Jason POV
I was floating in a place devoid of light. There is darkness everywhere and total stillness. But I felt comfortable here, just like being in a mother's embrace.
"I failed" with a sigh. My memories were playing in my head; it was a terrible defeat. One second I was dominating the battlefield, but in the other I was dead.
"Maybe this is hell," I muttered, looking around. Gloomy darkness stretched everywhere until sight could see. Well, I did commit many sins.
Time passed slowly; there was no concept of time or space here, but I could feel my will eroding slowly. I started exploring, kept on walking, and tried to focus my mind on other things, but it didn't work.
No matter how much I walked, this place made it seem like I was in the same spot.
I screamed, but there was no response in the darkness. I tried to destroy this place, but my abilities were not enough, seemingly like throwing a pebble into the sea. My attacks had no effect.
I gave up and just lied down on the ground, waiting for darkness to erode me. Maybe giving up will solve this; maybe giving up is the way.
"Such a desolate place; maybe this is the hell of vampires," I thought with a smile. Maybe this is the end of the souls of vampires, to get assimilated by this darkness.
I waited still, to get the sweet release of death or maybe something else. I just wanted to get out of this place, seemingly mocking me. The darkness stayed still; no change happened.
"Aaaaaahhh," I screamed in despair," get me out, please get me out," but there was no response.
The monotonous darkness was about to drive me insane. I found myself yearning for light—the light of the sun, or maybe just a fire; any light would do. Finally, there was a change.
In the distance, a star was falling towards me, leaving a trail of light behind. Finally, there was some change. I thought with relief that dying by a falling star was much better than staying in this desolate place.
I raised my arms towards the falling star with a happy smile of relief, my eyes closed, and I awaited my doom.
The star stopped in the air, no longer approaching me. I panicked, and negative thoughts flooded my head again.
Maybe this star is to just mock me. I thought in despair, Give a dying man hope, then crush it. Who could be so cruel?.
Anger consumed me. I stood up and flew towards the star. In my anger, I didn't notice that I could move, no longer appearing stuck in the same spot despite how much I moved.
I collided head-on with the star; the star lost its shape; instead, it became a cluster of light that floated around me before it dove into my head. With that, the darkness around me disappeared.
The light got so blinding, I had to close my eyes.
When I opened them again, I was inside a house. The house seemed both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. As I walked around, there was a young boy, maybe around the age of 14, watching TV, a woman in her 40s working in the kitchen, and a teenage girl texting on her phone.
I walked close to the young boy, though he was far different from the current me. His face looked exactly like mine when I was still a human in my past life.
I tried touching him, but my hand passed through. I looked towards the TV, and on it, a familiar cartoon show was playing. I went to the kitchen. My "mother" was preparing dinner. I never liked her food before, but seeing it now, I feel like eating it, but sadly, I can't.
I went into the room, and there my "sister" was texting a boy, probably her boyfriend. We were close when we were
young, but after she went to college, we drifted away. I shook my head to clear these thoughts.
The main thing now is to figure out what is happening, not to reminisce.
"Ding-dong"
The 14-year-old "me" quickly switched off the TV and rushed into the room. I followed him, smiling, seemingly alerted by the doorbell sound. My sister's smartphone disappeared, and instead she was now solving calculus problems.
I went back to the hall, where my "father" was sitting on the sofa. Back from his job, I looked towards the clock, and on the digital screen, 7:00 was flashing—the time he used to come back home every day.
He switched on the TV, and there was still the same cartoon channel playing. My "father," seeing it, got angry and grumbled something to my "mother." My mother smiled and defended me, saying I was studying after I came back from school.
With this, the day concludes. My past self enters tenth grade, and my sister leaves for college.
But even now, I don't know what is happening, but when I remember that darkness, a chill goes through me, and anything is better than that, I conclude.
So I carry on following my past self to high school. My face turns a little gloomy thinking about the future, but it's just the past; I can't change it, so I might as well enjoy it.
With that, I stepped inside the dreaded school building.