Waking Up in a Dream

Blaise opened his eyes and stretched his legs until he heard a crisp cracking sound.

"Woah, that's nice. I haven't stretched like that in a long time…"

As if realizing there's something wrong with what had just happened to him, he jumped out of the bed.

"Wait! Huh? What the fuck!" He stretched his hands in front of him, he even looked at the room he's in.

Also noticing that he jumped out of bed with a spring in his step, he said, "Bollocks, I'm not supposed to have feet!" He proceeded to stomp his feet.

He then gazed at this body he's in. After touching every single body part that could be touched, he realized, "Shit, why am I also naked! No, no, that's not important right now, what's important is why am I back in my childhood room, and body?!"

The next moment, he smiled, as if he'd figured it all out. 'Oh… hehe... this is a pretty nice dream world, not gonna lie. Even simulated my teenage body the way I remembered it too.'

This was his room. A place where all his dreams were born. His first football was kept here. The posters of footballers he idolized were also plastered here. He reminisced as he scanned the place where everything started.

At least, until a man entered the room.

"Blaise, get up now, you still have a lot to do today—" Blaise's dad stopped as he saw his son standing stiff in the middle of the room.

His dad didn't say anything and went out. "I'm sorry Dad, I'm just spacing out…" he said after the door closed. His mind was already so familiar with dreams like these, that haunt him every once in a while. "I'm going to get ready in a few!"

'Dad! I'm not gonna disappoint you ever again after I wake up, and heal!'

He promised in his mind.

He thought that he'll just go through the motions since this is just a dream anyway. He grabbed his clothes, a small backpack, and his football shoes and made his way to the door.

'Now, I wonder where will this dream take me?'

He was about to open the door of his room when it opened up again from the outside.

"Son, where did you—" As the door opened up with force, Blaise was knocked back straight to the ground. He had his wind knocked out of his sails in an instant.

"—put the…" His airhead father even continued his words before it trailed off at the sight of his son grimacing in the ground. "Oh… Blaise… haha… sorry for that... I didn't think you're behind the door…"

Blaise was snapped back into reality. He knew that in dreams like this, he never felt pain, even in what were supposed to be moments where he felt immense pain in real life. But this time, he felt real pain.

He was alarmed.

Hence, he came to a quick decision. "Dad, slap me."

"Did I hurt you that much? Shouldn't you be slapping me for hurting you then?"

"Just slap me Dad, I need to wake up." The determination on his voice put Daddy Atkinson in a bit of a pickle…

"Can't you just do it yourself? I don't want to physically abuse my kid— even if it's unintentional, okay?" Dad helped his son up, and forgot what he's about to ask about. "Go down once you're sober, I won't tell your mom that you got wasted, I know it's just the alcohol talking. Sigh, the boldness of youth."

"I'm not wasted!"

As his father left, Blaise was left there breathless— both because of getting hit by a door, and because of a single thought that made him uneasy.

'Could I have reincarnated? But why? I'm just dreaming one second and now…'

Slap!

His left cheek met his left palm.

Slap!

His right cheek met his right palm the same way.

Not caring about his reddened cheeks, Blaise ran to the mirror. He felt the smoothness of his younger skin, and the face full of the vitality of his youth.

"Oh shit… how could this be real…" There's a few things the Blaise couldn't accept about his reincarnation.

First, he doesn't want to leave his beloved family behind. His wife Serra, and his kid Blaine— the two remaining people that kept him going— is now left behind.

Two, he always wanted to redeem himself. He may have lost his foot, but his mind still worked.

Three, he wanted to live.

'Wait… if I think about it, I'm still alive…' He murmured under his breath. 'And I'm younger too…'

The bewilderment that was in his eyes a second ago was replaced by a burning determination the next. He gained another chance. There's no way he's gonna waste it.

"I'm gonna be bathing in money! I'm gonna be the greatest real estate agent!" His eyes were shimmering like stars at the thought, he knew a lot of places in England that would rocket in value in the next decade or so, some of it have been offered to him or his teammates before. "But wait… who'd believe me…"

He wracked his brains as time passed slowly by. "Wait, fuck me. Why am I thinking about all these, I should take things slowly. Those people in the manga I've read don't even have any idea what to do at first."

"I feel like my moods are swinging wildly ever since I reincarnated… but who wouldn't feel that way…"

"Son! You have your exit trials today, if you don't want to screw yourself many times over, get the hell down here!" The loud voice of his dad poked his eardrums while he's contemplating.

'Exit… trials?' He ran like a madman to their house's ground floor, realizing that he returned to one of the most important days of his life.

It's the exit trials! I have to get there quick!

"Dad, shouldn't you have told me that earlier! I'm gonna shower for a minute!" He stole a piece of bread from the toaster as he rushed to the bathroom at the quickest pace he could muster while talking.

"Haha… I was supposed to remind you that…" The words his old man uttered didn't even reach his son because of his embarrassment. "But I forgot…"