He felt pushed into the dark room and fell to the floor. It seemed to bend under his weight and he felt no pain. Yet, when he stood up it was firm under his feet. What was this place? Why was he here? He tried to remember the sequence of the events. The pelting rain… the bus stop… trying to see if the bus was coming… the dark blue sedan skidding out of control… towards him… “Oh, God! I died! I died! That’s what happened. And here… here I am waiting to go to Heaven… or Hell.” “Is there anybody here? Anybody else?” he asked loudly, and yet he didn’t seem to have opened his mouth. But his voice had rang out clearly. “Just me… So, you’re finally speaking up. You’ve accepted what you are. That’s good.” “But I don’t know what I am! Honestly, what am I?” “A Mind. You died before you could accomplish everything that you can do. You may have a great role to play… but you died before you could get there… I don’t know… But you are here, in the Waiting Room, and you will stay here until you find a soul. Then you will be born into another person, and you will achieve what you have to achieve.” “I see. So… that’s how it is. Indeed I am working on a…” He felt a vicious grasp around his throat and he could not speak a word. It was strange, for he could breathe. But he could not speak. “God, what was that?! Somebody caught me by the throat!” “You cannot speak of the things which you have not accomplished yet. For if you were to speak of them, I might create them instead of you, and we would both be lost.” “A-ha! So… how long have you been waiting in here?” “I don’t know… there is no day or night here, no clocks…. Time has no value here… I remember I died in the war… they started using those horrible things… canons… It was a lovely spring afternoon in 1916…” “1916???? You’ve been waiting in here for over 100 years!” “It is possible, yes. But I feel a soul will come along soon.” “Why does it take so long? I mean, a lot of people die…” “Most souls go to the Final Judgment. A few, very, very few, are sent back on Earth. These are souls who have not reached the spiritual elevation which allows them to stand judgment. Souls of children, teenagers…” “If I think only of all the abortions performed every day, and it should be swarming with souls in here.” “Oh, those are pure souls… they go straight to heaven. But think of all those kids who have done some bad things... and then got killed in a fire or car accident… They have not yet got to the point to do good things and be eligible for judgment. It would not do to punish a 14-year-old… So he gets another chance, another life… And we also get this chance.” The older Mind became silent. He was looking intently towards a door. “When that door opens, and a shiny form of a human stands in the doorframe, that’s a soul. You go towards it and grab it…. And in 9 months from now you will be born.” “How do you know all these things?” “The Mind who was here before me told me. We are bound to pass this information to the next Mind who comes in.” As they were speaking, the door began to open. The both jumped to their feet. “A soul! A soul!” shouted the older Mind. “Finally, a soul!” “I’ll take that! I have important things to achieve! I can’t sit here for 100 years!” “Stand back! I was here before you. I have the right to take this soul! It is mine!” You stand back! I will save millions of people with my invention! The world needs me more than you!” He pushed the older Mind and reached out for the silvery shape of a man. He had reached it, grabbed it, and he felt drawn out of the door. At the last moment, the older Mind put out his hand, grabbed him and his sharp nails tore viciously at his face and left arm. But he could not hold on. With one firm push, he was thrown back, while the other was holding onto the soul. “I will be someone important, someone famous! And you can’t stop me!” Nine months later a child was born into the real world – with a horribly mutilated face and left arm. Nobody wanted him, so he became a Nobody.