I didn't expect to die from something as stupid as slipping on a wet grocery store floor, but that's exactly what happened. One second I was reaching for a bag of chips, the next I was flat on my back, looking at the ceiling lights like they were the gates of heaven.
But heaven didn't come.
When I opened my eyes again… I wasn't in a body.
I was tight. Snug. Wrapped around something soft. And everything was dark except for tiny slivers of light.
I tried to move.
I couldn't.
I wasn't a person anymore.
I was a goth girl's choker.
---
Chapter 1 — The Girl in Black
My new "owner" stood in front of a mirror, adjusting me around her pale neck. Long black hair, eyeliner sharp enough to be considered a weapon, silver rings on her fingers… she looked like she lived in a playlist of sad violins and heavy bass.
Her name was Raven.
Of course it was.
"Perfect," she whispered, tugging me slightly. "You look good today."
I look good? Lady, I used to be a full-grown human man. Now I'm hanging onto your neck like a fashion accessory.
Every time she moved, I felt it. Every heartbeat. Every breath. Every time she bent down to tie her boots, I was there like, hey, sorry if I'm choking you a little, we're both new to this.
---
Chapter 2 — The Secret
I started learning things. Like how Raven listened to metal in the morning and wrote poetry at night. How she pretended to be tough, but secretly got nervous at school. How she trusted almost nothing—except me.
Whenever she put me on, she'd whisper things she wouldn't tell anyone else.
"You're the only one that gets me."
Okay, well—technically I wasn't choosing to "get" her. I just didn't have ears, eyelids, hands, or freedom. But it was sweet.
One night, though, something changed.
Raven stood in front of her mirror and said, "I know you're alive."
If I had a throat, I would've gulped. Hard.
"I can feel it," she whispered. "There's something in you. Something watching."
Was she crazy? Psychic? Or did goth girls just naturally sense cursed fashion items?
She touched the little ring on the front of me. The metal sent a shock through my consciousness.
"Don't worry," she said. "I don't want to get rid of you. I want to know who you are."
---
Chapter 3 — The Awakening
That night, something glowed in her room — a faint purple light.
Raven held a book. Old, dusty, with a symbol that definitely wasn't FDA-approved.
"This is a spirit-binding grimoire," she said softly. "If you really have a soul… I can free you."
She placed her hand on me, closed her eyes, and spoke a word that felt like someone turning me back into electricity.
For the first time, I moved.
Not much—just a tremble in the metal ring. But it was enough.
Raven gasped. "You are alive."
I didn't have a voice, so I just rattled again like a baby tambourine with anxiety issues.
She smiled.
Not creepy.
Warm.
"I'll help you," she whispered. "I don't know who you were, but… you're part of my life now."
And she held me close, like I wasn't just a piece of leather and metal—but a friend.
---
Chapter 4 — A New Purpose
Days turned into weeks.
Raven wore me everywhere. At school, at concerts, to sleep sometimes, like she wanted me near her heart. She'd talk to me about everything: her dreams, her fears, how nobody understood her.
And even though I couldn't talk back…
I listened.
Maybe this wasn't a curse after all. Maybe I wasn't meant to be reborn as a hero or king. Maybe my destiny was to be the one constant in this girl's stormy world.
The one thing she felt safe with.
One night, she placed her finger on my metal ring again and whispered:
"You're not just a choker. You're my guardian. My good-luck charm. My… friend."
If I could've smiled, I would've.
Turns out, being reincarnated isn't always about glory or power.
Sometimes… it's about finding the one person who actually needs you.
Even if you're just a goth girl's choker.
Chapter 5 — The Weight of Being Seen
It turns out being someone's "guardian" comes with responsibility.
Not the epic kind—no glowing swords or demon battles—but the quiet, heavy kind. The kind that sits in your chest and reminds you that someone is leaning on you, even if you're just a strip of leather and metal.
Raven started touching me more when she was anxious.
Not nervously—just small, grounding gestures. A thumb brushing the metal ring. Fingers resting at her throat when she was overwhelmed. Like she was checking to make sure I was still there.
And I always was.
At school, I felt her heartbeat speed up when people stared. When whispers followed her down hallways. When teachers misread silence as attitude.
They didn't see what I saw.
They didn't see the way she stayed up too late rewriting the same poem because one word felt dishonest. Or how she sat on her bedroom floor with music playing low, staring at nothing, like she was waiting for the world to explain itself.
Sometimes she'd whisper, barely audible:
"Am I too much?"
If I had arms, I would've held her together right there.
Instead, all I could do was stay.
---
Chapter 6 — The Past I Can't Touch
Something strange started happening to me.
Memories—my memories—began surfacing.
They came in fragments. A cracked phone screen. The smell of rain on concrete. A laugh I couldn't place. A name I almost remembered but never fully reached.
I realized then that whatever spell had bound me to this form hadn't erased who I was.
It had just buried me.
Late one night, Raven sat on her bed with that same old book in her lap. The grimoire. Its pages looked even more worn now, like it knew it was being used again.
"I think you're remembering things," she said softly.
She pressed two fingers against my ring.
The contact sent a pulse through me—gentle, but real.
"I don't know who you were," she continued, "but… I don't think you were bad."
Her voice cracked just slightly.
"I think you were lonely."
That one hit harder than any spell.
Because she was right.
---
Chapter 7 — The Night the World Almost Broke
The night everything nearly fell apart started like any other.
Concert flyers on her wall. Music low. Lights off except for the glow from her window.
Then her phone buzzed.
Once. Twice. Too many times.
I felt it immediately—her breath tightening, heartbeat stuttering. She sat on the edge of her bed, staring at the screen like it might explode.
"I thought I was stronger than this," she whispered.
She didn't cry at first. Just sat there, still, like if she didn't move, the feeling wouldn't get worse.
But it did.
When she finally broke, it wasn't loud. No sobbing. Just tears falling silently onto her hands, shoulders shaking like she was holding something back that had been building for years.
Her fingers curled around me, gripping tight.
"I don't want to disappear," she said. "I just want it to stop hurting."
Something inside me snapped.
Not physically—but spiritually.
The ring at my center warmed.
The room dimmed.
And for the first time since I woke up like this, I felt power—not the kind that demands attention, but the kind that protects.
The shadows in her room seemed to pull inward, like the darkness itself was listening.
Raven froze.
"…Did you do that?" she whispered.
I couldn't answer.
But the warmth stayed.
Her breathing slowed.
And somehow—somehow—she felt safe again.
---
Chapter 8 — What I've Become
She didn't say much after that night.
Neither did I.
But something had changed.
I wasn't just an observer anymore.
I was anchored to her emotions, her fears, her strength. Not controlling them—never that—but shielding them. Holding the weight she couldn't always carry herself.
Raven looked at me differently now.
Not with fear. Not with curiosity.
With trust.
"You don't need to become human again," she said one night, surprising both of us. "Not if you don't want to."
She smiled faintly.
"You're already exactly what I needed."
I used to think reincarnation was about second chances.
About correcting mistakes. Becoming better. Living louder.
But maybe it's also about learning how to stay.
How to protect something fragile. How to be important without being seen.
I may never walk again. Never speak. Never remember my old name.
But when Raven steps into the world, shoulders back, hand brushing the choker at her throat—
I know who I am now.
I am not a curse. I am not an accident.
I am her constant.
And that's enough.
---
Chapter 9 — The Name Beneath the Silence
Names have weight.
I didn't realize how much until mine started pressing its way back to the surface.
It came to me the way dreams do—unfinished, fragile. A sound without letters. A feeling without shape. Every time Raven touched the ring at my center, it grew clearer, like her warmth was pulling it out of whatever dark place it had been buried in.
One evening, she lit a single candle and sat cross-legged on the floor, the grimoire open in front of her.
"I think your name is still with you," she said softly. "I think it matters."
Her fingers rested against me, steady and patient.
The candle flickered.
And suddenly—I remembered a kitchen at night. A cracked window. Someone calling out, annoyed but familiar.
Not Raven's voice.
Another life.
Another world.
The name surfaced in my mind like air after drowning.
Elias.
The moment it formed, the ring warmed—hot enough that Raven pulled her hand back in surprise.
"…Elias," she whispered, testing it.
The room reacted.
The shadows leaned in. The candle flared. And something inside me answered.
That was when I knew.
That wasn't just what I'd been called.
That was who I still was.
---
Chapter 10 — The Thing That Notices
Power never goes unnoticed for long.
The first sign was the mirror.
Raven stood in front of it one night, half-asleep, brushing her hair when her reflection didn't move exactly when she did.
Just a fraction of a second late.
She froze.
"So," a voice said from nowhere and everywhere, thin as cracking glass, "you finally found a name."
The temperature dropped instantly.
I felt it before Raven did—a pulling sensation, like something was trying to unhook me from her.
"You don't belong to her," the voice continued. "You were never meant to stay."
The mirror darkened, her reflection smiling when she wasn't.
I pushed back with everything I had.
The warmth surged. The ring burned. Raven gasped, clutching her throat—not in pain, but in resistance.
"He's not yours," she said through clenched teeth. "He chose."
The reflection laughed.
"Nothing bound by death gets to choose forever."
The mirror shattered inward—no glass, just shadow—and then it was gone.
Silence rushed back in.
Raven sank to the floor, shaking.
"They're going to try to take you," she whispered.
I knew she was right.
---
Chapter 11 — Learning to Speak
The threat changed something in me.
Fear sharpens edges. It forces evolution.
I focused—not on what I was, but on why I was still here.
Raven wore me constantly after that. Even slept with me on, like she was afraid that if she took me off, I'd vanish.
One night, as she stared at the ceiling, she whispered, barely breathing:
"Please don't leave."
Something in my chest—if I still had one—broke open.
I didn't push power. I didn't pull energy.
I just tried to speak.
The sound that came out wasn't from a mouth.
It came from the ring.
A vibration. Low. Soft.
"…Raven."
She bolted upright.
Her eyes filled instantly.
"You—" Her voice cracked. "You said my name."
I tried again, slower this time, shaping the sound with intention instead of force.
"I'm… here."
She laughed and cried at the same time, hands shaking as she pressed her forehead to mine.
"You're really here," she whispered.
For the first time since I died, I wasn't just present.
I was heard.
---
Chapter 12 — The Choice That Ends Everything
The thing from the mirror came back.
Stronger. Closer.
It waited until Raven was asleep.
The room dimmed unnaturally, shadows peeling away from the walls.
"You can stay," it offered, its voice smooth now. Tempting. "Or you can finish what death started."
I understood then.
If I stayed bound to Raven, the thing would never stop coming. She would never be safe.
But if I let go—if I crossed fully, took my name with me—
The bond would end.
I whispered her name one last time.
She woke instantly.
"No," she said, shaking her head. "Don't you dare decide this alone."
I wished I could hold her.
"I was lonely before you," I told her gently. "But you… you gave me meaning."
Tears slid down her face as she pressed her fingers to the ring.
"You were never just a choker," she said. "You were my proof that something stays."
The shadows closed in.
I focused everything I had left into one final choice.
"I'll always stay," I said softly.
And then—I let go.
The warmth faded. The room returned. The presence vanished, severed completely.
Raven sat there in silence, clutching the choker in her hands.
It was just leather and metal again.
But when she lifted it to the light, she noticed something new—etched faintly on the inside of the ring.
A name.
Elias.
She smiled through her tears.
"Goodbye," she whispered. "Thank you for staying… as long as you did."
She wore the choker again the next day.
Not because it spoke. Not because it glowed.
But because sometimes love doesn't need to stay alive to be real.
Sometimes, it just needs to have existed.
---