Soul Roulette

“Oh my me!” a voice called out to me. The voice sounded oddly familiar. Again, no memory, so I couldn't put the fingers that I don't have on it. “Well, aren't you just the cutest little thing? Who's a widdle guy? Is it you? It’s you!” The voice sounded very soothing and comforting. Wait… is that God?! Or maybe, one of the gods? I never really paid attention to how the universe worked.

The warmth tickles me all over my disembodied spirit. It helps me get a better idea of what I might look like to this guy. I seem to have a head and two little nubs, one on each side of me, and a tail. Apparently this… whoever this is… really likes me. Something pats me on my head. It's a big round object with five long nubs sprouting out of it. A hand? Am I being petted by this person? Is this my new life?!

“I'm so sorry about what happened to you,” the voice tells me. “I can't seem to leave my creations alone for five minutes without everything going haywire.” Does he know how I died? Maybe I can ask him questions about my previous life?

I try to ask him that question, and many more, but I seem to have no mouth, and therefore, no ability to speak.

But wait… I'm literally describing my story to you right now! There has to be a way I can communicate with this guy. I need to know how I died!

“Oh, you don't want to know the answer to that one,” the voice told me. Was he reading my thoughts? “You won't remember as soon as you're reborn into your new body anyways.”

Reborn into my new body? I wonder what he meant by that…

“This is the Inbetween,” the voice explained to me. “It's a place for wayward souls to stay while I try to figure out where they'll be going in their next life. Circle of Life and whatnot.”

Ah, so this isn't my new life after all. A bit of a shame, too. I like this place.

“Right now, I have roughly… 400 souls to sort out before I can get to you,” the voice continued. “Feel free to explore around in the meantime. Just remember, please try to stay near here where it's warm. I've lost quite a few souls who didn't want to listen and wanted to explore the cold.”

Why would I want to explore the cold? Why would anyone want to explore the cold, for that matter?

This Inbetween thing seemed to me like a giant house. Certainly the voice lived here, but the house seemed way too big for just him with all these rooms and hallways. Granted, I have no eyes right now, so I can't judge the size of whoever that man was to my own. This house was definitely too big for me.

I feel around every time I blindly encounter a wall or a door or a window. I want to say each door was about twenty of me tall and ten of me wide. Whoever this guy was that was in charge of rebirthing people must have been absolutely massive! But why does he need so many rooms?! Do the souls stay in some of these rooms while they wait for their turn to get reborn?

The further I got away from where I started… the more rooms and hallways I explored… the warmth began to fade away, and a brisk chill began to fill the air. The voice warned me about this. I try to turn around and find my way back to my starting point. Surely, this would be like a game of hot-and-cold right?

Okay, seriously… how am I able to remember random details like that but I can't remember simple details like my name or my gender… or how I died…

The Inbetween proved to be a tricky maze of hallways. Despite turning around and trying to retrace my, uh… ghostly wiggles(?) I found myself getting colder and colder with each passing moment. I would turn around again, find a little bit of warmth, try to follow it back to the start, get colder instead. That cycle repeated itself six times (yes, I counted) before I eventually felt…

nothing.

I can't see what lay in front of me, but something deep inside my little disembodied spirit could tell this wasn't good. I feel a strange emptiness in this room, one that seems endless. Nothing could prepare me for this. I'm tempted to explore further… But I also remember what the voice said. Stay where it's warm. The emptiness beckons me to explore further. It reaches out to me like a forbidden love.

Do I…?

No, I can't…

But…

NO!

But… It wants me…

I wiggle a little closer to what I believe is the edge of the abyss. Even though I know better and have absolutely no desire to be cold, something tells me to just jump right in.

I reach for the abyss, and…

“It's time for me to spin the Soul Roulette!” the voice said to me. It seemed like he shouted all the way through the house, but somehow… it felt like he was right next to me. Just in time, too. One more inch(?) and I would probably have tumbled straight into the endless abyss. I don't even want to know what would have awaited me on the other side. Also… Soul Roulette? Seems I got my answer for the whole getting reborn thing.

In an instant, I was returned to the spot where I started my journey. The old man was waiting for me. I'm sure he was very glad he didn't lose me to the giant hole in his house.

“Once I spin this wheel, it'll tell me exactly what your new name, species, time frame, and place you'll be born into,” the voice explained.

Dang… already? I was just getting used to this place, too! I hope wherever I get born this time, it's plenty warm.

“Alright, time to spin this thing!” the voice said. I hear a click-clack as I assume the wheel is being spun around. The sound slows down as the wheel begins to stop. “Ooo, interesting. That's quite a combination. Looks like you'll be reborn as a little girl named Kimberly in Southern California in the 53rd century. How exciting!”

Southern California? I'm not sure why that place seems familiar. Sounds like a warm place though, so I don't care. Not sure how to feel about being reborn as a girl. Goodness, I can't even remember if I was a girl or not in my last life.

“Are you ready for the first day of your new life?” the voice asked me. I still can't talk, so I hope the man can read my thoughts.

Yeah, I guess…

“Wonderful!” the voice cheered. “It's a simple process, really. All I have to do is dance this little dance, and BOOM! You've been born!” At that moment, a strange melody begins to play inside the room we're in. It's a strange mixture of duck quacks, trumpets, strings, and the weird banging of piano keys.

What's happening?!

“This is the dance I told you about!” the voice shouted with glee. I could not see what he was doing, but judging from the vibrations caused by his movements and the lyrics he was singing, I had no choice but to take him at his word when he said it was a dance.

Jump up and dance, and move it all around.

Shake your head to the sound. 

Put your hands on the ground!

Take one step left and one step right.

One to the front and one to the side. 

Clap your hands once!

Clap your hands twice! 

If it looks like this, then you're doing it right!”

And then, there was nothing…

Again…