Derick smiled. "Maria, do you really want me?
Maria nodded.
"Even with Lydia in the picture?"
"Listen, I don't care if you work in a factory, for minimum wage, with an estranged wife disrupting our lives. That's not what it's about."
"Some of it is about that. You deserve someone who will give you the world. All I can do is try." Derick's head began to ache. Maria put a cold compress on it when he cried out.
Derick blacked out.
* * *
"Aww, what the fuck?" Derick said as he opened his eyes in the cavern again.
"You had to tie up some loose ends. I allowed you to do so." Devon replied.
"Look, I'll pay you the damned royalties. Just let me go back home. She needs me."
"Who needs you?"
"Maria."
"Not your wife, not your children?"
"They got along without me just fine for the past two years. But I can't leave Maria. That would break her heart."
"It won't break your wife's heart?"
"My wife wanted to get rid of our children in order to be with me. Nothing can break her heart."
Devon thought for a moment, a skinny hand rubbing his hairy chin. "Can't do that. It's too late. You've made your decision. I work on verbal contracts, remember?"
"Yeah." Derick got to his feet.
Devon lit a cigar, puffed twice, and spoke again. "You really should get to work." Devon vanished.
Derick stood still for a moment. Once Devon left, all around Derick were tortured individuals. People moaning and crying. They couldn't speak.
As he began to walk down the corridor he was in, the temperature got colder and colder, until Derick's teeth were chattering. He saw naked individuals, shivering, some with blisters covering their bodies. The hallway was white, with blue accents around the windows where he could see the tortured souls.
When the temperature was so cold he couldn't stand it, he ran down the hall, hoping to get out of the cold; suddenly the temperature heated up to an intolerant degree. Derick saw individuals burning in flames, molten metals being poured on their skin. The hallway then suddenly turned a crimson color, the walls painted with flames.
Derick was reminded of the monkey house at the zoo. Caged humans in torment as he observed from a safe distance. He felt for them all, which was extremely uncharacteristic for him. Derick had more often that not been criticized for only caring about himself; a selfish individual.