Heartbreaker!

"A lucky break?" I asked, hearing it made me feel weary; what could they mean?

"Yes! A lucky break indeed!" The being suddenly stood up from the bench and gallantly lunged forward onto a knee; as if they were performing in a play. 

"It's simple, I'll allow you to spin the Wheel of Life, just once, as a way of recouping for your tragic end and setting things back in place," The being snapped their fingers, and a drape fell from the roof. 

The velvet red drape then curtained away, revealing a massive, gaudy spinning wheel; like that you'd see in a gameshow. 

I gawked at the spinning wheel. On it were thousands of possible titles colored in gold, and on each title, there was a small paragraph of written text explaining what it was. 

"Genius: Be born with the aptitude to change the world." One title read. 

"Star: Be born blessed with a talent that can rule the masses." Another read.

"Angel: Be born beautiful and the center of desire." As I finished reading that one, my eyes trailed over to a specific one colored in an ominous inky black. 

"Bottom feeder: Be born cursed ugly, talentless, and hated by the world." It read, I felt my stomach drop as I finished reading it; it sounded all too familiar. 

"Mm, it seems you've gravitated towards that one." The being cooed as it caught me eyeing the black title. 

"What do I do?" I asked them, trying my best to ignore the black title as I focused my attention on the wheel as a whole. 

"Just spin it, and whatever you land on, you'll be reborn as that in place of 'Lee Lozer'." They explained. 

"In place of 'Lee Lozer'? As in, I would relive my life as someone else?" I asked them. 

"Exactly, you're getting it now," They cheered as they did a little clap. 

I stared at the wheel, my life as Lee Lozer was already over. I was probably already dead lying in that hospital bed right now. So why did I feel as though I had unfinished business? It was an unshakeable feeling, this burden that sat on my shoulders. 

I thought back to Ria, how I felt about her, and how I had come to the realization that we had met; brief as it were.

She knew my name and made me feel human. 

But then, there was Eric. 

Eric and Ria were in a secret relationship, and I was the one who had found out. 

On paper, it made sense. Why wouldn't the prettiest girl in school be going out with the star of the soccer team? They probably kept it a secret to keep the word going out to her Father, the headmaster. 

Then, if I knew all that... why did it make my heart feel like it was going to break?

Did I honestly believe that out of all the possibilities in the universe, I could've had a chance with Ria Goodgarden? That because she treated me with common decency she would pity me enough to venture out on a date? That somehow, someway, I would convince her to date me?

My head felt hot with anger, anger not at Eric, but at myself; I was a pathetic, hopeless loser. 

"Losers don't win. So this time, please, let me be a winner," I muttered to myself as I took a step forward, a conviction in my fury as I grabbed the peddle and spun the wheel. 

The being and I watched as the Wheel of Life spun for what felt as though minutes. It spun past many titles, titles that made my heart sink and others that made me feel like I'd float in the air. 

After what was five minutes or so, the wheel had finally begun to slow down... 

It ticked and passed Genius...

It ticked and passed Star...

It ticked and passed Angel...

"..."

Out of all the titles that were on the wheel, the tick stopped dead on the one I feared the most.

"Ouch, what poor luck," The being grimaced as they stared at the black title.

"Well, what can you do? Them's the works," They joked as they snapped their fingers, draping the Wheel of Life once again. 

"Any last words before we get you on your next flight?" They asked me, but I wasn't there. 

I wasn't here, or there, or anywhere. 

My mind was somewhere else altogether. 

"Please, please... please let me spin one more time." I fell to the floor, begging to the being. 

"Nnyeh, I dunno kid, it'd be a bit of stretch to let you spin one more time," They said as they scratched their head dismissively. 

"I can't live through this hell one more time, I can't! I just CAN'T!" I wailed to them, but they weren't budging. 

"Look, I already bent some rules letting you spin once, champ. Any more and I'll get in some hot water," They explained as they began to let the drape pull up into the roof.

No, I wasn't going to let this happen. I wasn't going to let them dictate how my life was going to be, no, no, NO!

"H-hey, what're you doing!?" They shouted at me as I ran past them, latching onto the ascending drape. 

"Let me spin! I swear, I'll do anything! I'LL BECOME THE PIG THAT FLIES!!!" I screamed as tried my hardest to hold on, but the velvet drape had a mind of its own as it slipped me off; I went crashing hard down to the ground. 

I lay there motionless, looking up at the roof flat on my back; the drape and the Wheel of Life had disappeared into nothing.

"Mm, anything you say?" The being walked up to me, their face shifting into many as they gazed deep into mine. 

"Anything..." I whispered, the hope in me leaving with it. 

"Well, why didn't you say so sooner?" They cackled as they effortlessly picked me up from the ground. 

"Okay, let's make this quick. I'll be letting you use my 'personal' Wheel of Life for this, the one you just used is rigged for the other shmucks,"

"It was rigged!?" I bitterly shouted.

"Hey keep your voice down! They can hear us y'know, or are you trying to be reborn as a loser again??" They angrily whispered to me as from their hands, they twisted their palms together to reveal a miniature version of the Wheel of Life.

"It's identical to the floor model, but I've made a few tweaks to even the odds for a true 'lucky break'," They said as they pointed to the tiny peddle where I would need to use my finger to spin it.

But I stopped myself just short of spinning it. 

"W-What's the catch? And who's 'they'!?" I asked them, I had a feeling I had just sold away my soul. 

"Nothing major, I'll just be keeping an eye on you; for entertainment purposes. And don't worry about it, I'll make sure 'they' never find out about our little deal," They explained. 

"Wait what?" 

"Just spin the damn thing already!" They hissed as they grabbed my hand and used it to pull the peddle. 

Due to its size, it spun at a faster rate than that of the other Wheel of Life. My heart raced as I recognized the titles pass on by as the tick spun. Within a minute, it had already begun to slow down again...

It ticked and passed Genius...

It ticked and passed Star...

It ticked and passed Angel...

"No, no, no..." I was in disbelief as the tick was about to stop once again on the dreaded Bottom feeder. 

"Jeez, what're the odds? Guess it's time for some divine intervention," The being muttered as they gently flicked the Wheel, causing it to just barely skip the black title. 

We both watched as the tick landed on a title that I hadn't noticed before. 

"Heartbreaker...?" I read aloud. 

"Heartbreaker! Oooh, that's a good one," The being noted as they quickly twisted their palms again, making the wheel disappear into thin air. 

"W-Wait, I haven't read what it does yet!" I protested, but they only shrugged. 

"Don't worry, it's pretty self-explanatory once you've done the swap," They explained as they grabbed me by my collar. 

"Swap? Wait--" Before I could say anything else, they pushed me back. I had suddenly found myself sitting and buckled into my seat on an airplane. 

"N-No, let me out of here, I-I-I need to know what's going to happen to me!" I cried out as I tried to unbuckle myself, but it didn't give. 

"Sit back, buckle up, and enjoy the ride into the next life," The being spoke over the raspy intercom. 

The next thing I knew, I woke up to the sound of a beeping alarm.