Some say change can happen in an instant. While others would state that change takes time. No one said it started in the afterlife.
"Koga, wake up! Don't wanna miss your train, do yah?!" Called a woman, as a boy upstairs with wild red hair yelps. In a hurry to get up, his bed sheet gets tangled around his ankles, causing him to fall onto the wooden floor with a hollow thud.
"I'm up." He croaks. Rubbing the back of his head soothingly, yawning loudly.
"Ahem." Only to be rudely interrupted by someone wanting to gain his attention. Squinting his eyes, Koga looks out the open window and comes face to face with his elderly next-door neighbor Ms. Shino. Who seemed to be giving him the evil eyes, repetitively looking down then back up to his face, coughing once again.
Koga follows her line of sight, only to get an eye full of his briefs... just his briefs. Mouth open in disbelief, Koga attempts to apologize to the elderly woman.
"Ms. Shino. I am so sorry I-". The Elder woman cut him off by slamming her windows shut and pulling the blinds, giving him one last look to let him know she hated his entire existence before she did so.
"Well... That could have gone better." Pushing his hair out of his face with a huff, Koga walks into his bathroom and starts brushing his teeth.
Spiting into the sink. Koga leans over it and stares into his own blue eyes, hyping himself up for the upcoming day.
"New school. New town." Koga glances to the side and catches a glimpse of his glasses on the nightstand outside the doorway. "New you."
Koga stops leaning over the sink and opens a draw, pulling out a contact, and smiles to himself in the mirror.
____
Not looking a day older than twenty, the mother with matching red hair laughs as she catches sight of her son rushing downstairs.
"Catch!" She shouts, throwing toast to him with a laugh as he jumps and catches it mid-air between his teeth.
With a giggle, she comes over to Koga in her apron and does a quick scan of his all-black uniform, spotting a crooked red tie.
"Well, don't you look handsome?" She comments, straightening his tie and pushing some hair back from his eyes. Her smile, turning to one of confusion after getting a better look.
"Koga. What happened to your glasses?" She questioned with concern. Looking around the room to see if he may have misplaced them somewhere. Noticing his mother's looking for his glasses' whereabouts, Koga decided to distract her.
"Umm, Mum? I'm gonna miss the train." Halting in place, the woman freezes.
"Wait right there." She says sternly, looking him in the eyes, then proceeds to bolt into the kitchen then back out with a bright red backpack. Koga's eyes widen as he catches sight of the 'backpack' being given to him.
"Isn't that-" Koga reaches for the backpack.
"Your Dad's, yes." She states, handing him the backpack.
Smiling widely with a tear in his eye. Koga puts on the backpack, giving the straps surrounding his shoulders a reassuring squeeze. The mother smiles warmly, then quickly pushes her son out the door.
"Get home safe! love you!" Shouts the mother, waving her son off as he smiled and waved back, running till he was out of sight.
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Rounding a road corner, Koga pulled his phone out and checked the time.
6:55. 'I've got five more minutes.' He thought. Looking for a shortcut instead of going around the entire block to reach his train on time. He catches sight of a fence with a hole in it that seemed to be just big enough for him to get through.
Putting his arm and leg through, following his head, Koga almost made it. But the bag strap got snagged on a stray wire of the fence. Groaning to himself, Koga tugs the bag strap off the wire, pricking his finger on that in the process.
Hissing in pain, Koga pulls his hand away, accidentally getting blood on the bag.
"Oh no!" He quickly tries to wipe it off with his uniform sleeve but only manages to smudge it into the bag more.
Sighing, he puts the bag back on his back and dashes to his train, not noticing the faint red outline it gave as the stain disappeared into the bag's fabric.
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Finally reaching the train platform, Koga got there just in time for his train to arrive, and it looked... like an ancient moving death trap. A steam train; with rusted train carts that seemed like it would fail a safety check and wheels creating sparks as it pulled to a stop along the tracks.
The doors opened as they tugged themselves apart, revealing an empty train cart. Seeing the welcoming train cart, Koga sighs and makes a sarcastic quip to himself as he steps inside the death trap.
"I better not die from this." He chuckles, sitting down and placing his bag beside him as the door closes and the train begins to move, not knowing how right he was.
If Koga had stayed just that little longer, the actual train would have arrived at the station to take him to school. It was running a bit behind schedule due to a maintenance check.
Looking out the window behind him, Koga notices that the train is about to enter a tunnel and yawns. Closes his eyes, not aware that his bag once again glowed as he drifted into a deep sleep.
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Yawning, Koga opens his eyes as he hears the conductor over the speaker state that they have arrived at the first station. Grabbing his bag, Koga places it on his back and stands in front of the rusted doors waiting for them to open, and rubs the sleep from his eyes.
The doors finally open, and Koga is beyond confused. Wasn't the weather described to be bright and sunny today? Then why was it so foggy around here?
Stepping off the train, Koga looks around and frowns as the doors creak shut behind him.
"Why is it so-" Koga jumps back as a giant green leg of some kind of creature the size of the train he just came from stepped in front of him. Right where he was previously standing.