Trash. No life.
Stupid.
The words repeated in Aeus's mind like a broken record, their sharp edges scraping against his consciousness.
"AHHHHH!" His scream shattered the silence, and he sat up in bed, his chest heaving. The room around him was cloaked in the dim light of early morning, the curtains doing a poor job of blocking out the intrusive rays. He wiped the cold sweat from his brow, his hand trembling.
It wasn't just a nightmare. No, it was something deeper—an echo of everything he wished he could forget.
The small, cramped apartment offered no solace. The unwashed dishes in the sink, the clutter of clothes strewn across the floor, and the faint mustiness of stale air all bore testament to a life long abandoned. Aeus dragged himself out of bed, his movements sluggish, his body aching from another restless night.
"Another night wasted..." His voice cracked as he muttered to himself. "Another nightmare full of nothing but... emptiness. Will it ever change? Will I ever change?"
He staggered to the bathroom, splashing cold water on his face in a vain attempt to shake off the lingering haze. His reflection stared back at him from the cracked mirror—a pale, hollow version of the person he once thought he could become. Dark circles under his eyes, unkempt hair, and a shadow of stubble on his jaw.
"What am I even doing?" he whispered to no one.
His head throbbed, the pain dull yet persistent. He stumbled to the small table by the window, fumbling for the bottle of headache pills. Popping two into his mouth, he grabbed a nearly empty water bottle, chugging half of it in one go. The water was lukewarm, metallic. He grimaced but didn't care.
His phone lay on the table, the screen cracked from when he'd dropped it last week. Hesitantly, he picked it up. The time read **10:20 AM**, and the date glared back at him in bold: **B.S 2081/8/10**.
"Shit," Aeus muttered.
The thought barely stirred panic anymore. He'd been late so many times that the excuses ran dry long ago. As he dialed his boss, his fingers moved on autopilot. No answer. He tried again. Nothing. A faint sense of dread began to bubble in his chest, but he squashed it down, unwilling to give it life.
Then the message came:
**Message failed. User has blocked you.**
Aeus stared at the notification, his lips curling into a bitter smile. "Blocked me... That means I'm fired. Again. The fifth time."
He sank into the chair by the window, the weight of his failures pressing down on him like a physical force. His thoughts spiraled, each one dragging him deeper into the void.
He opend his phone and go through a social media. He sees a post of his friend. The title of that post was *living the happiest moment in my* in that post he was with his newborn child and his 10/10 wife.
Back when i was a little kid, i thought my adulthood will be peak but it is just sick. I can't hold a job. I have no friends, no one who cares about me. I wake up late, go to sleep even later, and spend my days staring at these four walls. What am I even living for?
The self-loathing grew sharper with every passing second. He glanced around the room, the mess suddenly unbearable. It felt as though the apartment was suffocating him, its walls closing in, trapping him with his own thoughts.
A notebook caught his eye, half-buried beneath a pile of bills he hadn't paid. He hesitated, then reached for it, flipping it open more out of boredom than curiosity. The pages were filled with messy scrawls, diagrams, and nonsensical notes. His frown deepened as he flipped further, until he came across a single page that stopped him cold.
The handwriting was his own, but the words felt alien:
**"To the Aeus who finds this:
"If yuor'e rdaneig tihs, it mnsae yuor'e slitl alvie. Tath's a godo strat. But it aslo mnsae yu've fogertton smohteing imopratnt—smohteing taht tkaes a lot of cguorae. Ttah's smohtnige we cna do. You nad I btoh konw you cna. You're me, afetr all."
Aeus stared at it, his breath catching in his throat. "What... is this?" he whispered. As curiosity and suspense goes through him. He took a glance at the backside of the latter to found noting.
I know "You nad I btoh konw you cna. You're me, afetr all." Part is "You and I both know you can. You're me after all." Right away but for other needs i need some time to think.
But first, Im curious about who write it. "there is no way it's were written by me. it has to be a prank by someone, right?" but why would anyone do a prank on me?
One thing is that they knows my name and If they want to prank on me. They would definitely want to record my expression. Aues place down the letter on the table.
He checked ever corners of the room to found nothing. I don't think there's something missing from my room to. A thief came in without stealing a thing?
He sat on a sofa in a dazzed. Did i really write that letter. Even if i did why can't i remember it- wait... If it's a prank and they needed to see my reaction... What if they are watching me right no-
The door creaked open, startling him. Aeus turned sharply to see a figure standing there—
Is it the one who wrote the letter. If so are they enemy or allies!
The door creaked open, startling him. Aeus turned sharply to see a figure standing there—
A girl with wavy black hair shimmering with a red tint, one eye sharp and golden like a clock, the other calm and soft. There was something unnervingly captivating about her, a blend of gothic allure and quiet elegance that immediately held his gaze.
If a man hadn't seen a girl for a year, there were high chances he might stare at her for a long time—and that's exactly what Aeus was doing. "Who—? How did you get in here?"
The girl raised an eyebrow, glancing at the door as though it were the most natural thing in the world. "Did you forget to lock your door?"
Aeus groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. Great. Just great. He had left the door unlocked—again. Now a stranger stood in his room, uninvited.
"I'm sorry," he muttered, his voice tinged with embarrassment. "But who are you?"
She didn't answer immediately. Instead, she walked further into the room, her eyes flicking over the clutter with a hint of disapproval before meeting his gaze. "It's a bit rude, don't you think, asking all these questions without even introducing yourself?"
Aeus muttered under his breath, irritation bubbling up. "Man, this girl's got too many problems. And that's one of the reasons I don't deal well with girls."
The dark-haired girl gave him a cold look. "I can hear you, you know." Damn, she just read my mind.
Aeus froze, caught off guard, and she continued, "So, did you figure out what the letter meant?"
Did she write that letter? Aeus's heart skipped a beat. "How do you know about that?"
Ignoring his question, she tilted her head with a faint smile, her voice impossibly confident. "My, where are my manners?" She reached down, her slender fingers brushing the hem of her skirt, lifting it slightly as she bowed. Her crimson eyes shimmered, framed by lashes that seemed to hold secrets of their own. A trace of amusement danced in her gaze, as though she knew far more than she let on.
"I am Kurisa Rae," she said, straightening from her bow, her black hair cascading like silk over her shoulders.
Aeus clenched his fists tightly, arms bent and tensed, veins bulging as his shoulders hunched forward. Frustration bubbled up inside him, but his mouth betrayed him. "Let—let me see your panties!"
Kurisa's lips curled into a faint smile. "How naughty of you, Aeus. Not that I mind." She lifted her skirt slightly, teasing.