NOVEL WEB Chapter 1: Go back in time!
Monotony. Anger. Pain. Despair. Nothingness.
"Ah!" I made a gasping sound as I inhaled a large amount of air.
I opened my eyes to find myself in complete darkness, with a faint hint of azure in the background. Something white in the distance caught my eye - could it be a ceiling? When I lifted my hand to grasp the unknown object, I noticed that a pale arm had appeared as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I reached out, surprised, and relieved at the familiar appendage as I brought my fingers close to my face, examining my palm as it moved away from and toward my eyes.
So real. It was so genuine. The agony and the gloom. Screams and muffled sounds pierced my ears. Had I truly dead, or was this just a hallucination caused by my tired mind seeking both relief and punishment?
I was awake enough to sit up in my bed, shaking my head. "A nightmare?" I said it out loud, hesitantly, with a slight break in my tone.
I rubbed my eyes with my hands, attempting to erase the last vestiges of the nightmare that had terrified me. There was no success. I couldn't help but snort at my brain's preference for remembering the bad and forgetting the good.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, causing the springs beneath me to protest, and walked over to the light switch. I stumbled towards the wall, still dazed from sleep and the lingering emotions of a disturbingly realistic dream. I reached out blindly, my fingers frantically searching for the light switch until I found it. The room was finally illuminated.
Scanning the room, which contained some basic furniture and a familiar bookshelf containing some books. I finally breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed my tense body. "It was a very real dream." This was, without a doubt, my room, as simple and tidy as I remembered it. No, perhaps a little neater than I remembered?
I walked around the room with a casual shrug. My gaze was drawn to the clock atop the ebony nightstand. It was three a.m., which meant I only had a couple of hours until my shift at work started. I pondered briefly, but since sleep had eluded me, I reasoned that a quick game on my laptop wouldn't hurt.
I crouched down with a dragging step to look under my bed. I reached out with my other hand into the void beneath, bracing myself with one hand on the white bedspread. My fingers struggled in vain to locate my laptop. As my hand touched the smooth wood of the floor, I didn't even notice the lack of dust that usually accumulated under my bed. Surprisingly, the space under my bed was unusually empty.
I lowered my gaze to the darkness, empty space beneath the bed where my laptop should have been. I strained my eyes to make out any details in the dim light. "I... I remember leaving my laptop here," I mumbled to myself, perplexed.
'Maybe it's somewhere else,' I reasoned. I stood up and began to look around the room, but there wasn't much space to look in either, as the closet was... restlessly full. Whose clothes are these? I only had a couple of shirts and my work uniform. This appeared to be women's clothing. Despite my confusion, I decided to set it aside for later because I was currently in a major quandary.
"Where the hell is my laptop?" My voice was a little louder this time, and it was tinged with annoyance.
It wasn't the best computer; I didn't have enough money for a desktop computer, so a mid-range laptop was the best I could get, so had been stolen was almost out of the question, so my thoughts turned to my sisters; it was almost certain that my younger sister had 'borrowed' it to play games or watch anime or something. I couldn't help but sigh in frustration.
I exhaled deeply and relaxed. Although I resented her taking my belongings without permission, she was the only person in this house who didn't completely despise me, so I could forgive her.
Anyway, I decided to look for my computer elsewhere in the house. The living room should be a good starting point, but if I can't find it there... I couldn't go into my younger sister's room at this hour either because it was creepy and I didn't want to wake her up. Maybe I should ask my older sister; I don't mind waking her up at this hour, though I'm sure she'd just yell at me like usual.
I sighed at the prospect of leaving my room for a plan that didn't involve walking directly from my room to the exit. I knew I wouldn't run into anyone at this hour, but the thought of having to meet my mother's cold stare or my older sister's tirade made me mentally exhausted.
‘Well, I'd be upset too if I were them. I'm a loser who squandered my chances by taking the easy way out’
I walked slowly and measuredly towards the door of my room, shaking my head once more. When I reached out to turn the burnished copper doorknob, it twisted before I could make contact, causing me to startled.
As the door swung open, I looked up in surprise and a tinge of alarm. Standing before me were two stunning women with raven hair and piercing golden eyes, accompanied by a shorter girl with similar features. Their sudden appearance had caught me off guard.
‘What? What brought them here?’ I wasn't expecting my mother, older sister, and younger sister to appear in my room so early in the morning. Perhaps they had finally decided to boot me out? That would be disastrous. I was prepared to argue and even beg, but I was perplexed when I looked at them more tightly; did they look younger now that I looked at them more closely?
My mother was not frowning as usual; instead, I could tell she was... concerned? No, it wasn't just her; all they were?
My mother in question ran up to me, jolting me out of my reverie, and I was about to close my eyes from a possible hit if it hadn't been for her words. "What happened, honey, and why are you awake at this hour?" My mother inquired. This perplexed me to unimaginable proportions. Honey? She approached me, her worried golden eyes fixed on me, but her gaze quickly shifted to my chest. As she averted her gaze and pointed to my chest, I noticed a slight flush on her face. "Honey, your shirt is undone," she pointed out.
"Huh?" I said stupidly, lowering my gaze to stare at a pair of pink kitten print pajamas, what the hell? why am I wearing pajamas, am I losing my mind? Despite this, I shook my head. "I'm fine, Mother. I was simply searching for my laptop."
"Your laptop?" My older sister repeated, tilting her head to the side in confusion.
Ignoring the lack of aggression in her words, I nodded my head. "Yeah, the one I bought a couple of years ago."
"You bought something like that? I don't recall ever seeing anything like it." She went on, shaking her head.
I couldn't help but be surprised when my sister addressed me with more than three words in one day; this was to celebrate, but I didn't have time for that.
As I began to feel uneasy about the women of the house's less-than-abrasive behavior, I took a step forward and to the left, where there was room to pass. "Don't worry, I'll go get it myself."
I tried to avoid the women standing in front of the door, but all the women in the house blocked my path like an impenetrable wall. Even my little sister, who wore a determined expression as she held out her hands to stop me from passing.
My mother stopped me by raising her hand in front of me. "Wait a second, young man! What do you intend to do at this hour? You should return to sleep." She scolded me, but with a slightly nervous and hesitant look in her golden eyes, as if scolding me was difficult for her for some reason.
I gave her a confused look, tried to pass again, but they all moved to block my way again. At this point my confusion began to seep into my voice. "I'm just goin-"
She cut me off by lowering all of her other fingers, leaving only her index finger to silence me. I remained silent while she wiggled her finger back and forth in denial. "No, it's late, you have to go to school later, you don't want to have dark circles under your eyes, do you?" She reasoned.
My mind struggled to process what was happening as my mother and sisters spoke to me. Their lips appeared to form the word "goodnight" before escorting me into my room and closing the door.
I stood in the middle of the room, disoriented and perplexed.
When was the last time someone wished me a good night? I reflected wistfully before focusing on the key word that had me frozen. School? This was not possible because I had graduated more than four years prior.
I needed to act quickly if her words were true. In my haste to find my cell phone, I frantically searched through the drawers of my nightstand, tossing various items aside. When I finally got my hands on it, I was distracted by an anime girl sticker on the phone case, a really ugly character, why do I have something like this? But I quickly pushed that thought aside, knowing that I had more pressing matters to attend to.
With my heart pounding, I reached for and pressed the power button on my cell phone. "March 4, 2015," I mumbled, stunned. back in time? A smile crept across my face, and I couldn't help but laugh slightly under my breath. "Go back in time!" I announced my victory in hushed tones.
I was too excited at the time to notice the strangely feminine wallpaper on my phone or the magazines with abusively ugly women I had thrown on my bed.
