A new lease on life

As I watched the cars going by, my legs swaying, I thought back to the events that brought me here

It wasn't anything new, you could actually call it old, as in same old same old

My parents were arguing drunk again, it was the usual, at least once every two days, sometimes it was multiple days back to back, starting Friday ending Monday, hell sometimes it went longer

There was also the rare times of respite, it usually happened when they ran out of money and they couldn't buy anything to drink

This time it was one of those bad times, I think today was the 3rd day they were drunk in a row, I'm honestly not even sure, I stopped paying much attention to the both of them at some point

They started arguing again, screaming at each other about something or other, I got tired of listening, and besides it was usually about the same things so what's the point, it's like listening to a broken record

And so as I was lying in bed reading some novel while listening to music to drown out their voices, I guess something snapped

I got up, dressed the first clothes I found in my drawer, put my phone in my pocket and went out the door

I'd be surprised if they even noticed me going out

When I noticed I was already here, sited on the railing, legs swaying and humming a tune, to my back was the sea, and in front of me was the highway

You probably guessed by now that I was on a bridge

I looked over my shoulder and glanced at the sea behind me before turning my head by to the front and stopping my swaying legs before leaning back a bit

Then I was falling, watching the bridge getting farther and farther away I could feel my heartbeat speeding up as the adrenaline started pumping in my blood as time seemed to slow down

I guess this is what people mean by 'Your life flashing before your eyes'

As I fell I started remembering the path that took me here, all the people that helped me along the way, my grandma, my uncle, my mom and my step-dad even though they are kind of the cause, but still, I don't really blame them, and my sister

I kind of feel bad when I think back on my sister, but I hope she doesn't blame herself for this

As the flashback ends I close my eyes and feel a soft smile come to my lips before brief flash of pain and then nothing

I wait for a bit before opening my eyes and taking in my surroundings

It was... what I expected I guess, an all-white space with nothing in it, kinda cliché honestly

"That's not really nice, you know, even if it's true" Said a male voice

I looked around for the source of the voice

"Ah, sorry, I forgot to create an avatar" The voice said in an apologetic tone

As I looked around still searching I turned my head only to see a man suddenly next to me and jumping slightly in fright

The man started laughing and said "You should see your face!" before continuing laughing

I started scowling slightly before responding

"I'd like to see you having someone show up next to you out of nowhere and seeing your reaction... No wait, who are you actually?"

The man chuckled for a bit before answering "Sorry, sorry, I usually don't get many visitors up here, as for your question I guess I would be what you call a God?"

I frowned and opened my mouth and closed it before thinking of an appropriate response

"Is it... Is it normal for a God to be talking to me? Not that I'm complaining but you'd think the process of dying is somewhat automated, what with the number of people that die every minute in the world..."

The God raised an eyebrow in what looked like amusement

"And you'd be right, but once in a while we God's decide to help a soul or two along, as I'm sure you can imagine eternity can be a fairly boring ordeal, and as such some God's grant souls some of their wishes by using a bit of their power"

Wait then...

"T-Then, that's, this...?"

The God grinned "Yup"

I felt my mouth drop and my mind went blank

I heard the God start laughing again "Dude, you make the funniest faces"

What face am I supposed to make in this situation!?

He started laughing harder

I sighed and felt my face become hotter and itchy so I rubbed my face with my hand before saying "I forgot that you can read my mind..."

The God slowly stopped laughing and took a deep breath "Alright then let me see what your wishes were again... Ah right, the power to travel to fiction worlds and the other which you called Gemini, right?"

I nodded to his words

Gemini, I guess, stemmed from me wanting a companion, someone I could trust and would understand me

What Gemini is, or does I guess, is that it divides the soul in two essentially making a copy of me while maintaining a connection between the two, this connection would be used for the automatic sharing of knowledge and the voluntary share of thoughts when desired

The way the sharing of knowledge is that taking, for example school, if I study a certain subject, what I end up learning during my study would be automatically shared to my Gemini and vice-versa, the same would happen in, say, football, if I learned from practice that a certain way of kicking was better than another or just got better at the sport overall from practice, my Gemini would get the same transmitted to him in a form of muscle memory along with the knowledge

The God nodded and smiled "The power to travel to fiction worlds is a classic to be honest, we Gods actually created a system template due to how frequent that wish was, as for Gemini, that is quite an original wish, I don't think it's ever been requested before, so it's a bit more complicated but still easy enough"

At his words I released a breath of relief I didn't even realist I was holding

I heard the God chuckle "Relax, your wishes are actually quite simple compared to some that I've heard, is there anything else you wish"

I thought for a bit before saying "If possible, I'd like to be born as I was in this life, I wanna try to repeat it again and try for a better outcome"

The God seemed slightly surprised at that "That's a bit surprising for someone that committed suicide"

I let out a bitter smile "I think the pressure got to me, breaking down my defenses bit by bit, I don't even properly remember going to the bridge, only remember getting dressed and getting out, next thing I know I'm at the bridge sitting in the railing"

The God watched me with what seemed a sympathetic look before sighing and nodding "Like your other wishes this is also pretty simple to do, due to the Infinite number of universes" He shook his head in amusement "The Multiverse really is a convenient thing"

My eyes widened slightly "So the Multiverse really exists..."

The God chuckled and nodded "It does, not exactly as you know it but close enough, if you think of it as infinite universes you should get the idea of how it works eventually"

I nodded blankly trying to fit that in my head

He then clapped his hands making me jump slightly "Now I'm going to create your Gemini so prepare yourself, as this is gonna hurt, splitting your soul in two is no walk in the park after all"

And hurt it did, dying was nothing compared to this, it felt like my existence, my core was threatened which in hindsight was kind of true

When I the pained stopped and I came to, I realized that I was on the ground covered in sweat and I could feel or better yet I 'knew' there was someone beside me

I laid down on the ground for a bit more before I heard the God speak again

"Huh, I didn't actually think your hair would go white, what do you guys call it back in your world? Marie Antoinette syndrome?"

I looked blankly at him for a moment before hesitantly nodding "Y-Yes, I think so"

Hearing my voice I realized that I was probably screaming all throughout the process as it was raspy and my throat felt sore

Probably noticing my confusion he handed me a mirror which he got from who knows where and when I looked at my reflection I understood what he meant

Well first of all, my overall appearance was as haggard as could be, my eyes were bloodshot and my hair looked like I went through a hurricane and came back out, but what stood out the most was its color as instead of the black that I was used to it was now a snow white

If I'm going to be honest with myself I do have to admit that it looked pretty cool

Still wouldn't go through it again just for the white hair though

Looking to the side I looked at the reason why I went through the soul splitting

"Is he okay? Shouldn't he be... you know, awake?" I ask, still looking at my Gemini lying on the floor

The God nodded "He is okay, but he'll only wake up after your rebirth, his soul is currently unstable leaving him unconscious at the moment, yours is as well but only to lesser degree, both of your souls will be restored to normal levels as you are birthed again so you shouldn't need to worry about side effect due to soul splinting"

I nodded absently in response

It felt like I was dreaming, the sheer absurdity that the ability I thought up had become an actual thing was, honestly, dumbfounding, humbling even

Honestly, I think I'm taking this whole ordeal pretty calmly if I do say so myself

The God chuckled and shook his head in amusement "Well, since we're already talking about appearances is there something you want to change about yours?"

Hearing that, I focused my attention back on the mirror he had given me

Is there something I want to change in my appearance... I never really had any problems with my appearance, if I had to describe it in one word it would be average

No conspicuous features in a good or bad way, just a normal face overall

But as I looked at my face over the mirror something didn't fit, I guess the contrast was making me slightly uncomfortable

"Can you make my eyes a light blue? The dark brown eyes feel off with the white hair"

The God nodded with a smile before snapping his fingers "There you go"

I looked back to the mirror again noting the difference in my eyes and nodded approvingly

"I guess that's it then?" I asked

The God nodded "Yes, the gateway system should awaken around the time you turn 10, it's also semi sentient so you can ask it for help should you have any doubts"

I nodded to his words storing the information for future reference in a corner of my mind

"Well then I wish you good luck in your new life, I hope you'll find this one more enjoyable than your last" The God finished with a small wave of his hand

Before I knew it my vision started fading and I lost consciousness