Between Heaven and Hell | A Rain-Ghoul Fanfiction

1. Summoning Day

It was late in the evening when I was finally done cleaning. I had cleaned Papa's room, the library, the bathrooms, and a small room in the highest tower of the church. I had never been in the highest tower of the church before today. The thing about the satanic church was, that no matter how long you've lived there, there's no way that you've been in every room. Aether had told me once that it was built in the middle ages, and since then, they just kept expanding it until it was one of the biggest churches to exist.

As I put my cleaning supplies back into the closet, I could feel a cold hand on my shoulder. I turned around quickly, only to see that it was just Rain who was standing behind me. His smile revealing his sharp, white teeth. ''Satan!'' I bursted out. ''No, it's just Rain, sorry to disappoint you.'' Rain grabbed both of my hands to pull me closer to him. ''Your hands are so wrinkly.'' ''Yes, that is what happens when you spend hours constantly having to put them in a bucket full of soap.'' Rain kept staring at my hands, observing them like he had never seen the effect that water had on human hands. ''This doesn't happen to me,'' he said, ''you know, as a water-ghoul. Does this also happen if you just wash your hands?'' He finally looked up from my hands to look at my face. ''No, it only happens when I've put my hands in the water for a long amount of time.'' Rain finally let go of my hand. ''Hm, interesting. Even though a ghoul's elemental power only works in hell, there's still little things like this that make it clear that I'm a water-ghoul. Anyways, I have come to pick you up to go to The Great Hall, because it's Summoning Day, remember?''

Of course, that's right. It was Summoning Day, the day on which Papa had summoned new ghouls from hell to earth. It wasn't the first time that this was going to happen since the church had the book full of black magic, Liber Magicae Tenebris, back. Unfortunately, Summoning Day was also the day on which Papa also un-summons some ghouls on earth back to hell. 

''Yes, I remember. In fact, I tried to forget about it, because it makes me sad to think that we're going to have to say goodbye to Aether and Sunshine.'' I said, while closing the door of the closet. Rain nodded. ''Yes, it makes me sad too. Especially because not all ghouls in hell are nice. Papa makes sure to summon only the kind ghouls to earth. He let me go to earth because I was taking care of my sick grandma. And at the time I needed as much money as possible to help her pay for her medical bills. Some ghouls in hell, well,'' he stopped talking for a few seconds to think about how he was going to end his sentence. ''Some ghouls in hell don't know the difference between standing up for themselves and just being straight up evil. Especially when they aren't feeling that well.'' ''You have always been extremely nice to me.'' I said, as our footsteps echoed in the halls of the church. Rain smiled while he looked at me. ''That's because I have never felt better since you started living here a few months ago.''

When we finally got to The Great Hall, I could see that everything was ready for Papa to announce who the new ghouls were. There was a little stage set up with a microphone on it. There were hundreds of ghouls and siblings of sin sitting at the tables, waiting for the Summoning Ceremony to begin. My eyes scanned around the room to find my friends. I didn't have to look for long, because in the middle of all the black outfits that the ghouls and the siblings of sin wore, was someone with a more colorful sense of fashion. Not only his clothing was colorful, but his hair was dyed in a bright, neon green color.

I tapped on Rain's shoulder, and then I pointed at the table our friends were sitting at. ''Look, there they are!'' Rain chuckled as we made our way over to them. ''Roy's never hard to find in a group of people. Especially since he has dyed his hair.''

''Hey guys!'' I greeted them, as Rain and I sat down at the table next to Dewdrop, Swiss, Mountain, Cirrus, Cumulus, Roy, Nali, and Diablo. ''Hey besties!'' Roy's face lit up once he saw Rain and I. ''I can't wait to see the new ghouls! Although I'm very sad that we're going to have to say goodbye to Aether and Sunshine today. Do you guys think that they will have fun in hell?''

Mountain placed his hand on his chin, indicating that he was thinking about what it was like for him back in hell. ''I mean,'' he started, ''Satan himself opened the gate to hell in the middle ages, and since then, it's like the time has been stuck there. Hell is just a copy of earth, but there's flames everywhere and the sky is dark red. Not that us ghouls care about that, most of us like the flames, because it is like our natural habitat. But Sunshine will definitely get lost in the church in hell, because it is almost like this church, but not exactly. There have been some rooms and towers added to this church since Satan opened the gate. And there have been built some other rooms and towers at the church at the other side.'' Swiss laughed. ''That's true! Sunshine got lost so often in the first week that she started living here, because she was still used to the church in hell. But she'll find her way around eventually, I think she would like to be with her family more often.''

''And Aether?'' Nali asked. ''Will Aether like it back in hell?'' Dewdrop scoffed. ''Aether didn't want to leave earth, but Papa said that it's for the best. I think that he will miss his bananas more than he'll miss us. That motherfucker just made me help him put at least 30 bananas in his suitcase. Because, you know, bananas can't grow in hell.''

''What do ghouls eat in hell?'' I asked, out of curiosity. ''Tortured souls of sinners.'' Dewdrop answered, with a dead serious tone in his voice. ''That's not true!'' Cirrus yelled quickly. ''Everyone knows that people don't actually go to hell when they die. When you die, you just die, I think. I don't know, I'm not sure. But don't worry Eve, the bible lied when it said that sinners burn in hell for eternity. It's just made up to scare people so that the bible can control them. It's just Satan's home, nothing more than that.''