"HEY TAYAW! WAKE UP!"
A voice startled Tayaw awake and he quickly opened his eyes. He turned his eyes to the direction of the annoying voice, only to be put in a daze by what he saw. Someone, leaning upside down from the top bunk, appears to be his younger brother.
It would not be unusual had it not been first; Tayaw did not wake up in his apartment, second, he had not slept on a bunk bed since his college years, and third, his younger brother appeared to have become a teenager.
"Payew, is that you? Am I-" said Tayaw almost incoherently to his confusion.
"Who else? You told me to wake you up, you can't blame me if you can't get to Ouigab in time!" Payew replied as he disappeared from Tayaw's view, probably lying back down.
With his drowsiness vanishing, Tayaw looked around the room once again, and a huge feeling of nostalgia hit him. He can smell the mixture of odors of wood and his brother's unique scent emitting from the bunk bed that he shared with him since they were but small children.
The study table with a disarray of various notebooks and sheets of paper that he instinctively knew was his own. The concrete, but polished and clean concrete floor that he scrubbed with coarse fabric every Saturday.
The layers of bed sheets, with faded color from repetitive washing. He looked outside the window and saw the familiar shadows of the wild shrubs and pine trees in full bloom by the nearby hill sides.
The familiar early morning rain can be heard hitting the tin roof. He was back in Okuba, his hometown, a serene and calm suburban neighborhood three and a half hours from Ouigab City.
Standing up from the bed, he knew everything he's seeing is real as he felt the cold concrete floor sending shivers from the bottom of his feet up to his spine. He looked at Payew at the top bunk for a few seconds and confirmed it is indeed his younger brother, in teenage version, probably up all night playing with his old but still playable handheld game console.
Tayaw is confused, excited, and happy, but could not let out a hint of those emotions as his mind churned into chaos. He felt it was unreal and wanted to scream how unbelievable it was, but only an idiot would not figure out that he went back in time.
He also did not believe he had a long dream and just woke up in reality because his memories of his future self are just as real as the room he's currently in.
Approaching the study table, he saw his old phone, but in this case, his current one. A Mottlr flip phone he got as a hand me down from his mother when he graduated high school. He picked it up and opened it with the instinctual flick of his thumb.
"5:00 a.m. July 1, 2010. Saturday, Weather – Cloudy to Rainy" He read the date in his phone as he tried to remember which time in his life he came back to. He realized he is now currently 16 years old, turning 17 the coming September.
He knew he attended his high school graduation ceremony in June 30, 2010. Over his senior year high school, he has been studying for the college entrance exam. From his brother's earlier words, he is to leave for Ouigab today, which probably means that today is the entrance examination at Northwestern University where he will study civil engineering in the future.
He prepared himself for what he is about to see before he opened the bedroom door. From his bedroom door is directly the kitchen/dining room, and he saw his mother, Kilat, cooking something at the stove and his father, Liboo, playing chess by himself at the table.
He was choked up in emotion as he saw his parents, younger once again, with their straight backs and wrinkles non-existent in their faces. The silent and peaceful atmosphere within the house and the sound of rain outside brought a mixture of emotions within him.
"Good Morning."
Tayaw greeted them but rushed immediately to the bathroom to recover. He remembered that his parents, despite appearing to be jolly and energetic in the outside, had to grind themselves to exhaustion just to put him and Payew to college.
They even stopped him and Payew from looking for part time jobs when Payew also started college during Tayaw's junior year in college. His mother, a high school teacher, had to take as many overtimes as she can at work for extra pay.
His father, a driver who transports passengers from town to town around Okuba with his van, who usually started his day at 6:00 am and comes back home at dinner time at 7:00 pm, had to extend his working hours and had to come home at midnight, sometimes even way past that.
Despite their opinions against having him and Payew getting part time jobs, he was also thankful of his parents' current job situations. His mother is currently an 18 year employee at her public school so her job is secure and her pay is in ratio with her experience. His father owns his own van which means he can keep all his earnings.
With his parents' full support, Tayaw was able to graduate with satisfactory grades to earn him a stable job. He was able to provide support for Payew's education, and later on, the youngest brother, Agew's too.
Speaking of the currently 14 year old Payew, Tayaw remembered how he turned out in the future. Since he was little, Payew was oddly interested in farming and crops. This interest persisted and went on to study at Nabla State University, which is known in the province for its Agriculture College.
Because of his interests, his studies in college came relatively easy to Payew, and graduated with honors. He was able to land a job soon after in Nabla province's agriculture department. He was able to climb up to the position of the Chief of Field Operations, which was already a high position in a province that covers a famous city like Ouigab, and its surrounding municipalities like his hometown Okuba. Payew too was able to get married before Tayaw came back in time.
Their youngest, Agew, currently 10 years old, turning 11, is a discreet but a stubborn person. Because Tayaw and Payew turning out fine and landing stable jobs adding their financial contributions to the family, Liboo and Kilat gave up on making Agew more social and outgoing and capitalized instead on what Agew's interests are and his innate talent with his hands.
Agew, after graduating high school, immediately went to look for a place he can work as an apprentice. With his talent and potential, a potter had no hesitations in hiring him. Years later, Agew broke away from his mentor and with the help of Tayaw and Payew, established his own workshop.
It was not long after that Agew's beautiful quality porcelains became popular not only in Ouigab, but also outside of Nabla province. This led further to many restaurants around the country, with varying numbers of stars attached to their names; contact him for their needs for porcelain dishes.
Reminiscing these, Tayaw was able to control his emotions. It made him proud of his family and looking back at his previous life, he should not have been as bitter as he was. After he relieved his bladder, Tayaw was thinking what he can do this time differently.
"I already know enough about civil engineering, shall I pursue music and arts more this time?" As he said that, he felt like he was being pulled away, with the speed he never experienced before.