DENIM STERLING I: The dream begins.

The cold metal of the handcuffs bit into my wrists, I was laying directly on the cold floor, it was snowing and my entire body was in pains, there was this nauseating metallic taste in my mouth probably as a result of the blood that I couldn't even spit out.

I was in so much pain and I couldn't even get my own body to respond to my commands.

An incredibly bright neon light was flashing Into my eyes, instinctively I wanted to close or at least blink my eyes but my body just wasn't listening to my commands. I couldn't recognize this place and I could not even survey my surroundings due to my inability to move but I felt connected to my surroundings as if I was home, this land felt special to me for some unknown reasons.

" Where was I? Who were these people?" These thoughts were running through my mind, I was not exactly awake it was more like I was in a semi conscious state but never the less I could pick up some sounds from my surroundings which included a few voices conversing in hush tones. I was in so much pain and I wanted to speak out so badly. I had alot of questions and I desperately needed answers maybe these people could help or so I thought but the moment I paid full attention to their conversation, I figured saying anything at this point could get me killed and so I laid there quietly but listening.

" Is he still alive" A voice that was too cold and devoid of any traces of humanity could be heard.

" He's dead, let's leave the boss will take care of the rest" A rough voice said.

" Rahim, the boss said to throw him out of town, we.... were not t...old to ...kill him" Another voice that was laden with fear stammered, the voice felt out of place but still it was

refreshing to the ears probably because of the emotions that was predominant in the voice, a stark contrast to the to the cold emotionless tone of the other voices.

" Does it even matter if he's dead or alive, the boss killed his parents already so isn't it better to send him on his way to a reunion" the hoarse voice that belongs to one of them Called Rahim rang out again, this time around there was a comical feel to the voice as he was trying to tell a joke to lighten the atmosphere but it wasn't working.

" Okay look guys. The boss told us to get him far out New Jersey at night, he never said anything about being alive or dead so there's nothing to fret about Alright and you Henry don't be such a sissy okay" Rahim who seemed to be looking for a means to justify his actions said again.

The young man called Henry was about to retort again when the guy who had spoken first spoke again.

" Alright it's okay guys the snow is getting heavier let's get out of here."

"Wait a minute let me get the cuffs" Rahim said moving near me, after uncuffing my hands expertly he stood up wanting to go before he paused again, he came near me again with a puzzled looks on his face and brought his fingers near my nose as if wanting to check if I was still breathing after checking for a while and confirming that I wasn't breathing he stood up once again to join his partners who were already walking off into the distance.

" He felt so warm that I thought he was still alive, too warm for a corpse laid out in the snow"

" whatever let's go I don't want to stay here any longer"

....

Shards of memories started to flood into me, it was like a jigsaw, piece by piece they started to come together.

By the time my memories came back completely It was already dawn, my body had become kind of numb to the pain which had plagued me all through the night. I wanted nothing more than to leave this place.

The interesting and most pressing issue is, I received my memories and not this guy's memories. Yes I and him are a different person, maybe we're not and maybe we're somehow connected but that doesn't matter, I can remember vividly who I was at least until I came to this body but I can't remember who he was and this was haunting me, it's painful to feel deeply connected to something or someone but you can't even remember them. Especially when those goons mentioned the death of his parents, I wanted to cry and my emotions where in utter disarray but I do not even know where or who these parents are.

This feeling might have convinced me to go on a revenge quest but having lived an unfulfilled life in my former life, I had a lot of career fulfillment to do and I really needed to enjoy my life this time around and personally my talents are only available on the pitch, I'll probably die on the first day if try to do any James bond shit and I really wasn't interested in dying, not like I was a coward but it all boils down to interest....I mean erm I could be brave on the pitch but climbing roofs and acting like a spy is not really my thing.

I was called Lucas Grayson and I was a football player in my past life, an attacking playmaker to be specific, I had lots of talents. I had started my career at sporting cp in 2013 before moving to Bayer leverkusen in 2017 on a record transfer fee of 180 million euros only below that of Neymar jnr who was bought by Paris Saint-Germain for a total sum of 220million euros.

I played for 4years at leverkusen scoring a total of 210+ goals and 120 assists within 4years before Manchester united came knocking on the door, it was a call that brought smiles to my face as I was a fan of Manchester united and even though they were struggling and weren't exactly at the top what better place was there for me to assert my dominance and create a legendary status for myself.

After joining united on a record fee of 300million euros, I started under Ole gunner solskjaer scoring 25goals and making 15assists but it was already almost the end of the season and in the next season I couldn't even score a goal, I was knocked out of the squad by a tackle from John Stones during our derby with Manchester City and by the time I came back to the squad Ole was gone and Michael Carrick was handling over to a new manager call Erik ten hag.

But did I succeed under Eric ten hag?.