I was walking to school that morning, doing my usual thing where I pretended to be some deep philosopher or whatever. You know how it is - sometimes you just gotta entertain yourself.
"Life is such a meaningless cycle," I muttered to myself, kicking a random pebble down the sidewalk. "People wake up, go to work, come home, eat, sleep, repeat. What's the point?"
I kept going with this fake-deep bullshit for like ten more minutes. Talked about how romance was just chemicals in your brain, how sex was just biology, how everyone was just pretending to be happy when really we were all just waiting to die.
'Man, I'm really going all out with this crap today.'
Then I stopped walking completely and just started laughing. Like, full-on cracking up in the middle of the street.
"Did I get that right?" I said out loud, still chuckling. "Was that philosophical enough? Should I add something about the meaninglessness of existence?"
Yeah, I was just messing around. Being all fake-deep and cynical wasn't really my thing - I just found it funny how seriously some people took that stuff. I mean, life could be boring sometimes, sure, but I wasn't actually some depressed philosopher walking around questioning everything.
I was just Kofi. 16 years old, pretty average guy who liked being alone. Not because people hated me or anything - I just preferred my own company most of the time. Less drama that way.
I pulled out my phone and started scrolling through TikTok while I walked. The algorithm kept showing me these cringe anime edits where characters gave these super serious speeches about life and power and friendship.
"The strongest people are forged in the fires of—" some anime dude was saying before I swiped past it.
'God, this stuff is so bad it's good,' I thought, trying not to laugh too loud. People were gonna think I was crazy if I kept giggling at my phone.
I was about to swipe to the next video when I heard this loud screech behind me. Like, really loud. The kind that makes your stomach drop.
My first thought was 'oh shit, I'm about to become roadkill.' I figured some car was heading straight for me and I was too busy staring at my phone to notice.
I spun around real quick, ready to dive out of the way or whatever, but the car wasn't coming for me. It was heading straight for this girl about twenty feet away who had earbuds in and was completely oblivious to what was happening.
'Nina?'
The thought hit me before I even really processed who it was. Nina Shoka from my class. She was just walking along, probably listening to music, totally unaware that this car had lost control and was sliding right toward her.
I didn't think about it. Didn't weigh the pros and cons or consider my options. My legs just started moving.
I dropped my phone and sprinted toward her. The car was maybe three seconds away from hitting her when I slammed into her side, pushing her as hard as I could toward the sidewalk.
She went flying, landing hard on the concrete but definitely out of the car's path.
Me? Not so lucky.
The impact felt like getting hit by a train. One second I was pushing Nina to safety, the next I was flying through the air. Then I hit the ground and everything went wrong at once.
I couldn't move my legs. Couldn't really move much of anything, actually. There was this weird warm feeling spreading across my chest and stomach, and when I tried to breathe, it felt like drowning.
'Well, this sucks,' I thought, staring up at the sky. 'Guess that's what I get for being a hero.'
My vision started getting all swimmy and weird, but I could make out Nina crawling over to me. She had pulled out her earbuds and there were tears streaming down her face.
"Why did you do that?" she kept asking, over and over. "Why would you do that?"
I wanted to shrug, but my shoulders weren't really cooperating. It seemed pretty obvious to me - she was in trouble, so I helped. That's what you do, right? Nothing fancy about it.
She was talking to me, saying my name a lot. I didn't realize she even knew my name, to be honest. We had been in the same class for like three months and I don't think we had ever actually had a conversation.
"Kofi, stay with me, okay?" she was saying. "You're gonna be fine. The ambulance is coming."
Then she started telling me jokes. Random, stupid jokes that weren't even that funny, but I guess she was trying to keep me awake or something.
"What do you call a bear with no teeth?" she said, her voice all shaky. "A gummy bear."
I tried to smile. Wanted to let her know I appreciated what she was doing, even if the joke was terrible.
"Why don't scientists trust atoms?" she continued. "Because they make up everything."
That one actually got a little smile out of me, even though everything was starting to feel really far away.
Her voice was getting quieter and quieter, or maybe my hearing was just going. I couldn't really tell anymore. Everything felt like it was underwater.
"Kofi!" I heard her scream, but it sounded like it was coming from miles away. "Stay awake! Don't you dare close your eyes!"
I wanted to tell her it was okay, that she didn't need to be so upset about it. But I couldn't make my mouth work anymore.
Then everything went dark.
When I opened my eyes again, I definitely wasn't on the street anymore.
I was sitting on what looked like a cloud. An actual, fluffy, pink cloud floating in this weird sky that was all pastel colors. It was like someone had taken a Lisa Frank poster and turned it into a whole dimension.
'Okay, this is either heaven or I'm having the weirdest dying hallucination ever.'
Then I saw her. This woman sitting on another cloud about ten feet away from me. She was probably the most beautiful person I had ever seen - long silver hair, perfect skin, wearing this flowing white dress that somehow didn't look cheesy even in this cotton candy wonderland.
She had this really weird expression on her face though. Like she had just realized she had made a huge mistake.
"Oh no," she said, putting her hand over her mouth. "Oh no, oh no, oh no."
I just stared at her. What else was I supposed to do?
"Um," she continued, looking really uncomfortable. "This is... this is really awkward. I am so, so sorry."
"Sorry for what?" I asked. My voice worked fine here, which was nice.
She made this face like she was about to deliver the worst news possible. "Well, you see, I'm the goddess responsible for reincarnation, and... well... there's been a bit of a mix-up."
I waited for her to continue.
"It was Nina who was supposed to die today," she said, wincing. "Not you. You were never supposed to be involved at all."
I blinked at her. "So you're telling me I died by accident?"
"Essentially... yes." She looked like she wanted to crawl under one of these pink clouds and hide. "I'm really, really sorry about this."