I died.

So it wasn't a glorious death at the hands of some powerful enemy, it was just a death. I simply went to bed with a bad case of heartburn and didn't wake up. It seems that the heartburn was a little more sever than I thought.

When I did wake up I was more than a little shocked to see my body not getting up with me. Heck, you would be a little freaked out too.

Well after I calmed down a bit I started to take stock of what was going on. Living alone I figured that it was going to take a while before someone came by to check on me. I noticed that the answering machine hadn't taken any calls by the large glaring zero on the display, not that I could have returned a call given my current condition. Heck, I hardly returned any of the calls I got anyway.

The one thing that puzzled me the most was the chain and plug looking thing in my chest about where my heart was. I tugged the chain experimentally and felt my chest being pulled but no pain. Shrugging my shoulders I just picked up the end so that I wouldn't trip over it and started to explore the limits of my existence.

I started out the door and stopped; taking a look at the table by the door where I dropped everything I normally carry with me to work. My eyes lingered on the pack of smokes. I again shrugged. "Well I did want to quit anyway." I grabbed for the doorknob and my hand passed through it like it was nothing, Silly me I should have known better. I stepped out through the door and into the humid night. There was going to be a fog soon. I could feel the change in the weather but I wasn't really feeling any discomfort.

Down at the local corner quickmart I spotted several of the local thugs hanging around hoping to find someone to terrorize and just shook my head. That had been me a few years back. Yeah, I know. I wasn't any sort of angel, but I didn't prey on women or children like this crop of idiots. I never liked seeing what they did when they thought that they could get away with it. Much to their surprise I made it clear to them when I saw them. Well that was in the past now, or so I thought.

A loud noise came from down the street followed by a loud roar. I held my hands to my ears to try and block out the sound. The punks never flinched. It was as if they couldn't make out the sound or maybe didn't even hear it. I on the other hand didn't like the sound of things. I felt as well as heard the approaching footsteps of something big, something very big. The punks started to feel the vibrations and were looking around. One of them spotted a piece of sidewalk suddenly crack like a tremendous weight had been out upon it. He started towards the sight when I finally made out what was coming.

"Stop!" I yelled. There was no way for him to hear me but I tried. As he approached the cracked sidewalk I saw the huge shape draw back a huge limb then ram it through the hapless punk. I saw the ghost of him get ripped out of his body and shoved into the monsters mouth. There wasn't even a chance for him to scream.

I already told you that I'm no angel but I couldn't just stand there and let these punks get killed by something that they couldn't even see. I ran to a spot just behind the gas pump outside of the store. "Hey! Yeah you! The ugly slob with the Halloween mask on. Why don't you take on someone that can see you and defend themselves? I'm ready for you, you big pile of shit!" This caught the monsters attention.

I knew that I had only one chance to stay out of that bastard's mouth and that was to make him attack me through the gas pump. He was solid enough to crack concrete so I figured that he was solid enough to get burned when the gas exploded. It turned away from the punks that were moving towards their fallen buddy. I wasn't as sure of myself as I made out to be but I had to try. The arm came slicing towards me at incredible speed for something so large and I jumped aside as it slammed into the pump breaking it off and causing a fountain of gas to rain down on the creature. Then the whole thing lit up. The broken wires arced causing an immense fireball. The flames washed through me doing nothing but the monster was a different story. He had to retain some sort of solidity to attack and that's when he got toasted. The screams were deafening.

I watched with an impassive eye as the thing chard and danced as the flesh melted off what I would assume were its bones. The intense heat cracked that Halloween mask and it finally broke into pieces. Just as soon as the mask shattered the beast started to vaporize. The flames dropped to the ground as it disappeared.

I looked at the punks and noted that they were mostly just singed from the fire. I laughed at thinking about how they were going to explain this to the authorities.

About then some new punk sort of magically appeared. I never saw him coming or heard him either. He looked around at the blasted gas pump and at the other punks. Then I noticed the huge sword over his shoulder. That's when he looked at me.

"Did you do this?" He was scowling as he asked his question.

"Well if you want to know, I was being attacked by some sort of monster. It actually caused the explosion by breaking the gas pump. A spark did the rest."

"Did it kill the hollow?"

"Hollow?"

He was a little exasperated. "The monster."

"Crispy critter."

"Damn, I got up for nothing. Well since I'm here, are you ready for soul burial?"

"What's that supposed to mean? First I die in my sleep from a heart attack, then I get attacked by something out of a nightmare and now you want to bury me? I know that I'm no angel but couldn't you just leave me alone?"

"No can do. If I leave you wandering around more of those things will come looking for you."

"Yeah, well that one got one of those guys over there. I'm not so thrilled with more of them chasing me around."

"OK, I'm going to send you to Soul Society. I won't sugar coat it. It's not heaven and it isn't hell so just get ready to take a step backwards in time."

"What? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Think pre edo era."

"Enh? Bub, I am not from this country so speak in better terms, ok?"

"The name isn't 'Bub' its Ichigo and to put it a little better feudal Japan."

"Fine, Ichigo. So what are you?"

"Shinigami Representative. Are you ready for konso now?"

"Shinigami? As in Death God? Damn it, I'm already DEAD!"

"Yeah, I know. Trust me, ok? This is for your own good." He took the huge blade off his shoulder and keeping the hilt towards me he tapped me on the forehead gently.

He started to laugh as I started to flail as I sank into a glowing pool of light. "Calm down. You're going to be alright."

That was easy for him to say.