Soul Between Lives

Alex couldn't tell how long he'd been out but he most definitely had not woken up in his warm and comfy bed back home. The first thing he noticed before he even opened his eyes was the feeling of his hands being submerged in running water. The next thing he noticed right after his eyes shot open was the strange river scenery in front of him.

As he sat up and combed the hair out of his face he remarked, "Man, what the hell just happened?"

He took a long moment to look around trying to get a bearing on his surroundings. He could see that he was in a small clearing surrounded by trees on all sides with a small river running through it.

Just as he was about to stand up he heard a splashing noise right next to him and had barely turned his head to see what it was when darkness covered his vision and pain engulfed his mind followed by the plunge into the dark oblivion once more.

...

This time Alex was fully awake when he opened his eyes. He once again found himself in the strange white space filled with nothingness. Instead of being immediately harassed by lightning, he saw the crazy old man talking to a different young man.

"And that's how you died. Any questions?"

"Yeah. If you're God, then who is that guy over there?" The young man asked while pointing at Alex.

The crazy old man turned his head to see before a look of astonishment flew across his face.

"What are you doing here? I thought I already sent you on. Can't you see I'm busy with another soul?"

Taken aback Alex answered, "I don't know what happened. I was looking around when I heard something next to me and when I opened my eyes I'm back here."

The old man's mouth hung open for a moment as he pondered. "Did you die again already? You were barely there for half a minute! Just what the heck happened?"

The old man pulled out a different colored orb than the one before and cast it out toward the surrounding white space. After just a moment the orb seemed to get stuck in the air before it melted and morphed into a viewing screen of sorts.

"Let's see exactly what went on." At the old man's words, the viewing screen came to life and showed a dazed-looking Alex get bitten in half and swallowed by a giant snake-like creature that came out of the water... Nobody spoke for a moment which lasted longer than Alex's last life.

"Bwuahahahaha! What the hell was that?" The other young man pointed at the screen while laughing hysterically before he looked over at Alex. "Did you really just get eaten like that? Are you stupid or something?"

The old man snapped out of his daze when he heard this. "Ah, this is not good! Too much time is being wasted." The old man turned to the other young man "I'll finish with you before dealing with this. Try not to mess up like he just did."

"Not a problem. I doubt I could achieve such a failure even if I tried." The young man said while holding in his continued laughter as tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

Alex was slow to react. He was still taking in how he had died once more. "What... what the hell man?" He said as he turned to watch the old man conversing with the rude b*stard. "What's going to happen to me now?" He mumbled to himself as he looked on.

It was only a few minutes more before the old man handed the rude young man an orb whereupon the young man was sucked into a swirl of darkness.

"Alright now onto this business." The old man said as he cracked his knuckles looking back at Alex and turned around to face him. "What should I do with you? You weren't supposed to be back here again." The old man strokes his beard covered chin while pondering.

"You mean something went wrong?"

"Obviously something went wrong! For one, you're dead again!" The old man said before taking a deep calming breath and closing his eyes for a moment.

"This has never happened before on my watch. Come to think of it I don't recall anything like this happening before with the others..." The old man said talking to himself. "Ah well, I'll just send you back again. Try not to die this time. At least not so soon, I have other souls to be dealing with."

The old man got ready to chuck another orb at Alex. This prompted Alex to raise his arms in defense.

"Wait! Why are you throwing that at me again? You just handed it over to the other guy just now."

The old man stopped and thought for a second. "Huh, you may have a point but it shouldn't make a difference how it happens. The orb and soul just have to make contact for the reincarnation process to begin."

"Then why did you chuck it at me before?"

"You were pissing me off and I just wanted to get you out of here." The old man stated matter of factly.

"Then why were you just about to hit me with it again?"

"It felt good the first time." The old man said while still ready to throw the orb at Alex. "But... fine you win. Here just grab onto it." He finally lowered the orb and handed it over to Alex.

"What'll happen to me this time?" Alex asked before even touching the orb.

The old man sighed before saying, "Last time must've just been a fluke. But to make sure, I'll send you somewhere safer. So relax and take the damn orb already."

The old man roughly tossed the orb into Alex's hands at this point. Pulled away by a dark swirl Alex once again lost consciousness.

The whole time, the screen in the background had been repeating the scene of Alex's death by giant snake.