The city blurred past me as I sped down the wet road. "Okay, Benny," I muttered. "This is your comeback. This is…"
Red and blue lights flashed in my rearview.
"Oh, come on."
I eased to the side as a cop strode up, all square jaw and thick forearms under a dark uniform. My window slid down.
"License and registration," he said flatly.
"Officer," I started, laying on my best voice. "I swear I'm not a menace. I'm just late for an interview. Like, a life-saving interview. You're literally standing between me and my redemption."
He didn't blink.
I tried again. "Look, you're…no disrespect, you're insanely hot, okay? Like, alarmingly hot. The kind of hot that makes people speed just to get pulled over. That jawline. That…." I glanced at his belt, then lower. "That uh asset situation. You've got a wagon back there, sir. Respectfully."
Nothing. Not even a smirk.
I sighed dramatically. "Wow. Stone cold. The hottest cop alive and not even a chuckle for the desperate guy in the car."
I checked the time. 2:24 PM. Shit!
"Please, officer. I'll do anything. Let me go. Just this once. My whole life is on the line."
He wrote the ticket in silence.
That was it. Something in me snapped.
"Fine," I hissed. "Fine. Be sexy and mean. That's your whole thing, right?"
He was still scribbling when I slammed the car into drive. The tires screeched, and I shot back onto the road before my brain caught up to my body.
I don't even remember the exact second it happened. One minute, I was behind the wheel, begging the car to just hold it together, the next…..it was like the world snapped.
The brakes didn't catch. My foot slammed down harder. The steering wheel jerked like it was possessed. Horns blared, glass shattered, my head whipped forward.
And then… air.
I wasn't driving anymore, I was flying. The headlights cut across nothing but black. I knew I was off the road.
The world spun. Metal shrieked. My chest hit the belt hard.
"No…please God…." The last thing I felt was the taste of blood, and my own useless hands clinging to the wheel.
Then nothing. Just white noise swallowing everything.
Everything went silent….no sirens, no wind, no heartbeat, just this low hum, like the world inhaled and never exhaled again.
When I opened my eyes, i gasped and staggered upright.
I was… standing? On my feet? Breathing?
"What the…"
My hand jerked up to my head. No blood. No bruise. My ribs didn't hurt. My skin wasn't burning from the crash.
I looked down the hallway…..white walls, clean carpet, lamps glowing like a hotel brochure.
"Where the hell am I?"
I looked instinctively toward a framed picture on the wall, my reflection should've been in the glass.
It wasn't.
My breath hitched. "Nope. Nope. Absolutely not. That's some paranormal bullshit."
And the floor lamp beside me, It glowed, but it didn't cast a shadow.
Not even mine.
"Okay. That's not normal."
I staggered back, and that's when I felt the strap digging into my shoulder.
My bag! It was still there.
The exact one that had been in the passenger seat when I crashed.
"…How the hell did you get here?" I whispered at it. "I didn't even get here on purpose. Did we die together? That's…romantic, I guess?"
I looked down. There was something else clutched in my hand.
A paper.
Room 66.
"Right." I swallowed. "Because that explains anything."
Ahead of me, the door waited. Room 66.
But even the numbers felt strange, like they flickered when I blinked.
Weird.
Really, really weird.
My laugh cracked out of me. "...Wait. Did I..did I really die? Is this heaven?"
No angels. No choir. Just… a door.
I rubbed my eyes. "Really, God? I begged for salvation and you give me a hallway? Room 66 is heaven? Am I about to walk into, like, eternal brunch? A gay bar for dead people? Heaven's Airbnb? Something?"
I walked closer. My heart kept racing, but curiosity shoved me forward.
"Okay… okay," I muttered. "If this is heaven, hell, purgatory, or some kind of cosmic error, can someone put up a sign? Or a greeting card? Something?"
I moved closet to the brass door, still glinting 66.
The sock on the doorknob was the first warning. The sounds from the other side were the second.
Did I get dropped into a whole different reality?
Then I pushed the door open.
And froze.
"Oh my fucking…."
Three people.
Completely, disgustingly naked. Two guys, one girl, tangled together.
What the…..
They screamed. Someone threw a pillow. Another shouted, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"Are you fucking stupid?!"
"Get out, creep!"
"Close the damn door!"
I slammed the door shut, my face was all red. My ears started ringing as I stared at the number again.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me." My jaw dropped. " I died and got sent to the wrong orgy. Not even porn prepares you for this level of eye contact."
I groaned, dragging a hand down my face. "This is definitely not heaven."
I stood in the hallway, with the paper dangling from my fingers, still hearing the muffled moans and angry yelling from behind the door.
"This… this cannot be death," I shook my head in denial. "Death is supposed to be, like, poetic. A soft white light, me looking hot in slow motion, maybe my ancestors clapping when I walk in."
Instead, I got reincarnated into a hallway with no reflection and wandered into a live threesome.
I glanced at the paper again. "So it wasn't sixty-six. Of course. Because why would anything in my life, or death be straightforward?"
I gripped the strap of my bag tighter. "Fine. Room ninety-nine. Let's see what death wants from me, because at this point? I have no idea what's happening."
And with that, I started walking.