"Where am I?" She looked around trying to process everything.
"Why is it so dark here?" She couldn't see even a shred of light to make out any of her surroundings.
"I remember being in that strange house, with that strange man... then why am I in a place like…"
Suddenly, snippets of her memories started playing before her. And with that, she could hear voices every now and then.
She saw herself at a party, drinking a glass of juice.
She heard people gossiping with each other, and some were also dancing.
She could hear loud music, as the view before her changed into a party hall.
She saw Christmas decorations everywhere.
She saw a girl talking to her outside the hall, with a face filled with mockery, and saw herself with a sorrowful look on her.
She saw herself crying, then running.
She was running so fast that she stumbled on her way many times, but nothing couldn't stop in her tracks.
And she saw a warm hand enveloping hers, squeezing her hands tight as in fear of losing the sight of those.
And a towering figure of a guy grabbing her by shoulder, saying, "Don't go."
But no matter how much she tried, she couldn't see the face of that figure.
All of a sudden, everything in front of her turned black again, as the voices became louder than before.
"Don't go."
"What do you think of yourself? Some kind of 'damsel in distress'?"
"You disgusting bitch!"
"Let's see how long that nonchalant face of hers stays as it is when her pride goes crumbling right before everyone's eyes."
"There's no way I am going to let you go!"
"Please, stay awake. Don't you die on me again!"
*Crack*
The entire view before her broke apart in pieces like a glass. And then, silence enveloped her which felt like an eternity.
She again started seeing herself in front of her.
This time, she was running along the road.
By the look of the way she was huffing and puffing, she seemed to be running for quite a while. But the strangest fact was her face, which looked like a mess, as if she was crying with a fear-filled look on her face.
What made her that frightened? Why was she that scared that she left the place and kept running?
Then again, everything turned black.
There was a pin-drop silence until a loud slamming sound startled her, almost deafening her. And then she saw herself lying by the road, while a white car rushed ahead, never stopping itself.
The view before her got dark again.
There were now only voices echoing throughout the space she was in.
There was a faint sound of an ambulance rushing somewhere, and some people running also.
Those people were shouting, she could hear them telling her to hold on. But she couldn't see any of those faces.
"Airi, hold on for god's sake. Don't die on me now. Please!"
There was this warm voice also, which was making her feel at ease that she couldn't but go on a deep slumber, as she recalled having the only thought in mind, "I'm glad... they won't be able to catch up anymore... I'm glad…"
'I wish I could see the face of that voice…'
And then, everything ended. It reverted to the eerie silence it had just before.
------
She gradually opened her eyes to find herself in the pinkish room she was a while ago. All those surges of memories made her head feel so heavy that she couldn't hold herself up and squatted down on the wooden floor.
The man was still in the same position, just kept quiet as he wanted to give her some time to process all these.
After a while, Airi looked up towards him, with watery eyes, as if she was trying to suppress those tears. "So... you are God, and I just... died there."
He nodded slightly to confirm her statement. "Yes, you did."
"Then why are you here? To take my soul? Then what's with this house?" She stopped for a while to clear her throat and again spoke, "you said somethin' like Airi Arne, what's with that name? Who is she?"
He looked at her with a surprised look as his eyes turned a bit big, "You remember that after all this fuss? Then guess you are doing a lot better than I thought you would."
The man took a pause; and with a light cough, he started to unfold the next part of strange events going on with Airi.
"Well then let's start afresh. I am basically an angel, who manages the afterlife and reincarnation of souls. Even the unfulfilled regrets, or some lingering feelings, I am in charge of sorting that. So, to tell me a God would be a bit of a stretch, so you could see me as something like a system in your games, which directs you in the walkthrough, if that explains my role here better."
Airi listened to him carefully as she tried to process whatever was going on with her. The fact that she died already was hard to digest, not that she hoped to live long, but all of these were so sudden that she couldn't figure out what's what.
But no matter how hard she tried, her nerves were too stubborn to calm down, and they kept her in toes.
"Then, what does an angel like you gotta do with me?" she asked back while trying her best to suppress the shakiness in her voice.
"Simple, you have some regrets in the life you just lead which is making you hard to leave."
But she should be glad to end her life, no matter how that ended. So, what's with the regrets preventing her from moving on?
She stopped him before he could say any more, "Wait... hang on a damn minute. I have regrets? But I was all good, dying, I mean I am glad that I died. After all, you should know I wasn't doing anything significant by living there, dontcha?"
The angel noticed how shaky Airi was. Her voice was becoming hard to keep stable, and her fingers were shaky to the point that it was impossible to ignore the intensity of fright and confusion in a person. But the question she asked, about whatever regrets she might have, except God himself, a mere angel like him had no idea about it. So he helplessly replied to her, "Well, that's up to you to figure out what regrets you had back there... for now, this alone is not all for your situation right now."
Airi got a more puzzled look on her face right now. "I got more?"
"Uhm, sure you did. Remember when I said this is your house, and called you Airi Arne? You are indeed Airi Arne right now, that is, in one of your previous lives."
After stating this, the angel hoped she would make a huge ruckus about it, or even frantically laugh thinking that all of these are another joke, but to his surprise, he found Airi calmly staring at him, waiting to hear more.
He got a bit worried, thinking if she will be able to take all this in a single shot. "You okay?" He worriedly gazed down to meet her eyes.
"Yep, I am. I gotta stay calm to get all of this right? Nothin's gonna get right if I lose my sanity now, so go on."
The angel felt a bit relieved as he explained things further.
"So, it is one of your previous lives, you have the same name and face, but have different stories of course. You are going to face many more lifetimes of yours, and in each of those, you had many regrets, and also, some wrongdoings which made you reborn again and again. Your soul adapted to those deeds and evolved your character each time, call it a fate, but you were given a chance in life once again, just to be free from those shackles of your deeds. But everytime, you had some new wrongdoings, some new regrets, some new attachments which were hard for you to leave behind. And in the end, as Airi Shin, you couldn't make things any better, thus you are stuck with this right now."