Chapter 01 - Where I am?

"My body was getting hotter

The skin seemingly melting

Everything was a blur

I can't see anymore..."

Ethan hurriedly sat on the bed, scared and breathing heavily, unable to comprehend what was happening.

"Huh!? Was it a dream?"

He placed his hand on his forehead, gently pushing back his soft black strands of hair, attempting to calm himself, when he suddenly noticed the blaring sound of the alarm clock on the nearby headboard.

He moved his arm towards the damn thing, hurriedly turning it off to finally look around with peace of mind.

"Wait, where am I?"

He looked around, his gaze sweeping the unfamiliar environment; this wasn't his room.

On the dark blue walls were posters of multiple games, some clothes lay scattered across the floor, and cardboard boxes littered in one corner of the room. It looked like the typical bedroom of a teenager that recently moved in.

Ethan then stood up from the bed and headed towards a mirror next to the door. When he looked at his own reflex, he was fritghened by what he saw and took a few steps back in confusion.

"What the fuck is going on?"

This wasn't his body. It was as if he had shrunk in size and returned to the time he was seventeen. He couldn't remember much, but he knew that the one in the mirror wasn't him. The one he saw had glistening black hair, a good-looking face, and quite the chiseled body even though he was definetly a teenager. He also noticed that his eyesight wasn't among the best, not surprisingly there was a pair of glasses on the headboard next to the alarm clock.

Putting on the glasses, he turned around and stared at his reflexion. His whole body had changed, however, one thing had stayed the same; his eyes.

Ethan's eyes were of a redish orange hue. It wasn't highlighted enough to make them look fake, but it clearly made him standout in any crowd.

"Ethan, breakfast is ready! Come on, you'll be late for school!" A loud and sweet voice sounded from the floor below.

Ethan froze at the sound. He was trully in a completly unfamiliar environment and had to learn how to deal with his new life.

Opening the wardrobe, he started to look for something to wear for school. As he did so, something seemed to knock on the back of his head, he felt that he had been an adult before and had already graduated, but there were no concrete memories, only a hunch and a feeling mixed with confusion.

Having worn a long sleeved white shirt with a black sweatshirt over it, he also put on a black jeans before going back to the mirror to finish the last touches on his hair with one of his hands while putting on the socks at the same time.

Having left his room, he went down the stairs in slow steps. Thoughts like 'How many people would be down there?', 'Who called me?', 'How should I treat those people?' and some other questions were the only things that crossed his mind at that moment.

On the last step, he saw a woman turning toward the table in the middle of the kitchen. She was tall and slender, with black hair falling down on her shoulders e honey-colored eyes. The moment he set his eyes on her, he felt like he had known her for years and like a prodigal son, he had a huge affection for her.

"Hey there, tiger! How about having breakfast?" She smiled at him. "Hurry up and finish your breakfast. I whipped up some ham and cheese toast and your favorite OJ because it's your big day today - first day of school! Exciting, isn't it!"

The sweet woman spoke while placing the fragrant dish on the table.

Walking over and sitting at the table, Ethan brought the plate closer to him so he could eat.

'Maybe I can find out more about my body if I look through my cellphone. I just need to find out where it might be'

"Hey, mom, have you seen my cellphone anywhere? Can't seem to find it..."

Ethan asked the woman who seemed to treat him as if he was her son, praying that this was how the original spoke to her.

"Oh, the cellphone... Well, I think it was charging at my room. You told me yesterday that battery was almost dead and asked me to use my charger." She said with a thoughtful look on her face as if trying hard to remember where it might be.

"By the way, do you need a ride to school? I don't know if you managed to remember the path. No worries though." She smiled playfully, "I can drop you offon a corner some distance away from the school and prying eyes so you won't have to be ashamed that your mommy took you to school."

Her eyes seemed to smile as she spoke to Ethan.

'Why would I even feel ashamed about my mother giving me a ride to school? Was Ethan so weird?'

"No worries mom, you can take me directly to the entrance." He chuckled as he spoke.

Finishing his breakfast quickly, he rushed to the rooms upstairs. Since there were only two of them, it wasn't difficult to find his mom's.

Carefully opening the door, he quickly found the cell phone charging on the floor next to the wardrobe. After getting close, he quickly noticed that it was a new grayish white cellphone, but it had an older flip cover design.

Holding the small device on his hand, he opened up the cellphone and noticed that the date on it was 2005.

Right at that moment, a heavy headache struck Ethan's head and memories seemed to flash on his mind. He remembered of a time when he was seven years old and held a similar-looking phone on his hand. However, everything suddenly became dark and he couldn't remember anything else.

'So this is the past? But why? So confusing...'

As such, he decided to get quick look at the messages, contacts and images saved on it.

One of the DM's was named 'David', it seemed to be about a homework and that if Ethan didn't let him to copy it, he would get beaten on the way out.

'So, Ethan suffered bullying?' He thought while looking up some other DMs until he found one named 'King666Draco'. Narrowing his eyes, he tilted his head to the side with curiosity in his eyes, but before he could even open it, his mother appeared at the entrance of the room.

"Ethan, what are you waiting for? You're going to get late for school."

Scared by his mother suddenly appearing out of nowhere and her words, his eyes were wide open for a moment. Quickly recomposing himself, he nodded at her and followed her downstairs.

Walking up to the car, the boy soon understood what his mother's job was. The car was an old model used by the police. Thinking about it, he wondered if they moved because she got promoted, or maybe if it was because Ethan was getting picked on at school.

The two took their seats and strapped the belts before they left. Looking over the seat, he looked at everything that was inside the car, trying to find more clues about the original Ethan's life.

"Oh, sweetheart, I think I won't be able to take you home today, so you will have to walk all the way back on your own. You still remember the way, right? It's not too far." Ethan's mother asked with worry in her voice.

"It's alright, Mom. I can take care of myself." Ethan nodded as he stared at his mother.