Jimmy: See you tomorrow Alex :)
Alex: You bet! I'm going to beat the hell out of you tomorrow
Jimmy: You're free to try xD
Alex grinned as he read Jimmy's text and closed off his computer. Tomorrow was his physics exam and he had spent most of the night playing 'Men on Duty' with his online friend.
"Whatever, it's just a weekly test. I'll make up for it in the semester exams." With that said Alex turned off the lights and went to sleep.
The next day as predicted, he failed his test.
"F*ck! Although I already knew about this it still feels like shit," Alex thought when the results were handed over to him in the last period.
Seeing his sore mood his classmates consoled him a bit before distancing themselves from him. They understood that Alex wanted to be alone for now so and they felt that Alex would feel a bit insecure around them because they all had passed.
Like that the school ended and Jimmy was making his way back home.
"Today's match is going to be extra long since I need to get this frustration out of me," Alex said as he made his way home. Gaming was a surefire way of releasing all his pent-up frustration at the moment.
He soon reached his home and booted up his computer. While it was being booted up he picked up some snacks from the refrigerator and returned to his room. His mother was at her office so he was all alone at home, something he got used to long ago.
Jimmy: You sure took your while today.
Jimmy's text came the moment he logged in to the game.
Alex: Sigh...it's been a long day.
Alex sent the text in a depressed mood.
Jimmy: What happened?
Alex: I failed my physics exam...and I feel like shit
Jimmy: You played with me almost the whole night yesterday, what else did you expect? xD
Alex: Shut up you bastard...
Jimmy: Make me, you rascal!
Alex: Fuck! Let's set a PVP now! I feel like busting your ass a hundred times.
Jimmy: In the end, it's your ass that's going to bust but sure! Let's set it up.
The two then engaged in PVP for hours straight. Loads of frustration disappeared as if it never existed as Alex enjoyed every second he spent playing with him.
Alex: Thanks, man. I feel a lot better after the game. I'm going now since it's time for my parents to come.
Jimmy: Got it, I'll be busy with tomorrow's office work as well.
Alex: F... good luck!
Jimmy: Yea see you tomorrow.
Alex then cleaned himself up into fresh clothes with the remainder of the time and greeted his parents when they arrived. They weren't aware of his gaming habits as he didn't let them know about it.
Gaming was not seen in a good light by them so in order to not let his computer be taken from him he chose to hide it.
"Did you study well today?" His mother asked him as she sat on the sofa to relax after arrival.
"Yep, did a lot of mathematical problems," Alex lied.
"That's good, I won't have to worry about you not scoring good marks in your finals," She said with relief.
Alex just smiled at her words in a guilty conscience. After helping his mother with a few miscellaneous stuff Alex returned to his room. Since Jimmy was going to be busy he decided to study physics a bit since he failed that paper today.
The guilt that he felt after lying was another reason why he decided to study. The whole evening was spent touching up his physics.
"Good night," His mother wished him good night before returning to her room. He didn't have a father. He died when he was in 2nd standard so he lived all alone with his mother.
The next day after school, Alex returned excitedly to play another game with Jimmy, only to see his offline icon. He played a few matches in the normal multiplayer mode, but they weren't as fun-inducing as when he played them with Jimmy.
He waited a few hours for Jimmy to come online only to be disappointed.
'Sigh...he might be too exhausted from the night shift,' Alex thought and busied himself with his studies since gaming wasn't fun without Jimmy.
The next day also Jimmy didn't come online.
It was the same the day after.
Alex: Hey, message me when you come online...
Alex sent a message hoping to receive a reply from Jimmy soon. Another week passed but it never came.
'Fuck I should have asked for his number!' Alex thought. He only knew that Jimmy was a corporate worker with nothing much going for him. He whined about the growing tummy and not having a girlfriend at his age in their voice chats and Alex always made fun of him by poking at those points.
Since Alex also wasn't very fit the two of them got along well and developed a bond online that was deeper than the surface-level ones he had with his classmates at his school.
Alex: Message me, bro...I'm getting worried
Another week passed but still no news was received by him. Alex thought that something bad had happened to Jimmy. One night, to prove this theory of his wrong Alex started searching about all the suicide cases which happened in the country since the day Jimmy went offline.
There were a lot of articles online and he went over them and checked the names of the victims.
"...Jimmy Homes...fuck fuck fuck fuck!" Upon seeing a particular name in one article Alex immediately stood up from his seat. He grabbed his head in disbelief and started muttering like a maniac.
"Fuck!" He smashed his hands on his computer table in frustration. The only person he had a close bond with apart from his mother had died and he had no clue about it for weeks. It was truly infuriating.
However frustrated and angry he was Jin still forced himself to read the rest of the article. He wanted to why he did it.
'the victim blamed his company's toxic work culture and his colleagues in his suicide note...' the article read.
"If only I wasn't a kid....if only I was there when he went through all this..." Alex thought in frustration and regret. He considered Jimmy his friend but he had no idea what he had been going through all this while.
That's an interesting thought you're having. Let's see how you'll go about it then
A voice entered Alex's ears scaring the shit out of him. He looked around his room and called the voice a few times only to be met with silence.
He then heard a sound similar to the snapping of a finger and his vision changed all of a sudden.
"What the hell..." Alex's surroundings had brightened all of a sudden he was now in the body of a different individual. A man in his late 20s with an unkempt beard on his face. That's what the dark computer screen reflected.
He was currently sitting in a cubicle and his surroundings resembled a workplace.
"Is there a problem Sir?" A man sitting on the other side of the cubicle looked at him curiously.
"Oh, nothing," Alex immediately replied. Too much was going on in his mind and he needed some space alone.
"I'll come back in a minute," Alex replied as he got up from his seat.
"A cigarette break huh? Enjoy," The person smiled at him and focused back on his work. Alex wanted to spend some time alone so he disregarded the man's words and went to the toilet.
"What the hell is happening?" He asked himself with his hand on his head as he sat on the toilet seat.
As thought answering his question a bunch of memories bombarded his mind the next moment and made him understand his current predicament.
His name of John White, a 30-year-old male who was a senior developer at Binfosis, a well-known software company. He was unmarried and was solely devoted to his work that's why he had a good reputation in the company.
As all the information assimilated in his mind Alex was still left with a major question in his mind.
"Why?"
Why did this happen? Why did his soul suddenly change its body and the answer to it soon arrived when he returned to his cubicle.
"Good morning Sir! My name is Jimmy Homes and I'm a new intern assigned to this department. A young bright looking man wished him with a smile. Although the face was totally unfamilir to him but he could never forget this voice. He had spent hours listening to it.
"Jimmy..." Alex muttered in shock.