Hello, fellow disciples! Today, we bring to you the story of Second Chances by Purple565Peony, our second-place contest winner for our Second Chances writing challenge!

You can check out Purple565Peony's winning contest entry here ➟➜

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"So, that's your answer?" the voice spoke in my head.

I must have been hallucinating from the blood loss.

"Yes," it took all my remaining will to force that single word from my lips.

"Granted." There was a touch of disappointment in the answer but that could have been my imagination.

Then, as if recalling lately, the voice added, "I will choose where you get to restart and I will be with you, watching your every move."

I took that declaration as an indicator of permanent breach of privacy. However, I imagined this was in my head so, of course, I took it all with a grain of salt.

Nothing made sense. I closed my eyes to the world, hoping it would be my last time.

*****

I reopened my eyes to the familiar sight of the thatched straw roof overhead. I had a vague recollection of blood and fire as if in a distant dream.

We were lying on the coarse sedge grass mat that served as was our usual bedding. My son was still asleep by my side.

Beyond the gaps in the bamboo door, I could see the first rosy rays of dawn flitting down through the foggy morning air.

It was still cold outside. I pulled the light cotton blanket over my son - its many tatters had been ingeniously repaired over the years giving it an approximate embroidered appearance.

Time to start the day.

I took my plowing tools with me as I headed to the fields. Farming was not an easy life.

It was still the early hours but almost all of my neighbors had started working on their own patches of sharecropping lands.

We worked, plowed and grew our crops. However, at the end of the day the land and its produce belonged to the landowner who had rented it to us. With the recent monarchial "reforms", the taxes soared. Yet our people persevered under this heavy yolk of peasant life.

So far today, things had been uneventful.

I continued to work throughout the morning. My son brought our lunches later in the day. We sat and chatted under the mango tree as we ate our food.

That was when I first felt the uneasy strangeness return.

"I saw them by the water, dad," my son was saying, "There were two of them with white turbans on their heads. One of them had a spear in his hand."

Those words catalyzed my thoughts.

A scene flooded my mind with images of turbaned men on horseback, dressed in white. They galloped through our village, trampling helpless children and stabbing the defenseless rustics with their spears. They looted the village and set fire to many homes.

At the end, I saw one of the riders notice me. I began to run but the horse was faster. I felt the sharp edge of the spear pierce through my lungs. There was the taste of blood in my mouth...

...And the sound of the strange voice in my head.

"Where did you see them?" I asked my son.

"They were at the riverside. I hid in the bushes till they left."

I patted my boy on the head, "Good job, Hiron. Can you deliver an important message for me?"

"Yes!"

"Go to the headman and request his urgent audience. When he meets you, inform him of everything you saw. Can you do that?" it was risky sending Hiron on his own to meet the temperamental headman who lived two villages away but at the very least, that would keep him from interfering in my next course of action.

There was no time to be lost, I knew the enemy cavalry would attack at dawn.

In the meantime, we had to move the villagers to safety. At the very least the younger generation should be saved, I reasoned. To do that I had to convince the villagers.

The attacks would start in the south.

I took some of my neighbors to scout the situation. They were incredulous at first but when we saw the actual soldiers they were forced to face reality.

The cavalry was stationed around the river. They had found a hiding spot far south. There were almost two hundred men.

We returned to the village as soon as we could and began evacuation.

Children and women were sent to hide in the thick northern forests surrounding our village. We released our cattle and scattered them outside - for peasants, cattle and crops were our only means of livelihood.

The crop was vulnerable to fire but so long as the younger population survived, we would have a future. Many of the men, including me, prepared to defend the southern border. We armed ourselves with machetes and spades as we waited for our eventual deaths.

There was no denying our fates but we might slow them down.

*****

A deceptive peace prevailed on the next dawn. For hours, everything was still. Not even a stray breeze disturbed the silence.

Then we heard them. The two hundred strong cavalry marching towards us in a wave of sound and dust.

I barely lasted a minute as did most of my fellow guardians. Many tried to run at the last moment but were cut down like the rest.

As I lay panting for breath, I watched their confusion at the sight of the empty village. Our people did not remove any valuables in the hopes the little our village could offer would serve to distract the invaders.

The commander was shouting orders to burn the crops.

I did not have to watch for too long, a horse hoof plunged into my face and the world was dark.

*****

"Well, that was anti-climactic!"

I was floating in a void. I did not feel as drained as the last time I heard that voice.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"That's not important. Anyway, I have recorded your actions and will present them shortly to Chitragupta."

I flinched at the name. "Are you telling me this is the afterlife?"

"Bingo! You figured it out,"

"My son, the village...everyone,"

"I'm sorry but most of them did not survive. Your son died with you, remember?"

I swiftly felt the spear pierce through my chest again, my first death. As I fell, I saw Hiron get cut down by a merciless sabre a mere yard away from me.

"But I just saw him. He went to warn the village headman," I did not feel any emotion as I said that. My words were simple statements of perceived truth.

"No. That was just an illusion in your second chance," the voice informed, "But be at ease, the real Hiron was granted a quick rebirth. Children his age often don't have enough sin to warrant a trip to hell proper."

It gave me a minute to take in all that information before continuing, "For adults, we don't usually have to try this method either. They have enough sin or good deeds to balance one way or another. But every once in a while, we get a tricky one like you, just on the edge of good and evil."

My head was clearer now.

"Am I going to hell?" somehow that felt like an important question.

"Well, you did do pretty well out there. Just give it a minute,"

It stopped speaking and everything was quiet.

All around me was darkness. I could not see my body or feel it in any way.

The emptiness of my surroundings was seeping into me. My entire life had been a dream. The memories of it seemed like something that I had experienced through the eyes of another man.

Who was I? What had Hiron or the village meant to me? ... Who was Hiron?

"Sorry to keep you waiting," the voice called out, "You're in luck. Your second chance has received a positive view from the higher ups. That means you get to be reborn."

"Reborn? What does that mean?"

"Right, silly me, you must have forgotten all about your life by now."

"My life?"

"Nothing. Just know that you will be reborn now. Good luck!"

*****

Try as I might, there was nothing to remember. I could not shake the feeling that I was missing something. I cried out in frustration.

A man bent down to look at me, "Oh look, honey, he's awake now. Don't cry baby, mom and dad will keep you safe."

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Thank you for participating in the contest and congratulations on your placement, Purple565Peony!