Darkness.
But not the soft, sleep-like kind.
This was the darkness behind your eyes when your body no longer mattered.
A blank canvas where time and space had dissolved.
He tried to breathe, but there was no air.
He tried to move, but there was no body.
He existed as a thought.
An echo.
And then
A flicker.
Somewhere far ahead, a pinpoint of white light glowed, pulsing like a slow heartbeat.
It grew, stretching into a vertical slit of brilliance, until it yawned open like a doorway.
A man stepped through.
Or perhaps it was a man.
Tall, slender, draped in robes that shifted between silk and shadows, he had no face he could clearly see, just a suggestion of features, constantly reshaping.
One moment the figure looked angelic, the next demonic, the next utterly alien.
"Faith is the substance for things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen" he suddenly thought as he saw the man approaching.
"What makes you say so?" The man asked
"I don't know? The Bible?"
"But you were not religious in your life"
"I was at some point, but then I shed the pretence of righteousness"
"You mean you became true to your nature?"
"Yes yes, you're disturbing me, I want to sleep" he said regardless he was unaware of the situation he was in
"You already are, Quite the eternal one if I say so" The man said prompting him to remember his last seconds on earth only as he stared at the man and replied.
"No shit!"
"well, That was quite the exit, wasn't it?"
He didn't reply.
He simply regarded the being with wary silence.
The figure folded its hands.
"First things first: you're dead. Spectacularly, I might add And yet… you're still here. Curious, isn't it? Usually, people like you go straight to processing. But!!! Let's just say you got a choice at second chance"
"Cut the crap," he rasped.
"Are you God?"
The figure laughed softly, a sound like wind chimes in a storm.
"God? Devil? A cosmic civil servant? Does it matter?"
He glared instead
"I'd like to know who's shitting with me."
"That's… fair."
The figure tilted its head.
"Let's say I'm your claims adjuster. I handle complicated transitions."
He scowled.
"And what's my claim supposed to be?"
The being spread its hands.
"Ah, that's the question, isn't it? Technically, you're a demon now. Bad karma, tragic choices, lifetime of moral grayness. You earned it."
"Didn't ask for a sermon." he replied
"No sermon. Just options." The figure lifted a single finger.
"One: you can continue into… let's call it the natural progression. Judgement, heaven, the usual. Or…"
Another finger lifted.
"Two: you go back. Different rules, different body, different… nature.
He stared, silent.
"What's the catch?"
"You'd get eternity on Earth… or the possibility of something better."
"And if I say no?"
"Well technically, not everyone has the opportunity to see their claims adjuster and they only have one option and that's to go through the normal progression, so all this would never have happened." The Man said.
"So you'd just choose someone else or they'd choose someone else?" He asked.
"Impossible"
"Why?"
"Kingsley Vlad Mercurio You have been given a once in a star life gift by a very generous me, do you really want to pass out on that offer?" The being said in a slightly imposing tone
"And if I get tired of all this and decide I want out later?" Kingsley replied.
"Heaven is real, you know. You just never believed it until now."
Finally, he let out a dry chuckle.
"I suppose eternity on Earth has better cigars."
The figure's roiling face shifted into a faint grin.
"Consider that your first premium benefit."
And as the figure stepped aside, the doorway of light expanded until it swallowed him whole and lost consciousness again.
.
.
.
.
Meanwhile in a dark alleyway at night where the moon shone bright and the night lights illuminated the streets, two individuals were conversing in secrecy.
"Hey I got quite the loot today"
"Oh yeah, I got more, look at this."
"Haha!! We're lucky!"
"The night isn't even over and we got this much!"
"Why? We should hit the other district tonight to avoid trouble"
"What are you saying, man! This place has more visitors, the ladies too are peak, I mean imagine..." They conversed when suddenly a heavy thud sound was heard across in the dumpster kept farther down the alley.
"What was that?"
"I don't know man, let's get outta here"
"Hold up dude! You shitting yourself over some rodents?"
"Nah, bro! You never thought of bodies getting fond in the dumpster? Shit! This be like a scene from some scary movie."
"Tch, damn bro, you shame me, you can go snatch damn old ladies purse with a please but scared of a deadbody? Wonder how you made it this far"
"Aw come on man, don't be like that, You know what, let's check it out I watched a movie where some bag of cash got found in a dumpster, we might as well get more lucky"
"Now that's what a preaching bruh!"
They both approached the dumpster boldly and was about to look into it when a hand suddenly shot out of the dumpster to pull itself out scaring both of them to their asses on the ground.
"Sorry folks, there ain't no money or rodents here." Kingsley pulled himself out of the dumpster, which he had mistakenly crushed a part of, making its contents leak onto the floor.
He immediately turned to the dumpster and said in a pitiful tone.
"They make this with paper nowadays?"
"Hey yo man, we don't want no trouble, we just gon be on our way and nothing ever happened here." One of the guys said.
"Hey y'all, wait a second, I gotta ask, where are we at right now?" Kingsley Asked.
"I don't know, man, we gon be on our way," The guy said as they pulled back further.
"What do you mean you don't know? You're telling me some petty thieves in the area don't know where they're working? Boy, that's cray cray, be a brother's keeper will you?" Kingsley Said as he approached them slowly
"Hey yo man! Backup!! " They said at the same time and immediately pulled out a penknife on him.
"Backup Mf, we black and streets ain't mean we spawn from dumpster spelling like leftover pizzas, I seen a movie like this! You a vampire right? Super strength? What next? I don't wanna know, just back up mf" One of the petty thieves immediately said, leaving him in shock and realization, but before he could even come to mind, they were all gone from his sight.
The amusement in his eyes, however, wasn't gone, because only now did he come to terms with it; he was back on earth.
Well still black as usual, he could have wished for being a paperboy race, maybe then he'd spawn in a mansion or a bank? Not in a dumpster with torn trousers and a dirt-riden body.
He thought for some time before thinking again as he stared at the dumpster
'Super strength?'
Well he couldn't be sure of anything but right now his priority was getting some clothes, getting something to eat, and then thinking about what he should do with his new life