Introduction to God...

"I can't believe you right now! What the hell are you doing out there? Can't you even sustain a mere customer adviser job?", his wife shouted at him after he told her that he was fired from his job, again.

Ryan had been married for over 2 years now. He married Susan when he was 25. Having been coworkers for a year, their romance went up level by level and ended up in marriage. They were working together in a fine IT company until it went bankrupt and everyone had to pack their materials. Even though he was qualified to land another job, he didn't have the time as Susan just had a child and he had to take care of both of them, and they had just enough savings to support them for a month.

Afterwards, when he went around to look for jobs, vacancies were already filled and he had no choice but to look for other non-technical jobs. For a year he worked in an insurance selling company, but since he couldn't make enough sales, he was fired. Then he took a customer service job, where he just had to advise and troubleshoot problems related to computers, laptops etc, but he was fired again after a few months.

"Seriously, neither you let me work, nor can you sustain a job. This can't go on, Ryan!" The fight went on for days when eventually, they divorced and she went away to live with her parents along with the child. He didn't fight for the custody of the child as he himself wasn't confident of taking care of him (the child was a boy :)

After the divorce, Ryan was devastated, he'd lost three jobs, his wife left him along with the child, and there still were no vacancies available. He had lost all motivation and was just spending the nights drinking away in the bars. He was fed up of his life and was on the brink of breaking down. The stress had taken too much of a load on him, even causing him to have suicidal thoughts sometimes.

On one such day, he was standing on the railing of a bridge. After contemplating for a while, he stepped down and sighed, "I don't even have the courage to leap forward, what the hell should I do...?"

He sighed again, and started walking away, when he saw a 10$ note fluttering on the oncoming side of the road. With a new shine on his face, he smiled. At least he didn't have to die that day. "Guess I'll drink away the night again today and try dying tomorrow...". While he picked the note, a speeding truck, chased by the cops came hurtling towards him. He was just able to say "Oh Fu-" and BAMMM!!!

He was hurtled into the air a few metres above the ground and then into the river under the bridge. He passed away while drowning into the river. Last thing he saw was the sparkling surface of the river due to city lights.

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"Huh! why is it so dark?!" Ryan couldn't open his eyes, feel his body or breathe. He was just...there.

"Why can't I speak, where are my arms...I can't feel anything!" He was starting to feel frantic and anxious. It was as if his whole consciousness was cut off from the surroundings. He was trying to walk or just move something, an arm, maybe, but it was as if he wasn't in control anymore.

"See, this always happens. Why do you always have to shape the souls as an orb, Seraph?"

"Huh, who's talking?", Ryan thought nervously. He was scared out of his wits now. Who were these people. By the way, did he just hear 'soul'? What the hell are they talking about? Who knows what they would do to him.

"You see, I am the God, and Seraph's my attendant. And yes you heard it correctly. We were talking about YOUR soul that is in the shape of an orb. And don't worry, we won't do anything to you... for now, that is." The voice replied in a calm way yet with authority.

"Huh! That means I've really died...hahhh...", Ryan sighed. He felt sort of relieved after hearing those words, after all, he did want to leave the suffocating world behind.

"Well, not really...Hmm, how to explain this...Mmm! Think of it in this way- A person, after dying, has his soul separated from the body, and travels to the netherworld, to receive its judgement. Then it forgets about its previous life and is again reincarnated into the cycle of life and death. Though, in your case, the soul wasn't separated properly, so Seraph here had to intervene. Now it is normal for a soul to not separate properly...though rare. Problem comes when it remembers after the judgement process is done. What do you remember that happened to you most recently? And for my sake, please provide him a body, Seraph. It is really inconvenient to hear his thoughts separately."

"Understood, sir", she said and provided Ryan with an ethereal body, upon the image of his previous life.

"Woah..." Even though Ryan couldn't touch anything he could now definitely feel his body and talk freely.

"What are your thoughts, eh? Pretty nice work, isn't it? So then, tell me what you remember." The God was really proud of Seraph. She was the peak of his creation and could simultaneously work on various problems at the same time, and was very precise with it too.

"Um...that I got hit by a truck and got flung into the river...and then...uh...darkness..." his head started throbbing as he tried to recollect what happened further. "I think, that's it...after that, I was here.", Ryan was somewhat accustomed to the situation and was trying hard not to look up. Afterall, he should be bending down in front of the God, right?

"See! So even though your body is dead, your soul isn't," the God declared. "Hmm...What should we do with you, huh? You have gained your memory of the past after your judgement has passed, so we can't reincarnate you to Earth again. Your memory may act up at the slightest bit of trauma. Hmmm, how about we do this. Let's send you to another world..."