I stared at some random black spot on my ceiling thinking. I don’t think I've had a more shitty day in my life, even breaking my collar bone in elementary school was more enjoyable than this. That whore Kate has been cheating on me for the past month only telling me now and breaking up with me all in the same fucking sentence.

“We have been dating for 13 months and you do this to me now you fucking bitch.”

What did I do wrong? I thought to myself when mom called from downstairs about dinner.

“Ansel your dinner is on the counter please try and eat it and if you need to talk about anything I'm here for you.”

I waited for the sound of my mom's bedroom to close before forcing myself up and went downstairs. nothing matters now other than dinner and a quiet night, fuck school. I grabbed some paper towels to use as a plate and grabbed the pizza off the table mom had left, slipped on my shoes and walked outside for a walk. I decided I could get the most peace in the small nature preserve on the other side of the neighborhood. It was a cold clear January night with only a thin layer of snow on the ground. I stared at my feet as I walked and listened to the distant sound of cars driving eating the pizza. Once I had finally reached the nature preserve the streetlights had started popping on. Starting the walk down one of the wood chip paths I felt an odd sinking feeling in my stomach as if something bad was going to happen. After throwing the paper towels into the woods I sighed. The wind started to pick up a little making the air feel colder when a flash of light above me made me nearly fall over. “Lightning?” Looking up that is when I saw a grape sized ball of fire falling from the sky straight at me. That is when the shockwave hit, throwing me to the ground shattering windows and setting off car alarms.

“Holy fuck.”

Oh, crap that is coming right at me. Maybe I can tell mom I love her before it hits reaching for my pockets only to find them empty.

“Fuck.”

My only regret is that I could not say goodbye to my mom or my friends even if they were pieces of shit sometimes... Ok most of the time. Yeah, they were complete asses most of the time.

There was no sound, no pain when it hit moments later, just a bright light and it all went black. After a minute I realized, I was still thinking. I'm alive? I try to move my arms, but I can’t feel them. I try my legs, my eyes, breathing? Nothing. I can't feel anything. It's an odd sensation to say the least. It felt like an eternity floating in that empty void without warmth or cold trying to occupy myself, oh my last words were holy fuck and fuck. I should try and curse less.

…

…

Its lonely.

…

…

Was it days? Weeks? There was nothing to do but sit here or was I floating? Speaking of which, what way is down? I was just about to give up and try to sleep when I appeared in a pure white waiting room sitting on a bench. I immediately looked down and saw the same t-shirt and jeans I was wearing before everything went dark. I sat back letting out a sigh of relief that I had my body back. It felt like the best feeling in the world to have my body back. Looking around the room had a coffee table, a comfortable wooden bench and a comfortable wooden chair to my right.

“Next”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Looking at where the voice came from there was a man in a gray suit maybe in his 50s with graying hair sitting at the receptionist desk typing away at a computer. Looking around to see if there was anyone else but I was the only other person in the room. Looking back at the man he was staring at me, his eyes were completely white aside from a small black pupil. Damn that's creepy.

“Next” he said in an annoyed voice.

I nervously got up and walked towards the man. After waiting a minute for him to say something I decided to speak up.

“Where am I?”

...

“Um excuse me sir where am I?”

“You're dead.” he said flatly, not looking up.

After another minute or two of silence I watched the man get up from his desk and walk over to a filing cabinet that I swear was not there before. He then pulled out a stack of papers before walking back over and sitting down. “Due to some mismanagement after the meteor impact your soul was lost for about 23 years before we found it again.”

“You lost my soul?”

What the fuck, how the hell does that happen.

“Yes, and as per the incident reparations policy you get a full refund on life and get to start over.”

“Like reincarnate?”

“Normally yes but because your background check passed, and a position just opened up you qualify for a management position.”

“What does that mean?”

The man then pushed the stack of papers towards him “We are starting a new universe and need an overseer for the first habitable planet. All the information is in here just sign at the end.”

“I'm only 16 though.”

“Minimum age for the position is 10.”

“oh”

“Can I read through this first?”

“Yes, don’t take too long. I have a meeting I have to attend in an hour.” Pointing to a faceless clock without any hands.

“Can I have a pen?”

The man then gestured to the papers before returning to typing. Looking down a pen had appeared on the papers. That’s neat. I wonder if I get powers to do stuff like that as an overseer? That’s a dumb question if I'm creating a planet, I probably can. Picking up the papers off the desk I went back and sat down on the bench. Looking at the first page it read Congratulations you are one of a handful of people chosen to manage a planet in a brand-new universe! Flipping to the next page it went over employment time which was until the world died or unless you were fired. Speed reading through the next pages they went over immortality, the ability to create and influence life, religion, lesser gods or management assistants, and a few other points related to what I was going to do until it got to the rules to follow on the final pages.

1. The overseer cannot alter time.

2. The overseer cannot alter reality.

3. The overseer cannot enter/interact with other dimensions.

4. The overseer cannot destroy the planet.

5. The overseer only has power over the planet and its close surroundings unless otherwise authorized.

6. The overseer cannot instate themselves as a direct physical ruler over the planet's population; they may only suggest things through religion.

7. The overseer cannot create a lifeform out of nothing, only influence through evolution.

8. After your planet's first 4 billion years of age you must submit a report each millennium. (Standard celestial time)

If any of the rules above are violated the overseer may be subject to removal with all benefits revoked.

If you wish to go outside these rules, you must submit a form stating what you wish to do and reason as to why. Please note that forms are not to apply for abuse of power they are to be used for important reasons only such as world ending events outside overseer control.

You are held accountable for what your population does as the first three also apply to them.

There seem to be some loopholes in some of this such as religion as someone could just create a puppet priest and threaten to smite them if they don't do what they are told, creating a theocracy indirectly controlled by the overseer. All I have to do is sign it then I guess.

“Excuse me, do I use my name from before I died?”

“Yes.” he said flatly as he continued to type.

Looking down I signed the paper then reordered them and stood up. Walking back over to the desk I thought what if this was all a dream and I will wake up. I then pinched my hand as hard as I could.

“Ow”

Yup, not a dream. I then finished walking over and set the papers down on the desk. The man pulled out a briefcase from under the desk, put the papers inside and closed it.

“The door is behind you; you start immediately. I will have someone give you a tutorial once you arrive.” He said standing up as he gestured behind me to a door that had appeared in the wall but when I looked back, he was gone.

“Welp” Time to leave.

Opening the door, I stepped through.