Falling.

Why am I falling?

How did I get here?

I remember heat. Light.

...

Fire?

I burned to death, didn't I? Damn it, wasn't I supposed to die by shoving somebody out of the way of an oncoming car or something?

And now I'm falling. I died, and I'm going downwards. Pretty much every religion on the planet implies that that's a bad sign.

I don't want to look down, so I look back above me, at the distant circle of light... but there are more circles here, all around. Worlds? Huh, Buddhism then.

Well, I don't know much about Buddhism, so for all I know, this is nothing like what buddhists expect when they die.

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Oh, hey, what's going on at that one?

Two lights, one normal, one blinding... and a shadow as well, all circling around one-another.

They all spin together, and then something shatters. Fragments of starlight scatter in all directions.

One's coming this way. I could let it pass by, but that's boring! I shift and catch it instead. It feels scared. Confused. Alone.

I don't know what it is, but I'll protect it. By some metaphysical instinct, I wrap my 'self' around it. That's all I can do for it in this place.

It feels happy now.

Happy... happy is good. But I think I have a much longer way to fall... well, I'll just... sleep for a bit...

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By the time I woke up, it was time to be reborn. Emphasis on 'born'. The miracle of childbirth is even grosser from the inside. I'll spare anyone who can't remember it the details, but I didn't need the midwife to spank me to start crying. That's me, always taking the initiative.

I catch a flurry of voices; not in any language I know. Fuck, I never was good with languages. I'm gonna be one of those kids who doesn't talk until she's five, aren't I?

Well, at least I manage to catch a name out of all that. Lynette. Same one I always had. I'll take that as a good omen.