“Soooo,” the small featureless form shifted uncomfortably before me as it hid something behind its back. “I may have made a mistake.”

I looked around the empty expanse of space around me, unsure of what even to say to that. One moment I was walking out of a store downtown… the next I was just kind of here. Glancing down I finally spoke, “why am I naked?”

It wasn’t so much a question as an observation, I was after all dressed last I can remember. I didn’t bother to cover myself as I turned my eyes back to the small figure; I wasn’t ashamed of my body, I did try and take care of it after all. Sure, it was far from perfect, and I had a bit of a gut forming, but who didn’t at thirty besides since it was the only other thing here it had to have been the one to undress me. no point in hiding it now.

“Well, you died.” It replied, shrinking away from me, “and only your soul crossed over.”

I nodded, “that makes sense.” It most certainly did not make sense, but I should wake up soon anyway so no point in stressing over it. “So, what, is this supposed to be…” I left it open for the orb to fill in the blank. I accepted I was likely not heaven material, but I wasn’t a bad guy. Certainly not deserving of eternal damnation… well as long as the christians weren’t right that is. 

It visibly relaxed as it sighed, an odd thing given it didn’t seem to have a mouth. “At least this one seems reasonable.” it muttered clearing its throat. “This is the void, the space between worlds…”

“Between worlds?” I cut it off looking around, if I focused really hard, I could see tiny shimmering lights way off in the distance. “Space, I’m in space?”

It coughed, “Sure, if it helps you understand it then this is space.”

“Neat.” I twisted to look around more only to find the figure moved with me as I did.

“We don’t have a lot of time before the others notice,” it chastised as it grabbed onto my arms, a bag of something floating up behind it as it did. “Listen to me. you are not supposed to be here.” it hissed.

“Why not? Is it because I’m dead?” I asked looking over at the bag… “are those my donuts?”

“Because you’re the wrong soul.” For such a small figure its grip was alarmingly strong, painfully so. It shook me slightly, snapping my attention to it, “That’s not important. You. are. not. Supposed. To. Be. Here.”

I winced as its small fingers dug into my arms, “So what. Just send me back and get the right one. I got to work in the morning anyway. I doubt my boss will accept “I died” as an excuse.” I chuckled; my alarm should go off any minute now…

“It’s not that easy,” it growled, “it takes a lot of power to open a portal on a world, I can’t just willy nilly grab souls and move them around you know?” Any minute now… “The portal to your worlds is already closed! You weren’t even supposed to be there you know! if anything this is your fault, yea, they opened the portal and grabbed the others and you just fell in…”

  Any… Minute… Now… 

My stomach lurched as the small form pushed me away, “don’t puke on me.” it growled as I realized that I was not, in fact, waking up. 

“I… I died? How?” My entire body shook; I was just out shopping and… It didn't make any sense…

“Icicle to the back of the head,” the form shrugged, “If it makes you feel better it was supposed to hit the girl behind you. I put a lot of planning into it, you know! Death keeps just giving people heart attacks, so unoriginal. People want to go out with a bang you know, besides this way your family will get a nice pay out from the store, it’s really a win win.”

“A win-win… for who? Because no matter how I look at it I fucking loose here, being dead and all.” I swung my arm; I was never a violent man, not being into sports or having actually been in a fight… But I mean how hard could it be, make a fist and punch; given how small this thing was it couldn’t be that strong…

I woke up again with a blinding pain in my head, the form sitting on my chest muttering to itself with its back to me. “Oh, you're awake,” it turned and patted me on the head, “what did we learn?”

“What… happen?” I groaned, trying to grab my head… “why can’t I move?”

“Well, I can’t have you trying to slap me while I work, can I?” It asked holding up…

“Is that my fucking arm!” I screamed as the arm in its hands flopped uselessly around. It was an odd sensation to say the least, I couldn’t “feel” my body, but I somehow knew where it was. I knew without a doubt that what it held in its hand was in fact my arm. Why I wasn’t in blinding pain was a question for later as it shrugged.

“Sure is.” It said hauling back and chucking it into the void, “don’t worry.” It laughed as my arm reappeared in its hand like some two-bit magic trick, “I won’t take anything you actually need. Just gotta make some… upgrades. Then no one will know I grabbed the wrong soul. You’re a bit bigger than the one I wanted, going to have to shave you down a whole lot. Also, you suck at magic, did you know that? going to have to fix that, I’m pretty sure she was going to be a healer…” It turned its back to me and dove back into my abdomen, “Want me to grab your gallbladder while I’m in here, it's not like you’re using it.”

“Upgrades! What are you doing to…”

“Stop yelling!” it slammed my own hand into my face, then giggling to itself it did it again… and again… “stop hitting yourself.”

Whatever that featureless creature was, I think I hate it. Being knocked out is one thing, being clobbered by your own hand… 

The next time I opened my eyes I was greeted by an opulent wooden ceiling bathed in the glow of the morning sun. Well, that was a weird dream. Where the hell am I now? I thought as I tried to shield my eyes from the blinding light only to actually smack myself in the face.

A soft muttering caught my attention as a giant appeared above me! Its massive arms threatened to smother me as it ripped me from the comfort of my bed…

I did not scream… I may have peed a little, but I definitely did not scream. As the woman gently patted my back I realized she was in fact not a giant, but how was I supposed to know that! I was just arguing with some weird thing in my dreams, and she just showed up and pulled me out of bed! And why am I so damn small anyway!

I inspected my chubby little hand that refused to move how I wanted it too; I’m a fucking baby aren’t I? God damn it, what-ever that thing was I swear I am going to… holy shit… I really did die didn’t I? I…

The maids in Lord McGrave manor were at a loss of what to do as for nearly three days the entire estate was filled with the echoing sobs of a newborn. Not the shrieking wail of a baby but the soft tear falls of friends and family lost, the soul wrenching cry of a life past. The child refused to do anything as its mournful song filled the halls, the echo of a past life.