NOVEL WEB Chapter - 1: Crossing Over
Chapter - 1: Crossing Over
It had been raining since dawn, a steady downpour that showed no signs of stopping. The sky was a constant shade of grey and the sound of rain against windows filled the day.
Strangely enough, for the past few nights, I’d been having the same dream—a vivid vision of being reincarnated into another world. I hadn’t paid it much attention, though. It was just a dream, after all.
Today was important. It was my two-year anniversary with my girlfriend, and we’d planned to meet at our favorite coffee shop to celebrate. I was running a little late, the rain slowing me down, but my mind was focused on getting there. I didn’t want to keep her waiting.
As I crossed the street, the usual noise of the city was drowned out by the constant patter of the rain. But then I heard it—a sharp screech of tires cutting through the downpour.
My head snapped to the left, and there it was: a massive truck barreling toward me. Time seemed to slow down. I stood frozen in place, unable to react. The truck didn’t stop. It slammed into me with full force.
The impact sent me flying through the air, crashing into the front of the coffee shop where my girlfriend was waiting.
I remember hitting the ground hard, and through my fading vision, I saw her face—eyes wide in horror, tears streaming down her cheeks. Then everything went black.
When I opened my eyes, I found myself floating in a vast, dark space. Distant lights shimmered all around me—stars, I assumed. But why was I here, in space? I wondered if people who die travel through the space, moving from Earth to some unknown place.
As I was lost in thought, I suddenly felt an overwhelming force pulling me. I turned to see what it was—a massive, supermassive black hole. It loomed ahead of me, impossibly large, stretching over 50 billion miles across. In the next instant, I was drawn into it, spiraling into the darkness.
I had no idea where I was going, but the experience was breathtaking. All around me, vivid colors flashed—shades of red, blue, pink, and purple—swirling together as I was pulled deeper into this unknown black hole.
It all happened in an instant, but to me, it felt as though I had spent over a million years in space, being dragged at an unimaginable speed—faster than the speed of light. How could time stretch like that?
When I finally stopped, I looked around and was astonished by the world surrounding me. The trees towered high above, far larger than any on Earth, with some reaching heights of 500 to 600 feet.
I felt so small in comparison. Just as I was beginning to take it all in, I was pulled again, though this time the force wasn’t as overwhelming.
As I was being drawn forward, I noticed a ten-year-old boy sitting beneath one of the immense trees, which resembled a coconut tree, in a meditative pose.
I wanted to greet him with a simple “Hello there,” but I paused. He looked frail as if he hadn’t eaten in days, and his condition seemed critical.
I soon collided with the boy, and as I scrambled to my feet, I looked around to see if he was okay. But when I turned to where he had been sitting, he was gone. I searched behind me, to the right, and to the left, but there was no sign of him.
A sense of unease washed over me, and I suddenly felt a strange hunger—an odd sensation for someone who should be dead. It dawned on me that I had become the boy on the verge of death.
[Earth]
On a nearby television, a news channel was reporting on a tragic accident involving a person who had been hit by a truck. The screen displayed a picture of a boy with black hair, fair skin, and striking blue eyes.
In front of the television sat a girl on her sofa, tears streaming down her face as she gazed at a photo in her hand. Dark circles under her eyes and their redness revealed her distress. She had long black hair that fell around her shoulders, and she buried her head between her legs, crying sorrowfully.
“It was all my fault that he died. I shouldn’t have told him to come to the coffee shop. I should have suggested somewhere else. If only…” She repeated this phrase over and over, her voice breaking with each iteration.
Her anguish echoed in the quiet room, punctuated only by her soft sobs. Clutching the photo tightly, she seemed lost in a whirlwind of regret and despair. Each word hung heavy in the air, a relentless reminder of her perceived failure. She could picture the moment clearly: the excitement in his voice when he agreed to meet her, the joy that had filled her heart. But now, that joy felt like a cruel joke.
As tears streamed down her cheeks, she thought of all the things left unsaid, the laughter they would never share again. The image of him smiling back at her from the photo haunted her. She wished she could turn back time, to be able to tell him to stay home, to go anywhere but the coffee shop where fate had awaited him.
In her mind, the memories played like a slideshow, each happy moment overshadowed by the weight of loss. She curled further into herself, feeling the emptiness inside her grow, wondering if this pain would ever fade.
Just then she remembered something the boy said one day “If I ever die one day, I would only die by getting hit by a truck because I going to get reincarnated into a fantasy world.”
By memorizing his words she felt a bit happy “Maybe by now he is in a different fantasy world playing with magic like that. He used to be such an otaku when he was in 10 grade.”
“If there is really such a myth, I hope he can live in that world happily and find a good girlfriend and live a happy life.” Just as she prayed, she suddenly heard her phone vibrating violently and on the phone, there is a red signal flashing with messages.
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