Reality Lottery - Part Two

"This is the Reality Lottery, we're calling you today to inform you at you won this week's draw" the chirps the cheery voice on the other end of the line, the joy in their voice sounding fairly fake as they follow their script.

I'm barely able to process what I was being told, a mixture of early morning brain fog and sheer disbelief causing the information to mostly slip by me. The chances of winning were minuscule, most people never expected to win. In fact, most people merely used the Reality Lottery as a tool through which they could fantasize about their perfect alternate lives.

"Um...I'm sorry...what?" I croak, slowly sitting up in my bed and swinging my legs over the side.

"You've won sir, please come by our offices at your earliest convenience so that you can claim your prize" the sweet voice replies.

"You mean that I'm..." I mumble, struggling to think as I slowly begin to stand and shuffle towards my kitchen in search of my morning coffee.

"Heading to a new reality? That's quite right" the voice chuckles. "We'll have picked three new homes for you to choose from by the time you get here, all you'll have to do is...well...pick your favorite"

"I...sure...I mean..." I mutter, still barely awake as I reach my kitchen and begin to sloppily make my much-needed coffee.

"Don't worry sir, we'll send all this information to you in an email" the voice chimes in, recognizing my confusion. "Just...please do come by soon, we don't want to keep the other...yous...waiting too long."

With that the conversation quickly wrapped up, the voice on the other line once again congratulating me as I mumble along and sip at my hot mug of coffee. This couldn't be happening, the chances were so impossibly low, and yet as the email from the Reality Lottery comes through it all hits home.

"A...better me?" I whisper, my eyes darting around my small but cozy apartment.

I hadn't thought about it before, at least not that much. I had always imagined it as being a new life where I had won the actual lottery or where I had rich parents, but as I think about I realize it could be all so much more.

While I had seen and read about people winning the lottery and coming to my reality I had actually heard of what others were like. As I slowly begin to get dressed, the caffeine hitting my system, I can't help but worry about what sort of new world I might be heading to. However, as I sit and think about it I find myself going back over and over again to the most obvious better lives I could imagine. Wealth, stability, true love, all sorts of mundane things that I found myself craving as I pull on my unwashed jeans and a slightly stained by otherwise clean curry yellow button-up shirt.

Heading out of my bedroom and through the apartment towards the front door I find myself looking around at my home for what was likely the last time, a sense of melancholy creeping in past all the joy and anxiety born from my win.

Grabbing a stale muffin from the kitchen counter I head out, locking up behind me and heading down the stairs as I bring up the email from the Reality Lottery on my phone. I knew the local branch office was only a short walk from my home, situated directly between my apartment building and my work, but I simply had to double-check thanks to my scatterbrained state.

Reaching the ground floor I end up throwing out the muffin after only a bite or two, the stale off-putting taste beating out my hunger. Rushing out the large double doors I'm forced to shield my eyes from the crimson sunrise, the harsh light reflecting off the windows of nearby office buildings and washing the street in a red hue.

The walk to the office is fairly short, the crisp morning air causing me to huddle up in an attempt to stay warm. I'm so lost in thought and distracted by the cold that I almost miss the small storefront as I walk by, the non-descript shop doing little to grab people's attention.

The Reality Lottery office was more a shop than anything else. The whole place only took up a small subdivision of a large building, sandwiched between a small fashion boutique and a positively tiny cafe. A wide window leads into the shop floor comprising a small desk with two cash registers for selling tickets, and a door leading to some unseen back room.

Stepping in through the front door I let out a sigh of relief, feeling the warm air from the heated interior wash over me. Walking up to the register I notice a short man in his early thirties smile at me from the other side.

"Welcome to the Reality Lottery sir, how can I help you today?" the man chirps, adjusting his light blue shirt as he interacts with the first customer of the day. His dark brown hair is held back messily with a liberal application of mousse, dark bags under his eyes, and a waning smile giving away either exhaustion or a slight hangover.

"Hey...um...so I won...um...Here..." I mutter nervously, unsure of how to approach the topic. I hold out my phone for the man, bringing up the email as I try to let it do the explanation for me.

The man looks at me in confusion before leaning in to read the phone. Suddenly, his jaw drops and his eyes go wide. "Oh...um...congrats...just...give me a second" he blurts out, turning left and right as he tries to remember what he's meant to do when a winner comes in. After a moment of inaction the man spins around to face the door at the back, rushing over and swinging it open before ducking his head inside.

"Something wrong Justin?" a low voice calls out from inside the room.

"No...uh...we have a winner...and..." the man says nervously, giving up on remembering what he had to do himself.

"Oh...well that's a first for us here" the low voice muses, taking the sudden appearance of a winner in stride "Send them in, I'll handle it."

"Right...got it" Justin mutters, spinning around to face me "Please head on back, Patrick can help you from here."

With a nod I follow his instructions, shuffling my way to the back of the store and slipping into the backroom.

The backroom appears to be a small office, with filing cabinets flanking a small desk. Opposite the desk sits another door, one that looks like it should lead straight into the neighboring cafe. Behind the desk sits an older gentleman in his late forties, his short greying black hair blending into a thick full beard covering his face.

"Please, have a seat Mr...Hughes" he exclaims, looking at a computer screen as he quickly begins to read my information.

"Thanks" I reply, awkwardly squeezing through the cramped space and sitting on the small plastic seat opposite Patrick.

"Sorry, just give me...one...second" Patrick mutters, his hazel eyes darting back and forth over the screen as he races through whatever he had up. "This is the first time we've had a winner here...I just need to read...your information...and...the procedure...manual."

There is an awkward silence as he reads over everything. I keep my mouth shut, instead fidgeting nervously as I try not to distract him.

Suddenly Patrick breaks the silence with a loud clap, rubbing his hands together as an eager grin forms on his lips. "Alright, first off I'd like to congratulate you on your win" he states, his voice sounding far more earnest than the one from the initial phone call. "The odds are...well you know the lottery, so meeting an actual winner is...pretty big for a local branch manager" he continues, obviously enjoying the experience.

Turning to his computer again Patrick begins to click at some unseen object, his eyes darting between three distinct spaces as his lips slightly wiggle along with his reading.

"Alright, let's bite this bullet. The three new worlds you can choose from are..."