The sound of music, and the sound of drunken chatter,  the grocery store where my parents ordered me to pick up groceries at seven at night, the grocery store where I was told to pick up the groceries was right by a bar.

The night was muddled with sound on par with the virtuousness of an orchestra. Only very congested in how they played but it was alive alright.

The air cooled down my nerves. I had not left my house in months, months at home with little to no human contact did something to most people.

I for one cared not for such annoyances, but without me noticing it right away a shadow appeared from behind me that night in the alley I was nearly out of. My footsteps while silent, were like thunder when I compared to the barely noticed footsteps of another. I looked around and the man with beady red eyes, his eyes were strained. His natural violet eye color was muted due to the vibrancy of the eye’s veins that easily drew one's attention towards it.

Either this guy did an all nighter like I was about to, he got rejected by a person he likes or he simply does drugs…

And in this instance who gave a fuck. He wasn't bugging me much… but he was too close for comfort. Anyone wearing something like that could easily hide a weapon…

He was dressed in a long dark gray coat, and his hands were tucked in his pockets. He was taller than your average male, besides his eyes and height I did not spare a second glance and kept walking.

That was until I saw the glint of something come out of his pocket.

I hurriedly studied the object from a short distance away without a doubt it was a fucking knife!

I sped up my pace as I saw the knife yet again, but it was too late.

I heard the soft swish of a knife and sharp pain assaulted me as the assailants arm twisted the knife. The knife was stuck somewhere in my gut making me howl in pain.

I fell to the ground, no one's body, especially my own body was knife proof.

As I tried to cover up my now bleeding lower abdomen I stared daggers at the man and yelled in pain.

“What the fuck, can't a man buy food in peace you bastard!”

“Sorry but… No.” A garbled voice replied as he again reached for, and pulled the knife from my abdomen.

Again I felt the knife enter my abdomen quickly. On the third stab, I scrambled back in hopes that that piercing pain wouldn't assault me again. It was too bloody painful.

I was a slow person, I did not need another reason to feel bad about myself.

The knife went into my stomach, randomly but with how much it hurt to even breathe this man may have been a surgeon of death!

Sounds better than nurse of death, because it was clearly a dude.

Stabbing Into my stomach with the same blood soaked knife. He repeated this, again, and again and again, and just for the sake of posterity he did this a few more times.

Was it for posterity? Or a killer's ritual why would I give a shit about that, or why this madman even breathed at this point.

All I knew was that I wanted it to stop.

However I was about ready to submit when I remembered a character's line in my soon to be finished book.

“Make me heel over with your power, I may kiss your feet because you're stronger than me now, not out of obedience, but because I want to live, or I was put in a position where I was forced to. Should I lose this fight here, I shall bite the fuck out of your feet when you least expect my disobedience until you won't be able to stand like a termite breaking you down at your foundations. Try to knock me down, I shall gnaw on bones, your bones which allow you to stand here, like I am a dog.

And I am a hound from Hell!

That's the kind of champion I am. That's when you shall be the one heeling and I shall be the one standing. With useless foundations, future developments are meaningless. People may bleed, but with bones of diamond can and shall stand against be it a tornado, typhoon, tsunami or my own fucking ugly mug. With broken bones no matter how much of a grudge you carry against me is you can never tip over someone with an unbreakable spirit.

I shall always be ready to drag you with my canine teeth sharpened from that experience to the bowels of Hell itself. Ready to bite your ass to shreds, tear you from limb to limb that's the kind of strength you lack.

Determination makes unreasonable statements true. Determination decides who wins and who loses. Even when all their cards are on the table no matter the odds you are up against you win, that's how you become a champion. I may not be a Hero, and you may not be a Villain. I am me, a living witness that determination is the strongest power of them all.

Try and kill me - you shall find the truth in my words, or I shall die like the dog I say I am. Woof.”

These words filled me with determination for a moment, then reflecting on the pain and the severity of the injuries I came to realize the truth.

I had no powers. Maybe next life I would. I had lost too much blood, so in the extremely rare chance that I survive this encounter even if I got an ambulance this second I would not survive. The only thing that kept me from laying down forever is the highest levels of adrenaline that I have ever felt in my life.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

So much so that my stomach was bleeding out at the blink of an eye. My many wounds were filling the cracks in the pavement with fresh tomato red blood.

Too bad to. I was just weeks away from publishing my story no amount of heroics would heal these wounds.

This man was a serial killer and he just up and snuck up on me. Ending my life in such a unordained manner and leaving me with regret and an unfinished book.

I wanted to publish my book, and pay them back for everything that they did for me. My family, not the serial killer. Would that be a crazy plot line for a book for that serial killer to be my brother?

Sadly, life is nothing like that - at least my life anyways.

I could tell by the way he remained rather composed despite him crying out “Again...” “Again...” Each time he cried these words with a barely changed grin, my body shivered. The last blood that hung in my body was depleting - it had gone as I had expected I had not fought back, and I was riddled in wounds some minor and some fatal.

My body was as heavy as lead, same were the thoughts which I carried. I was writing the final part of my book, if I did an all nighter tonight.

Just had to edit it - and finally publish that sucker.

My family, the first time I went out after I graduated a serial killer got to me I should have ordered the groceries online.

In hindsight, then everyone would be a stay at home something-or-other.

Not that I wanted to leech off them off of my parents rather sizeable fortune, I was a soon to be published writer, and an hour later I am now a pale and dying yet to be published writer.

Damn, Heaven better be ready for me.

Or… rather I should prepare for the worst. Faith is the only thing that I had beside being a writer.

Not that I was a published author or anything like that..

I didn't need to say goodbye, they would be likely happier knowing that I did my best and my best was being a failure - oh come on you bought that sulking crap. I am a positive person!...

More or less.

To be truthful I believe in God, but I was open minded in the fact that I might reincarnate.

I may go to heaven, or I may be reborn… or the least enticing of either…

There was fucking nothing. “Hey… What's your name?” A voice called out, my head was as head as lead, I didn't care if it sped up my death, my death was guaranteed.

“My name… My name is Grain.” I muttered softly, my throat having trouble staying active with me losing so much blood so rapidly.

“Grain… Grain huh?” The man repeated my name a few times while staring at me.

The man never seemed to blink, in that moment or the whole time for that matter.

“Your karma is not that bad to meet a karma devourer. People with lesser karma which is about zero meet something much worse, usually found in Hell. With little to no exceptions to that rule.”

Karma… if only I wasn't in debt I may go somewhere nice… like Heaven. This is too much stress, a stressful life is not a life I want.

I would hate to be limited though, I would rather have a stressful life than an uneventful life like the one I just lost to this madman.

It was not the fact that my body was no longer heavy it was just that my conscious just lost attachment to my body as my consciousness was being pulled away. Against my better judgement I heard the final whispers of the killer.

“With your karma back to normal levels, now you need only convince the court of rebirth of your case. Lucky, or unlucky you decide. But if I have a say in the matter it is that you Grain are a very lucky bastard.”

That is when the heaviness of my body that was as heavy as lead slammed into the back alley street. My last breath escaping from my mouth, my life now was over - or it would, against even my major supply of open mindedness be just beginning.

The beginning of something much bigger than myself. And even then something told me even the Heavens themselve would have a hard time giving me even a moment to slow down.

My life may eventually be filled with chaos if reincarnation does exist. Impossibilities had just begun to appear in my life and being in the center of such chaos did not sound fun, if I however got another chance I wouldn't squander the chance.

No matter what I had to go through, I would do whatever it took to become worthy of a new life.

In this court of uh...  the court of judgement… whatever it was called I shall be their and present my case.

Winning a second chance, if I don't win it I shall steal it,

My last thought before I blacked out was that I did not want my existence to end like this.

It took a while before I awoke in a very different environment to the dark street I was just in before.

I appeared in a very unfamiliar place that just gave the vibe of court of rebirth.

There were a lot of wisp-like flames which were lined up, not one was out of line. Tall pillars of dark marble lined the background where clouds could be seen, through a transparent looking dome outside one could see a purple sky. A luxurious and well-maintained looking courtroom in the center within the dome which I had just found myself. I was in awe, this was the place that bastard told me about.

Then I saw the trio of who I assume to be judges and my awe was replaced simply with fear. There were three judges, and… one shook me to the core in fear it looked like a demon, the Devil if I had to guess.

A mouth so large that it wasn't human, teeth like barbed wire - his pitch black soulless eyes did not help that deduction either. The Devil had broad shoulders, and was easily over 12 feet tall. Skin blood red, the scent of something foul in the air, I am not entirely sure that it is emitting from him but his forked tongue was freaking me out. Blood, it had to be blood lingering here…  it felt like wolves on the prowl ready to devour me.

I wonder… how it felt to be so close to them a few feet away, being judged how did it feel?

I shudder simply at the thought.

Now… surprisingly was… Jesus, I know this was not God, I know that it was Jesus. Jesus was wearing a white toga, and he was wearing a crown of thorns with a soft golden halo appearing atop his head. What freaked me out was not his composure as he sat regally, it was his scars - for fucks sake he had a lot of them.

The bible did not get that wrong. He looked upon each soul kindly, as they were being judged. It was that he looked like he had partaken in a few wars, fought a fucking bear bare handed and won.

That type of person was going to judge me, along with his associates.

And last but not least… was the robed skeletal figure who all the souls floating here in this “place” are judged by with both Jesus, and the Devil.

Lets just say he looked inhuman by a larger margin than the previous judges.

His eye sockets were empty - He was all bones. He was draped in a raven black robe torn at the seams in a few places further intensifying my fear of this place- especially of them, the three figures whom have had their stories told time and time again.

His story is fear itself, everyone doesn't want their life to end…

But death does not care, your right to live is revoked, and your death is ascertained before you even are born. It was just a fact, and he was collecting.

He was firmly grasping a very large and very ancient looking scythe with what looked like engravings.

He was the grim reaper!

All I could think at the moment was ‘Oh dear lord!’