Stuffing the business card into his pocket, Jim hurried outside.  The snow had stopped falling and Ed was no where in sight.  Jim sighed and began trudging through the deep snow back towards his apartment.  Stomping the snow from his shoes against the doorstep, Jim reached into his pocket for his keys, only to find nothing, but the white card Ed had left on the table.

“Crap…” he muttered to himself, thoroughly patting his other pockets in search for the missing keys.

“They aren’t there,” a voice behind him said suddenly.

Jim spun around to see Ed leaning casually against the railing. 

“I thought I’d gotten rid of you,” Jim grumbled starting back down the stairs towards his car, hoping the keys had fallen in the snow somewhere nearby.  He stopped short when he got to the place where his car was supposed to be.  There was no car.  There was not even a trace that a car had ever been there.  Just an empty parking spot, the ground thick with snow.

“It’s gone too.” Jim heard Ed’s voice behind him.  He whirled around clenching his fists together.

“Where the hell is my car?”  He fumed.

“You have no car.” Ed said calmly.

“Well, I had a car and it was right here.”  Jim said kicking at the snow, as if it would cause the car to magically reappear.  A sudden light flooded from the open door of a nearby apartment and an older couple stepped out. 

“The Murphy's…” Jim said to Ed, jerking his head slightly in the direction of the door. Jim‘s next door neighbors, who also happened to be his landlords, had been the only non-work people he had met in Stamford.  They had both been extremely kind to him, sometimes bringing him bread or cookies and even inviting him over for dinner once.  “My landlords.  They’ll help me out.”

“Mr. and Mrs. Murphy,” Jim called out, hurrying over to the couple as they carefully walked to their car. 

“Can we help you?” Mr. Murphy said a bit gruffly.

“Yeah, I was wondering if you might be able to unlock my apartment.  I seem to have lost my keys.”

“Who are you?” Mr. Murphy asked, opening the passenger side door for his wife.

“Um…Jim…Jim Halpert.  I live in 12B.” Jim said, with a puzzled look on his face.

“No one named Jim lives in 12B.  I think you're confused.”

“Mr. Murphy, it’s me…Jim.  I live in 12B.  Your wife brought me banana bread last weekend.  I’ve been to your house for dinner.”

“Look son, I don’t know how much you’ve had to drink tonight, but I think it’s best if you call a cab to take you home. Now.”  Mr. Murphy said firmly before climbing into his car and quickly pulling out of the parking lot.

Jim stood there, frozen in place watching the red glow from the tail lights disappear into the darkness. 

“Ok, that was weird…” Jim said aloud.

“You have no keys. You have no car.  You have no apartment.  You’ve never been born, remember?” Ed said

“Right, right…I forgot.” Jim said sarcastically.  “Guess I'll just have to call a cab.”  Jim reached back into his jacket pockets for his cell phone and wallet, but again came up empty handed.

“Dammit!“ he yelled kicking a big pile of snow, sending the white powder flying.  “Well Gabriel, what the hell am I supposed to do now? ”

“First of all…it’s Ed…not Gabriel.  Second of all, it’s getting pretty late, so I can help you get a motel room and we can get started early in the morning,” Ed said pulling a key from his pocket.

“Look, I don‘t even know you. What makes you think I am going anywhere with you?”

“Well, as I see it you have two choices.  You can stand out here and freeze all night or you can sleep in a warm motel room and wait until morning to get this all figured out.”

“Whatever…” Jim said.  “The sooner I can go to sleep, the sooner I'll wake up from whatever the hell this is.”

Fifteen minutes later Jim was lying on the surprisingly comfortable bed in an old, but not too dismal looking motel.  Ed had dropped him off and without even going inside to check in, had produced a key from his coat pocket.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ed called out as Jim climbed out of the car.

“Yeah…right. Tomorrow.” Jim said slamming the door behind him.  He bolted the door to the motel room and secured the chain.  Then, despite feeling just a little bit wimpy, he slid the table in front of the door, just in case.  Hanging up his coat and tie in front of the radiator, he flopped onto the bed. 

He had only meant to shut his eyes for a minute, but when he opened them the sun was pouring through the window.  “That was a really weird dream” he thought as he rubbed his hands over his face.  He sat up and it took him about half a second to realize that he was not in his bedroom.  As he looked around, the memories from the previous night came rushing back.  “No way…that can’t have really happened.  There has to be some other explanation,” Jim thought as he grasped for the clock. 7:15.  “Crap. I’m going to be late.” 

He took a quick shower and then after finding a crumpled twenty dollar bills in his pants pocket, called a cab to take him to the office.

He tapped the button for the elevator and tried to smooth out the wrinkles in his pants, as he waited for the doors to open.  His head jerked up as he felt someone brush against his arm.  Karen was standing next him to him, engrossed in the newspaper she had clutched in her hand.

“Running late, too?” he asked, grateful for a familiar face.

Karen looked over at him with a blank stare and pursing her lips together in a half smile, nodded slightly before turning back to the paper. 

Jim furrowed his brow slightly, but followed Karen into the elevator.  He waited impatiently for the elevator to reach his floor.  When the doors finally slid open, Karen hurried out without so much as a glance in his direction.  Shrugging his shoulders, he stepped out of the elevator and pushed open the glass door to the Dunder Mifflin office.  He headed in the direction of his desk, but stopped short when he saw a middle aged guy sitting in his chair; typing frantically away at his computer.

“Um…excuse me?”  Jim said approaching the desk.

The man glanced up at him with a look that screamed irritation.  “What?”

“Uh…I think you’re…in my seat,” Jim said looking around.  Karen was sitting at the desk behind his, checking messages on her phone.  The desk in front of his was empty but he could clearly see Andy’s red and white knitted cap resting on the keyboard.
 
“ You don’t think I know where my desk is?” the man said irritably.

“No…I just…” Jim faltered when he noticed the name plate sitting on the corner of the desk.  The words: Sam Murphy, Assistant Regional Manager glared back at him from the shiny gold surface.  His familiar picture frames were now replaced by a large green potted plant and a small framed picture of a woman and two kids eating cotton candy.

Jim took a step back, unable to process what was happening.  The man shot him another look before turning back to his computer.  Jim turned around quickly, nearly knocking over Andy who was standing behind him with a cup of coffee.

“Whoa there…” Andy said steadying the cup, as some of the steaming liquid sloshed over the rim.

“Sorry Andy…I guess they moved my desk.”

“Uh….and you are?”

“Come on Andy…knock it off,” Jim said, his voice rising.

“Whoa, take a chill pill…no need to get all intense, bro.”

“What the hell is going on?” Jim was practically shouting now.  He glanced around frantically.  Karen had put down her phone and was looking at him with a peculiar expression on her face.  Andy had taken a few steps back, still clutching his coffee cup and a few people had gathered in the break room and were staring at him.

“What’s going on out here?” Josh, the regional manager, asked appearing in the doorway of his office.

“No need to worry boss.  Andy Bernard has the situation under control,” Andy said setting his cup down and attempting to crack his knuckles.

“I need to get out of here,” Jim muttered as he turned and hurried back towards the door.

“Yeah…that’ll show you how it’s done…” he heard Andy call as the door slammed closed behind him.  He pushed open the door that led to the stairwell and raced down four flights of stairs until he burst outside, gulping in huge breathfuls of air.  He quickly loosened the knot on his tie and bent forward resting his elbows on his knees, hoping to clear his head.

“They didn’t know you, did they?”  A voice said causing Jim to jerk upright.  Ed was standing a few feet away, leaning against a tree.

“Ok man…” Jim said storming towards him.  “Joke's over.  This is not funny anymore.  What the HELL is going on?”

“I’ve already told you,” Ed said evenly, even though Jim was towering over him.  “Jim Halpert no longer exists.  They don’t know who you are, because you don’t work here. You've never worked here.”

“You’re lying.  That’s not possible,” Jim growled clenching and unclenching his fists together rapidly.

“It’s true.  You told me that the world would be better off without you and that you wished you’d never been born.”

“No…no…this is not happening.” Jim said shaking his head.  “This is a dream…or something weirder…but it’s not true.”  He began pacing back and forth in front of Ed. “I need to get home…I need to get back to Scranton.”

“Come on then…” Ed said gesturing towards his car that seemed to appear out of nowhere.  “Let’s go to Scranton.”