Leon had no idea why he was given this second chance at life, but he had made sure to gather every fact that he could.
He and this body shared a similar name and even the same looks. If the body wasn't so young, he would have classified his current situation as a doppelganger switch.
However, he was very sure that he had died. He was shot to death. This was America, after all, one of the most common ways to die in this country for the less accomplished.
His current body had apparently died from an illness—or was supposed to have died from an illness—but was saved since he had merged with it.
As for what world he was in, he had yet to find any means to identify it. There were no TVs here, nor did he have access to newspapers or anything. He only knew that it was the year 2003.
However, he couldn't care less. All he cared about was the fact that this Leon Nunez seemed to have a knack for artistry and was already very good at drawing.
The next day, Leon woke up early to start his chores. This had been a routine he had been carrying out for a while now since he found himself in this world.
One that even the nuns and other staff at the orphanage had gotten used to. The orphanage may be well cared for, but like several non-high-profile orphanages, it was very underfunded.
Hence, many of them were hoping to use the bazaar to gain people's sympathy.
Every morning, after the morning prayer, the nuns would gather every child for some rehearsal.
Then everyone ate and repeated… Essentially, the entire institution depended on this event, and Leon himself also depended on it, though for a whole other reason.
His goal was to be a tattoo artist, and to do that, he had to gain some reputation as an artist to begin with.
For several hours each day, Leon could be found in the art room, drawing or painting one thing or another. His goal was to create a realistic drawing.
If he could do that, his position as a top-grade artist would be cemented. But then again, a near-realistic artwork wasn't so easy to make.
Though the bazaar was several months away, everyone prepared for it, as it was essentially the next source of funding for the institution.
For Leon, though, he wasn't much affected by this because the art supplies in the orphanage were delivered from the local university, art stores, and such. The orphanage had a considerable amount.
They did it every month, and Leon was enjoying the excess amount of art supplies available to him.
"Okay, start!" a child announced as he started a stopwatch.
Sitting opposite him was Leon, who could be seen standing before an easel with a paintbrush in hand.
He thought about it carefully and concluded that since it was a bazaar, there were only two ways to make some money off it.
The first was to create and sell paintings, but he had a feeling people would undervalue them no matter how good the art was.
The other option was portrait painting. This was much easier to make money from, but he had to learn how to draw someone as quickly as possible.
His goal was to make a hyper-realistic painting of the boy before him in five minutes maximum.
As time ticked, his hands flew all across the canvas, and slowly, an image of the young boy before him formed.
Gradually, it began to develop into a truly realistic image of him.
"Stop!" the boy shouted as Leon immediately raised his hand off the canvas.
"Is it?" the young boy asked as he stood up, an apprehensive smile on his face.
"I think so," Leon replied as he closed his eyes, his heart beating loudly in his chest.
A lot was riding on this. First, in three years, he would age out of the system, so he needed some money to set up a life outside the orphanage.
"You did it!" the young boy shouted as he turned to Leon.