The Kraken's Spire Literary Magazine (Volume 1)

Riley panicked. “Please don’t say it. Oh, god. I remember now. It hurts, but
I remember.”
“Sorry, kid. I gotta read it aloud. It’s part of the job, you know.” The skeleton
gave the paper a flick of his finger. “Not trying to embarrass ya, just trying to
get ya through the process.”
Her mind began to shut down. This was survival tactics at its most extreme.
“Hey, stay with me, kid. We’re almost done. SO. You give her the finger
guns, a little ‘Hey Piper, what time we meetin’ at my place?’ and then…you
slip on some spilled ice and plummet three stories to your death. And now
you’re here. With me. In this small office in a weird little waiting room in the
cracks of the universe. And now…business.”
The skeleton pulled out a poster board with three options listed on three separate
panels and held it aloft.
“Based on your circumstances and your last life, I’ve got three options arranged
for you, kid. You choose.”
She glanced at each option quickly.
“I just choose one of these and then that’s it? I’m in my next life? No review?
No ‘Hey, better luck next time!’ or ‘You really swung for the fences this time!’
Nothing like that? Or even a ‘Here’s what you did wrong and here’s how to fix
it?’”
“Oh no, nothing like that. We’re in the reincarnating business, not the review
business. You gotta go to Yelp for that stuff, but be careful.” The skeleton
dropped to a whisper, leaning across the desk towards Riley. “I hear that sometimes
the people writing the reviews didn’t even know you in your last life.
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