Michael Jackson Imagines

A Twist of Fate

Author's Note: Hey, Moonwalkers!  I'm so sorry for the long hiatus. This short story is a little different from previous ones, but I hope you enjoy it nevertheless. It is inspired by the anime Death Parade, and I've wanted to write it for a long time. If you haven't watched Death Parade, I highly recommend it. It's fascinating from start to finish. I do not own Death Parade, nor do I own the character Decim. All rights go to Yuzuru Tachikawa.

The elevator creaked and lurched as it carried you upward, but the sound of your pounding heart drowned out the clanks and squeals.  Where am I?  How the hell did I get here?  You struggled to remember something.  Anything.  But you failed.  Your mind was blank.  You had no clue where you were or how you got there, had no recollection of stepping into the elevator.  You had no memory of putting on the (your favorite formal outfit) you now wore.  Had I been at a party?  A date?

What happened?

You stood there, breathing fast.  Your eyes welled with tears and your legs trembled beneath you, growing weaker and weaker until you feared they might give out.  You backed into the wall and collapsed into a trembling ball.

The elevator groaned as it came to a stop.  With a pleasant ding, the sliding doors opened to a dimly lit hallway.  A glistening red tile floor stretched before you, sparkling in the golden glow of spherical lights the size of bowling balls that dangled from the ceiling.  Paintings of wispy, white clouds covered the pale blue walls.

You stood and stepped into the hallway.  You scanned your surroundings like an owl, waiting for an unseen predator to spring out at you.  Ridiculous as it was, you checked behind you where the elevator still sat.  You blinked in disbelief.  There were two elevators, side by side.  Each bore a strange mask on the wall above them.  The mask above your elevator had a red face, an evil, toothy smile, and twisted horns.  The other was white and had a peaceful expression.

You were so confused it felt like the world was spinning.  Where the hell am I?

You squeezed your eyes shut and held your head in your hands, trying desperately to quiet your mind and think rationally.  It was then that you noticed a sound, the soothing sound of trickling water.  You looked in the direction of the sound; it seemed to be coming from the end of the hallway.

After a moment of hesitation, you started walking down the hall, following the red tile path.  The hallway, you soon discovered, ended and abruptly and turned left, so you did as well.  There was a lovely bamboo garden, complete with polished stones and flowing fountains that emptied into a shimmering pond.  If you had not been scared out of your mind, you would have admired its tasteful beauty.  Nevertheless, the sound of flowing water managed to slow your rapid heart rate.

"Please, come in," said a bodiless male voice.

You screamed and would have fallen into the water if you had not grabbed hold of a bamboo shoot.

You whipped your head in the direction of the voice and could not believe what you saw.  A slim man dressed in a white shirt, a black vest, and a red bowtie stood behind what looked oddly like . . . a bar?  Yes, you couldn't believe it, but it was a bar - and a luxurious one at that.  It was constructed entirely of dark, carved wood.  Six bar stools, lavishly upholstered with emerald green velvet, stood empty.  Like a halo, a brilliant circular stained glass window shone in the center of the back wall, illuminating the room in blue and pink hues.  On either side of the window were shelves filled with glistening violet, green, and pink bottles of what you could only assume was alcohol, but your terror told you it could be poison, or blood, or who knew what else?