“Hello Ed, welcome back to work. I hope you are ready to get started, as today’s file will be here soon.”

Slowly waking up, Ed took a while to get readjusted to his body. He tensed up, expecting his body to ache from being hit by a car, but instead, nothing happened. Even the pain he felt from his previous deaths had become almost negligible. It was still there, but no longer as overwhelming as it once was. Minutes passed by as he continued to wait for the pain to wreck his body, but it didn’t. Instead, his body felt more relaxed than ever before.

“I can see your confusion, Ed. The reason why you aren’t feeling the effects of the car crash is because that didn’t happen to your body.”

“Is that why I was in Sarah’s body this time? So that the pain wouldn’t follow me through to here?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

“But why? You didn’t do this the other times, so why now?”

“The impact on your body from reading the full-length file was greater than anticipated. Any more damage to your body would have pushed it other the limit of what humans are capable of withstanding. We care about our employees' health, so to prevent this from happening, we put you into Sarah’s body for your punishment. This way you would feel the pain, but only temporarily.”

I guess in some strange way, they really do care. At least I know I won’t permanently die while under their care. It also explains why this time was so much longer than the others. I needed time to heal. “So that’s why I was in there for so long.”

“It may have felt long to you, but it was only a single workday. Your body only needed a day to heal, but your mind needed more time, so we made it feel longer so you could relax and unwind.”

That makes sense I guess; I already don’t understand how he’s doing all the stuff that he does, so he might as well be able to dilate time.

“Today’s file is here.”

Ed stopped thinking about what happened and turned his attention to the screen.

Name: Elijah Pierce

Age: 46

Occupation: Truck driver

Biography: Born to a single mother Isabella, he struggled through his early years due to the lack of money. In order to help his mother, Elijah started working odd jobs when he was young and dropped out of school when he was old enough to work full time... Picking up work as a truck driver, he spent a lot of time on the road and would send any spare money to his mother so that she would be able to work less as she grew old... As his mother's health declined, he struggled to get enough money to pay for her frequent visits to the hospital... Getting desperate, he chose to accept a shady offer to deliver a shipment of goods across the border. Seeing how much money he made from this one job, he continued to work for them, eventually joining a large drug trafficking ring... Blinded by the money, he now lives a wealthy and lavish lifestyle as he rose through the ranks, making his money by feeding people’s addictions.

This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

-End of document-

Drug trafficking, preying on people’s addictions... yeah doesn’t sound like a good guy. His initial reason for taking the job I can understand. He was in need of money, his mother was sick. I get that. But he seems to have lost himself at the end there. He definitely seemed to be enjoying what he was doing.

“What will you do Ed?”

Tapping his fingers on the desk. He thought for a moment. I don’t think my mind is fully healed. It’s a lot better than it was before, but the pain is still there. I don’t want to risk my health by taking another punishment. I need to be careful with how many times I die. This guy has profited off destroying other people’s lives. Hopefully, he’ll learn from his mistakes and walk out of this alive and as a better person. “I’m ready”

* Create a room

* Design a trap

“I don’t think I’ll have anything that can be classified as a trap, so I might just need to create a room today.” Create a room opened.

“Do you want to use the same room as before?”

“I was thinking of having it be a long hallway this time. Make it well-lit, as well. I want him to be able to see properly.” A long, well-lit hallway appeared on screen. “Place his model on one side, and a door on the other. Leave the door unlocked, and if he makes it through it he’s free to go.” An overweight middle-aged man with tanned, harsh skin and a beer belly appeared on the screen. Looking at him, I can see clear signs of the difficult work he went through when he was younger.

“So far this doesn’t seem like a trap. I am seeing no risk of death. If this is what you wish to submit, I will treat it the same as you refusing to work.”

“Just wait a minute, this was just the prep work for it. Cover the floor between him and the door with hypodermic needles, also have some hanging at various heights from the ceiling.” The room was filled with needles. Some were dangling precariously from threads attached to the ceiling, but the majority littered the floor. A small area surrounding Elijah was open and clean.

“I can see a minuscule chance of death now. If the needles stab into any vital areas he could bleed out and die quite easily. But as long as he’s careful he can avoid the real danger of the hanging ones and escape easily with just some bloody and scarred feet. I need you to change it to increase the difficulty so that he can truly repent.”

“Okay, fill some of the needles with drugs. Enough that it will affect him, but not too much that he will overdose, unless he manages to inject all the drugs in the room into himself.”

“What kind of drug do you want to be used?

“I’m not sure, what did he usually traffic?”

“He dealt in a variety of illicit substances, including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and several others.”

“I don’t know much about these drugs. Choose one that best suits my requirements.” A dark brown liquid, bordering on black filled some of the needles. The liquid was spread unevenly across the room, some syringes having none or only a few drops, to some being filled to the brim.

“This room has reached a satisfactory level. Is this what you want to submit?”

“Yes, it’s good to go. You can start building it now.”

“I will let you know when it’s completed. Now that you’ve finished your work, what do you want to eat today?

Vodka does sound nice right about now, but I can’t give up my daily chance of water for it. Maybe I’ll be able to try it later. “Can I have a plate of hot buffalo chicken wings with rice, and a large bottle of water.” A plate of steaming hot wings appeared on the table. Ed dug in, filling his stomach while he waited.