Another Chance
John awoke on the side of the road, covered in sweat and in a terrible amount of pain.
‘ What the heck happened?’ He thought to himself. He struggled up to his feet. His vision was blurred, but he could make out lights. He went to take a step and he faltered on his feet and fell down to one knee.
He stayed kneeling for a moment. His head pounding in pain. After a little while he was able to move again. He got on his feet and slowly wobbled his way towards the lights. As he got closer to the light he could feel an extreme heat. It got hotter and hotter as he got closer and closer.
As he got closer he could make out the shape of something.
‘ My bike!’ On top of the bike flames danced back and forth being blown by the wind.
“ What the heck happened?” He said aloud.
“ Yo.” John looked across the road and saw a woman sitting under the street light. She looked like she was holding something.
“ You got messed up pretty good.”
“ I feel like I just got hit by a truck.”
“ Heh! Yeah exactly! So you do know what happened.”
“ What?...” John looked a little further up the road. What he saw made his body become cold. The pain left him. His mind stopped thinking. All he could do was mouth the words.
“ Th… That’s?… M… Me?...” Not ten feet from where he was standing was a body. Not just any body. It was his.
“ What?... What?... What!?” John Sputtered trying to make sense of everything.
Then the memory hit him.
He was delivering his last pizza of the night. Everything was going smoothly. A truck was driving on the opposite side of the road coming towards him. When a deer jumped out from the bushes. In order to avoid the deer the truck turned as hard as he could into the other side of the road. Right into, John.
He felt sick. Like he was about to barf. He stumbled on his feet, trying to stay standing.
“ This can’t be!” John ran his hands through his hair. Then punched himself in the face.
It did not hurt.
He did it again as hard as he could.
Nothing.
“ I have to be dreaming!” He screamed. He felt a funny feeling arise in his stomach.
“ Ha! Ha! Hahaha!” John grabbed his hair and pulled as hard as he could.
“ Wake up! Wake up dammit!” John looked down at his pocket. He hesitated for a second.
‘ No! I need to be sure!’ He quickly reached into his pocket and pulled out his boxcutter.
He raised the knife in front of him. Gripping it in his two hands. Sweat beaded down his head.
‘ Come on…’ John closed his eyes.
‘ Come on.’
‘ Come on!’
“ Come on!”
He plunged the knife down into his stomach.
“ Oh come on, no need to do that.”
John opened his eyes and the knife was only an inch away from his stomach.
“ Trust me buddy. You’re dead. No need to stab yourself and get silver juice everywhere.”
John dropped his knife and fell to his knees.
“ I was only twenty two…” He cried
“ I had a girlfriend… I was almost finished paying off that bike… Just one last payment.”
“ Mmhh. Don’t worry…” The woman said. John looked up at the woman. She seemed to be eating something.
“ Is that?... The pizza?” John clenched his fist with rage.
“ I just died and you’re having a snack?!”
“ I mean… Shyeahhh.” The woman’s attitude made John become blind with rage.
“ He shot up and threw a punch at her face.” His hand passed through her body harmlessly.
“ Dammit!” John screamed.
“ Dammit! Dammit! Dammit!” The woman watched slowly taking bites from the pizza, as if this were some kind of performance.
“ I need to hit something!”
“ Too… Mmff… Too bad you can’t.” She said between bites of pizza.
“ Why are you so calm?! You were the one driving the truck right?! We’re both dead!” John waved his arms wildly as he spoke. His mind slowly breaking.
“ No. I’m fine. It was a big truck.”
“ Fine?...” What did she mean? John was driving over the speed limit. She should be either dead or pretty badly messed up.
“ Alright. Alright. Listen, I’m sorry I killed you. If it makes you feel any better you’re not the first person I’ve run down.”
“ Not the first?!” The anger left John. It was strange because he wanted to be angry and he wanted to destroy the woman’s truck. Tear it apart piece by piece.
“ Listen, I’m gonna cut to the chase.” The woman continued ignoring John. “ I can offer you a chance at another life.”
‘ Another?... Life?...’ John ran a hand through his hair.
“ But.” The woman continued. “ I have to give you some of my power in order to do it. Bringing back a whole person drains too much energy and I don’t feel like being bedridden for a month again.” The woman looked at John.
“ So. I’ve come up with a plan. I’ll bring you back in a smaller, less than human form.”
“ Less than human?” John asked, clearly confused by the whole thing.
“ Don’t worry about it.” The woman said, waving a hand dismissively. “ I can clearly see you miss being alive. Even though you’ve only been dead for about an hour.”
“ An hour?!” John Yelled. “ Where are the police?! The ambulance?! The Firetruck?!”
“ I didn’t call them.” The woman replied coldly.
“ And they won’t be coming either. I had to completely make everyone forget about you. Like I said, this ain’t my first rodeo.” The last part of the sentence she said with a country accent.
“ I could just leave you to the beasts.” The woman said.
“ Beasts?” John asked with worry in his voice.
“ Yes. Beasts. They consume stuck souls here on earth.”
‘ This is all coming so fast.’
“ What exactly makes me a stuck soul?” John asked, his voice wavering.
“ You were killed by a caster. Simple as that. Once a caster kills someone the person’s soul is theirs to do as they please.” The woman saw the tears welling up in John’s eyes.
“ So I don’t even get to go to the afterlife?”
“ Nope. Cut the waterworks. I’ll help you out. Because you helped me out.”
“ How did I help you?” John Asked
“ This pizza! I was starving!” She took another bite.
“ Pepperoni! So simple! So perfect!” A howl cut through the air and made John’s hair stand on end.
“ Looks like they’re getting close. So!” She said, finishing her slice and patting her hands together.
“ What do you say? Either come back a little weaker… Or… Go a round or two with the beasts.”
John stood there. Hands at his sides. He stood in place for a whole minute. Thinking. Another howl cut through the air. This one sounded closer.
John looked at his bike. Still in flames. Then he looked at the woman.
“ Yes. Bring me back.”
The woman said nothing at first. She clapped her hands together and started whispering.
A silver light escaped the woman’s eyes. The whispering got louder, and louder. Until it was a yell. She slowly walked up to him. The woman grabbed his hand and placed a single pepperoni in it.
“ Huh?” John Said. The woman’s eyes stopped glowing with the silver light and she grabbed another slice of pizza from the box on the grass.
“ Good luck in your new world.”
“ New world…?” Just as John was about to ask what she meant by ” New world”, he began to fall. Falling down into the earth.
Going faster and faster. Passing through the core of the world and going further. He shot through the earth and through space. Passing galaxies, Black holes, And trillions upon trillions of stars. Until he was surrounded by blackness.
