"Sam, don't forget to complete the draft for tomorrow's editorial. I'd hate to hear him screaming at me again." Henry was sitting at his office chair proofreading the news article that was about to go live the next day. Being a nationally famed magazine, the company commanded a higher standard and most articles were edited over ten to fifteen times before publishing. Even then sometimes the mistakes make it to the paper and the editors would receive a loud scolding every other day.

Henry was already tired from the continuous work. He was supposed to get back home by the end of the day shift but sadly 'the chief's kid ran into trouble' and he had no choice but to cover for him at least until he got back.

'7 already?' Henry let out a sigh and put his reader down. 'That's all there for today.' He slowly got up and walked towards the balcony picking a cigarette packet from his bag. Pulling one out by the bud, Henry leaned on the railing lit it and took a puff. 'How long is he going to keep me here?' While his thoughts ran wild, Henry's phone rang.

"Henry, it's me. I will be a little late. Did you check out the editorial for tomorrow?" 'Here it comes. Sam, this one is on you again.' He let go another smoke ring and answered after a short sigh, "Sorry chief, Sam said he wanted to go through it once more. He said he will bring it over tomorrow morning." "That's fine. I should be back by 9. Could you hold it a little longer? Jessie got caught drinking again." "No problems here chief. Take your time." "Thanks, Henry. See you later."

Henry took out his phone and opened his favourite live streaming app. He smiled looking at a girl playing a generic shooter game. "Chief, you should at least make sure your lies are foolproof," he said loudly to the night sky. He put out the cigarette and threw the bud over towards the line of decorative shrubs below. 'It will decay in a few days.' Henry walked back in, refreshed.

'Two more hours,' Henry thought looking at the time on the corner of his laptop screen. With nothing else to do, he pulled up an old school MMO with little graphics. It was an ancient hit. With the younger generation slowly moving on to better graphic games, this gem had slowly lost its glory and was pushed back. To Henry, it shared a few of the treasured memories that he had. The nostalgic feelings, the friendships he built, playing with his friends even on the eve of their semester exams, to Henry it was those memories that kept dragging him come back to this universe.

He loaded his character and roamed around the virtual town. There were still a lot of players and Henry could identify most of them. They too were like him, reminiscing the past glory that they all were a part of.

"Henry, you are back again. Wanna go raid the Moveni Dungeon?" One of his close online friends, Fred asked him through the message system, seeing him come online.

"Sorry, can't do. I'm still at work." The dungeons were great and he did want to run it again but Henry knew it would take at least 3-4 hours to finish a single run.

"Your chief dumping the night shift on you again?" Fred asked. "Looks like it. I hope not but there is a high chance I will be stuck here all night." Henry replied and then continued, "you guys go on without me. Me and Sis ran that dungeon yesterday night. Don't forget to let me know if a red item drops."

"No problem man. Hopefully, that asshole grows a conscience and bale you out." He wrote and closed the chatbox.

"I don't think so," Henry mumbled before he quit the game looking at the time which was already close to a quarter to eight. He got up again and walked to the can dispensary at the office corner to grab a diet coke. 'Looks like I'll be stuck here for another night.' He took the cold can and walked towards the restroom dragging his sleeping bag.

As long as no important events were happening he wouldn't have to get up till the next morning and could have a nap. Although the place is a little cramped it was still better than sleeping on the desk. He set an alarm and crawled into the sleeping bag. Sleep gradually took over and soon he started snoring loudly.

Henry had a good night's sleep. There was nothing to disturb him and as usual, his boss didn't come over to disturb him. It would have been a perfect night if he was on his six-foot-long bed on which he could stretch a little bit more. At least no mosquitoes were swarming around his head as usual.

The sleep was perfect. Exactly what he needed. And slowly he woke up. Only, he wasn't sleeping in his sleeping bag but was on a perfectly white floor. The room was extremely bright but he couldn't find any light sources. There was no furniture either. An ebony wooden door stood out almost as if inviting him over to open it. Confused, Henry was rooted on the spot trying to figure out what happened.

"Don't keep me waiting anymore. Come out. It's your time." A deep male voice resounded out from the door forcing Henry to slowly get up. He walked towards the door. Although he was walking towards the door, the gravity of the place was slightly off making Henry feel as if he was floating. Henry eagerly grabbed the doorknob, trying to get out of the alien room. He already had an assumption about what happened. Only he had already paid off his loans. There was no reason for the loan sharks to kidnap him. 'This must surely be a misunderstanding.'

Out through the door and the first thing Henry felt was the familiar gravity that he was used to. The burst of colours made Henry even more pleasant. At least the room wasn't filthy. He was confident that these people weren't going to kill him off now. He still had a chance to clear up the misunderstanding.

"Take a seat." Said the deep-voiced elder sitting across the table. Henry hurried towards him. The burly bodyguards who stood right behind the older gentleman had already made Henry gulp a little saliva.

"Sir, sorry. This is all a misunderstanding." Henry tried to explain himself the moment he got a chance. Seeing the old guy staring at him he knew this was his one last chance. Naturally, Henry tried to explain to the best of his abilities. "I had already paid the last settlement on Wednesday. I do have the receipt back home. If you could just let me go back home I wouldn't mind bringing it back to you. Please." Seeing the gentleman raise his right palm motioning him to stop Henry suddenly became quiet.

"Henry Roberson? Age 34?" The old man asked, pulling on his long and narrow beard.

"Yes sir. That's me." Henry said. Suddenly he was at a loss. He had no idea why he was here anymore. 'Is this not the debt collectors?'

"Kid, you happened to pass away as your factory got caught in the fire. You are a deep sleeper so you mostly didn't feel anything when you died. I must say, it was quite a peaceful way to die." The gentleman explained his purpose of bringing Henry to this pristine white room.

Apparently, there was a delay in the rebirth cycle and as such, it became impossible to send Henry back to the earth on his seventh cycle. There was an issue with the delivery cranes malfunctioning.

"So, Henry. Here is the new picture. We have a new world out there that we plan to populate and it requires a little bit more humans. Mind you it's still a work in progress so you should expect a little trouble from time to time. Since you just have one last lap of rebirth to complete the rebirth cycles, I want to offer you an opportunity. Are you willing to take up the offer?" The elderly gentleman asked politely.

"Do you need my permission?" Henry was a little doubtful. To him, this felt a little like a tv troupe. Henry was already expecting a cameraman and a few clowns to jump out from the corner and scream and laugh at him any time soon. 'The paycheck better be heavy.'

"Well yes. I do need your permission to deviate you from the natural cycle of rebirth. After all, it is your life. It won't be for nothing. I can grant you a little help from time to time if you end up in any troubles. Mind you your other option is to sit in that white room till you pass through the last cycle of life." He quickly ran through the notes on the table and continued, "well according to these numbers it's anywhere from 60 to 90 years trapped in a white room. Of course, it's still your decision." His hand started fondling his long beard involuntarily.

"I don't want to be stuck in a room." There was a little smile on Henry's face. He decided to play along this time.

"Ok then. That will do. This won't take long. By the way, do you want to start as a child or do you want to just continue from your current age? The natural laws are slightly different from here so I recommend starting from a child to get a feel to the place."

"Whatever." Henry was almost at the end of his patience when suddenly he felt sleepy and crumbled to the floor. In his drowsy state, he felt someone grabbing him by the neck and a distant voice.

"Child it is then..."

*****