I can’t believe my luck today, I thought while walking out of work. I woke up and accidentally shut my alarm off, rather than snoozing it, making myself late. I got spaghetti sauce on my white dress shirt at lunch. Then, my manager forced me into a half hour meeting that turned into three…whole…hours. The only silver lining was that I got to think of her. More importantly, I thought of asking her out.

Crossing the street, I cut through a little park in the heart of the city, saving me some time on the walk home. A shortcut that would take me past Starbucks and, hopefully, catch a glimpse of Lilah through the window before her shift ended. Her warm smile always made me feel at home, like I was the only person in the world ordering coffee. She always remembered my order and was so nice. Like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. Someday, I’d work up the courage to ask her out. I mean, it wasn’t like we were complete strangers.

Out the other side of the park, I came to a four-way intersection. Behind a red stoplight, I saw the Starbucks sign. I checked my phone, 4:57pm. There’s still time. Maybe I could catch her leaving and…I don’t know, start up a conversation. Take the bus with her…if she rides one.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I retrieved it and glanced quickly down the road in both directions, then started crossing the road. It was a call from my mom. Great. The “good luck” streak continues. It’s not like-

A blaring car horn and screeching tires jarred me. I looked up just in time to see the hood ornament of a black Jaguar. Sprawled out on the asphalt, the last thing I remembered was someone yelling to call an ambulance, before everything went black.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing in an elevator, watching the door close. I looked down frantically. Nothing was broken, my suit wasn't even dirty. I was alone in an elevator, save for the operator, which was strange in itself. I’d never taken an elevator that had an actual person manning the buttons.

The tall olive-skinned man looked impeccable in his doorman uniform. Melodic xylophone music played while the elevator hummed into action, moving upward.

"Where am I?" I asked the operator.

"In an elevator," he said politely.

"But…w-where are we heading?"

"Up," he replied warmly. I looked at the man's name tag. It read: Charon.

The elevator made a ding and came to a stop. The doors opened to reveal an old Asian lady. She hobbled in and turned to face the door, which promptly closed. The elevator jerked slightly and continued its ascent.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

I leaned toward her. “Do you know where we’re headed?”

She turned and smiled, then rattled off something that could’ve been Mandarin. I’ve never had an ear for languages. The elevator stopped three more times and now there were eight people aboard, young, old, and everything in between.

Charon announced the final stop, “Alright, top floor.”

The doors opened and what was behind them looked like the most immaculate airport terminal that I had ever seen. As the occupants streamed out, each one was met by someone in a white suit, with little metallic silver wings pinned to their lapels. All smiling pleasantly.

I stepped out and looked around. White marble pillars stretched up to a raised roof with a massive skylight.

"Hello, and welcome," a man said to me, making me nearly jump out of my skin. He seemed youthful. I looked at his nametag, which read: Gadriel. "I'm sure you have many questions, Jan, and I promise we'll answer every one of them, but there are some basic things we need to take care of first," he said, tapping a clipboard.

"Excuse me…sir? My name's actually Jon."

The white-clad stranger's brow furrowed, and he looked down at the clipboard, then back up to me. "Sorry, I don't...you're not Jan Andersen?" he pointed to where it was written on a form.

"My name is Jon Anderson, well, short for Jonathan. And it’s Anderson with an O, not an E. I'm not really sure-"

"But you're," Gadriel cut him off, then frowned and looked at the clipboard. Touching a finger to his ear, he spoke in a hushed tone. "Uriel, I need a moment of your time to sort a discrepancy in Receiving." Gadriel turned back to me and smiled. "I promise, this won't take long."

"Yes, Gadriel?" said a deep voice that made me jump. Someone new stood next to me. I either hadn't noticed him before or didn’t hear him walk over. He seemed a good deal older than Gadriel. I noticed the pin on his lapel was gold instead of silver.

"You see here, sir?" Gadriel walked next to, who I assumed was Uriel, and pointed to the clipboard. "There seems to be some discrepancy with his paperwork. Apparently, this is Jon Anderson, not Jan Andersen."

Uriel looked at the clipboard and then back at me, doing my best impression of someone who didn’t look scared and confused. The newcomer took the clipboard and thumbed between a few pages.

"Ah, there you have it. The driver. Simple mix up." Turning to me, he gave a reassuring smile. "We'll sort this out for you. Please accept our humblest apologies for this inconvenience." Before I could ask about the mix-up, Uriel pulled a pencil from his breast pocket and erased something on the clipboard.

Suddenly, I felt cold pavement underneath me. I was lying on my back, staring up at the sky. It took a moment and some blinking before I noticed the circle of concerned onlookers. "Don't try to move!" said a blonde in a barista's uniform. Lilah.

With a smile, I sprung to my feet and brushed my suit off. "I'm actually alright, I think. They got the wrong Jan," I said with a laugh. No one knew what to make of that. In fact, I didn’t know what to make of that. The harder I tried to remember, the more it escaped me, like trying to remember a dream or holding smoke in your hand.

I couldn’t describe it. I just felt…lucky, in some way. “Hey, Lilah, would you like to grab dinner with me?” I said it. Couldn’t take it back or overthink it. There it was. Out in the open.

“Um, sure,” she smiled. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Yeah,” I said. “I think I am now.”