"The Six" is a fantasy in which six adults die and are "accidentally" reincarnated with the full memory of their previous lives. But their knowledge extends a bit further. They know how to do it again and again, and that would essentially make them immortal.....or would it?
Here's the Prologue:
Jamie lay there by the side of the road covered with blood. She knew she had to flag somebody down for help, but she barely had the strength to watch the road for cars. Just getting to the main road consumed more energy than she thought was left in her tiny body. She reflected on the past two hours. She was lucky to be alive and she knew it.
In the serenity of her exhaustion, her mind drifted back through her past. She thought about the six diverse souls that fate had thrown together. For the first time in her life she wondered what their lives had been like. Despite all she had learned about them, she realized that she knew very little about the kind of people they were. She wondered if they had looked forward to getting up in the morning? What did they do in their spare time? Did they have hobbies? What kind of movies did they like? Did they believe in God?
A bus driver, a lawyer, a housewife, a farmer,... How did their families and friends deal with their deaths? Jamie paused at that thought. It struck her as so ironic that their loved ones probably grieved over their deaths. Would they have grieved if they had known what really happens after people die?...
Headlights glared in Jamie’s eyes. She tried to prop herself up on one elbow so she could signal with her free hand. The car was only a tenth of a mile down the road and it was coming fast. She managed to shift her weight over to her right side and wave her left arm. The car raced by and the taillights disappeared behind her.
This wasn’t going to work. She was just too small to be seen. In one painful effort she forced herself into a sitting position, drew her knees up to her chin and wrapped her arms around her legs. She hoped it would be easier for a passing motorist to spot her sitting up. She drifted back to her reflections...
Death was a strange thing, wasn’t it? People spent their whole lives fearing it. Wouldn’t it be different if they knew the truth about death?... No! Maybe it wouldn’t be so different. After all, hadn’t she herself felt the fear of death only an hour or so ago? But why? It made no sense to her. Was it because death would foil her mission? Was it because of her own human weaknesses?
Fate had played such a bizarre trick on the six. How could things have gone so wrong? They never asked to bear the burden of their forbidden knowledge; it was just thrust upon them. She wondered what kind of torment they must have known as they tried to deal with it.
A weird thought crossed Jamie’s mind. She realized that every fiber of her existence was entangled with the six. She couldn’t help but wonder what life would have been like for her if Oren had lived. Then again, if he had, she knew she would never have known it. Even stranger was the realization that she wouldn’t even be Jamie if it weren’t for the actions of the six.
Headlights again! She waved her arm as wildly as she could... Please let them see me! Please!.. The car slowed down and pulled over on the shoulder a hundred feet past her. The driver got out and ran back to see what was wrong.
“Jesus!” he exclaimed. “Are you all right, sweetheart? What happened to you? You’re covered with blood.”
“I’m okay. Can you please take me to a telephone?”
He cringed at the thought of her blood-soaked body staining the upholstery of his brand new car. Besides, there was something terribly wrong here.
“Just wait right here, honey. I’ll run down the road and call for help. Are you injured? Where did all that blood come from?”
Jamie couldn’t face the idea of telling the story to him and then having to tell it all over again to the police. She just needed him to summon help.
“I’ll be okay,” she assured him. “Just go ahead and get help. Please hurry!”
He ran back to his car and sped away. Jamie watched as the car disappeared from view. She felt a sense of relief knowing that help would soon be on the way.
She wasn’t certain how much time had elapsed before the police arrived. She must have dozed off.
“Don’t move, dear,” the husky voice warned. “An ambulance is on the way. Where are you hurt?”
Her eyes opened to the sight of a policeman kneeling over her. Somehow she was lying on her back, but she didn’t remember being moved.
“I’m okay,” she insisted. “I need to call home.”
A flashlight beam blinded her momentarily and she raised her arm to shield her eyes.
“Don’t, Paul,” the policeman urged his partner. “Just turn on the headlights of the car. And see what’s taking that damned ambulance so long.”
A moment later everything was bathed in light. The second policeman returned and looked Jamie over from head to toe while he reported to his partner.
“The ambulance is a couple minutes away, Joe. Say, I think I recognize her. Aren’t you Jamie Meyers?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“The APB?” Joe asked Paul.
“Yeah,” Paul answered. “I’ll call it in right now.”
The sound of the siren was audible. A minute later the paramedics were on the scene.
“What have we got here?” one of them asked while shining a small light into Jamie’s eyes.
“I’m fine,” Jamie protested. “I don’t want an ambulance. I just want to call home.”
Steven Pein
Copyright 1995
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