I see a small dice lying next to me in a dark place, so dark I can't see anything other than the dice. It has small words written on every face of the dice. I pick it up and read the words.

'yes, no, maybe, yes, never, no.'

Must be one of those fortune erasers in dice version. I'm about to ask the dice a question, when a soft voice speaks from the shadows.

"Don't throw the dice!"

"Huh?" I look in the direction if the voice. "Who's there?"

"Just a figment of your imagination." the voice whispers sadly, and a girl emerges from the shadows, a girl who looks exactly like me.

"Ok, enough riddles. Why can't I throw the dice?"

She grabs my hand desperately, "ask a question, throw the dice, tragic things happen, no same story twice!"

"Woah, calm. How long did it take you to rehearse that poem?"

"What poem?" She tilts her head. "That is the riddle I was told when they told me to guard this dice, to stop more tragedies happening."

I frown, "Tragedies?"

She clapped a hand over her mouth. "I shouldn't have said that!"

"But what happened? Why can't I throw this dice?"

"I already told you, tragedies happen when that dice is thrown."

"Tell me." I demand, sitting on the dark floor.

She too sits. "Ok, this story is old, and I have grown tired telling myself the same story every waking moment."

"Woah, you need to get yourself a life." I joke.

She waved a dismissive hand. "There was a girl who threw this dice. She asked, will I die next month? And the dice came up as yes. She thought this was all a joke, and she forgot about it."

"Well maybe it was just coincidental." I decide. "If she dies I mean."

"Yes, and the next month, she died. She was perfectly healthy, but she dropped dead in the middle of school." she tutted. "Terrible business.

"The point is, that dice changes fate. The path is laid out, and those who come across this dice throw it, and even if it's not part of fate, whatever you ask, whatever side it lands on, it will come true."

"So you're saying that this dice is cursed?" I asked.

"No, I'm saying that dice interrupts fate, stops things from working how the should. The death of one changes fate forcefully, tearing apart others lives and bringing bad karma."

"Karma," I snorted.

"I'm serious!" said the figment of my imagination, trying to muster a serious face but failing because I was laughing.

"Ok." I could see edges of white around the blackness.

"I think I'm waking soon," I told her.

"Yes, you will." she said, standing. "Remember, don't throw the dice."

"Ok, I won't."

And I left her standing there, waving as the white swallowed the black.