KB STORIES

THE WORLD OF SOULS

Before a person is born, before they take their first breath, before they open their eyes on Earth, and even before their parents know they are going to exist, they have already come from somewhere else.

A world that living humans cannot see.

The World of Souls.

In this world, no one has a body. There are no tall or short people, no skin colors, no rich or poor. There are only souls.

Billions of souls exist there together, waiting for one thing they all know will happen someday:

the day they become human.

But even without bodies, not all souls are the same.

Every soul has its own temperament.

Some are calm. Some are always in a hurry. Some love to talk. Others prefer to be alone. Some souls love to laugh and are always making others happy. Some get angry easily. Some are extremely sensitive. Others are brave and enjoy taking risks, while some are afraid of what they do not know.

In the World of Souls, it is believed that each soul carries part of this temperament with it when it enters the human world.

That is why even two children born into the same family, raised by the same parents under the same conditions, can have completely different personalities.

Because before they were brothers and sisters on Earth…

they were already two different souls.

WINDOWS TO EARTH

There is something that makes the World of Souls very special.

The souls have access to everything happening in the human world.

There are enormous spaces in their world that are like windows looking down on Earth. Through them, the souls can spend hours watching humans live their lives.

They see great cities and small villages.

They see countries at peace and countries at war.

They see people working.

They see people getting married.

They see families eating together.

They see children playing.

They see people crying.

They see people falling in love.

They see people betraying one another.

They see wealth.

They see poverty.

They see people who seem to have almost everything and are still unhappy, while others have very little but are happy because they are surrounded by people who love them.

To the souls, Earth is like one enormous story that never ends.

And because they know that one day they too will have to become part of that story, they are always deeply interested in what happens there.

Some souls love watching a particular country.

Others become fascinated with a certain city.

But what interests them most of all are families.

Sometimes, a soul can spend years watching the same family.

It watches how the husband treats his wife.

It watches how parents treat their children.

It sees their problems.

It sees their happiest moments.

It sees their arguments.

It sees how they come together when one of them is in trouble.

And eventually, the souls begin to develop preferences.

“I would love to be born into that family.”

Another replies:

“That is the family I like. They are not rich, but they seem to love one another very much.”

Another might say:

“I want to be born in that country.”

Some even begin imagining their future lives.

“When I become human, I want to travel all over the world.”

“I want to become a doctor.”

“I would love to be born into a big family.”

“I would rather be an only child.”

But there are other families they watch and immediately say:

“I would never want to be born there.”

They have preferences.

They have dreams.

They have families they hope will become their own.

But there is one thing every soul knows:

They can hope. They can have preferences. But they cannot choose.

The final decision does not belong to them.

WHEN THE WORLD TURNS RED

Most of the time, the World of Souls glows with a soft, peaceful white light.

The souls talk, watch Earth, and wait for their day to come.

But from time to time, without warning, something changes.

The white light disappears.

The entire World of Souls turns red.

Even the souls who were talking suddenly fall silent.

Everyone knows what it means.

Somewhere on Earth, men and women have made love, and the possibility of new life has begun to emerge.

But they do not yet know who will become pregnant.

And so the entire World of Souls remains beneath the red light as everyone waits.

After a while, one by one, images begin to appear inside the great Hall of Decisions.

They are images of the women who are going to become pregnant.

Some are married.

Some are not.

Some are wealthy.

Some are poor.

Some live in great cities.

Others live in small villages.

Some have been hoping for a child for years.

Others do not yet know that their lives are about to change.

As the images appear, excitement spreads throughout the World of Souls.

Many of the souls recognize the women.

“I know that woman! I am always watching her family!”

“I want to go there!”

“That is the family I have always wanted!”

But other souls become nervous when they see certain images.

“I hope they don’t send me there.”

“I don’t want that life.”

“That family has too many problems.”

But no soul can make the decision.

Because that is when the Leader of the World of Souls appears.

THE DECISION

Every soul becomes silent.

The Leader stands before the images.

He knows every soul.

He knows their temperaments.

He knows what they love.

He knows which families they have been watching.

He even knows where they hoped to go.

But when he begins calling them forward, their preferences do not always matter.

He calls one soul.

The soul steps forward.

An image appears before it.

The soul is overjoyed.

It is exactly the family it has always been watching.

It has always admired the way the husband and wife speak to each other. It has always dreamed of having them as parents.

The soul is filled with happiness.

Then another soul is called.

It steps forward with a huge smile, certain that it will receive the family it has always wanted.

But when the image appears, its smile disappears.

“No…”

The soul looks at the Leader.

“That’s where I’m going to be born?”

“Yes.”

“But I don’t want to go there. I’ve watched that family. They have too many problems.”

The Leader remains calm.

The soul continues:

“There is another family I have always watched. Why can’t you send me there?”

The Leader answers:

“Because not every place you want to go is where life is meant to take you.”

The soul is unhappy.

“But I know that family. I’ve seen their lives.”

The Leader looks at the soul and says:

“You have watched their lives from here. But you have never lived them.”

The soul falls silent.

It does not understand.

But it knows the decision has been made.

One after another, the Leader continues calling the souls.

Some are happy.

Some are surprised.

Some are afraid.

Some receive exactly the families they had hoped for.

Others are sent to countries they had never been interested in.

Some will be born into wealth.

Some will be born into poverty.

Some will have two parents who love each other.

Others will enter families already struggling with serious problems.

But none of the souls knows exactly what its life will become.

They only know where their story will begin.

THE DEPARTURE

Once the decisions have been made, the chosen souls know that their time has come.

They have spent their entire existence watching Earth.

They have talked about what it might be like to become human.

They have imagined what it would feel like to eat, walk, run, love, travel, have friends, and have a family.

But now that the moment has actually arrived, many of them are afraid.

Because for the first time, Earth will no longer be something they simply watch.

They are going to live there.

One soul asks:

“Will I remember everything I saw here?”

The Leader answers:

“No.”

Another asks:

“Will I remember all of you?”

“No.”

“Will I remember the family I wanted?”

“No.”

Another soul steps forward.

“What about the friends I have here? Will I remember them?”

Again, the Leader answers:

“No.”

Silence falls over the souls.

That is when they remember the greatest rule of the World of Souls.

For a new life to begin, the old life must disappear from their memory.

Once a soul leaves this world and enters the human world, it will remember nothing.

It will not remember the other souls.

It will not remember all the time it spent watching Earth.

It will not remember the family it hoped to be born into.

It will not remember the country where it wanted to live.

It will not remember the conversations it had with the other souls.

It will not even remember the moment when the Leader of the World of Souls called it forward and revealed where it would live.

Everything it knew before birth disappears from its memory.

When the moment comes, the soul leaves the World of Souls.

On Earth, a new life begins.

Months pass.

Then one day, in a hospital, in a home, or somewhere else on Earth, a new human being finally enters the world.

The baby opens its eyes.

It does not know who it is.

It does not know where it is.

It does not recognize the woman holding it in her arms, even though it once watched her from the World of Souls.

It does not recognize the voices of the people around it.

It does not remember where it came from.

It cannot speak.

It cannot ask where it is.

It cannot explain what it feels.

It only knows that it has left a world it once knew and entered another where it must begin everything again from the very beginning.

Perhaps that is why, when a baby first enters the world, the first thing it does is cry.

Written by: Roostacot Previl