Chapter Two

The last thing that Chloe remembered was yelling for Phillip to watch out. A second later she was standing in a completely white room. She noticed a short line of people in front of her, all of them seemed to be waiting for something. Chloe leaned forward and tapped the shoulder of the man in front of her.

"Excuse me... what is this? Where are we?"

The man turned around and shrugged. "Beats me. A minute ago I was cliffdiving in Hawaii with my friends and now I'm here. Maybe we're dead, right?"

The man turned back around and Chloe sighed in frustration. She mentally tried to retrace the steps that may have gotten her here. She remembered the car swerving in front of them and suddenly spinning out, and her yelling at Phillip. There was a white flash in front of her, and here she was.

"It can't be..." Chloe shook her head and muttered in confusion as the line moved forward. A few minutes later, she reached the podium and a dark haired man in a tuxedo spoke to her.

"Chloe Lane? Welcome to Heaven... My name is Keyes, I'll be your maitre'd up here."

Chloe blinked her eyes in shock, "Excuse me? Heaven?"

"That's right, young lady. This is it. The pearly gates, your eternal resting place, the great beyond, all that flim flam."

"But that's wrong... it just has to be wrong. I don't believe it."

Keyes raised one thick eyebrow at her and shook his head. "I don't make mistakes like that, sweetheart. That would be a screw up of epic proportions, and the big cheese would not look too kindly on that. You are dead. Sorry to break it to you like this but you were in a car accident, and you didn't make it."

Chloe slammed her fist on his podium in anger. "No. No. NO! You're wrong. It's not supposed to end like this. I am NOT supposed to be here. This isn't right at all. Somebody has made a BIG mistake."

"So, you dare to question a divine authority? An authority that possesses more power than you could ever imagine?"

"Yes. I do."

Keyes gave her a skeptical glance and shrugged slightly. "Well, that's a new one."

Chloe sighed sadly. "Listen, I'm sure everyone else is much more ready to accept their death than I am. But, I just know that I was meant for more than this."

"You're awfully confident about that."

Chloe nodded. "Yes, I am. Please double check your list or whatever it is you have."

Keyes sighed and threw his hands up in defeat. "I have a feeling you're not going to leave me alone until I do... so hold on just a second."

Keyes pressed a button on the podium and brought up a computer screen in front of him. He pressed a few more buttons, and bit his lip nervously as he sifted through the information on the screen.

"Oh."

Chloe raised her eyebrows hopefully. "Oh what? What does it say?"

"I'm gonna have to take you to see my boss. Follow me." Keyes quickly shut his computer terminal off and put a sign on top of the podium that read, "This Window Closed." He moved out from behind the podium and grabbed Chloe's hand. "Come on... This is important."

Chloe supressed the urge to grin victoriously and followed Keyes through a door in the corner. "Now, when you say 'your boss', you don't mean like THE boss, do you?"

"You mean God? Oh no no no, God has other things to do. We're taking you to my supervisor."

Keyes led her down a hallway and stopped at a door with a plaque that read, "Mr. King - Admissions Supervisor". He firmly tapped on the door and waited until he heard a gruff "Come in." from the other side. They entered and a dark haired man in a blue suit greeted Chloe.

He shook her hand and introduced himself. "Name is King, Admissions Supervisor. Have a seat, kid."

Chloe hesitantly sat down in the chair facing King's desk. "I'm Chloe Lane... Nice to meet you... I think."

King turned his gaze to Keyes who had was now sitting in a chair next to Chloe. "So, what's the problem now, Keyes? Another one not happy with her 'area assignment'? Or maybe she's wondering why some of her loved ones didn't make it past purgatory? Oh no, wait, another one who doesn't think she's even supposed to be here. What a shock."

Chloe gave him an offended glance. "Excuse me? I'm right here... You don't have to talk about me like I'm not..."

Keyes interjected quickly, "Actually, she ISN'T supposed to be here. There was some sort of mistake. I checked it on the computer, and this is not her reservation date."

"And how far off are we?"

Keyes cringed nervously, "About 62 years... give or take."

Anger flashed across King's eyes and he threw his hands up in frustration. "SIXTY-TWO YEARS? How did this happen?"

Keyes stammered in reply, "I... I'm... I'm not really sure. I took her right before the cars hit, like I thought I was supposed to."

"You know, you'd think after 4000 years of doing this, we'd have ironed out the bugs by now."

Chloe slumped in her chair and groaned. "Oh fantastic. I got wiped out by some sort of clerical error. Thanks, I really appreciate that."

King looked into her eyes. "I am very sorry for this inconvenience, Miss Lane. I'm going to see what I can do to clear things up. Just hold on."

King began punching keys on the computer in front of him and muttering under his breath. After a few minutes of muttering and groaning, he turned his attention to Keyes.

"Nice job there, Keyes. It seems that Miss Lane here and her boyfriend, a Mr. Phillip Kiriakis were involved in a collision with another vehicle. The other vehicle had two passengers, a young man and a young woman. The young man was driving while intoxicated..."

Keyes nodded impatiently. "Yeah, yeah... I know all this."

King raised the tone of his voice angrily, "Yes, but did you know that you were SUPPOSED to take the girl in the OTHER car. You took the wrong girl, Keyes."

Keyes cringed slightly and placed a hand on his forehead. "Oops..."

Chloe sat straight up in her chair, her blue eyes burning with anger. "OOPS? That's all you can say? You killed me instead of someone else and all you can say is OOPS? I don't believe this. This has to be a nightmare, it's too ridiculous to be reality. I'm dreaming, right?"

King shook his head and sighed sadly. "I wish I could tell you that you were, but this is real. I'm sorry, but there is one way we can fix it."

"And how is that?"

"Well, we can't put you back in your own body. Once the soul leaves, the body dies, and there's nothing we can do for you. But, we can give you another body. Put you in someone else's place. In fact, we can even switch you with the girl we were supposed to take. She's about your age, and she's resting comfortably in the hospital right now."

Chloe looked downward and frowned. "So, I get a chance to live again... but I'm a new person and I don't know my family or my friends anymore. Right?"

King nodded and replied, "That's right. That's the best we can do in this situation, unfortunately. The bad news is that your loved ones have to go through the grieving process, but the good news is that you can go on living. It's a different life that you'll be living, but inside you will still be you. Or, you can stay here. It's up to you."

"Well, I'm sure it's lovely and all up here, but I'd like to attempt to actually experience life before I die. I'll do it. Take me back."

King tapped a few keys on the keyboard and motioned towards Keyes. "Alright then... Keyes will take you back and set you up with all the information about your new life that you'll need. We'll be watching you closely, making sure the transition goes smoothly, checking in with you and all that."

Chloe stood and shook King's hand firmly. "I would say thank you but I'm not really thankful for the whole 'being taken before my time' thing, but I am thankful for a second chance."

"Good luck, kid."

Chloe smiled at him and turned towards Keyes. He smiled at her and raised his eyebrows. "You ready then?"

Chloe nodded affirmatively and Keyes snapped his fingers. Suddenly she was lying in a hospital bed attached to an I.V. and dressed in a hospital gown. Keyes sat in the chair beside her bed and grinned when she opened her eyes.

"Welcome home, Chloe. I made sure to jet you a few days into the future, otherwise you'd still be unconscious. Your body... well, this body took a few days to wake up after the accident."

Chloe nodded and slowly sat up. She had one arm wrapped in a cast and generally ached all over. She winced in pain as she stood from the bed and Keyes stood and grabbed her arm to keep her from falling.

"Ouuuuuuch..."

Keyes nodded sympathetically. "And just think, this is with the pain medication the hospital is giving you. Without it, I don't think you'd be standing right now."

Chloe groaned in reply, "Oh, that's encouraging. Thank you. Just help me find a mirror."

Keyes wrapped his arm around her waist and led her towards the bathroom. He turned the light on and stood her in front of the bathroom mirror. Chloe paused for a moment, shocked at what she was seeing. Her face was bruised, but still a face of a pretty teenage girl, and there was a bandage wrapped around the top of her head. But, the rest of it was unmistakable. Spilling from underneath the head bandage was a long mess of dark brown curls, and peering out from her face was a pair of hazel eyes. She shook her head in complete disbelief and her jaw dropped in amazement.

She turned to face Keyes and sputtered out, "Oh my God... I'm JAN."
***
(tbc)