There was a bright flash of light, and then... darkness. Mike looked down at himself and could see a bright white flame where his chest should be. He looked outwards and saw a greenish hue, emanating from over the horizon, and he took off running. He was running as hard as he could and he never could get closer, but he saw flashes of red, orange, blue, and brown from the horizon. Suddenly, a wave of invisible force shoved him back. His head hurt, and from deep within his mind, he heard an alarm clock.
*Beep, Beep, Beep...*
"mike..... Mike.... MIKE"
Michael woke with a start to find his boss, Bryan staring down at him. While not intimidating at his average height of 5'7", he carried an air of confidence that made all the workers under him treat him with respect, even though most were taller than him.
"Michael, that was the fifth time this week I have caught you sleeping on the job. You need to sleep better. If you can't stay awake, I might just have to fire you."
Mike's eyes widened at the thought of losing his job. With his current wage, he barely made enough to live in the city, let alone have a car. without a job, he would be homeless and have to sell his car to get enough money for food.
"N-now Bryan, no need to fire me. I will start trying to sleep better."
"Good, now I think I have taken up enough of your time, so GET BACK TO WORK"
Bryan stormed off and Mike flew into a frenzy of finishing priority paperwork and writing emails to company partners. He was annoyed at the boss, and at himself for dosing off. 2:00, 3:00, 4:00. The time zipped by and soon, it was the end of Michael's work day. he shut down his black laptop, packed it up in his orange duffel and got in his van to drive home.
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Michael pulled up to his flat on the corner of 3rd and Main, and parked outside. It was fairly small, just a two room flat with one bathroom. The outside of the house was run down and not well looked after. It had vines climbing its walls and weaving in-between the cracks of the side-boarding. If not for the car parked outside, passerby's would think it was abandoned. He grabbed his keys and unlocked the front door, and wandered into his kitchen. There were cups and pans lying everywhere and Instant ramen cup laying littered on the floor
"I should probably clean this up. It seems like I am having instant ramen for dinner again, huh."
Mike grabbed a glass cup filled with water and tossed the glass into his microwave. He set it to run for 30 seconds and then poured the water into the cup of noodles. He waited a little and then started to eat the cooked ramen.
About half an hour later he was done and had cleaned up his dishes, so he headed to the bedroom. The shades were down, clothes were lying on the floor, and his bed was unmade and messy. He didn't want to change, so he just flopped down onto his bed and fell asleep.
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As he lay sleeping, Michael was plagued by nightmares. He saw himself from a spectators view, trying to cross 12th street, when the light was red. He saw a semi-truck speeding towards him and watched as he got hit, fast enough the all that was left of him was a red stain on the street and some bits and pieces. Even though he was not in his own body for this dream, he still felt the agony of the trucks force, all of his bones being crushed, and of his skin and body being ripped apart in an instance. He keeled over screaming, but the voice screaming was not his own. Rather, a young girl's voice.
Mike woke in a cold sweat. After all, he had just witnessed himself die to a semi. He decided to be a bit more cautious on his way to work. He drove to the parking garage a couple blocks away from his workplace and started to walk. He got to the street he saw in his dream and stopped by the roadside.
He looked to his left and saw the semi speeding towards the intersection and stepped back, letting it pass by. After he was sure it was gone, he started walking, only to hear a little girl scream from the sidewalk. He turned to look and felt something make contact. He felt a searing pain in his legs, and flopped to the floor. His eyes wide, and his mind screamed just one message.
'I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I. Don't. Want. To. Die'
[System Understands. Transferring Soul to New body in realm 'Ivamos']
'What was tha...'
Everything went black.