Okay, so I'm sorry if this is wonky. I wrote it for my Creative Writing class and it would have been so much better if I'd had more time. Anyways, reviews greatly appreciated, and I hope you enjoy ~

WHAT ARE THE ODDS: AN ELSEWHERE CONTINUUM

"On Earth, man ages from the time he is born to an indeterminate point in the future, where he will die. On Elsewhere, a life is more finite: man dies, and ages backward until he is a baby. When man becomes a baby again, he is ready to be sent back to Earth, where the process begins again."

Liz Hall was fifteen years old when she died. She was on her bike, crossing the street, and never saw that taxi coming. But her "afterlife" in Elsewhere wasn't so bad, once she got used to it. After all, she'd gotten to meet her deceased Grandmother, Betty, and the famous singer Curtis Jest who - incidentally - married her grandmother. She'd met Owen, a strange dark-haired boy, and she'd found love for the first time with him. She'd met Emily, Owen's wife before he died on the job working as a firefighter. Emily had been understanding of their new relationship. Liz and Owen had lived out their afterlife together. They grew young, and younger, as is the way in Elsewhere, and one day, Liz was a baby again. Being still older than her, Owen remained in Elsewhere, awaiting his own time of rebirth. Liz was sent down the river in Elsewhere and drifted back to Earth, and now, her story begins anew. New parents, new name, new body, new memories.

Same soul.

New life.

'The baby, a girl, is born at 6:24 a.m.

She weighs six pounds, ten ounces.

The mother takes the baby in her arms and asks her, "Who are you, my little one?"

And in response, this baby, who is Liz and not Liz at the same time, laughs.

Kevin and Jessica Dennings are very happy. They've been trying to have a baby for quite some time now. After the second miscarriage, they'd almost given up hope. But, by some stroke of pure luck, Jessica had become pregnant one more time. And now, they have the most beautiful and precious baby girl. Eliza. Her angelic infant face is circled by a halo of soft golden curls, and she has her father's bright green eyes. She eats like a horse, and starts sleeping through the night at a very young age. And oh, what a happy child she is. Everything makes her laugh, and it is a sound like bells which brings joy to those who hear it.

When she's just over ten months old, Liz takes her first real steps. Her parents are sitting with her in the living room, watching her play with her toys, when suddenly she pulls herself up with the table and stumbles forward a few steps. Then a few more. Kevin runs to get the camcorder, and Jessica just sits there beaming, so proud of her beloved baby girl.

"Oh, Eliza, Eliza, come here, come to mama!"

"Can you walk to papa? Come here and hug your papa!"

They spend the afternoon coaxing Liz back and forth across the living room, watching her take clumsy steps across the plush carpet. Baby Eliza laughs, and cries when she falls. Later that night Jessica buries her face in her husband's shoulder and cries tears of joy, feeling blessed by their miracle child for the hundredth time.

Owen has aged backwards down to one year old in Elsewhere now. Emily, his past wife, now functions as his babysitter. She died much later than him, so she's plenty old enough still to look after him. This afternoon, she pushes him along in his stroller, walking along the sandy beach. Owen stares out at the lapping waves and reaches out his small infant fist, making a grasping motion. "Lizzie?" He babbles. "Lizzie-Izzie?"

Emily's face contorts with sadness. The poor child, so young now, still remembers his love. Soon he will forget her, she is sure of that. He probably doesn't even really remember her now. Her name is just a ghost on his lips, a sound with no meaning anymore. He's living his last year at Elsewhere, aging backwards just like the rest of them. She's getting pretty young herself, now. She was 36 when she got the flu, died, and came to Elsewhere. How long has it been since then? No matter. She continues pushing the stroller along the beach, and Owen coos softly, fascinated by the rolling waves.

The animal shelter smells like dog biscuits and cat food. The frantic sounds of barking and meowing echo around them, but in a pleasant, greeting sort of way. Eliza's mother props her now year-old daughter up on her hip, holding her tightly as they walk through the chilly hallway.

"You want a puppy, Eliza? Hmm? Puppy?"

"Puppy!" Eliza squeals happily. It's her first true word. The sound resonates like a new language on its own. Jessica freezes, staring at her. "Puppy? did you just say puppy?"

"Pup-py!" Eliza repeats, beaming with what few tiny teeth she has.

Jessica hugs her daughter close. "You wanna take a puppy home, babygirl?"

Eliza squeals again and wiggles in her mother's arms, wanting to be put down. Her mother places her gently on the floor and watches as her child takes a few steps towards the nearest dog kennel. Inside is a dalmatian, which scowls at them. Moving on, they pass a yellow lab, a corgi, and a golden retriever, and finally they halt in front of a fat black pug, sitting still and staring at her with big, innocent eyes. Its spiral tail wags as Eliza approaches.

"Puppy!" Eliza cries, reaching tiny fingers through the wires and petting it's squashed face. Her mother kneels down to pick her up again. "That one?" Eliza reaches out towards the dog, who is watching them expectantly, wagging her curled tail.

Eliza laughs, her wide green eyes shining bright with excitement. Jessica carries her daughter with her back to the front desk to notify someone of their - well, Eliza's - choice.

The dog is quiet the whole ride home. Instantly, she seems to appoint herself as Eliza's new guardian. She sits in front of her crib when she naps, and barks at strangers who come too close. They name the dog Curly, because Eliza lights up and laughs whenever either of parents points out the dog's curly tail. From the day they bring her home, she never leaves their daughter's side.

Owen is a baby again now. Seven days old. It's time for him to go down the waterway in Elsewhere and be reborn. The nurse wraps him tight in the swaddling clothes, singing a soft lullaby to him. Emily, Curtis Jest, and Liz's grandmother Betty watch from the beach as little baby Owen is placed in the water with the other babies, and sent off down the current to start his new life. They go home and have a birthday cake in his honor, just like they did for Liz, and try their best to move on. Emily cries, and she goes home early, thinking back on the first day she'd come here and seen him again. She always knew he'd leave here before her. Even though he'd never spent much time with her in those fleeting years, she still treasured him dearly. It was still hard to accept that everyone in Elsewhere just disappeared eventually. In just under 20 years, she herself will fulfill that fate, too.

Betty and Curtis sit at home, where they've lived together for several years now, which seems a bit odd these days with both of them nearing age fifteen again. Curtis pulls his old guitar out of a dusty case and sings about love and life and how fast time can go by. Both he and Betty are nearly teenagers again, barely younger than Emily. The guitar strings hurt his fingers because his callouses are fading - he's passing the age again where he first started to develop them. And in Elsewhere, things like that just sort of disappear as your body moves back in time. After a short while his voice goes soft, he puts the guitar away, and they have some more cake before going to bed. They both know that as they are drifting off to sleep, somewhere, in a new life, Owen is waking up for the first time again.

The baby, who is Owen but not Owen at the same time, is born into the world kicking and screaming, to proud parents Sarah and Alex. They name the baby Oliver, as his mother holds him close and runs trembling fingers through his soft dark hairs, staring into his big blue eyes, so full of hope and new wonder.

When Eliza is four, Oliver turns two. She lives in a sunny California town near the coast, and he lives in the heart of Colorado. They're born into different lives, with happy parents and beautiful childhoods. Neither of the children knows that someday, they will meet.

Oliver is terrified of fire. His parents learn this on a cold winter night when they turn on the new fireplace and young Oliver starts shrieking in terror, hiding behind his mother and refusing to go near it. Somewhere, deep inside Oliver's young soul, buried in his subconscious, in a memory of being engulfed in flames, closing his eyes, and never opening them again. Needless to say, his parents end up never using it around him again, and it is a very cold winter for all of them.

Quite opposite from his fear of fire, Oliver loves water. At a very young age, they discover he has a knack for swimming, and enroll him in child swim lessons. He's the top of his class. His swim coach Mr. James Dennings tells them how much their son reminds him of his younger brother, Kevin, when he was younger.

"Mommy, Curly said she wants another doggie treat." Six-year-old Eliza announces, looking up at her mother from where she sits curled up on the couch with the little black dog. Though she receives a questioning look, Eliza is entirely confident that Curly has, indeed, asked her for a treat. She heard it. Flickers of speaking to animals in Elsewhere twitch inside her brain, but, being as young as she is, she doesn't really notice them. She thinks it's very neat to speak with Curly, though.

"Dogs don't really talk, and she doesn't need another treat. Now where are your shoes? You're going to be late for school. Go find your shoes, sweetie. Kevin! You're going to miss your daughter's first day of school, get down here!" She calls up the stairs. Eliza wanders off into her bedroom in search of shoes.

Kevin comes dashing down the staircase, beaming. "Wouldn't miss it for the world," he tells his wife, giving her a quick kiss. "Are we ready? Where's Eliza?"

"Here daddy! Look, like my new shoes daddy?" She holds them up - pink sneakers that light up with every step.

"I see, they're very pretty, now let's get them on you, alright? We have to get you to school! are you excited for school, Eliza?" Her father kneels down in front of her to assist with the shoes. She plops down, letting him do the laces for her. Curly comes trotting over to sniff them curiously.

"Come on," her mother urges the two of them, "Let's go."

The small family of three piles into the car and they're off. Eliza would be more excited, but she doesn't exactly know what school is. Her parents taught her the preschool basics themselves, and nobody really knew how to explain it to her. Sure, her parents had told her that she was going to go to a place called Kindergarten. And it was going to be a lot like day care, but she was going to learn things all day. But Eliza's young mind can hardly imagine the idea of it.

When they get there, some nice grown-ups help them find her class. Her mother takes her picture. There's a really nice lady there, who says she's Eliza's teacher now. She's just preparing to bound off to play with the other children when she notices her parents are leaving. Like the typical first day of school heartbreak, Eliza cries. Barely able to tear themselves away, her parents finally depart. Curly greets them with a confused expression, as if asking um, did you guys forget something? Where'd you put the kid? Once home, her mother cries softly, feeling like her little baby girl is growing up so fast already.

It is evident even in Kindergarten, at the age of six, that Eliza is quite passionate about animals. Sure, she likes horses and kittens and all the other usual little girl favorites. But her interest expands far beyond the stereotypical. At home, she spends most of her time with Curly instead of making play-dates with the children in her class.

"Daddy," she pipes up one day, as he descends the staircase and spots her playing with Curly once again. "Curly told me that she wanted me to tell you to tell mommy that she doesn't like the new kind of doggy food."

"What?" Her father pauses for a moment, then crouches in front of her, propping his elbows up on his knees.

"She says it hurts her tummy." Eliza stares at him earnestly, reaching out to stroke Curly's black fur.

"How did you…" Kevin gazes quizzically at his daughter. How on earth would she know they'd recently switched to a new brand of dog food?"

"How did I what, Daddy?"

He shakes his head. "Nothing. Um, thank you, tell Curly that I'll tell your mommy." He brushes it off with a chuckle, and ruffles Curly's ears before standing back upright and continuing on his way through the house to the kitchen.

The summer after Eliza finishes Kindergarten, the little family prepares for a vacation to Colorado. They intend to visit Kevin's brother, James - who hasn't seen his niece in person since she was still a baby. Mother, father, and daughter pack their bags and set off, after a tear-jerking goodbye between Eliza and Curly leaving the pug behind with their neighbor. They stand on the sidewalk outside their neighborhood, waiting for the taxi that they've already called to take them to the airport.

The stinky yellow car pulls up to the curb in front of them and screeches to a halt in a cloud of exhaust. They're just about to throw their things into the trunk when Eliza lets loose a piercing scream immediately followed by tears. She dashes behind her mother and clings to her, refusing to go near the taxi. Everything in her is screaming that this vehicle means danger or worse.

"Eliza? What's the matter? We need to get in this taxicab so we can go fly on the airplane! Come on, sweetie, let's get in…" Her mother scoops her up and ushers her into the vehicle as her father places the rest of their belongings in the trunk. Tears are still falling from her emerald eyes as the taxi driver starts them off towards the airport. Only about a half-mile from their house, however, Eliza bursts out wailing once more, and this time, cannot be quieted. "Taxi bad… taxi bad…" she sobs repeatedly. Eventually, with much apologies and a generous tip, they have the driver pull over and let them out with three blocks left to go to the airport. Fortunately, they don't have much luggage, but rushing down the street to make it to the airport still proves to be interesting. They make it to the airport on time, but Eliza still keeps murmuring "taxi bad…" every few minutes until she falls asleep on the plane.

In Colorado, they stay at Eliza's uncle James' house for about three weeks. He's a swim coach, so he's at work often with the heat of summer at it's peak. One time, they go to visit him during a class. Eliza gets to splash around in the shallow end of the pool and play with the other children there. She spends the most of her time with a younger dark-haired boy, and he tries to teach her a few things he's learned about swimming. She tells him about Curly and how much she misses her puppy. At the end of the day, they go their separate ways, waving goodbye with open palms and wide grins.

First grade passes, and then second grade. Eliza is a top student already. She reads big books, and loves learning everything she can about animals - especially dogs. When she's in third grade, her father gets a job as a travel agent, which involves him roaming all over the country. He quickly starts a tradition of bringing home a snow globe for her from every place he visits. She treasures her snow globes, lining them up on a shelf in her room like others might display a collection of trophies. In her mind, she holds a faint image of a broken snow globe with a boat floating inside. Why do her new snow globes keep reminding her of such a weird thing? No matter, she loves them all anyways.

In fourth grade, she is taught a new poem, called Ozymandias. Her favorite line is "I met a traveler from an antique land". She writes the line in blue pen on her palm and reads it over and over all day until the ink is smudged and doesn't make sense anymore. But then she repeats it in her head. There's something eerily, beautifully familiar about the line to her. Something she can't quite place. It reminds her of a better time, a better place, somewhere just out of reach. All she really knows is that she loves it, and she's looking forward to learning more about poetry in school.

In fifth grade, she finds a perfectly quaint music shop nestled in the heart of downtown on a shopping trip with her mother. While browsing through the used CD's, she discovers something incredible - a new (well, new to her) band called Machine, whose lead singer is a man named Curtis Jest. She quickly falls in love with the band, and is disappointed to discover Curtis Jest has been dead for several years now. Still, she plays the CD on repeat in her stereo. Something about the band's sound, some sort of note to Curtis Jest's voice, makes her heart race. She feels like she's forgetting something important, something dear to her, and maybe the music will help her remember if she listens to it often enough.

In sixth grade, the travel agency her father works for moves its home office from California to Colorado, and their family goes with it. She's upset about leaving her friends, and all through sixth and seventh grade, she ends up sitting alone and reading or doing homework at lunchtime. She doesn't mind it too much, really. If she wanted to talk to people, she would. She just feels detached from everyone at her school, and prefers the company of Curly over spending time with her peers. This worries her parents, but they know her well enough not to force new people on her. Her father feels guilty for making them move, but she insists it's alright. She's glad they get to see her uncle James more often living near him. And now Curly can go outside more often and chase squirrels and get dirty and do other sorts of dog things she could never do with them living in the city before.

By the time Eliza reaches eighth grade, she's completely settled in. She has a routine at school, sitting at the same table at lunch every day, in the same chair, angled just right so the sunlight coming in through the window will illuminate whatever book is in her hands. It's peaceful, predictable. Until one day, she notices something. Something… off.

She looks up from her book, slowly scanning the lunch room with narrowed green eyes. At first, all she sees is the usual cluster of fellow middle-schoolers, eating their crappy lunch food and gradually dispersing out to recess. But then she realizes what is different about the scene - a dark-haired boy sitting at another table across the room.

She's never seen him before. He, too, is sitting alone, and appears to be buried in algebra homework. She tilts her head slightly to the side, watching him. She may not interact much with others, but she can name almost every student in school. Surely he's a new student. He looks younger, too, like a sixth grader. Poor kid.

Several days pass. Every day at lunch, she sits at her specific table, in her specific chair, catching that ray of sunlight. And that dark-haired boy sits across the lunchroom, in his same spot, with a new batch of homework every day. He piques her interest. Who is this boy? Why is he sitting alone? By choice, like her, or by a product of unfortunate isolation?

After another week or so, she decides to find out herself. As she trickles into the lunchroom with the rest of the eighth graders, she moves through the crowd towards the strange boy's usual table. He's not there yet, so she plops her belongings down, gets out her packed lunch, and positions her book in the sunlight. After a while, he shows up. For a moment he simply stares at her, and she can practically hear the gears whirring inside his head. Who is she? Why is she sitting here? Should I go sit somewhere else? Where would I go? When he still doesn't take a seat, she lowers her book and looks at him quizzically. "You can go ahead and sit, I don't bite," she tells him, gesturing towards his normal chair. After a pause, he sits.

They don't speak for the rest of lunch. Or the day after that, or the day after. She continues to simply sit at his lunch table, and for the rest of the school year, they keep each other silent company. She graduates eighth grade and moves onto high school with the nagging regret in her mind that she never learned his name.

That summer, Curly gets sick. Too sick. She doesn't eat right anymore, and won't play fetch with anyone. The vet says she has a tumor, and not much longer to live. Eliza cries, and her summer goes by in tearful nights curled up in bed with the poor pug, trying to make the last days of her life peaceful. One morning, Curly can barely move, and the next morning, she doesn't wake up. Eliza mourns her death, staying inside, her summer ruined.

In Freshman year, Eliza goes to see a cover band of Machine called The Court Jesters named in honor of Curtis Jest. They're amazing, but she knows it's not the real thing. She hoards used Machine CD's and collects the band's old posters on the walls of her room. She meets new people, but, as always happens in high school, they come and go. She dates her first boyfriend, but only for a short while. Something just isn't right with him. When she turns fifteen, she gets her driver's permit after passing the test on her first try.

In her sophomore year, she's assigned a paper on "Create your own afterlife" in English class. She begins the essay with the words: Death doesn't scare me. We all die, after all. There's no use pondering over what comes next. But I'd like to think that Death is a sort of vacation, a break between lives. Like the grim reaper is giving you a very, very long day off. She thinks of Curly while she writes it, and likes to think the little dog is off having a grand adventure in some picturesque afterlife.

She goes in to take her driver's license test on the day she turns sixteen. She passes - although the instructor tells her that her parallel parking skills could use a little work.

In the middle of her Junior year, her family adopts a new dog. It's another pug, and although she is no Curly, Eliza names her Lucy and falls in love with her new pet.

Once during that school year, she thinks she glances that dark-haired boy from those fleeting past years. She runs through the hallways, grabbing his shoulder… and stammers out an apology when she sees it's not him, after all. What happened to him?

By Senior year, she's finally stopped looking.

The autumn after Senior year, she moves into the dorms at Colorado State University. She holds a full-ride scholarship to the veterinary sciences program. She gets amazing grades, and is a fast learner. On weekends, she goes home to visit Lucy and her parents and have dinner. She tells them about what animals she's worked with over the past week, and they beam at her, overflowing with pride.

She's in her third year of college. Top of her class. All of her teachers are quite fond of her. At this rate, she'll be valedictorian. One day at lunch, she's sitting alone on a bench in the courtyard, studying a diagram of a dog's skeleton and eating an apple. The sun hits her paper just right. Until, unexpectedly, a shadow blocks her view, tearing her from the studying trance. She snaps her gaze upwards to see a dark-haired boy standing over her, staring at her with deep blue eyes that seem to hold a secret that begs to be discovered.

"Mind if I sit here?" He asks, gesturing towards the open seat on the bench. She nods slowly, examining him. There's something familiar about him, something she can't quite place.

"Thanks," he says in reply to her nod, plopping down. "You know, I'm sorry, but I really came over here for a reason. You see, back when I was in sixth grade, I had no friends. Except there was this girl at lunch who would always sit with me, every day, even though we never talked. The way you were sitting here reminded me of her a lot."

Her eyes grow wide, and before she can stop herself Eliza throws her arms around him in a hug. She pulls back and stares at him earnestly. "I was that girl… my name is Eliza."

His grin stretches from ear to ear. "After all this time, I finally know your name. I'm Oliver. What are the odds we'd meet again, huh?"

Oliver kisses Eliza for the first time on that same bench, in that same golden beam of sunlight, nearly a month later. Their first date is that night, at a seafood restaurant. They sit at their table and eat all the free breadsticks and share their food with each other, and Eliza laughs more than she has in a very, very long time. They talk about those silent lunches back in middle school. How both of them got so used to the routine, how accustomed they were to their silent friendship. She tells him about her veterinary classes, and he tells her that he's studying to be a teacher. They talk about their childhoods a little, and discover they each have a shared memory of playing in her uncle's swim class. Oliver keeps saying "What are the odds?" and he kisses her again at the dorm entrance. She leaves for her room in a daze, putting on a Machine CD. Finally, laying there in bed, listening to that music, she can feel Oliver's kisses on her lips, and for once, she feels complete.

He graduates from CSU a semester after she does. They've been dating for several years now. He asks her to live with him. Together, they go about the town, searching for a home. Somewhere they can be together, be happy, and pursue their career aspirations. They find a cozy apartment downtown that allows pets, and they move in right away with Lucy. Both of their parents help them move boxes back and forth until, finally, it is truly Oliver and Eliza's apartment. And to Eliza, it feels more like home than anywhere else ever has. They fall asleep tangled in each other's arms on their new bed, trying to share one thin blanket because they haven't unpacked the rest of the bed sheets yet. Lucy snuggles up at their feet, completely satisfied. Eliza falls asleep with the traces of a smile on her face. Something about this seems perfectly familiar, as if she's been searching for this moment her entire life. She feels like she's found the most blissful place on Earth.

"You can't parallel park?" Oliver asks, staring at her in mock-disgust. The two of them are sitting in her dusty old car in front of their apartment complex, with Eliza behind the wheel. She cuts the engine in the parking space and opens her door.

"No, not really," she admits getting out of the car. He gets out, too, staring at her.

"I can teach you sometime," he offers.

"You don't need to. Really, when do I ever need to parallel park?"

"I insist. Besides, it's nice to have wisdom to impart on you, for once, instead of the other way around," he chuckles as they walk towards the door.

"Fine, fine," she laughs as she pushes the elevator button inside. "You can try."

The next day, they go out in her car and practice parallel parking against the curb by their building. At first, she's awful. She punches the horn in fury when she hits the curb with her tire. But finally, she starts to get the hang of it. By the end of the hour, she can do it almost perfectly. He praises her extensively. "Next time we go out, I want you to drive. We'll show off those skills of yours."

"Oh, don't flatter me," she protests, but still cracks a smile.

Valentine's Day. They're headed out to the same seafood restaurant where Oliver took her for their first date. Eliza is driving. They talk, and laugh, and swap stories both heard and unheard before. Oliver confesses, for the first time, something he's kept secret since they were middle schoolers.

"Back then… when I was in sixth grade, and you were in eighth," he begins, "At first I was mad at you for sitting at my table. I was angry that you were invading my space. I didn't want someone there, because I was used to people making fun of me for being such a quiet kid. But then, you said nothing, and that made me angry, too, because at first I thought you might be mocking me.

But I realized, eventually, that you weren't. And even though we didn't talk, I really started to like you. I admired how you kept me company without pestering me about my life like everyone else always did. I always wanted to ask your name, but eventually I'd gone so long without knowing it, I guess I got used to it. I liked having to describe you, in my mind, in a way that wasn't just a name. Not just a title. I thought of you as the girl who caught the sunlight. The girl who reads with her head balanced on her hand. The girl who brushes her hair out of her eyes all the time, but never clips it back."

"How poetic," Eliza interrupts, rolling her eyes although she is completely smitten with him in that moment.

He shrugs. "I was a weird kid, don't judge me. When Valentine's Day came around that year, I made you a card. Just one of those dorky 'happy Valentine's Day!' cards that sends no message other than 'hey, I was thinking of you.' I spent fifty cents on the paper and wrote it out with marker."

"And how come I never got this card?" Eliza asks, raising her eyebrows in question and shifting her gaze from the road to him for a brief moment.

He shifts a little uncomfortably in the passenger's seat, fidgeting like a little kid. "I was too nervous to give it to you," he admits. "But I kept it."

She slows the car to a halt at a red light. "Really?" she asks in an eager whisper.

He nods slowly, pulling something from his jacket pocket. In his hand, he holds a crumpled red construction-paper card, which reads HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY in smudged marker. He places it gently in her lap, and she touches it with her fingertips as if it's an ancient, fragile object.

"Oh, Oliver…" she sighs, "I love you, but you're going to make me cry while I'm driving!"

He actually blushes. "I always told myself I'd give it to you someday. I never got the chance back in school, but I have that chance now. And we're here. Go ahead and park." He points towards an open space in front of the seafood restaurant, behind another car that's just pulled in.

"Of course, parallel parking…" she groans.

"Don't worry, you'll do it fine. Just slide the car right into the spot."

She takes a deep breath and exhales loudly, gripping the steering wheel and getting and extremely focused look on her face. Carefully, she turns the wheel and eases the car forward.

There's a loud, scraping sound of metal on metal. Eliza shrieks and cuts the engine. "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I hit the other car, oh my gosh, what's wrong with me?!" She sets down the card and swings her door open at the same time Oliver opens his.

"I'm so sorry!" she cries as the driver of the other car steps out and glares at her. He crosses his arms and walks around to examine his back bumper.

"Look what you did!" The man shouts, gesturing towards the dents on both cars.

She covers her face, and Oliver carefully places his arms around her for comfort. "She's just having trouble learning how to parallel park, it's an honest mistake."

The three of them step back to examine the extent of the damage. Cars whiz by on the road just a few feet behind them.

The other man grumbles. "Well, it's not too bad. You're lucky it wasn't worse. But this thing's a dump anyways," he mutters, lightly kicking the ground at his car's tire. "Looks like your car got more damage than mine. Just be more careful, okay? The next guy won't be forgiving."

Eliza staggers back in relief, feeling faint, finally letting herself breathe. "I'm so sorry," she apologizes again.

"it's okay, Eliza," Oliver tells her soothingly.

Suddenly, there's a loud screech. Someone shouts, and a woman screams. Eliza thinks she hears the words Look out! Squealing brakes. Another scream. A skidding car.

Impact.

A crumpled red card sits patiently on the driver's seat, unopened. The recently-damaged car is towed and sent to an impound lot, then to a used car dealership. The dealer cleans out the car. The crumpled red card falls through the foot of air between his hand and the trashcan. Unopened, still. It hits the bottom with an odd thunk! He pulls it back out, and, curiously, opens the folded paper. Inside, delicately attached with red ribbon, is a glistening diamond ring.

Lucy whines and sniffs at the boxes. There's a pile of snow globes patiently waiting to be covered in bubble wrap. Eliza's parents are crying, standing in the middle of the room.

"She really kept them all…" her father says, crestfallen, as he picks one up and shakes it half-heartedly. More tears fall.

Not again, the pug whines.

Eliza wakes up to the sound of waves. Waves? Am I on a boat? There's a small sign on the wall that reads The S.S. Nile. It seems familiar, and, for some reason, she has a vague recollection of waking up here once before. She sits up slowly, rubbing her head. What happened to the parking lot? The restaurant? She appears to be laying in a bunk bed, with someone beside her. Slowly, because she feels that if she moves too quickly her head will explode with a migraine, she turns.

"Oliver… Owen?"

The boy beside her shifts, and opens his blue eyes, gazing up at her.

"...Liz?"

THE END