Our lives differed from one another, but not drastically.
I could see him… my eyes shone with every step to the rhythm of my singing voice, my emotions running rampant while sweat trickled down from my forehead as I lived for the performance.
We were the same… that sense of passion for what we do.
That love that we feel while doing the thing we love the most.
Of course, I knew we were the same… and that's why I knew he was bound to ruin himself before he knew.
That love and passion turn into obsession.
That obsession will only grow into bitterness when all is said and done.
That feeling of emptiness… it's still a gaping hole in my heart.
More than a decade spent on the same project, countless hours, sleepless nights…
…
I looked at the blue screen by my side… my obsession… it was all from passion… and yet…
Nothing.
I don't feel anything.
I felt a bitter taste in my mouth but couldn't help but let a chuckle escape.
"Pft—"
What a joke it all is.
My project… my passion.
Making me do things in a different word while I can't do anything but oblige.
I just wanted to meet up with my kids…
I felt my hands clench involuntarily and my eyes not being able to maintain their focus.
…
Are they waiting for me?
Do they know that I'm gone?
What did they feel?
But am I gone?
Is my body dead?
If it is, is there even a real reason to play along with the system?
The more I felt my thoughts run rampant, the more the dull headache crept up in me.
I tried to make the negative thoughts go away, but they always crept up as I thought of my kids… I need to go back to them.
I looked out of the window once again, the clouds were already dark… a storm was brewing in the distance.
I could only stare at the coming storm and my reflection in the window… a pair of emerald eyes full of vigor and an underlying glint that I used to have staring back at me.
…
I felt a lump form in my throat… but even then, I could only stare at my reflection…
In reality… my eyes no longer had that glint…
They were the same as a dead fish.
But this Liam… he still had so much to live for, he was not yet like me… all sad and bitter.
But he was the same as me, bound to make the same mistakes.
…
If I can't go home yet, the least I can do is to make his life better.
His life was bound to change soon…
I took a look at my phone again, I was searching for the date, but the main menu of my phone did not show the year… I had to look for it.
[1998. October. 20]
You got to be kidding me.
It was winter brake soon… the last winter brake that I enjoyed.
My father was bound to suffer an injury soon, which caused our life to shatter.
He could no longer afford our mother's hospital bills which killed both of them in the end and left both of us without parents…
I'm not going to let that happen.
[Liam White]
[Quest: The Door]
The Door…
Just you wait… you are going to open in front of me.
***
Walking down the hallways, Liam picked up a new expression, something natural, akin to a blank canvas.
As he made his way to the theater club, students leaving the school or heading to after-school activities cast curious glances his way.
From the memories of the original Liam, he already knew that Liam went on to become an outcast with his brother, but the reason was still unknown to him.
He received numerous glances, but none of them said a word.
He was just someone that they all instinctively stood away from together with his brother.
The two of them were known outcasts in the school.
No one even wanted to acknowledge their existence.
Outcast twins.
Liam was only now starting to receive his new memories, so even while the transfer was 80% complete, he was still not fully assimilated with the memories, the most, he needed time—something that he was lacking.
'This Liam was in the theater club… and just before the winter break, they were bound to have a big performance…
One that he was kicked out of before it could have happened.
'I don't know how… but this is a perfect way to have a boost to my acting career, that can be the first thing that I will try to make my debut.'
'Amelia
The school grounds were eerily quiet, with only a few lingering students milling about.
The once lively corridors were now mostly empty, and the fading afternoon light cast long shadows across the pavement outside.
Liam's footsteps echoed softly as he approached the theater club room.
The closer he got, the more the faint sounds of activity reached his ears—shuffling footsteps, the clatter of props being moved, and the murmured conversations of the students preparing for the upcoming performance, they were in the final process of preparing the play.
He pushed the door open quietly and stepped inside. The room was a flurry of activity, with students arranging decor, painting backdrops, and rehearsing lines.
No one noticed him at first. They were all too absorbed in their work, their backs turned to the door.
But then… a young blond student noticed him standing at the door with an uninterested expression that he only picked up after the memories got fed to him.
The Liam of this world was a blank canvas who barely showed any emotion.
The student stopped in his tracks entirely, almost making another student clash into his body as he was frozen.
"What the f—"
The student that almost collided with the blond boy stopped in her tracks, as well as her eyes, wandered to the same point where the blond student looked in shock.
As they saw the emerald-eyed boy stare at them while not saying a word, most of them fell silent—except one.
A girl with luscious auburn hair in a knight costume, her hazel eyes staring at Liam in anger while she continued to make her way to him with clenched fists.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Liam?"
"Hi."
Liam greeted them, under the mad gaze of the girl, he did not shudder, in reality, he was doing his best not to laugh out loud because of her expression.
"Spit it out, why are you here?"
Her tone carried authority as she got ready to kick Liam out of the room before the boy in front of her turned extremely solemn.
With the same nonchalant gaze and an uninterested tone that carried a unique charm to him his emerald green eyes stared forward.
"I'm here to have another chance at acting… I want to perform before the winter break."