Another update! Thanks for all the reviews so far! (I quoted a Linkin Park song in this chapter too. So if you know LP see if you can find it)

Chapter 10

I didn't know how long I ran. Could've been hours, maybe even days. I still don't know for sure. All I know is I run. Until I had no breath and no roads left to run. I had run until I was at a dead end in a vacant dirt road street. A patch of woods lay up ahead of me and as soon as my feet touched soft earth again I collapsed. My entire body was shaking violently from my strenuous run. I felt like I hadn't slept in days and an even longer time since I'd eaten. But all those pains were but a trifle compared to my mental condition. I was still in shock over what had just happened. I'd spent all my running time just trying to come to terms with what I'd done. And I'd failed. I still felt horrible, guilty even at just being alive. I could see Jason's face in my head, haunting me and I was overcome by an overwhelming sense of loss. I felt as if I gigantic hole was forming in my heart. The moment I'd stopped running, was the moment all those feelings of guilt, pain, and anger at myself finally caught up with me and I just cried. I cried even after my dry eyes were unable to produce any more tears. I cried until I fell asleep.

Sleep was no comfort to me. My dreams were nightmares. Constantly reminding me of my deed. I could see him being judged in the Fields of Asphodel. The judges were determining where he would end up in the Underworld. The dream was so real to me I could feel it. As much as I wanted to wake up from the nightmare I couldn't. I was forced to observe it all and fresh waves of guilt washed over me all over again.

When I finally did wake up I was in the same place I was before. A fact that was no comfort to me as I'd hoped to wake up in my bed back at camp and find all of this to be just a horrific dream. I'd wished for that so hard I would've been thrilled to even wear one of them bright orange T-shirts. I was that desperate for all of this to go away. But it didn't matter any way as my wish never came true.

It was dark outside so I wasn't sure how long I'd slept. It was just beginning to get dark when I'd first arrived in my new environment, but now it was really dark except for the pale moon light that made everything around me seem to glow with a faint light. I felt terribly lonely and just wanted to cuddle a stuffed animal. They were perfect for when you needed company and people just wouldn't cut it. I turned to see the dirt road I had traveled on and in the distance I saw a light. It looked like headlights on a car and it was getting closer to me every minute. It stopped not far from me and it's headlights shown right in my face so I knew I had no reason to hide. Whoever was in that car already knew I was there. I stood up, a task that I found to be quite a chore as my body was physically and emotionally drained. I saw the car window slide down and I knew the driver wished to speak to me. So, like an idiot I went for it. Fortunately, the driver was not to be feared. Although some of you readers would probably beg to differ.

The guy looked normal. He had on a suit and tie and looked relatively neat and clean. Even his car looked nice. And expensive too. I'd heard Mercedes were no cheap cars. Overall, it looked out of place. The guy and car looked like they belonged in a rich person's house, not in some deserted road in the middle of nowhere. And I was far from rich and didn't know anybody that was wealthy. At least, that's what I thought.

The man turned to face me and I swear his skin looked transparent at times and I caught a glimpse of his skeleton."The Lord of the Dead wishes to speak to you," he simply stated.

Now that's something I didn't hear everyday. On top of all that madness of my day, now my dad wanted to talk to me. A fact I found exciting and terrifying at once. I'd never actually met the guy so I didn't know what to expect. From what I'd read in myths, he didn't sound like the happiest guy in the world. But I guess if your brothers had left you with the job of taking care of the dead and didn't ever act like they wanted you around, you'd be mad at the world too, I guess.

"What about?" I inquired. I hoped he didn't want to talk to me because he was mad at me for killing someone. I didn't think I could handle that.

"His business is his own," the guy said looking straight ahead as if expecting me to get in the car.

I figured by that response that the guy knew about as much as I did. as to why Hades wanted to speak to me. My curiosity won out and I got in the car. The interior was nice, with black leather seats and comfortable seating. Maybe it was a little too comforting or I was just dog tired because within 5 minutes I'd fallen again in a restless sleep because of my vivid nightmares.

When I woke up, I still wasn't in my bed back at camp. It seemed like that desire wasn't coming true anytime soon. I looked around and noticed my surroundings had changed...drastically. First off, I wasn't in that luxury car anymore. Second the driver was shaking me trying to get me awake. When I woke up enough to satisfy him, he said, "We are here" and then just disappeared into the shadows. I noticed the place I was in was pretty dark but I could still see how to get around. But more importantly it was huge. And when I say huge I'm not exaggerating. Actually it was bigger than huge. More like massive. And it was full of ghosts of people who had died in the past. I instantly knew I was in the Fields of Asphodel. I saw hundreds of faces of people I didn't know. All from different time periods throughout the course of history. The ghosts didn't seem really happy but they didn't seem to be sad either. They were just, content. Content to wander aimlessly throughout the Underworld forever, striking up conversations every once in a while; others, especially the children, were playing various games with each other. I began searching through the crowds of the dead, looking for Jason and hoping I could find him. But I never found him, or any other ghosts who knew of his location. Even so, the search was not in vain for in the midst of all the ghostly madness, I saw faces I recognized. One looked like my sister (on my mother's side) that I'd never had the privilege to meet. Another looked was my great aunt and the other one looked like my uncle. All of whom I'd missed dearly. I'd always looked forward to Christmas time with my family because my Mom always came and took me home for a while on the holidays to spend time with these people who were now gone from my life. Since their deaths things hadn't ever been quite the same. I had to fight the urge to try to talk to them. I wanted to so badly. To tell them how much I missed them and how much I cared about them. But I knew if I went to them, I'd never want to leave this place and I'd only prolong my inevitable conversation with my dad.

"Besides," I thought to myself, "I'll be seeing them soon enough..."

So grudgingly, I started to make my way out of the Fields of Asphodel.