The sound of crashing metal rang in my ears, the pain swelling and shooting through my body while my flesh was scorched from the bone. I wanted to cry out, but the smoke that filled my lungs closed my throat shut in attempt to choke me. I did not know the difference between up or down. The car rattled my mind as it was sent plowing to a halt.

With my eyes closed tightly, I awaited for a tunnel of light, which would bring me gloriously into the afterlife. However, the light did not come, as popular belief seemed to suggest. I opened my eyes to find that my body was completely intact, untouched by the flames and left without a scratch. I stared at the miracle before my eyes and smiled. Then I pulled myself from the battered car and staggered towards the road. I turned back to see the stolen sports car mangled like a twisted knot, which made it more of a miracle that I survived. I went back to the road, expecting to be greeted by flashing headlights and stopped cars, but the highway was empty.

"It's rush hour and there's no one here! Now that's a miracle!" I laughed to myself as I continued down the road, following the abandoned pavement as far as it stretched.

I quickly found myself following the street into a small town with a sign that read, “City of Gahenna”. An evening mist hung over the roads as street lights cast spotlights over the sidewalk. I turned to my watch, which read 6:59pm.

"Strange, I could have sworn that was the time before the crash." I shrugged and continued along the sidewalk.

The streets were abandoned, not a soul walked around me, no cars inched down the street cautiously and not a light shone in the apartments above. I wondered what was going on. Was this some kind of joke? I cursed under my breath as my frustration grew. I needed to find someone who could help or explain the situation to me.
Soon, I found a black metal stairwell that led up to an apartment, which had the light on. I went up the unstable stairs slowly avoiding the broken steps as the rusted metal creaked under my foot. Suddenly, as I put my foot down, the board snapped and I almost fell through.
"Crap!" I cursed out loud. I pulled myself up to the porch and knocked on the door. No answer. I tried a second time with a similar response. "Is anyone home?" I called as loud as I could. However, no one was there to answer me. Therefore, I rammed myself into the door and it burst off its hinges. As a thief, I knew how to break into houses so this job came naturally.
I stepped into the old house feeling a sense of nostalgia. A stench filled my nose. It was the lavender perfume of my mother, the one that my father bought for her on her deathbed.

"Hello?" I shouted even louder and no one responded. Abruptly, a scratching sound filled my ears and I tore into the kitchen after it. The scratching led me towards the sink. I gripped a knife on the counter and cautiously walked towards it.

As I sprang at the sink I was greeted by a horrific sight. A goat's head lay in a pool of blood covered in oozing maggots. I drew back, covering my mouth in terror to stop myself from vomiting. The scent of the air shifted and I could smell the rotting head decomposing. As I turned back I notice a cracked clock hanging near the door. I looked up at its face which read, 6:59pm. I shook my head believing it was a coincidence, and that the hands stopped at the same time as my watch had a while ago.

Then I continued into the living room hesitantly, still horrified of the sight. I crept through the living room noticing old photographs framed with black plastic borders, hanging on the striped walls. However, as I peered closer I noticed that these were pictures of me, photos that had not been taken but were from events in my life. There were images of the death of my mother, the depression of my father to my rebellious hatred in high school to my new life as a criminal. I was not ashamed of my life. It was how I rose to the top in a sickened and corrupt world by murdering, stealing and cheating. However, I believed it was worth it. I was a sinner who was proud of his wrong doings.

"What's going on here?" I bit my lip, still believing this was a joke. I looked at my watch a second time which still read 6:59pm. "What's going on with my watch?" I shouted beginning to smash it in anger as I turned towards the stairs. I kept my eyes on my broken watch, following my feet all the way up to the second floor.

Suddenly, when I peered up I found myself in a room crowded with stopped clocks and watches, all reading the same time, 6:59pm. I backed away, running into a wall behind me and twisted around to see goats heads strung above me and the words, “WAIT AND SEE” written in crimson blood.

I screamed and raced out of the house as fast as my legs could carry me. Something was terribly wrong in this town. I dashed to the ghostly docks where the sail boats bobbed in the water without owners to sail them.

"Someone! Anyone! Answer me! Get me out of this hell!" I shouted in anger, stomping my feet on the ground violently as the dock shook. I glared out at the shimmering water as darkness fell over the sky, a sense of calm washed over me as I stared into the water. A small wooden row boat paddled its way towards the dock. It was driven by a man covered in shadows with a hood over his face.

"Hey! Over here!" I waved my hands in the air as the man paddled over to me. The small row boat landed against the dock and I eagerly hopped in. Finally, I was not alone. "Thank God I found you, just get me out of this strange place and back to civilization, I'll pay well, don't you worry." I snickered as I leaned back to make myself comfortable, I rested my feet up and yawned.

"You wish to fill your time, to fill your loneliness." The man deduced with intelligence. His voice welled a putrid feeling in my gut.
"Let’s just get out of here. I'd like to be quick." I started to grow angry with him. I knew if I had to use force it would be simple to fight the man of brittle skin and bone for his boat.

"Although you fill time, you are always alone. Imagine a place, where you are eternally alone, what would you call it?" He continued to speak and I rolled my eyes.

"Look, I have places I need to be, deals I need to make! Now just name your price and we'll be on our way!" I got to my feet clutching my fists.
"I do not need wealth, or silver, nor gold." The man spoke in a soothing voice. He did not move.

"Then what will it take for you to get me out if here!" I lunged at the man pulling him up by the collar, "I don't have time for this!"
"Time is the essence of isolation. You are born alone and thus you will die alone," The strange man began, "What greater hell is a place where you will have no escape from being alone?"

I glanced down at my watch a second time, 6:59pm and realized it would never be seven o'clock. I was dead and left in damnation. I threw the man back, who caught himself and revealed his grotesque image. His head was of a goat with most of the flesh burnt off revealing the bone of the skull. His eyes were blackened and hollow while his hands were as skinny as a skeleton, with a paper thin layer of skin over top. He took the paddle out of the water to reveal it was the jagged blade of a sickle.

"No!" I shouted and fell to my knees, "Please! You have to get me out of here! I can't be dead! No!" I pleaded desperately for my salvation.
"You are dead, Charlie." The reaper groaned in a monstrous voice.

"No! Please! I can't die! I'll try harder next time!" I screamed in utter horror as the boat was dragged into the blackened lake. I felt something clasped around my calf as I was pulled down into the water, which was thick as tar. My shouts escaped my lips as faint underwater echoes. My lungs screamed for air as thick water filled my throat. My body was weak and my muscles were exhausted. I realized Hell was not a place of fire and brimstone, but a world of complete isolation. All those left were to feed off their own insanity, entrapped by themselves in the deepest pit of Hell.