The Rise of Rhys Yamagata

Waking up in an unfamiliar room is not the best way to start the day. It does however keep you on your toes. Waking up in an unfamiliar room was bad but still not quite as bad as a stranger bursting into your room waving a kitchen knife and calling you "son". It wasn't untell after I finished screaming like a little girl, that I realized that in fact, I sounded just like a little girl. A quick probe down south, to make sure I was still a man was in order, only to find out I was half right or at least I hoped I was half right. I quickly rolled out of bed, to find a mirror, only to find out that the normal distance from the bed to the floor seemed much too far away, as I crashed into the floor. I finally figured it out, I wasn't a man anymore I was a boy.

I have no idea where I am; I mean I know the planet's name, the city, and street I am living in, but it's not where I was, and I'm not who I was either. I like to think I just came into this existence, body and all, while the world shifted things around to make room for me. The idea holds credence, no one acted like I was a new person, with new vocabulary and speech pattern.

I can remember who I was, honestly; I wasn't impressive. I started my dream late in life, my path in life was a giant multilane roundabout. I finally ended up where I belonged, at age thirty I became a prep cook. It was weird to smile and cry while chopping onions; I was happy there in the kitchen, I knew that was where I belonged. I moved up in the world from being a prep cook after a few years and eventually started doing more than just chopping onions, but I don't remember when I left that world and started in this one. The closer to the moment of switching worlds, the hazier my memories become.

The planet I used to be on was called earth, the planet I am on now, is called earth. Confusing right, old earth, and this new earth are governed by a distinct set of rules. The old earth had a sort of normal and understandable set of rules. Go to school, go to more school, go to even more school. Get a shitty job, get a less shitty job, get an even less shitty job. Make no money, make some money, make good money. Old earth had a system, a progression. It made sense. This new earth still had that but, it was crazy about cooking. I mean, unbelievably bat shit crazy about it. Giant schools and institutions specifically for cooking. By giant I mean like mountain-sized, literally, a school from the base of the mountain all the way to the top of the mountain. I was impressed.

If I sound regretful that I am here in this new world, I am not. This new world feels almost made for me, a fresh start, to pursue what makes me happy earlier in life. A life I can live without any regrets hanging over me. I started to walk out of my room, with new clarity on life, my steps have never felt lighter. I wouldn't realize until later in life, thinking back to this memory, that my steps were light not because of my clarity but because I was an eight-year-old again.