Chapter 1 - Return

There's snoring coming from the next room and the sounds of rain hitting the tin covered chimney. Even with my eyes shut and being away for so long, everything sounds oddly familiar but somewhat off. Looking at the clock on the night stand, it reads 6am. I put my feet out the bed. The soft carpet his me with a wave of nostalgic bliss. After a minute, I get up and walk to the bathroom. The first thing that catches my eye is the mirror, and surprise and shock hits me.

Let me go back some to explain the events that led me here. On my fifty fifth birthday, I died. I was on the way home from work, and there was a traffic accident. Or, so I thought. When I got to the pearly gates, St. Peter stood there with a book. After an initial greeting, he explained that my brakes were cut by my most trusted employee in a ploy to get me to retire. Rather than walk me into heaven, though, St. Peter had a deal for me. In another world, there was a Demon causing trouble, and since God knew how I loved fantasy and isekai stories, I was being given the chance to go into one as a sort of Biblical hero of sorts. The type of opportunity I jumped at.

I took the chance and had an amazing adventure. When I finished, St. Peter called to me and said that I was going to be sent back to my original world for as my job was only half done. That's what leads me back to standing in front of the mirror. I do not see the ragged old man staring at me. As I see my reflection as a young boy, I realize I'm standing in my childhood home. "Honey, why are you awake?" I hear from the kitchen. I stop again as I hear the voice. Peaking my head out the bathroom door, I see my mother and father, both who should have passed on. The tears started flooding as I realized I got a second chance with my parents.

After the initial shock, I calmed down and assured them I was fine and just came out of a nightmare. That was not far from the truth. When I was 20 years old, we lost my dad due to complications from him smoking, and when I was 30, my mother passed away from a multitude of things. Here they are, though. I grabbed them both, and they held me till I calmed down. After I had calmed down, my father went to work and my mother made waffles for breakfast. Speaking with my mother, I found out it was Saturday. I decided to go outside after breakfast to test if everything really was a nightmare or not. The number one taletell sign, though, was I still had my powers from the other world. That coupled with my knowledge, I knew it all was not just a dream.

That night at the dinner table, my mother brought up something I was expecting. I'd been going to private school and she wanted to pull me out and home school me. Since apparently I just finished 6th grade,it was getting too much to send me. At least, that's what I remember from my past memories. I felt guilty when I realized my mother had done that to shelter me and put herself in a bind with her work. So this time, knowing what I knew, I convinced them I would be fine in public school.

The next day, we went to church. The church I grew up in was a small little southern church, but because of that, everyone knew each other like family. Something I was very grateful for. In my past memories, I had some bad experiences with churches. It made me understand why so many people were against them with the hypocrisy running so rampant in them. I liked the church I grew up, though.

After church, we came home and had lunch, and I went outside. I decided that until school started back, I'd work on training my mind and body.