Seth McCauley, a 25 year-old grad student with varying degrees in engineering. He was a man who didn't do much with his life. He loved to travel and read comics in his free time. He eventually went to a few different places in China and Japan where he learned varying martial arts. According to his teachers, he was able to improve dramatically as he fought. He didn't understand how he did it, but still had fun learning it.
He eventually went back to the states and to continue his normal life. Not really having any direction.
While walking down the street on a normal day, Seth sees a bus rolling backwards down the street. When it neared Seth, he could see a couple with their child crossing the street. They were clearly distracted and neither saw the bus heading towards them. Seth's warning was drowned out by the sound of construction going on near the road. The next thing he knew he was running faster than he had ever run, pulling every ounce of strength out of his legs to reach the family of three. He arrived just in time to push the family off the road, but he was too late to save himself.
He flew about 10 feet, his consciousness slowly fading away; the family ran to him tears in their eyes. The last sound he heard as he finally succumbed to the ever encroaching darkness was the sound of a siren and a wailing child.
Seth awoke in a completely black space, only aware of his sense of sight and hearing. He subconsciously noticed his lack of a body but it was the last thing on his mind, right then he was just trying to figure out where he was.
[Have I died?? I never personally believed in an afterlife, but it helps to think there is a higher power of some sort, watching over you and protecting you. I suppose if there is a Heaven and Hell, I would be going to Heaven. Afterall, I haven't done anything terrible, and I even sacrificed my life for that family that I didn't even know, that's got to count for something.]
With no sense of time, Seth assumed he would have met God or an angel at least, to tell him what was going to happen next. But he received no sign that he was anywhere but a pitch black dark. Then as soon as he thought that maybe he would be stuck in this space for eternity, he heard a loud booming voice say "OH WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE!?"