But my brother isn't here

“Oh yes, child, you will be saved from my abyss, of course. But he won’t.”
“You can’t have him!”
“But I already do.”
It looks at me, smiling, and the whole dimension fades away. Every scream, every moan, every cry for help dies away in Its silence; there is only his voice, his weak, pleading, sobbing voice, echoing through my mind.
“Please!” He begs me. “Help me!”
They grab him now, one on either side. He doesn’t resist. He knows what’s awaiting to him. He knows what he’ll experience for eternity. He knows I won’t help him. I hope he knows I can’t.
They lead him to an alter and lie him down. No restraints, but he lies still, his body still trembling, shaking as his endless sobs choke him. He is terrified of his fate.
“You can’t do this!” I tell It, “You can’t do this! Why are you doing this?”
We are surrounded by fire but It’s hands are frozen as curls It’s icy fingers around my shoulders. “Because I can.” It says, “Because he was bad, and you were good.”
“Then why are you showing me this?” I struggle against It’s grip, but It’s fingers are wrapped so tightly around me I can barley move.
“His punishment. He must know that his brother will not come to his aid.”
My identical twin brother is lying on the alter, silent now but still trembling. He looks at me, his eyes burning red but still flooded with tears. He opens his pale, shaking lips and mouths to me over and over “Help me….help me….please….help me”.
I break free from It’s grip but cannot get closer. I struggle and force against Them, but They hold me back.
“I want to help you!” I call to him, “Oh God, I want to help you!”
“You can’t help him,” It whispers in my ear, “neither you nor God can help him anymore.”
“Then I won’t leave!”
“I wish could keep you both. Such fun to have twins.” It laughs in my ear. It mocks us both. I turn around but It isn’t there anymore. It stands behind the alter that my brother lies on, but he doesn’t notice. He is still staring at me, mouthing over and over “help me…help me…help”
I almost thank God he didn’t see what was coming next, though it still haunts my mind. It lifts It’s hands and brings them together, slowly but the sound shakes the whole abyss. The world around us rumbles and small stones on the ground shake. My brother only looks at me, oblivious to what is going on, on the other side of the alter.
I see it fall, out of nowhere towards him. A rock, a boulder of a rock, coming down on him, crushing his body with a sickening crunch. I don’t see but I know that every bone underneath that rock has been destroyed, obliterated by the weight that pummelled him. With an almighty lurch, his last breath is thrown from his lungs in a mist of vapoured blood. His head and outstretched arms jolt upwards, splitting his bones so he hugs the rock only for a second, before slowly lowering down. Then, he doesn’t move.
My heart came crashing down with that rock. It pulled me to the floor, my hands covering my face but my eyes still locked on the crumpled mess of my brother. All is silent. All is still. They move away from me, and It disappears from sight. My brother and I are alone together. But I dare not let relief wash over me yet.
His head suddenly twitches as he tries to inhale the tiniest crack of air. My worst dreams come true; he is still alive under the rock. He always will be.
Giving up, his neck gives way and his head falls backwards, over the alter. His red eyes filled with blood, as is every orifice I can see. Even under his nails, blood drips slowly to the floor. Once more, he opens his mouth. “Help me…please…”
There he lies, just feet away, but still the distance calls for me to run to him. In death, as I did in life, I run to his aid. My brother.
Before I can touch him, even to hold his hand, I am surrounded and lifted by a barrier of light, full of the sound of screaming. My feet touch the ground again and I realise that the screaming was my own. Everywhere around me now is blinding white, and full of strangers. But my brother isn’t here.
They tell me I’m in Heaven now. But my brother isn’t here. We’re both suffering each other’s loss. We’re both feeling each other’s pain. We’re both missing a piece of our hearts in our new homes. My brother and I, we’re both in Hell.