" Shit happens"

Anonymous

The bus reached the intersection of 97^th street and 119^th avenue. Suddenly, a pickup truck barreled through the turn on 97^th. Ash was sliding over to hide under the seat next to him as the truck slammed into the bus. It impacted the left-hand side emergency window and sent jagged shards of glass throughout the inside of the bus. Phil was killed immediately by the force of the collision. The flying glass tore Ash’s left calf and foot to shreds. He blacked out.

Ash came out of the darkness. He lay under the seat on the bus. In the distance, he could hear sirens wailing. When he tried to get up, a lightning bolt of pain coursed through his former leg. The voice from his head returned.

"Here, this will help." The pain disappeared as quickly as it came. Before he fainted again, Ash felt a pair of hands carrying him from the twisted remains.

He awoke in a dark room. The pain had returned.

"OWWWWWW! What the hell is going on?"

A young woman appeared across the room. She walked towards him. She spoke in a voice he had only heard before in his head.

" Hello Ash. We have waited a long time for this moment."

" You, you’re the voice from my head!"

" Good, I see your brain wasn’t hurt too much in the collision. Not like you’d notice very much anyway."

" What is that supposed to mean?" Ash tried to get up. His injured leg screamed at him. "OW!"

" Don’t even try to get up."

" Who are you?"

" I have been called many things by you humans. The Greeks called me Chaos. In your time, I am called Fate. I like that name."

" Why were you talking to me in my head?"

" The cause dictates that I save you in this your most desperate of hours."

" What?"

" You were supposed to die today, Ash. You’re quite literally a walking dead man. Well, limping anyway."

" Really?"

" That’s right. You, Phil, most everyone on that bus, were supposed to die today. Order declared it."

" Phil’s dead? Why?"

" Order declared it. Weren’t you listening?"

" Why am I alive when they’re all dead?"

" Like I said before, Ash, you are integral to the cause."

" What the hell is this ‘cause’ thing you keep blabbering on about?"

" The cause is the only thing that keeps us here. The cause is everything. The cause rights wrongs in the world."

" Kinda like Quantum Leap!"

" What?"

" On that show, Dr. Sam Beckett traveled into other people’s bodies throughout time to right wrongs that had been inflicted upon them. Damn cool show."

" Well Ash, you get to keep your own body…"

" Sweet. I didn’t want it to be that much like Quantum Leap. They always put him in drag."

" Shut up. So as I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted, was that we are going to right a wrong soon. Phil."

" Hey, Fate, Phil isn’t really all that bad. I wouldn’t call him a wrong. He’s more of a ne’er do well, I think."

" Phil isn’t the wrong. It happened to him. He didn’t deserve to die today. You did."

" Wha?!"

" You’re a disgusting, insulting coward who won’t shut up. If you weren’t the only one who could do this, you would be dead along with Phil."

" Why Fate, I’m blushing!"

" See, you’re doing it again! Now listen here, you little bastard, I didn’t choose you to do this job. Gaia chose you. Not me. Apparently, she sees some worth in you. I don’t."