"I'm afraid you're just no longer necessary at this company."

Henry was having a bad day

He should have known from the moment he woke up, that this was just going to be one of those days; a leak in the ceiling had spoken leagues of what was to come. Follow that up with no hot water, no food for breakfast, a bitingly cold day, and now this. Redundancy.

"With respect Mr Partridge" He said, fighting to keep his voice level "I have worked here for two years now, surely you can't be needing me gone already?"

Mr Partridge eyed Henry from the other side of a large ornate desk. It was almost entirely empty, aside from a stack of papers and a large plaque at the front of the desk, reading 'Nicholas Partridge'. Mr Partridge, himself, was a large man in his early 50s, almost as wide as he was tall. He was nearly entirely bald and had a distasteful, greasy complexion. He exuded an aura of near permanent contempt, which made it incredibly difficult to like him. He also happened to be Henry's boss, and the son of the CEO.

"My boy" Mr Partridge started "You must know that being in charge of so many staff takes an enormous amount of skill and patience, hence why I'm so good at it" He gave Henry a toothless smile and a patronising glance "So frankly, if I say you're no longer any good to us, I mean it."

"But-" An argument was quick to form on Henry's lips, however it was shouted down before it could ever reach his boss's ears.

"No buts. You will be gone from these premises by the end of the day."

"Hang on, what about my two weeks notice?! This is illegal!"

Mr Partridge let out a hollow laugh.

"Need I remind you of the influence I hold?" He gave Henry a sharp glare "One more word from you and I'll see that you never have a job again. Do I make myself clear?"

Henry thought about arguing regardless, but any further argument died in his throat as he realised this was not a battle he could win.

"Yes sir. Crystal."

"Fantastic!" In a flash, Mr Partridge had gone from stern and angry, to a facade of happiness and warmth "In that case, you have two hours to clear your desk."

"Of course sir." Henry hung his head, all the fight sapped out of him in an instant.

"Oh and Henry?" Mr Partridge said, just as Henry was turning to leave.

"Yes sir?"

"Don't ever darken my doors again. That's all." Mr Partridge returned to what he'd been doing before the conversation even started, scrawling away on various pieces of paper, no doubt important. Henry let out a long sigh and headed to pack up his desk.


"And that is a red warning for ice, driving isn't recommended, we hope all our viewers stay safe."

Henry huffed, trying to tune out the noise of the staff room television. He had finished packing everything in his desk within the first hour after his meeting, however he had decided to stay in the building right up until the deadline, partially out of spite, partially because he had a vague hope that the weather might improve. Currently it was heavy sleet, transitioning into snow. Rotten weather for a rotten day.

Henry was a young man in his very early 20s, about 5'10" and skinny, with neat mop of brown hair atop his head.

He was also exhausted and angry, this day had not been good to him at all.

With a sigh, Henry turned the television off. He wasn't watching it, and the normally quite busy staff room was deserted. Everyone else in the building had been avoiding him, no doubt because they were aware of his termination; some were likely aware days in advance.

"Bastards" Henry thought to himself, before turning to look out of the window. The sleet had stopped, and in its place was heavy snowfall. Henry groaned. It was going to be a very difficult drive home.

Henry glanced at his watch, he only had ten minutes before he was due to be thrown out, with or without his things. With a grunt, he stood up, picked up his things, and walked towards the exit. As he stepped outside, the cold hit him hard, chilling him to his core despite the extra layers he wore. Holding his arms close to him, he started to walk towards his car, sparing a quick glance back towards the office building where he had worked for the past two years. In the snow, the tall grey building leered out, looking like it was pulled straight from the pages of a dystopian novel. With a sad sigh, Henry quickly rushed towards his car and got in.

"Oh God it's cold!" Henry muttered to himself, quickly turning the ignition before switching the heater up to full blast. "Welp. Better get home, I guess. Hopefully this day can't get much worse."


Snow lashed at the windscreen, the wipers furiously trying to clear a path for the driver to see through. Henry cursed his bad luck. Why did it have to be today of all days? He couldn't have had lovely sunny, safe driving conditions on his way home? No. He had to have a hellish nightmare of snow and ice. He had to travel at a snail's pace, only able to see a couple of yards in front of him.

He turned onto a bridge, signaling to himself that he only had a couple of minutes left until he got home.

And then it happened. The unthinkable. A van on the wrong side of the road, speeding towards him. "SHIT!" Henry screamed and jerked the wheel as hard as he could, thankfully dodging the head-on collision by a hair, however in doing so he had lost control of the car on the icy road. It veered and swerved across the middle of the bridge, before flying off the edge and into a river, where water started pooling into the vehicle.

"Okay, okay. Don't panic. Think."

Henry was panicking

"A fitting end to the day" a more cynical part of him thought.

As the water started rising, up past his ankles, Henry quickly started trying to open the door, only to find it near impossible; the water pressure from the other side barring it shut.

"Right. Calm down, me." Henry was starting to get into a worked up state, the water was now up past his legs. He was growing very nervous indeed.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to think slowly. The water rose up to his bellybutton.

"What are you meant to do in this situation? I swear I know." Henry bitterly scolded his past self for not learning this information which may well be life saving. He looked out of the window at the cold darkness of the water; water which was seeping into the car.

"Why did humanity ever have to leave the sea?" Henry thought to himself with an amused snort "Being able to survive longer in the water would have been a great help right about now." He gave up, resigning himself to stare out the window at the liquid which would surely be his demise, now pooling under his chin.

...

"WAIT OF COURSE! THE WINDOW" Henry cried, suddenly realising what he had overlooked. "Christ, I'm an idiot. What can I smash it with?" Henry's eyes darted around the car, settling on a quite pointy looking desk ornament. He grabbed it with both hands and started to bash at the window, taking a deep breath as the water rose above his head. He attacked the window with all his strength, imagining it as the source of all of today's problems. Then, just as the last of his breath was beginning to fade, the window gave way, allowing Henry access to the river outside. He quickly positioned himself to move through the gap, desperate to reach the surface and take a breath of air, something he knew he'd never take for granted again.

Only he couldn't. He was stuck.

In confusion, Henry looked to see what was preventing his movement, only to realise he had forgotten to take off his seatbelt.

"I am a goddamn idiot." Was his last thought, before he was forced to inhale; water flooding his lungs and choking the life out of him, quickly rendering him blissfully unconscious before stealing his life and leaving naught but a carcass behind in the car.

Yes Henry was having a really bad day indeed.


"..."

"W-Wait, am I alive?"

"No, I can't be. I drowned. I remember drowning."

"..."

"Where the hell am I then?"

"Wait why can't I see my hands, or feet, or... anything really?"

A ball of light floated in a large formless void, a kaleidoscope of colour permeating through it, ever changing and ever shifting, making it impossible to get a good picture of the size or shape of the area. The ball of light, or Henry, was very distressed indeed.

"Hmm, another lost spirit. Very unfortunate. Very unfortunate indeed." A loud voice echoed through the nothingness, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Henry whipped around, startled "Wh-Who are you?" He stuttered.

"Who am I? Well, that is the question." The voice seemed to contemplate the question, as though it were the greatest philosophical theory ever presented "I suppose you could call me the guardian of the afterlife, the architect of reincarnation as it were."

Henry was speechless, not quite sure to make of what he was hearing. "Reincarnation?!" He spluttered "Afterlife? What in the hell? This isn't some kind of death hallucination, is it?"

The voice seemed to laugh, a great rumbling shaking the void and startling the small, timid ball of light.

"I can assure you, dear human, this is no hallucination. You are in fact dead." The voice seemed to consider its next words carefully. "As for reincarnation and the afterlife, that's why I'm here. You see, human, you have the choice; do you want to go for reincarnation? To be born again under a different sun in a different body?" There was a pause "Or would you rather see your spirit taken away, to the afterlife?"

If Henry had been able to go pale at that moment, he would've. The sheer gravity of the decision he had to make weighing down on him. "I-Uh... Well..." He stopped to clear his head.

"M-May I think about it please?"

The voice let out another chuckle

"Why of course you may. I will be here to answer any questions you have."

Henry paused and began to think, the swirling vortex of colour was too distracting. He tried to close his eyes, only to find that he couldn't.

"Damnit" He thought to himself "Why couldn't I have been in the spirit dimension, or wherever this is, in my own body." He shook himself, clearing his thoughts.

"Um, if you don't mind me asking-" He began to say "What would each option entail?"

The air in the void seemed to grow still, as the mysterious voice thought of its answer. "Well." It began "For the afterlife, that will depend on how you lived as a person. You will be judged harshly and spend the rest of eternity enclosed within an area deserving of your character. You will not ever be able to leave."

Henry balked slightly at the description.

"As for reincarnation-" The voice continued "I will ask you a series of questions you must answer truthfully. I will use your answers to determine a lifeform and world that you would best fit into, you would then awake without any memories except for those I deem to be relevant to your situation. Additionally you may choose to be reincarnated as either a newborn, or as a being in a similar stage in its life compared to you now."

Henry shuddered. He had quickly discounted the idea of the afterlife; eternity trapped within a prison of your own making sounded like a living nightmare to him. On the other hand, he would hate to live the early part of his life all over again, which meant he had only one option left.

"I think I want to choose reincarnation as a being of similar age to me." Henry managed to say.

A moment of silence

"Please." He quickly tacked on the end, hoping the voice wouldn't judge him harshly for a lack of manners, and decide to turn him into a beetle or something.

"I suspected that may be the case for you, human." The voice boomed "Very well. Let us begin."

The atmosphere of the void suddenly seemed to shift and change, becoming somehow more oppressive. The colours seemed to shine brighter, and somehow the whole scene became even harder to comprehend.

"Before we begin, you must promise to answer all questions truthfully, understand?"

The voice seemed to echo and repeat inside Henry's mind, drowning out all other thoughts. "Y-YES!" He shouted "YES I PROMISE!"

In an instant, the pressure lifted and the void returned to the state it had been in before, still formless, still colourful and bright, still incomprehensible, but less oppressive.

"I apologise for that, human." The voice stated "I had to make sure you were willing to be truthful on instinct, that you weren't lying to me."

Henry cowered away "O-Okay. Can we start now please?"

Another deep laugh "Of course." There was silence for a moment, as the being seemed to carefully consider what to ask.

"Question one: What is your greatest fear?"

Henry didn't have to think at all, the fresh memories weighed upon his mind, of water flooding the car, of being trapped, and...

He shuddered

Drowning.

"Water!" He cried out "My greatest fear is water, I hate it." With the memories dancing through his head, the little ball of light cringed at the phantom sensation of being unable to breathe, or swim to safety.

"I see..." The voice paused again, no doubt to consider a new question, and the bearing of this one.

"Question two: If you could change one decision in your life, what would it be?"

Henry let out a mirthless chuckle "I'd have taken off my bloody seatbelt."

"Hmm... Interesting decision. Why?"

Henry thought for a second, hardly realising he'd blurted it out almost as a reflex, but the answer came quickly to him.

"Drowning-" he started shakily "Was the single worst experience I have ever had the displeasure of encountering." He paused for a second, seemingly debating over whether or not to say the next part, before sighing "I promised to be honest" He reminded himself. "Afterlife spirit, demon, angel. Whatever you are. Although it sounds horrible to say this, I would sooner kill a dozen people than ever have to experience that again."

There was a pause. "A... bizarre decision, undoubtedly selfish" Henry cringed "However you have your reasons. Very well." The voice continued;

"Question three: Do you think you are a good person?"

This question made Henry pause, he went to answer, then stopped himself

"How do I answer this honestly?" He thought to himself, the glowing ball of light that represented him growing dim with concentration. Time seemed to pass as he contemplated his answer.

Minutes?

Hours?

Days even?

Henry couldn't tell. The glowing mass of the void made it impossible to fully comprehend the passing of time at all.

"Whenever you're ready." The voice gently encouraged.

Henry flinched at the prompt. "I'm really sorry" He said "I don't quite know how to answer that one honestly" He glanced off to the side, nervous of how the voice might respond.

"I think-" The voice started, speaking with slow purpose "This type of question is best answered by speaking your thought process out loud."

Henry considered that for a moment, before he sighed, and started to speak;

"I-I don't know in all honesty."

There was a moment of silence, before he continued

"I don't think I'm a bad person. I've never been arrested, I don't really get in trouble, I'm quite unremarkable, really." He took a breath "But I don't know if that makes me a good person, or just a person who isn't bad, so there's my thought process." He anxiously finished, awaiting the voice's response.

"Well well..." The voice pondered "I like that answer"

Henry relaxed slightly, relieved at the praise.

"Very well" The voice boomed "Are you ready for the next question?"

Henry nodded.

"Question four: What makes you special?"

The ball of light quivered, clearly taken aback by the question.

"I'm not sure I follow...?" Henry managed to say.

"It's quite simple. What makes you different from all the other humans?" The voice clarified.

Henry seemed to slump, the light going dim.

"Honestly?" He said "Nothing. I'd blend into a crowd very easily. I'm quite forgettable and quite bland."

There was a tense moment of silence, before Henry spoke again;

"I'm sorry. I know that's not the answer you were after, but it's the truth..." He trailed off, the silence becoming too much to handle.

"Perhaps that is what makes you unique..." The voice queried "Perhaps the fact that you have nothing special about you, is what makes you different from everyone else."

Henry cringed.

"Fear not, human, I find that answer acceptable. In fact I think I have pieced together an identity for you."

Henry's spirit suddenly lit up brightly, as he became incredibly attentive all of a sudden, listening intently to whatever the being had to say.

"Yes..." It muttered "You will be the Pokemon Mudkip."

The spirit floated backwards in shock.

"A- A Mudkip?" Henry asked inquisitively

"Yes, I think that's perfect." The voice stated, a smile almost audible in its speech "Before you go however, I have one last question for you."

Henry nodded, ready for the final query.

"How many times do you think we've had this conversation? How many lives do you think you've lived, in one form or another?"

Henry's mind went blank, the realisation of such a conundrum hit him like a tank.

He tried to speak, he couldn't.

He tried to come up with an answer, he couldn't.

The being seemed to notice, and started to speak again.

"You can't answer?" The disappointment was clear in the voice "A pity. Though it is rare to find a being who can. Safe travels, little Mudkip. Enjoy your new life."

And just like that, everything went dark.


A/N So this is the start of a little project I wanted to try. They say everyone has a book in them, and after reading an awful lot of fanfiction I wanted to try something of my own. Please bear in mind that I have never written anything before, outside of school or college assignments, so this will be very rough and probably quite poorly written. I would be eternally grateful for any sort of criticism or tips.

Thank you, I hope you enjoy!

- Candlewick