It was a sunny Thursday afternoon, sunlight was shining off from Kepler’s black hair. Kepler was walking back home after completing his work, he noticed a rock on the ground with his black eyes. Kepler was a businessman who started his work in the company, Solnal, 3 years ago. He was only at the age of 25, which was one of the youngest employees in the company. He was single, although lots of female employees in Solnal were having a crush on him, he never felt like getting closer with any of them. He had to go to work during the holiday due to the unfinished job he left yesterday.

He didn’t care much about the rock, suddenly a nut appeared out of nowhere, fell from a tree; a squirrel came right after, chased it down the street. Just when he turned his head back and watched the squirrel ran away, he saw a lottery ticket stuck between the bushes, he slowly walked towards the bushes and picked up the ticket.

“Wow, this lottery ticket was purchased a couple of hours ago, and the winning numbers of the lottery would be broadcast on the news tonight! This isn’t the ticket that’s gonna make me millions of dollars right?” He thought to himself.

He grabbed the ticket and put it into his right-hand pocket on his pants, just below his lower thigh. Although he felt that he wasn’t going to win the lottery, he still thought about what he’s going to do with the money, if he'll be able to get it.

As he walked towards his house, his phone started to vibrate, it was a text message from his boss,

“Ah! Shoots! Did I do something wrong?.... I feel like I angered him!” He thought about it in his head. He took out his phone readily, and read the text sent from his boss.

He felt nervous even before he saw his boss’s message. And this is what boss Don wrote:

“Dear Kepler,

We’ve found out that your conversation on the Solmate plan with Panlar company was successful.

We decided to promote you as an assistant manager for our company

You will start your new job next week,

We are hoping to see you there!

Thanks for the effort you put into the conversation.

Boss Don.”

“Jesus!” He thought in his mind, “This isn’t what I was expecting to receive from Boss Don!”

He walked happily and fastly back to his home, which was 2 blocks away from where he found the lottery ticket. He walked too fast, almost jogged, on the sidewalk, that his shoelace fell apart,

“Really?” He questioned himself in his mind, “It’s just 30 feet away from my house, should I tie them?”

He decided not to tie his shoelace and continued walking for about 5 feet, then he changed his mind, he knelt and tied his shoe, a couple of inches away from the edge of the sidewalk, where the T junction is just in front of him.

Just when he knelt, a truck rushed over from the street, all the way to the road and hit the buildings on the other side of the road. Although the truck driver was lucky enough to survive, the truck and the sidewalk were badly damaged.

He looked up toward the smashed truck, that had just hit the corner of the building.

“Shit!” He shouted, “I was lucky that I changed my mind, or else I’ll be hit by that truck and smashed onto the buildings.

“I am lucky!” He claimed as he looked back to what he experienced, “What a lucky day for me!”

He hurried to tie his shoelace and walked home. It was 6 o'clock when he finally got home. As he entered his house, everything seems suspicious. Kepler could clearly tell that there is someone else in the house. He walked to the kitchen cautiously.

He slowly walked to the kitchen, with his umbrella holding by both of his hands, ready to fight with the stranger in his house. Just then, he realized that the person in his kitchen isn’t a stranger, nor anyone else, she was Christine, Kepler’s assistant in Solnal and neighbor.

“Hey, welcome home!” Christine said to Kepler, “What happened, why do you have your umbrella in your hands?”

“Umbrella? What? Oh, I was trying to…… dry up my umbrella. It’s wet, yes, it’s wet!” Kepler responded to Christine nervously but also surprised.

“I feel lonely in my house…”Said Christine, “It’s Thanksgiving, right? I got no one in my house while everyone got someone to hang out with!”

“But how did you… uhh… get in my house?” Asked Kepler questioning Christine.

“You left your door unlocked in the morning. I found out when I tried to ask you about the document in the afternoon, it’s on your desk! I stayed in your house because I don’t know where you keep your keys, or even if you bring keys with you or not.” Claimed Christine.

“Shoots!” Kepler thought in his mind, “I was rushing in the morning and left my door unlocked! That’s right!”

“You are really lucky today!” Said Christine, “No one came in before I did!”

“I am surely lucky!” Claimed Kepler, putting his umbrella down.

“Dinner’s almost done!” Said Christine, “You might want to wash your hands and get changed before we eat!”

“What is going on?” Thought Kepler, “I feel like all the luckiness around the world has came to me!”

The dinner was pretty sweet, but also awkward, Kepler and Christine didn’t talk too much other than their jobs, in fact, they were just eating their dinner silently after Kepler read the document Christine brought. Since Kepler didn’t know how to start up a conversation, it made the atmosphere even stiffer. Nothing was interesting until they finished their dinner, Kepler decided to open the television and watch some talent show. Just when he sat down on his sofa in the living room, he thought about the lottery ticket he found in between the bushes in the afternoon. He worried for a second, but he decided to tell Christine about the ticket.

The dinner was pretty sweet, but also awkward, Kepler and Christine didn’t talk too much other than their jobs, in fact, they were just eating their dinner silently after Kepler read the document Christine brought. Since Kepler didn’t know how to start up a conversation, it made the atmosphere even stiffer. Nothing was interesting until they finished their dinner, Kepler decided to open the television and watch some talent show. Just when he sat down on his sofa in the living room, he thought about the lottery ticket he found in between the bushes in the afternoon. He worried for a second, but he decided to tell Christine about the ticket.

“By the way, Christine, I found a lottery ticket when I was on my way back home……” Kepler said softly to Christine.

“Let’s see if you can win some money from this!!” Christine said to Kepler with excitement.

So they walked to the living room after they were done with their dinner and sat on the sofa while Kepler turned on the television hanging up on the wall. They were switching around to find the channels that were broadcasting on the network. They did that for about 10 minutes, went through all the channels on the television.

“I feel like we already missed the lottery broadcast!” Kepler said to Christine. “We’ve been switching around for 10 minutes!.”

“There might be a replay or a bulletin on the news,” Christine said to Kepler while she was asking for the controller.

Christine took the controller from Kepler and switched to the newscasting channel. Just when she switched to it, they saw the lottery numbers were coming out from the lottery machine. They both got excited when they saw the numbers began to come out from the machine.

“The numbers are……” The host said, “14, 38, 21……”

“We got all of them!” Shouted Christine to Kepler, “We just need to have 3 more numbers that match our ticket!”

“And we have……” The host said again on the television, “57, 4……”

“We are getting so lucky!” Shouted Kepler, “If the last one matches, I will become a millionaire in a night!”

“Usually the last number doesn’t match, right?” Asked Christine with excitement.

“True!” Concluded Kepler, “But who knows?”

“And we have our last number……” Said the host nervously……

“36, 36, 36, 36……”Said Kepler and Christine together but nervous.

“60!!!!!!” Shouted the host, “Congratulations to those who won the jackpot!”

There was dead silence in Kepler’s house after the host announced the results of the lottery ticket.

“I’d know that I’m not the luckiest person in the world,” Concluded Kepler, “Christine, I’m going to bed right now… You should go back to your house.”

“Without even taking a shower?” Asked Christine.

“Na, it’s fine.” Replied Kepler.

“Alright……” Said Christine, as she thought what to say before she left Kepler’s house, “I’m sorry about your lottery ticket. And thanks for spending your time having dinner with me!”

“No, no, you don’t have to be sorry about it!” Added Kepler, “Thanks for making dinner for me too!”

“No problem!” Said Christine, “Have a good night!”

“You too!” Said Kepler, “I’ll see you later!”

“You mean hours later?” Asked Christine jokingly.

“I mean some time after the weekend!” Laughed Kepler as he replied.

After the conversation, Kepler decided to walk back to Christine’s house with her, on the way to Christine’s house, couple buildings away from his house, he was having a debate with his mind.

“Come on dude!” Kepler’s mind told him, “You should’ve been nicer to her!”

“I knew I was wrong!” Thought Kepler back to his mind, “I was just not able to control myself!”

“You should at least apologize for your mad manner!” Shouted his mind, “You will never get closer to anyone if you keep yourself so hard to get along!”

“Of course I know that! Thought Kepler back to his mind again, “You are me, and I am you! I’m just scared and... shy you know?”

Before he even finished the debate with his mind, they arrived at Christine’s house, it wasn’t as far as Kepler thought in the past. It used to be far for him because he was very introvert. However, he was walking to Christine’s house with her, side by side.

“Does it count as lucky since I can walk with her?” Kepler questioned himself.

“Bro, stop making yourself look lucky!” Said his mind, “You know that you’re not lucky, the lottery is a very good counter-example!”

“Shut up!” He responded to his mind as he waved to Christine and started to walk back to his house, “Keep your mouth shut and never bother me again!”

He thought as he started to head back to his house…….

Even though he said he’s not going to take a shower, he still did it; after he went home, he immediately went upstairs and got into the shower.

It wasn’t too long before he went to sleep after the shower.

“It was a weird day……” Kepler thought to himself, “I hope that tomorrow is going to be a normal day……”

“So, am I able to speak now?” Asked his mind, “It’s pretty boring to stay quiet.”

“Sure,” thought Kepler to his mind, “It is pretty boring to stay quiet.”

……

Soon he fell into a deep, sweet sleep, it was a comfortable one since there weren’t any disruptions while he slept.

It was calm until the alarm he sat upon his phone started to ring……

“Ahh…” Kepler thought as he got off his bed.

He had a headache since he didn’t dry his hair before he slept last night.

While his head hurt like someone was punching his head, he slowly walked out of his bedroom, holding the railing of the staircase, and walked down into the kitchen and took some medicine for headache.

“Now it feels better!”, he thought in his mind as his headache started to get better, “I should’ve dried my hair last night!”

Kepler stepped into the living room and sat on the couch then rest of a bit. He closed his eyes and started to think of the weird day he had yesterday.

“Yesterday was messed up!” Kepler thought as he closed his eyes, “I rather have a normal day!”

After a while, he sat up straight on his couch, then turn on his television. The channel was still on the news Kepler and Christine were watching last night.

“A shocking news just arrived!” said the reporter.

“I wonder what’s going on”, Kepler thought as he listened to the reporter closely.

“The lottery number announced yesterday wasn’t accurate, the system glitched, the number announced and the number recorded down in the computer was different!” said the reporter.

“I wonder who was the lucky person who won the lottery,” thought Kepler again in his head.

“The number announced was 60, but the number got recorded down was 36!” said the reporter.

“How funny!” said Kepler, “Why did the system fail!”

Right after that, Kepler closed his television and walked to the kitchen, as he was going to have breakfast, he thought about the number 36 again.

“How come this number sounds so familiar?” He thought in his mind, “I’m sure that I’ve heard of it before”

As he had his breakfast, he was thinking about the number during the entire time; and because he was thinking too hard, his breakfast tasted pretty plain.

“I better go to the supermarket and get some supplies!” He thought as he stood up from his stool and starting to get prepared to go out.

Half an hour later, at 10 AM, he went out of his house, locked the door, and head toward the garage where he parked his car.

He didn’t think of anything too much, in fact, he was just being a safe driver.

A couple of minutes after he departed from his house, he had to stop since the traffic light turned red.

Another few minutes after, as he drove past the junction, no one knows what had happened, nor Kepler; but Kepler can’t remember anything after that.

…

Suddenly, Kepler opened his eyes, he was lying on his bed nice and clean.

“Was that just a dream, that something possibly bad happened to me?” Kepler thought in his mind.

Although Kepler was thinking in his mind, his voice sounds like he spoke it loud into his room.

“If that was a dream, that would be the roughest dream I’ve ever had,” thought Kepler again. And again, it sounds like he had spoken it out loud.

As he got off his bed, he felt like he lost 100 pounds.

“Whoa, I feel so light today!” thought Kepler as he walked along the hallway on the second story.

As he walked down the staircase, he heard something moving at the first story. He got scared for a second, then he looked down quietly, but no one was there.

Suddenly, he felt that someone was in the back of him, and looking at him. He was really scared, but he decided to turn his head back.

As soon as he turned his head back, a person with a black cloak covering his entire body, and a large sickle looking tool in his hand standing right in back of him.

Kepler tried to run down the staircase but he tripped himself, he rolled off the stairs and stopped in the kitchen.

Fortunately, Kepler wasn’t injured, adding up to that, he didn’t even feel the pain.

“I must be really lucky that I didn’t get hurt!” Kepler thought in his mind, again, his voice went around the house.

“Unfortunately, you are wrong!” said the person with a black cloak standing in front of him.

“Who are you? What are you doing in my house? And what do you mean I’m wrong?” Asked Kepler with fear.

“Can you not ask that much question at once, I didn’t catch them!” said the person.

“Give me a second”, said the person with a black cloak, “Let me take off my cloak!”

Like what he said, he took off his cloak and began to talk to Kepler in a completely different way, in a polite, and sincere way.

“Sorry for that!” said the person, “Did you got scared? And are you alright? I was just messing around with you!”

“Who are you?” asked Kepler as he tried to stand up.

“Sorry for that, my name is Reagan, I am a worker of the Heaven And Hell Association,” Reagon explained.

“The what association?” Kepler asked Reagon surprisingly.

“The Heaven And Hell Association,” Reagan repeated.

“What a weird name!” thought Kepler, “Are all the new companies named themselves like that?”

“No,” said Reagan, “It’s the Heaven and Hell where dead people belong to!”

“I am the worker that brings all the dead people’s soul to Heaven or Hell, depends on which one they belong to, I am the Soul Director, or Reaper as you humans living on the Earth know,” Reagan added up to what he said.

“So you’re here to kill me?” Asked Kepler as he sat back down on the ground.

Reagan smiled, as he helped Kepler stand up from the floor.

“Don’t you feel the difference of your body today?” Reagan asked.

“Yeah?" said Kepler, "I feel lighter and what I'm thinking is always loud."

"Wait!" Kepler shouted after analyzing, "Does that mean that I'm……?"

"You're dead" Reagan claimed, "You were dead yesterday".

"This can't be true!" shouted Kepler. "I must be dreaming!".

"Yes I'm dreaming", thought Kepler in his mind.

"You can squeeze your face if you want to!" said Reagan.

"I will prove that I am", Kepler said as he squeezed his face.

So Kepler squeezed his face.