So it all started with a cliché death. During my life, I was never considered within the "normal" standards. I was just another orphaned teenager obsessed with entertainment because I never had close relationships. I was average, you know? A little nerdy kid glued to a screen, using films and series to pass the time, rewatching Stranger Things way too many times and following every single MCU release.
Then, one day after school, I saw a little girl slip away from her sister's hand while the sister was too absorbed in her phone to notice. The older sister was a popular classmate of mine. We had never spoken, but I'd seen her around the corridors. Meanwhile, the younger girl was already running into the road after her rolling ball, directly into the path of an out-of-control truck.
My eyes swept the street. Some people winced with their eyes shut, others froze, and the sister kept talking on her phone, completely oblivious. My legs moved on instinct. I sprinted, bumping into my classmate as I passed. I heard her shout, things crashing to the floor, and only then did people finally realise what was happening. I ran faster than I ever had in my life and … I made it. I saved the girl.
My classmate ran over, thanking me over and over once she saw her sister safely across the road.
"Ashley, thank you! Thank you! You saved her!"
That's not even my name. We'd gone to the same school since third grade. I may not know her personally, but at least I remember people's names. Her distraction made me let my guard down, and because of that, I didn't see what was coming next.
As if the Truck-kun deity had a personal mission, another truck was barreling toward us. The little girl shouted a warning.
"Truck! Be careful!"
But my classmate, who was thanking me a second ago, shoved me straight into the truck's path to save herself. And this time, Truck-kun succeeded in killing me.
I heard screams, ambulance sirens, the little girl crying, the driver panicking, and the crowd shouting "ungrateful!" as if any of them were better than the girl who sacrificed me. They hadn't even tried to help the kid in the first place.
Not that I was defending her. My last thought was fuck you as I lifted my middle finger toward her, struggling to stay conscious.
Then, nothing.
Void.
I simply died.
Then, I exist.
I was in a white room.
I found myself sitting in a chair, completely unharmed, in front of an office desk. A figure made of literal darkness wearing a white suit sat across from me. They even had a name tag that read ROB. While I was still disoriented, a voice echoed inside my mind.
"So, you were accidentally born in the wrong universe because of one of my drunken mistakes. I was going to give you a long life to compensate, but due to a misunderstanding with the Truck Department regarding your accidental existence, you died instead. It should have been your classmate, not you. So as compensation, I'm going to send you to your correct universe with your memories and a system. And I need to do it fast before someone else notices. Bye!" said ROB, far too casual for someone whose mistake doomed my existence.
ROB snapped their fingers.
And then I breathed.