After an indeterminate amount of time drifting in the void of darkness… I regained consciousness.
'Did I die? Yeah… I must've died. But where am I?' I thought, before growing tired and falling asleep again.
When I woke up once more, I started to better perceive the environment around me.
'Hmm… if I died, then this shouldn't be hell. There's no fire, no sulfur, no demons. It's not heaven either—there are no angels singing or celebrating. Even with all this darkness… and the fact that I can't open my eyes or move much… could this be some kind of transition before judgment?' I wondered.
Even though I'm not an atheist or a follower of any specific religion, I've always believed in the existence of an all-powerful God.
'Well… I didn't commit many sins in my life. If I don't go to hell—assuming it even exists—that's already good enough. Staying here isn't so bad either. It's warm and comfortable,' I thought to myself as I drifted back to sleep.
This time, I woke up feeling the space around me pressing in and pushing me. I got scared, since that had never happened before.
After a long time being squeezed, that place finally managed to expel me.
The first thing I felt was cold. Very cold.
Right after that, I heard people's voices… but I couldn't understand a single word they were saying.
'Did I not die and get taken to some medical facility where they're running experiments on me?' I thought, shocked.
Soon, the voices began to fade, until everything fell silent for a moment.
Then came the pain.
I screamed. I screamed loudly.
That was when I started breathing.
'No, wait a second… why does the sound I'm making resemble a baby crying? And why is my vision so blurry? What kind of bizarre experiment did they perform on me?'
'Calm down… take it easy. Be rational. Don't let panic guide your judgment.'
'Let's go over everything from the beginning.'
'I was running… then some son of a bitch shot me. Up to that point, fine—I mean, it doesn't make much sense since I never had any enemies, but maybe they mistook me for someone else.'
'From there on, things get really strange.'
'Out of the two possibilities I have, they are:'
'Either I didn't die and was saved by a group of crazy scientists…'
'Or I died, was reborn, and until recently, I was inside my mother's womb.'
'If it's the first option… I'm screwed.'
'If it's the second… that's a blessing!'
'Hahaha.'
'Going back with the memories of my past life and having an advantage over what might happen—that's amazing.'
'Speaking of which… I'm hungry. Since they pulled me out of there, they better give me something to eat soon, or I'm going to cry, hahaha.'
'Just wait, you bastard who killed me. I'll find out why… and you'll suffer at my hands. Hmph.'
'Come to think of it… why can't I understand what these people are saying if my memories are still intact?'
'And do I really have to go through this humiliation again? Getting dirty and wet… just thinking about it makes me depressed.'
'Well… there's no point in overthinking it right now,' I thought, as I drifted off to sleep once more.