Huh? What's happening? A second ago, I felt cold and numb… and now… why do I feel… suffocated?
Mfffgh! Mfffgh!
I can't breathe. Even if I try to, I am unable to. This suffocating feeling is not going away.
I can't see anything, I can't feel anything. Everywhere there's darkness.
Am I… finally dead?
No. It shouldn't be the case. I am still conscious. I can have independent thoughts and I don't feel any restrictions.
Check 1, 2, 3, 4… unicorns are just gay slim rhinos.
Yup. I still retain my ability to bullshit.
It's just… my senses…
I can't feel anything. No sense of touch, sight, pressure, taste, smell…
Am I in a coma?
No, that shouldn't be the case either. A person can perceive things in a coma.
In front of me there's nothing but an absolute void.
Sigh.
Whatever is happening, I hope it ends quickly. I don't want to lose my mind in this nothingness.
Hmm… since I have nothing to do, I might as well start remembering all the arguments I had and think of comebacks.
Who knows, maybe if I reincarnate someday, I could use—
WHAT THE FUCK!?
I FEEL IT.
HOLY HELL, I FEEL IT.
MY SENSE OF PERCEPTION… SENSES…
.
.
.
.
.
SPLASH!
"Huwaaaa!" A young man gasped for air as he pulled himself out of water.
Cough! Cough!
His heavy and rough breathing followed with violent coughs for the next couple of minutes.
Once water was out of the young man's respiratory tract and he could breathe normally, he looked around, trying to assess his situation.
As the young man looked around, he found himself in a bathroom — his body soaked into the warm waters in a bathtub.
He had a look at his arms, his body, and found the sun exposed regions to be slightly tanned and not the sickly pale shade he was used to.
He looked down at his abdomen and found himself to be in a healthy state with no pot belly. There were no hair as well on his chest or abdomen.
Fascinated by everything, the young man got out of the bathtub and went to look at himself in the mirror.
Just as he had the first look of himself, his eyes opened wide in surprise and he stared at the reflection for a solid few minutes, trying to digest all the information thrown at him.
The young man touched his black hair, felt the velvety smoothness and volume of it. He leaned forward and checked his calm blue eyes and found no signs of eye power or strain, meaning no glasses either.
He checked under his eyes, no dark circles, no eye bags. He seemed to be well rested.
The young man's fascination only grew further as he saw no acne and a clear, slightly tanned face.
As realization dawned upon him, he smiled.
"Reincarnation."
The young man said his first word after a long while.
The young man looked at the reflection and continued with the same smile as before, "Alexander, you've reincarnated."
He then shook his head and getting away from the mirror, grabbed a towel and patted himself dry, eventually wrapping it around himself.
The young man, called Alexander, got out of the bathroom, and as he took the first step into the new room, a wave of nostalgia hit him, making him shake his head.
Without anyone telling him anything, Alexander knew where things were and went to the wardrobe to get himself some clothes.
He dressed up and then looked for his phone, checking the date and laughing at it.
"It's the Ninth of September, year 2030. I reincarnated back into my twenty-one year old self. Welp… too bad I wasn't born a few more years before when bitcoin was still low. I could buy some and become a billionaire easily."
Alexander smiled at how lame his words sounded and shook his head.
Staring at the date, he said softly, "I completed my bachelor's degree and now I should be in the first year of my med school's undergrad program. This should be summer break and I am back in Austin, Texas, to visit my parents."
"Until the undergrad internship, I was healthy, hit the gym regularly, played some sports, could swim, and led a healthy life. Once the internship started…"
Alexander's eyes turned serious. He put the phone down and continued, "…I got bullied by my seniors, professors, hospital staff… got treated like a slave and ran hospital rounds for hours and hours until my legs showed signs of swelling and gave up."
"With great difficulty, I finished my bachelor's, undergrad degrees and then went for masters in surgery. Which…" Alexander smirked. "Not just ruined my physical health, but also messed me up mentally."
"Man, I am so proud of myself for choosing this path." Alexander's frustration led to him making such sarcastic remarks.
"My worst enemy is no one else but me. Gotta give it to myself." Alexander shook his own hands and congratulated himself.
He then looked out of the window and said, "I wonder when was the last time I saw the sun after I started with my job. I was in New York and my home was so close to the hospital, I could just walk ten steps and be there. Due to this, I never got the chance to be under the sun and became really pale."
"I should've shifted my residence to some place away… some outback and cheaper one like… maybe Staten Island? Okay no, that's the trenches. It's too much. New Jersey would've been fine."
Alexander then shook his head, trying to clear off all the stupid things he was thinking of.
"I need to stop reminiscing about the past. I mean, the future, and think of the present."
"So… I got shot in New York; apparently it was a misfire and I took the brunt of it, but oh well, I then died and woke up here in my bathtub. Nice."
"Now… I am back to being twenty-one, first-year med student, under crippling student loan, with a good body and no bitches. Perfect."
Alexander got up from his bed and stretched. He walked towards the windowsill and basked in the morning sunshine.
"Nothing to worry, I'll do something with my life. Despite being average, I made it in life and became a neurosurgeon. Even if I did nothing special now and just lived my life, I would become a doctor."
"But hey… that's boring, isn't it, Alex?" Alexander smiled and asked himself. "I've reincarnated, I know the future, I can manipulate stocks and become the richest in the world, do crazy stuff, dominate everyone, and eventually die a crazy rich person, woohoo. Kudos to all-knower me."
Finishing saying so, Alexander sneered.
"Lame. Who wants all of that?"
He walked towards the bookshelf in his room and took out a thick book. It was a biology one, given Alexander's medical background, there were many such books on his shelf.
The book Alexander was holding had four words printed in big font on it. They were:
'Introduction to Human Genome'
Alexander wiped the dust off it and flashing a big smile, said, "This. This is the real shit."
"Money, power, wealth? Where am I gonna take all of those if I grow old and die?"
"No matter what anyone thinks, the future is this. The way of life is this."
Alexander's smile grew wider as he stared at those big letters stating the title of the book.
"The path to immortality, it's contained in one single word. It all boils down to this book. It's something everyone is aware of, yet nobody looks at it deeply. The one and only truth of all things… it's…"
"Genes."
BOOM!