The third night Jen saw him, she decided to stop.  He was on Halsten, in front of the market, leaning against the wet brick wall like he was waiting for her.   He wore a dirty beige overcoat, and as she approached, he held his cracked hands toward her.  She had promised Robert she would meet him no later than eight thirty, but there was a light in the old man’s eyes, a look on his face.  Like he recognized her, she decided to take a chance. 
When she got within arms distance of the man, he gently grabbed her wrist and said, “Jen, I’ve been waiting for you for a long time.  You must come with me."  He then turned around the corner, Jen in tow, and swept down a dark side street.  Jen tried to ask where he was taking her, but she received no response from the man.  After, what seemed to Jen like twenty minutes, they entered into what looked like an old warehouse.  Not knowing what to think or where they were, Jen fumbled into the open steel door. 
"Right this way," the man ushered her into a room at the end of the hall.  The room was smelled heavily of moss, pipe tobacco, and fresh cut grass.  All of which seemed out of place to Jen, as they were in an industrial setting.  Strips of fabric clung to the walls.  Filling the room with obnoxious 70s patterns.  The room was poorly lit, the only light source being what looked to be a small pond embedded in the floor.
"What is this place?" Jen asked in confusion.
"Sit," the old man stated gesturing to a pillow beside the pond.
"Where are we?" Jen asked while following the man's orders, sitting on the pillow.  The man then proceeded to sit on the other side of the pond, opposite Jen.  "Who are you?"
"That is not relevant at this time."
"What?"
"Look into the pond."  Jen looked into the water, where there were two luminescent fish swimming beneath the surface.  One black, the other white.  As she gazed in wonder, the fish began to circle one another.  They spiraled in towards each other as they began to pick up speed.  Soon, the water in the pond was also swirling rapidly.  Jen began to lean forwards, hypnotized by the circling light.  Jen opened her eyes, not knowing she had closed them.  She found herself surrounded by four emerald green walls.  There was a large leather armchair in the corner and floor to ceiling bookshelves covering three of the four walls.  The fourth wall had large windows looking out to a courtyard of soft pink trees.  Right in front of the window was a massive mahogany desk littered with loose papers and open books.  Seated at the desk was a tall man with a most impressive mustache smoking a pipe, gazing out over the courtyard. 
"Uncle Edgar?" Jen asked, but her Uncle's eyes did not see her.  Jen stepped closer, reaching for the man. 
"He can neither see nor hear you."
"He can't? Why?"
"This is not reality.  We are in a sort of suspended animation, or limbo if you will."
"That's insane.  There's no such thing as suspended reality.  Even if there was, how did we get there?" Jen asked as the scene in front of her froze.
"The Universe brought you here.  The Universe is trying to tell you something."
"What?  No, that's insane!  You're deranged!  The Universe can't make decisions or have opinions!  I should have never followed you here!  This is probably all a dream or an acid trip!  Did you drug me?" Jen yelled, accosting the old man.  "This can't be real.  Are you even real?  I need to get out of here."  Jen crossed the room to the door yanking it open.  Jen was pushed backward by a large gust of air. Then sucked through the door.
Jen woke in her own bed.  She looked around the room frantically.  No one was there.  Everything seemed to be just the way she had left it.  Jen swung her legs over the side of the bed and noticed she was still in her clothes from yesterday.  Jen sat on the edge of her bed thinking of the night before.  She decided it was just a weird dream and to not read much into it.
Feeling unclean from her eerie dream, she took a hot shower.  Under the steam from the hot water, Jen remembered that she had stood Robert up the night before.  Jen quickly finished up her shower and dialed Robert’s number.
"Hello?" Robert answered.
"Hey, it's Jen.  I am so sorry about last night!"
"Where were you?  I waited for you at the restaurant for an hour.  It was quite embarrassing sitting alone!"
"I know, I know, I'm so sorry.  How can I make it up to you?  How about we go out to breakfast."
"I don't know.  I have a lot of work to do on this presentation for Monday."
"I'll pay.  Plus, it won't take that long.  You'll be home writing boring presentations before you know it."
"Fine, but I get to pick the restaurant."
"Deal."
"I'll see you at Lenny's in an hour then, okay?"
"Great, see you then."  Jen hung up the phone and got dressed.  As Jen was on her way out the front door, she felt a pair of eyes on her.  She turned slowly but saw no one except a black cat perched on a trash bin a few feet away.  She eyed him carefully as she walked past.  The cat’s fierce green eyes followed her to her car and down the road until she turned.  Robert and Jen got their favorite booth at Lenny's.  The booth in the corner overlooking the parking lot.  "Can I start you two off with something to drink?" the waitress asked.
"I'll take a coffee, please. Black,"  said Robert.
"And for you ma'am?"
"I'll have a glass of orange juice, please," said Jen.  "Listen, I want to talk to you about last night," Jen said when the waitress left the table.
"I hope you have a good excuse this time"
"Well, that's the thing.  I'm not sure what happened last night.  I remember making plans with you and the next thing I know I'm waking up in bed fully dressed."
"So you're saying you can't remember anything about last night?  Did you have a little too much to drink?"
"No!  I didn't drink anything last night.  Well, at least that I was aware of.  Anyways I think it has something to do with the weird dream I had last night."
"Okay, go on."
"Well, I was walking towards the restaurant to have dinner with you when I saw this old man.  I could have sworn I'd seen him before or that I somehow know him.  Anyways, so I follow him."
"Follow him?  You see a creepy old guy on the streets and you decide to follow him?  What kind of person follows old men on the streets?" exclaimed Robert.  The waitress came with their drinks then.
"One coffee and one orange juice.  Are you two ready to order or do you need more time?"
"No, I think we're ready to order," replied Robert.
"Go ahead then," the waitress said as she got out her notepad.
"I'll have the tractor omelet with a side of hashbrowns please." answered Robert.
"I'll have the stack o' waffles with blueberries and whip cream, please.  Also, could I get a side of bacon, please?"
"Yes, ma'am.  So, that's one tractor omelet with a side of hash and one waffle stack with blueberries and whip cream with a side of bacon," recalled the waitress.
"That's correct," replied Robert.
"That'll be right out for ya."
"So, as I was saying, before I was so rudely interrupted, I followed the old man into this warehouse and into this dark room with a bunch of fabric and a pond in the middle."
"God Jen!  Did You go into a warehouse with some creepy old guy?  If this hadn't been a dream I would have been surprised if you hadn't been murdered," interrupted Robert.
"Stop interrupting me!"
"Fine, continue."
"So I sit down in front of this pond. Oh, and it's glowing."
"Naturally," Jen glared at him. "Sorry, go on."  Robert made a motion of zipping and locking his lips.
"So, I sit across from the old guy and he just tells me to look into the pond.  So, I look into this pond and suddenly I'm in my Uncle Edgar's office."
"Wasn't he your uncle that passed away a few months ago?"
"Yeah."
"Weren't you two super close?"
"Yeah, he practically raised me after my mother died.  His last words to me were, 'never let the adventure die young'.  I thought it was odd considering he never did much traveling.  Anywho, back to the story, I'm standing in my uncle's office, but he can't hear or see me and the old man starts talking about how the universe brought us here and wanted to tell me something.  I ran out of the room after that, and that's when I woke up in bed."
"Well, I can tell you that's one weird dream.  Hey, when do you think our food's coming?  Oh wait no, I see it coming." Jen wasn't listening, though.  She could see the old man across the street leading against the wall.  Jen got up and walked out the diner door towards the man.  "Jen, where are you going?  Our food just got here!" Robert called after Jen getting up to walk after her.  He saw her standing in front of the old man in the restaurant's front window.  By the time Robert got out the front door they were both gone.  Robert searched the whole block for them, asking people if they'd seen a short, brown haired girl with an old man but no one saw them.  No one ever saw them after that.