It doesn't have a permanent title yet; I have a few ideas for one but I didn't want to name it anything definite until after I finished it. The problem I'm running into is that I want it to be 13 chapters long. I plan on packing it with symbolism and creepyness that make you think but I'm having a writer's block with the setting.

The story is about Charles Henry Baxter or 'Charlie' and he has just been murdered by his now ex-wife. The story starts with him walking down the road of death and his mind being in a muddle. He is in denial about being dead; that being dead is an impossibility for him. He flashes between his previous life to his afterlife trying to sort it out when a Black Veiled woman appears before him cracking jokes about him being dead, welcoming him to hell, and just acting crazy. She offers him the sweetest deal of the afterlife, however, on how he can come back to life if he can make it through a trial. The catch is that if he fails that he ceases to exist. He realizes that he has in fact died and he accepts her offer despite the consequences should he fail(he doesn't believe that He could possibly fail, just like he couldn't have possibly have died). A piece of the road forks off and he takes it and ends up at the entrance of Theater that is falling to pieces. It is guarded by another woman, Castille, and she offers him another deal. That she'd help him if he promises to retrieve something that she has lost in the Theater during her own trial(though I don't know what that is yet =/). He again agrees and is gained entrance.

I don't know what to do with the theater though without making it super corny. I want it to reflect the monsters in everybody's mind and it is supposed to target a person's weaknesses. Do you have any ideas?

Anyways I'm going to have it where he ultimately fails at his final test. I mean there's a reason that people don't just come back to life. And there's a twist at the end that I'm not saying if I ever finish it and decide to share it. One of the main themes of the story is how you can only move forward and can't turn back. Another is don't be a jerk, you might just be killed for it or be careful who you trust.

What do you think? Does this sound like anything you'd read? And what do you think the theater should be like?