Goodbye and Hello
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*BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP*
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And that's how my life ended.
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~~~1 hour ago~~~
"Hey!!! Watch out!" A panicked warning ripped through the air.
The truck driver slammed the breaks, but it was already too late.
Seventeen-year-old Hana Nakamura felt as if time had frozen in that moment as she dashed forward with all her might.
"Mika!" She screamed out.
The truck drew closer and closer, Hana felt as though she were moving through sand, her motions stretched out and slow.
One step.
Another.
She finally reached her dear friend's side - and pushed.
Time suddenly started again as the screeching of breaks was met with a sickening thud as the body of Hana Nakamura went flying from the impact.
"Ah...It hurts..." she thought. Her vision slowly ebbing into darkness, but not before catching the sight of her friend running towards her. After what felt like hours, a soft light appeared at the end of her vision, slowly enveloping her mind.
"Hehe come on Mika!" A child squealed in delight as she dragged a girl beside her, the pair rushing past me towards the sand pit to build a castle.
The scene shifted as it showed two little girls going up on a stage holding hands, singing in front of their school for the annual talent show.
"Hana!" I turned around, following the voice, leaving the auditorium and finding myself in a children's classroom. "Look, I got first place in the school spelling bee!" A slightly older Mika smiled proudly as she handed her certificate to her best friend. "Wow! That's so cool!" the young girl replied. "Hehe, Let's go play now!" The young Mika said, running out of the classroom with her friend in tow.
I quickly turned, trying to follow them, but as they rounded the corner and disappeared from sight, the scenery shifted once again.
Snowflakes fell all around me, melting instantly as they landed on my face. "I got you now!" I heard a mischievous voice from behind me as I whipped my head around. "No! Stop it Mika!" A second voice squealed as a middle school Mika pelted her with snowballs, the pair melting into laughter before the girl chased Mika out of sight.
The scene warped again. "Congratulations to Tsukina Mika, the Valedictorian of Kanjii Middle School," the school dean announced as Mika stood up to receive her certificate and give a farewell speech. Her friend sitting in the audience, watching on with pride.
Scenes flooded her mind as people congratulated Mika and proclaimed her a genius as a chasm grew between the two friends as they could no longer find time to spend with each other.
Then everything paused at the final scene. The two girls had just left the front gates of their high school, not even walking together when she saw Mika crossing the road in front of a speeding truck. "Mika!" the girl screamed as she dashed forwards and pushed her out of the way of the oncoming truck.
"...it's me, but... where am I?" Hana said.
The scene continued as Mika dashed towards Hana's fallen body and screamed "somebody! Call for an ambulance! Hana...no... stay with me...Hana!" She sobbed as she held her only friend's hand.
Minutes later, the ambulance arrived, carrying the two girls to the hospital where Hana was immediately taken into the emergency room.
*Beep*
"Someone get the blood hooked up, she's losing blood quickly!" A doctor called out in alarm.
*Beep*
"Where's the lead surgeon for the room?!" He asked.
"Dr. ... absent..."
*Beep*
"We have to start... too much blood..."
*Beep*
"...hurry..."
*Beep*
"...too late... pressure... not stable... losing the patient..."
*Beep*
"Doctor!..."
*Beeeeeeeeeeeeep*
The scene cut off. There was complete silence.
"Where am I?" Hana called out into the darkness. "Did I... die?"
"Yes you did" a voice answered as the dark room gave way to a pristine white room, completely empty except for Hana and a pulsating blob of energy.
"Oh...so now what?" Hana dejectedly said as she looked at the mass of energy, innately understanding that it was there to guide her.
"Well" the mass of energy said as it pulled out a massive scroll labeled Hana Nakamura as it opened it with a flourish. "Your life's karmic points have reached unprecedented amounts as you have lived your life helping everyone around you, even strangers and stray animals. In addition, your final action of saving your best friend allowed her to live as the next superhuman genius who discovered the cure to cancer and continued doing good deeds in her life by saving people as you saved her."
"Oh," Hana replied. "So-"
"Sooo, now you have a choice. Enter the path of reincarnation as a heavenly soul or choose eternal rest for your soul. Reincarnation is reincarnation and eternal rest is eternal rest." It said with a patronizing tone.
"I want to reincarnate." Hana replied. "And I-"
"Okay okay, so you get one wish along with that and you get to keep your memories - not that it would do you any good." He lazily interrupted. "Chop-chop I haven't got all day now."
" I want power. The power to protect myself and those who I hold dear." Hana replied. "I don't want the same thing to-"
"Good! Okay then," it said after closing the scroll with a snap after jotting something down. "Ah this will be fun..." he murmured almost inaudibly.
"What are you talking ab- AHHHHHHHH!" her thoughts were cut off as a dark pit suddenly opened up beneath her feet, a shriek escaping from her lips as she fell from the room, free falling into the darkness below.
"Well that just about wraps things up." The blob of energy said as it began to morph into a shining humanoid figure. "I hope she can make things interesting..." it said nonchalantly with a smirk right before it disappeared from the blank room, leaving behind a closed scroll labeled Hana Nakamura and a new scroll with a pen, ready to write the coming events.