Across the street was a tiny commercial plaza with a convenience store on one end and a pet boutique on the other. It was situated in the sun between rows of stores. In the middle was a modest ornamental fountain with water cascading over a marble cherub. As it approached the curb and the roadway beyond, the pavement slightly sloped.
Leo stepped out of his apartment building and headed for the store when he noticed the woman.
She stood near the curb at the edge of the plaza, both hands clenched around the handle of a shopping cart stacked high with groceries,
The cart's front wheels tilted forward, rolled, and the woman yelled.
Leo moved with haste, looking at the street instinctively, and started running across the plaza, automatically committing himself to the assumption that it was a concern that demanded physical action; not taking the time to properly assess the situation, he jumped forward.
Realizing a little too late in mid-air that the cart was not moving on its own, it was still moving due to the woman pushing it.
"NO—!"
The comment came out involuntarily as Leo crashed into the cart. The impact tore through the groceries, the apples shot wildly into the air, scattering across the floor, a few still salvageable, but the rest damaged beyond use.
The old woman shrieked and swung her handbag angrily at Leo, who was now feeling very embarrassed. He tried to dodge, but his foot landed on an apple, causing him to fall sideways, straight into a passing biker.
The biker stumbled and crashed into the mailbox located next to the road, outside the pet shop. The mailbox fell over and collapsed into a row of plastic dog figurines, which clipped a pyramid display of chew toys, scattering them all over the sidewalk.
A jogger hit them at full speed, the toy squeaked as he stepped on it, causing the jogger to slip, arms flailing as he slid across the concrete and crashed headfirst into a tall metal ladder where a painter was working on a storefront sign.
The ladder gave way, causing the painter to yell and jump off. The ladder crashed onto a parked truck, then something clicked loose somewhere in the truck.
As Leo struggled to free himself while entangled in grocery bags, he looked up and saw the truck rolling down, slowly, yet steadily. It was heading downhill toward the fountain, which was also in the direction of the elderly woman.
Once again, Leo overreacted. He pushed the woman away with a twist, towards a pile of fallen onions. She landed hard but safely; on the other hand, he was not that fortunate.
He fell backward into the ornamental fountain behind him, slamming into the marble pedestal of a cherub statue and falling into knee-deep water. The impact caused the pedestal to move, the cherub tilted, paused, then fell. Leo's final vision was of a marble baby falling right in front of his face.
"…you've got to be kidding me—"
For all his cautiousness, he definitely did not see today going the way that it did, like the universe had played a cruel joke on him.
Everywhere had gone dark and silent. Leo felt himself floating, unable to see anything in the thick darkness.
Panic was about to set in when a voice boomed in,
followed by a piercing, blinding light.
"…Did you seriously die like that?"
Leo squinted against the brightness and looked around. There was nothing. Just space, stretching endlessly.
"…Who said that? Where am I?" Leo asked, turning in place even though he wasn't sure he had a body.
"I mean, come on," the voice continued, amused. "That was spectacular. Ten out of ten."
A sinking thought began to form, slow and heavy, settling deep in his chest as the pieces finally aligned.
"Wait," Leo said quietly. "Am I dead?"
"Sadly for you, yes. You died to the statue of a baby angel."
Leo squeezed his eyes shut. a mix of embarrassment and anger tightening his jaw.
"On the bright side, the woman lived," the voice added casually. "…though, the truck probably wouldn't have hit her even without you pushing her out of the way."
The words hit hard.
Silence followed.
Then the voice spoke again, slower this time.
"You were a young man in your twenties," it said. "You paid your rent on time. You trained your body, you lived carefully, sensibly. You made just enough effort to believe you had things under control."
Images surfaced around Leo, Familiar ones; His apartment, the gym, his freelance work, quiet evenings spent relaxing.
"You told yourself mistakes only happened when people were careless, that awareness was protection, that being prepared meant being safe."
The images shifted, the plaza, the cart, the apples in midair.
"At least," the voice continued, "that's what you believed."
Leo felt his stomach twist.
"This Saturday was supposed to be ordinary. Predictable. Just another harmless piece of a life you thought you understood."
A pause.
"So tell me, Leo. Was that really all you wanted from existence?"
At this point, Leo wanted to disappear. Piecing together everything that had happened, he was starting to understand that the entire time, there was no real danger; it had just been his assumptions. Why though? It's not like he wanted to play the hero so badly. The only conclusion he could come to was simply that he made a mistake.
There was silence for a bit, then the voice came again
"Cheer up, my friend, this isn't the end."
"I'm not your friend," Leo said out loud in response.
"My name is Axiom, your new partner, and this is the in-between space." The voice seemed undisturbed by this statement, cheerfully introducing itself.
"My what?" Leo asked. A lot calmer now
"Essentially, your spirit guide in the new world you are about to be relocated to."
Suddenly, a deep golden light bloomed beneath Leo, warm and the sensation of weightlessness was replaced by that of freefall, which was equally as terrifying.
"What's happening? What new world?" Leo asked, confused.
"Prepare for deployment, Leo," Axiom said.
"Wait! Deployment?! What new world!?"
"A world of magic, monsters, and plenty of chaos." There was something like amusement in Axiom's voice.
But before Leo could say anything else, light surged, and he was flung forward into his next life.