The Golden Ticket

Vik Petelin is quite an ordinary young man who was born and lived in Russia. A few years ago he was single, loved to travel, and worked for a newspaper as a journalist. He liked his job, but at some point he became disillusioned with his profession, he no longer felt alive, and his heart wanted change. Changes have come; but not in the way he intended.

He was about 30 years old when he was accidentally shot by some crazy man, and he found himself in the White Room, where some ephemeral Shadow-like creature informed him that he had an eternity ahead -a lot of time to reflect on how and why he lived.

The prospect of eternal loneliness in the White Room terrified  Vik, and so that he would not feel so abandoned and alone he received some energy from the Dark Ones, that he could spend on waking dreams. In these dreams he flew, built fantastic cities with the power of his mind and had fun. But everything had to be paid for, and now he has to work off the debt, or return to the White Room.

Vik was afraid of solitary confinement, so he made a deal with the Dark Ones, and ended up on Sam Chang Island in Thailand, where the dead have been living off the energy of careless tourists for many years, but the tourists know nothing about it. There Vik met an enterprising dead man named Randy, who offered him a job at the "Magic Hell" nightclub. His duties included handing out energy drinks and pumping excess energy out of people while they were having fun on the dance floor. Randy himself works as a wish-master, he invites tourists to play the lottery and fulfill any of their dreams, but not for free. So if you see a nice bearded stranger on vacation, be careful what you wish for and think twice before asking him for anything.

On the Island Vik also met the go-go dancer Irene, who died in a car accident, the talented artist and former alcoholic Austin and the Buddhist monk Gee, whose past was full of secrets and sins as well. Vik  learned from his new friends that the Dark Ones do not take all the dead, but only those who have some kind of addiction, in a word, those who are easiest to manipulate. In their opinion, the one who has failed in life will always be ready to take advantage of the weaknesses and vices of other people. But is it really so?