Fading Sun

Prologue

I never imagined in my short miserable life this would be the way I died...
not like this...
Never like this.
I kinda half expected it to be at the hands of my drunken abusive alcoholic father. I remembered heading to my cousin (and only friend) Abbey's sweet sixteen... her family had decided to do it the weekend AFTER her actual birthday since it was on a school day, it was a stormy evening in May in the town of Savannah, Georgia where I grew up.

I was listening to the radio and the song "She's so high above me" came on on the rewind station... my mom loved that song. It made me start tearing up... she had died when I was a little girl, died from cancer... I didn't remember much about her except for bits and pieces of memories trying to be remembered, like the song... I don't know how I remembered it, I had mental images of it playing in the car on the way to visit my grandma with my mom one spring Saturday morning... the daffodils and daisies and daylilies in her garden, the brook going through the woods behind her house out in the country... it was one of the few memories I still had of her and it was only a fragment of it, but I remembered it so vividly.
I guess that's why I didn't see the drunk asshole coming right at me.
Why I didn't know what happened when I opened my eyes to an all white room, empty except for a couple portraits on the wall, a potted palm, a chair, and a desk.
"You may sit Autumn..." said a gentle voice... I knew that voice.
"mama...???" I said quietly, and I saw her in the chair opposite the desk, tears welling up in her eyes,
"Hello my darling..."
I started sobbing,
"I'm dead aren't I...daddy killed me didn't he?!?"
my mother shushed me,
"no no no... you were in an accident... drunk driver... it happened so quickly you didn't feel a thing."
I gulped back the sobs, I finally had mama back, and I didn't have to deal with him ever again...
"oh... poor Abbey..."
"I know... but unfortunately sweetie I have more bad news..."
my eyes widened in shock
"Autumn... so many babies are being born right this moment that there's no way you can be reborn right now..."
I was floored, but I held onto hope,
"then how long will I have to wait?"
"the minimum is 50 years... three times the usual wait time here... usually it's only about 10-15 years so they give those in purgatory a temporary job here to keep them busy in the meantime... like me... I'm a secretary here in the purgatory area in the realm of the passed."
I was shocked,
"Oh." I said quietly, not sure what to say. She'd be gone long before I would be considering how long she'd been here... and I would have no one.
"But... given the rare circumstances surrounding your death, and how tragic and quick it was... the higher ups have decided to give you a very rare opportunity."
My eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and she continued
"Autumn... you can stay here and wait for a spot to open up on our version of Earth... and start over from scratch as a baby, or you can be put in a family of one of many alternate versions of Earth and have a chance at a better life than the one you were given... new memories... new place... your father won't be there to hurt you anymore-"
"but I forget you don't I...?" I said, and she frowned sadly,
"If it gives you a second chance and you are happy... it's worth it to me." she said, and I frowned,
"Mama... I'll pick the second option... but before I do... I missed you so much... and I love you."
She got up from her chair and hugged me, tears leaking from her eyes,
"I know... and I love and missed you too... it'll be okay in the end I just know it."
And that was the last time I saw her, the last thing I remembered...
then everything went black.