Chapter 4: Second Chance

One Month Earlier

 

In a modest bedroom, darkened by heavy curtains, a faint cry pierced the air, shattering the tranquility inside and making the atmosphere tense. A pained whimper and a thump followed this.

 

These sounds originated from a black-haired boy who was in the grip of a nightmare. His nightmare was so intense that it caused him to fall off his small twin-sized bed. Even though the boy only appeared to be in his late teens, his hazel eyes told another story. A story that was filled with heartache and pain. 

 

The maturity that shone in their depths belied his age. He looked as though he had experienced something terrible because he was clearly very shaken up. Especially with the way his body trembled as he stared ahead, eyes glazed over. He looked as though his brain had stuttered to a complete and utter stop.

 

The boy stayed in the position, staring straight ahead as he sat next to the bed for about ten minutes before coming out of his stupor.

‘Where am I?’ he wondered, confusion etched across his face. ‘I could’ve sworn I died.’

After some struggle, he pulled himself up off the carpeted floor and back onto the bed. Bewildered and a little scared, he looked around, wondering where he was because the last thing he remembered was perishing.

 

Confused, and a little shaken up, he slowly scanned the room, only to be startled by what he saw. As he looked around the place, he knew what he was seeing couldn’t possibly be real. Thinking that this was some kind of hallucination, he closed his eyes, but when he opened them, everything was still the same. 

 

As he stared at his surroundings in disbelief, he couldn’t help but wonder if he really died and was in heaven, because that was the only thing he could think of. Otherwise, why would he be in a room destroyed five years prior?  

 

He got up from the bed and walked over to the picture of his parents that were lost in the fire. With a sad smile, he caressed their faces. As tears welled up in his eyes, he decided that dying wasn’t so bad if he got to see his parents and grandparents again. 

 

However, he knew that there was also a slim chance of this all being a side effect of a drug he was on in a hospital as his body recovered from his accident. Either way, he was fine with it.

 

Turning his head away from his parent’s photos, he looked toward the window. ‘If I’m really dead or just tripping balls of some drugs, then sunlight would no longer affect me.’

 

Knowing that checking would be the only sure way to check if his hypothesis was correct, he went over to the window and pull back the heavy curtain. He had a rare disorder called Xeroderma Pigmentosum, which causes him to be extremely sensitive to the sun.

 

Like a vampire, if he ventures close to the sun, his skin would burn. So, even though he was 90% sure that he was dead or tripping, he still was wary, so he didn’t pull the curtain all the way back. Instead, he pulled it back ever so slightly that the only thing the sun touched was his hand.

 

Pain… overwhelming pain was the first thing he registered once the sunlight had shone down upon his skin. His loud shriek echoed throughout the room before he had the chance to wrench his hand away and re-close the curtain. 

 

He was now sure that he wasn’t dead or in a hospital. However, before he could wonder about what was going on, his room door opened with a bang and a petite woman with long brown hair rushed toward him with worry in her eyes.

“Ari, are you okay? What’s going on?” She asked with concern laced in her voice.

No matter how much Ari wanted to answer her, he couldn’t. It was as if someone had filled his mouth to the brim with cotton, letting no words escape. The only thing he could do was stare at her in wide-eyed wonder as she fussed over him. 

 

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Although his mind couldn’t believe that his mother, who had been dead for seven years, was standing right in front of him, his heart really wanted to. So, throwing out all logic, he did exactly and accepted that she was back.   

 

Once he did, his emotions surged, causing tears to gather in his eyes, blurring his vision as they threatened to fall. He really hoped that this was real and not some delusion.

 

His thoughts couldn’t help but go back to the possibility that this might be heaven, but if it was, why did he feel pain? And the same question could be asked if he goes down the drugged route. So what was going on?

 

However, these thoughts were cut off by his mother’s touch as she led him to his bed to take care of his wound. 

 

Grabbing a first aid kit that she stored in his room, the brown-haired woman got to work fixing her son’s injury. “Ari, I told you to stay away from the windows until I got the window blockers. Why didn’t you listen?” 

 

Ari just felt utterly flabbergasted and could only watch as his mom tended to him. It had been so long since he last heard her voice that he even missed her scolding. In the past, he used to get irritated at her babying him, but after all those years without her, he knew it came from a place of love. 

 

“There, all done,” the woman smiled, after putting the bandage on. “Now tell me why you were near the window.”

 

However, because of that smile, the dam that he tried to hold back flooded. Pulling his mother into a tight hug, tears began streaming down his face as he took in her comforting scent.  

 

Noticing something was wrong, Ari’s mom’s eyes filled with apprehension. Gently patting his back, she asked, “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”

 

“Nothing,” Ari answered, his tongue finally working. “I just had a nightmare that seemed to go on forever. But it’s okay now. I’m finally awake.”

 

“I’m not surprised you had a nightmare. After all, we are in a new environment. You used to get them all the time when you were younger,” she said, as she slid her fingers into his hair, gently stroking the strains.

 

The rhythmic up and down movement was comforting. It calmed his tidal wave of emotions. His mother always had that effect on him.   

 

Sniffling, Ari mustered himself up so he could pull away from her before wiping his tears with his fingers tips. While looking at her, he asked, “Really?”

 

“Yup! When you were five and we had to move because of your da…dad’s new job, you couldn’t sleep for an entire week.” 

 

Something sparked in Ari’s mind when he heard what she said, but dismissed it for now. He continued to talk to her for a while, but soon had to get ready for work. After she left, Ari laid down on the bed in confusion. 

 

Lifting his hand to his forehead, Ari rubbed it while sighing softly to himself. For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out what was going on. He knew he wasn’t dead because of that stunt he pulled, but it seems he wasn’t alive either.

 

‘I need to figure this out.’ The teenager decided while scratching his curly black locks as he scrunched up his face in thought.  

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