Well, I watched a little bit of 'A Christmas Carol' before Christmas. And since then I've had this idea in my head. So yes, this is sort of like 'A Christmas Carol', which I take no credit for. But Its my own characters my own plots, my own ghosts. Please R&R! Oh, and by the way, this doesn't reflect my religious views at all. Haha. And please read at least until you reach the spirit that tells him where he is.

Road Of Regret

By: BlueHorizons

Chapter 1
This Is You

"James!" The figure yelled, and the house shook at his every word. "Thou have been judged! Have thou no fear? No sorrow? No regret? Thou should be on the floor crying for forgiveness! Though it would not be given unto you!" James didn't know what to say, he stood there, his mind not fully comprehending what was going on. Who was this black-cloaked figure that stood in front of him? And was that a Scythe?

"My god" he whispered. But somewhere deep inside his head, he thought he heard himself say 'Normally…you would say' cool'…'

"If thou has nothing to say, the Road of Regret will be opened! Speak now!" As he stopped, the house stopped shaking. There was complete silence for a few horrifying seconds.

The voice spoke again 'You're screwed…' he briefly wondered if it was his own voice.

"So be it." He did not yell it, but James thought he might become def from the sheer volume of the simple but profound statement. There was a sudden and violent burst of bright white-hot light, which bathed the room. James knew that some would welcome the light, but to him, it looked like venom. It looked holy and pure; it looked like everything he wasn't and wish he were. Thoughts of jealousy filled his head, as all his sins and flaws flashed memories through his mind. He knew what the light was; it was the light of knowledge of everything he had done, every sin, every character flaw. And he also knew that someone was reading the light, and it scared him. Overwhelming fear took control of his body and mind. The mere thoughts of being judged by The Almighty made him want to curl up a ball, and fall into nothingness. For that was better than facing God when his hands were covered in his own sins. A tear rolled down his check.

Now that his life was over, he just couldn't understand why he did those things. Such stupid things, such petty things. Singing in the shower, well…screaming, now seemed so stupid, every time he had played a sport, watched TV…they meant nothing. But then there were those other things…he just couldn't understand how he could have been so stupid, lying, stealing…murdering. The truth had been right in front of him, it would have been so easy just to reach out and grab it. But he had refused, and now he was going to pay for it.

"No…What have I done?" He whispered, and for once in his life he knew, he wasn't the only one who had heard the whisper that he had repeated so many times in his life.

The light covered everything, until James couldn't see anything, only the pure white light that seemed to point out his every flaw and imperfection. It felt as if it was burning his very essence, and it hurt. The world started turning around him, and the ground beneath him disappeared. He started to fall. A sinking feeling that had nothing to do with the drop filled his chest. For the first time since before he was 8 years old, a tear fell down his check.

'Its so hard to understand…to accept' Thought James. He was dead, and he didn't disappear into nothing. There was an afterlife, and he was living through it. It was the last thing he had expected to happen.

He just wanted this to end. If he could just go back, he would change, he would do everything in his power to fix everything he had done wrong. But he knew that he wouldn't be given that chance. He knew if he were in Gods position, he would sentence himself to a place worse than this, and he knew that's where he was going. He was going to hell, and this was just the road to get there.

Suddenly he stopped, the light disappeared, and darkness blanketed everything. He let out a gasp as ice-cold air surrounded him. He thought he heard someone laugh.

"He-hell…?" He couldn't quite finish what he was trying to say; the 'o' at the end of 'hello' was lodged in his throat and refused to be let out. There was another laugh, and James knew he wasn't imagining it. He started looking around for somebody, but he couldn't even see his hand in front of his face. He started to walk, taking small steps with his arms feeling out in front of him. He tapped a lantern that was on the ground with his foot. With shaking hands he bent over and lifted the lantern, and as he did so, it lit itself up. The warmth and light was welcoming. It provided very little light, but it brought more happiness than he had felt in what seemed like a very long time. And he felt like he could just bathe in the light for hours on end. This light so much more comforting then the light that had filled his room earlier.

"Hello James." A dark and rough voice spoke from behind him. James turned around violently; and he almost dropped the lantern at what he saw. The clank of metal on metal could be heard from the lamp as his hands shook the handle on it back and forth.

Chains dragging across the ground echoed around the darkness. A creature robed in black stepped into the light with heavy booted steps. His hands and legs were covered in shackles that were chained to a stonewall that James hadn't noticed before. The creature was large, his shoulders stood twice as far as part as his, and he was almost twice as tall as him. But no matter which way he moved, the shadow from the hood covered his face. A chilly gust of wind blew through the darkness, making the creature's robe sway in the wind, and almost putting out the lanterns light. For a slight second he felt a lump form in his throat as if he was going to cry. Though he didn't know if the tears would be for fear or for the miserable creature that stood in front of him.

"Wh-wh-who are you?" James was able to stammer out.

"Your sins. Your flaws." The creature voice was deep and slightly scared James, "Everything that you ever did wrong. Forever chained to this damned wall so that I might not change your future, to save us. Forever becoming uglier, because your present refuses to change." There was certain bitterness in his voice. "James, we are the same. From when you were born till today, and on forever. You did this to me," He raised his hands, so that James could better see the chains, "Oh Glorious One." He was mocking James, and horrible guilt filled James's mind.

"I-I did this to you?" James teeth were chattering, and the sound echoed through the nothingness that surrounded them. The creature lifted his hands and slowly removed his hood, the shadows covering his face retreated from his face revealing the most hideous face James had ever seen, but there was something familiar about the face. The creature smiled, and even the smile seemed familiar.

'My face' the quiet voice in the back of his head spoke again. The voice was miserably desolate and he almost cried at the sheer sadness that it contained. The voice seemed so disconnected from the rest of his mind.

"James, we are the same man. You think you knew hell when you were on earth." The creature spoke with complete hatred, "But this…this place is worse. Even those in hell fear to even speak of this place. This place…" He paused and raised his hands to the shadows that cloaked the land in darkness "…is the Road of Regret, and you, James David Andrews, have been chosen to walk its cold dreaded paths." A gust of cold wind suddenly blew across James face, it felt like icy daggers piercing his cheeks. James dropped the lantern, surprised by the sudden gust of wind, and the light disappeared covering everything in darkness and sorrow once again. He gasped in the cold darkness. The creature laughed and James ran from the hideous laughter, but no matter how far he ran into the darkness, the sound echoed through his mind. Leaving the worst of all his memories bouncing though his mind. There wasn't a sin he couldn't remember, there wasn't a sin that wasn't followed by a tear rolling down his cold hopeless face.

The cold air stabbed at his skin and lungs as he ran, until finally the pain become too much, and he fell to the ground panting, crying, whimpering. He laid there for what seemed like hours. Each minute worse than the last, each one lonelier until he couldn't bare the pain anymore. He had felt alone before, but this was more than anything he had ever experienced. When he was alone on earth, it was people that had left him, this was more, something indescribable had left him. Something that had kept him company his whole life, that had kept him safe, and had brought happiness at even the worst of times, it had left him. And even after some thirty odd years, he still didn't know what it was.

The darkness started to shift around him, like a giant blanket it was swirling around him, causing strong gusts of winds. If James weren't already feeling absolute fear, this event would have made it so. The spinning become so fast that James was lifted up in an updraft, and started to spin. The spinning was so fast and violent, that his clothes started to shred, his shoe flew off his feet, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't scream, and he didn't know why.

Using all his strength, James opened an eye, and saw a giant wall of sand heading at him from all directions. He closed his eye again, as the wall of sand hit him like a brick wall, leaving him unconscious spinning through the sandy and dark air that he had once thought was hell. But somewhere in the back of his mind, something told him that this was only a portion of what hell really was.

XxXxX

When he woke up, he didn't open up his eyes immediately, instead he kept his eyes close, hoping that when he finally did open his eyes, he would be safe at home inside his bed. And he woke up to exactly what he wanted. His familiar four walls brought comfort and relief to his heart. Never had he felt anything as bad as that dream before. So much misery and regret he had felt while crying in the darkness. But even that pain was nothing compared to the solitude he had felt. Like he was in a jail cell, where he was the only thing that existed in the absolute darkness. And somehow, even if he were to drive out into the middle of nowhere in the dead of night, he wouldn't be nearly as lonely as he had for those few instances he had spent in total isolation. He wondered if anybody on the whole earth had ever felt as isolated as he had in that darkness.

It certainly was a strange dream. He wondered what it meant. Was it a message from God? Telling him that he better change. The creature who said he was his past was certainly horrible looking, horrible looking and huge. Is that really what he looked like? Perhaps on the inside? It certainly was a horrible thought. An existence he wouldn't wish on anyone.

He climbed out of his familiar bed, and walked towards the bathroom that was attached to his room. The walk that used to seem so long in the mornings, he realized, was only a few steps. And he wondered why he had always though it was so much longer. He almost wanted to laugh at himself.

Man, it certainly was a strange night.

Once in the bathroom he looked in the mirror, just to make sure he didn't really look like the creature in his dream, And to his utter surprise and horror, he did. Nothing had changed about him physically, but he could see some hidden darkness, he could see how truly sad and angry he was. And it changed him in some indescribable way.

It wasn't a dream…

The sickening realization struck him with enough force that he fell backwards into the shower, and through the glass. But the glass didn't shatter, instead, he merely sunk through as if it didn't exist. Then another sickening realization struck him, the glass was there, and he wasn't. The isolation, that regret and sorrow…it had been real. And tears fell down his cheeks once again. Not since he was a baby had he cried as much as he was now.

It wasn't a dream…

The thought pounded at his mind until he finally started to believe it. But it was just such a hard concept to grasp. He was dead, and there was no going back, now changing anything. Life was over, no more second chances.

It wasn't a dream…

The bedroom door opened violently, and in rushed his mom. James stepped out of the bathroom, but she didn't notice him. Instead she ran to the middle, looked around franticly, until her eyes finally rested on what she was looking for. James had seen it right before she had. It was his body. Lying face down on the floor, with bottles of god knows what and glass surrounding it, laid his scarred dead body.

Oh god, what have I done?

Thats Chapter 1, of about 3. I'm sorry if it was hard to read.