Reincarnation
Who shall save me from this cycle of death?
She screamed when she saw Hamid's repulsive face. They always screamed. For as long as Hamid could remember, they always screamed.
All Hamid wanted was a tiny morsel of food to temporarily ease his groaning stomach. It never crossed his mind that he might desire someone to love him, and perhaps he was better off for it. He never knew the pain of heartbreak, never missed the tender caress of a loved one, never wept for anyone but himself. Hamid only knew unending hunger and incessant reproach.
Her eyes were wide with terror. Hamid cautiously reached his hand across her table set with delectable foods and drinks. If only he could have a bite. She snatched a knife and lunged at Hamid.
In the life before this one, Hamid had been a cockroach. Although he had no memories of his previous lives, he was sure of its truth. The shrieks continued to ring in his ears long after he would run off into solitude. He was sure they were the reverberating echoes from lives before this one. They were evidence for his former life as an insect, lowly and hated, scantly living off the scraps and crumbs of those more fortunate than he. A life not unlike this one. Karma had not been kind to him.
She rushed Hamid baring the knife and shouting. He ducked and scrambled off back down a dark alleyway where the sun's light never reached even at midday. Why did others prosper, and why were others rewarded with full stomachs? Why could others live out in the sunlight? Why was Hamid cursed to eternal darkness?
Hamid must have been a bad cockroach, because this current life felt worse than ever the life of a bug could have been. Its life was only a fraction of his twelve years and who knew how many more. Death might have been more desirable than this, but it would only lead to a life equally as miserable or possibly worse. There was no escape from the never-ending cycle of death and rebirth. Hamid always was and would ever be a cockroach.
As the sun sank into the west, Hamid skittered into a knot in the ground that he called home. He wrapped his emaciated arms around himself and hugged his knees into his chest. Hamid wondered whether he had ever lived a good life, whether he had ever been rewarded.