She rolled out of bed. Because of the late night studying she had done the night before, she had rewarded herself by sleeping in on the Saturday morning, contradicting her usual 6 am "early bird gets the worm" mentality. Feeling relaxed and refreshed, she stumbled down the stairs to fix a late breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios. As she opened the fridge to grab the milk, she realized her hand was grasping at nothing.

“Mom? Do we have any more milk?” she shouted down the hallway at her mother, who was watching her usual Say Yes to the Dress marathon.

“No, I haven’t gone to the store yet, unless you want to be a peach and do it for me?” her mom lazily begged, obviously not wanting to move from her comfortable position.

“Alright, write me a list,” she groaned, deciding to get a Chick-fil-A chicken biscuit on her way there as she pulled on shorts and an old club t-shirt then tugged on her old beat up tennis shoes. Her mother casually held up a grocery list that was scrawled on a half sheet of paper.

“Thank you Jamie, love you,” her mother smiled at her.

“Love you too,” Jamie quickly muttered back as she headed out the door, grabbing the keys to the minivan on her way out. She pulled out of the quiet suburban neighborhood that was just starting to fill with the typical noises of the morning - sprinklers going off, the shuffle of slippers getting the paper, last minute goodbyes as the door closed- it was peaceful. As Jamie came to a stop at a red light, she fiddled with the old keychain of an old Roman coin her dad had gotten her when he had visited Italy. Apparently it was supposed to be like the ones that the Romans would put in the mouths of their dead so they could to pay to get across the River Styx. She glanced up at the green light and started forward again, ready to accomplish her mission. Jamie was so concentrated that she didn't notice that the car coming perpendicular to her wasn't stopping. Her obliviousness turned to shock as she felt the impact of the thousand pounds of steel screeching around her. The last thing she remembered was her head hitting the steering wheel with a smack.

Her entire body ached with soreness once she woke up. Gaining consciousness, she started to realize that she wasn't in what was left of her car or on the side of the road being revived by the EMTs but rather in what seemed like an office. The bright lights buzzed as she sat up in the waiting chair she was apparently in. She looked around to get a sense of her surroundings; there was a receptionist typing at her computer with the phone ringing occasionally, there were magazines skewed across the table in front of her with different headlines about the afterlife, and everything was a stark white with occasional black accents.

“Excuse me, Miss? Where am I?” She croaked out. Her voice sounded hoarse, as if she'd been yelling for days. The receptionist smiled up at her. “Oh, they'll be right with you in a moment,” the woman said, then went right back to typing. Sensing that she was not going to get an answer, Jamie tried to get up. Her body felt like it was on the brink of physical exhaustion, but she managed to stand up. She did some stretching to get the blood flowing back into her veins and felt a little bit better. Looking around again, she spotted a mirror hanging on the wall. As she stepped closer to her reflection she was finally able to get a good look at herself, and she wanted to scream. She was a deathly white with blue tinges around her eyes and mouth, but the worst part was the open wound that lined the top of her forehead. As she stood there shocked, the receptionist’s voice brought her back to reality, or whatever this place was.

“She will see you now.” Jamie turned to look at the receptionist who was now standing. Instead of feet, she had tentacles for legs. Jamie was so shocked that she blindly followed the receptionist to the back of the office instead of just running away screaming. She absentmindedly stuck her hands in her pockets, and she realized that her keychain was still in there. Grasping onto what seemed like the last thing that linked her to normalcy, she stepped into the office.

“Have a seat please,” said the voice in the chair turned around like in the movie The Godfather. The receptionist quietly closed the door behind her. Still dumbstruck, Jamie sat down in the chair that faced the desk.

“Am...am I dead?” Jamie stuttered out. The chair turned around to revealed a very flabbergasted lady who was fumbling with papers.

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” the woman said. Looking at the lady’s desk, she spotted a nametag that read "Charon." Instinctively, she pulled the Roman coin off her keychain and placed it on the desk. Charon peered down at it and examined it with a "hmm."

“You see, your fate says you've got another 70 years, but here you are,” Charon explained as she picked up the coin, smiling at it.

Suddenly the phone rang on her desk, and she quickly answered it. Nodding and confirming with the voice on the other line, Charon hung up the phone and said, “Wait right here in this office. I’ll be right back.” And then she left.

Jamie looked around the room; she was very confused and very scared, and she didn’t know what to do. All she had been doing was a simple grocery run and now she was here. She had plans and dreams she wanted to accomplish, and it didn’t seem like any of them were in reach right now. Tears started streaming down her face as she realized she’d probably never see her family again. She wiped her tears away and got up to open a window to clear her mind. As she pulled up the blinds to the window facing east, she saw hellfire and pain and suffering and despair out before her. The people seemed like little pieces of coal that were moaning for help as demons flew around them. She let out a little scream and closed the blinds. Adrenaline pumping, she turned to the other window and pulled the blinds up to see if the same carnage was on the other side. Instead what she was met with was a normal, peaceful city that reminded her of San Francisco. She could smell the fresh air and the smell of a bakery somewhere. People were riding their bikes on the sidewalk as others stopped at an ice cream stand. Her body flooded with relief at the sight because it reminded her of home.

She was brought out of her trance with a hand slapping her shoulder. She jumped and let out a little yelp before turning around. There was a man who stood before her, and she couldn’t tell if he was an angel or a demon. He had intimidating horns that shot out of his forehead, but at the same time, he had the most beautiful white wings curled behind him.

“Miss Rogers?”

She nodded.

“Hi, it’s nice to meet you. It seems like there’s been a mix-up. Jamie, can I call you Jamie?”

She shook her head.

“Here, let’s sit down for a minute. You see, you were in a car crash this morning at 8 am. You were supposed to have just a few injuries, broken leg, a few burns, you know the normal stuff. What seemed to have happened was that someone put you down for death, mixing you up with a different fate. We sincerely apologize and promise to fix it. Will you follow me?”

Jamie’s heart lifted as she realized she was going home again. Following the man, he lead her to another part of the office. They were standing in front of a door and he was just about to open it until he stopped and turned to her.

“Almost forgot to give this back to you.” He handed her the Roman coin with a smile. He opened the door, and all she saw was white light that almost blinded her. She felt calm as she walked towards it.

Waking up with a start, she was in a hospital bed. Her parents were next to her holding her hand.

“Jamie, you were in a wreck; how do you feel?”

“I feel alright.”

Her parents wiped away their tears and started smiling.

“We were so worried; you flatlined for 5 seconds." Her mother burst out crying again.