fear. You don't change," he laughed. The couple greeted an elderly woman who was drawing pictures in a corner.

"Ah?" "I couldn't help looking at him then.

"You belittle yourselves so much that live in fear of not being good enough and condemn yourself. You've always have, and will keep doing it no matter how many years go by."

"But... We're supposed to..."

"Be good?" I could imagine him raising an eyebrow. I nodded, noticing that there were now five children playing and a puppy running behind them. A breeze ruffled my hair. "And do you need a book that tells you how to be?"

"They're supposed to be the rules, that they're... the word of..."

"Enough with that." The flames inside his head rose for a second. "Always with that. There's no cosmic law other than helping each other. You don't need a book that tells you that lying, stealing or killing is wrong. You're supposed to reason."

"But... we would be animals."

"And do you see animals worried about the afterlife?" I was speechless. For that reason and because two women kissed after one took a daisy from a bush and gave it to the other. That would mean an immediate imprisonment. "They do what it takes to live, they take what they need it's needed, and they honor their own."

"Have you done this for a long time?" I asked just to change the subject.

"I was the first condemned to death," he laughed, "well, enjoy your stay, until it's your turn to return."

And he went behind me, leaving me alone.