章節 2: Chapter 1: Death comes for Me
Chapter 1: Death comes for Me
The quiet sound of nature filled the air, flies buzzed, crickets chirping and all woodland creatures squeaking as they are all unaware of what shall come. But it was an infinitely better sound than the moans and groans of my next-door neighbors that wakes me from my sleep, as a new day has come, and I need to get up and get ready for work.
--January 5, 2020--
My name is Jackson Keller, Jack for short, I am a 34-year-old mechanic that works at the local Pep Boys, I should have picked a better job since I have a master's in engineering. I have been living by myself since my parents died a few years ago. I am single and remain to be that way due to women only care for money and prestige, and I have neither or care for it all the same.
The day started like any other, I woke up around 6:30 in the morning, showered for about 20 minutes, the usual I might say, for me anyways. Changed into my work clothes, a white t-shirt, khaki grey overalls, and a pair of black leather looking shoes with steal toes in case something falls on my feet. After my regular morning breakfast, usually some eggs and ham, sometimes bacon, then after that I went to work.
Takes me about a half hour to get to my job, which is at Pep Boys Auto and Oil. I'm one of three mechanics that work there during the weekdays, I work sometimes on weekends but that's only when we're backed up on orders. Well, today was the day I somehow knew that would change me forever, I died, the day started out the same as any other.
It's not that I was lazy, or an underachiever, I was very intelligent, creative, learned extremely fast. But when my parents died last year, I was in the middle of a low point in my life. With the chronic depression and all, I'd been suffering for months now, and it was not getting any better as the days went by. That's why I work where I work now, an easy job, I guess.
I stayed studying for my major in auto mechanics, and maybe once I had my actual degree in hand, I'd feel better, maybe be able to move forward if I had something to show for and make something of my life. But for now, I went to work during the day, played video games when I came back, and watched anything that I paid any fancy to, I don't know, Supernatural, Walking Dead, and some Twilight zone.
I made it into work five minutes before nine A.M., I clocked my work card at exactly nine due to management jumping down my throat about not paying anyone for overtime, even if it's just a few minutes or seconds early or late. Today was a slow day, I worked almost all the way through to 11 A.M. right before my lunch break hit. The truck I was working on had come in late last night and these folks needed their vehicle as soon as possible.
Work that day was ordinary, but somehow, something felt off today. I joked with my buddy about a stupid co-worker I had gotten into an argument about something meaningless. Apparently, he had gotten pissed at me when I found something the night shift had screwed up in the section we both work in, I immediately let it go and fixed the issue. It wasn't worth the stress over or fighting about it, so I let the management know and moved on.
Apparently he didn't, which made life more stressful today, anyways, I needed less stress in fact, that is why I let it go. Before I left home, I had packed myself a small light lunch, which was a ham sandwich, a bag of chips, and a bottle of root beer, mmmh, root beer, the drink of champions. Well, anyways, because I'd actually eaten a substantial breakfast and I felt anything else would-be overkill.
Anyways, back to the truck, apparently, they needed the truck for their deliveries and worked for a major grocery store, 'Krueger's' I believe. Who is a major store around these parts, so I hurried on their truck just in case they would give me a large tip for fixing their truck before their deliveries were late. I was already closing the undercarriage up when everything went black, I knew I wasn't dead because I could still hear voices.
I thought that ass hat of my nagging co-worker had maybe somehow hit me from behind while I wasn't looking. Trying to take revenge on something so meaningless and small, but I guess I'll never know now. With me in this state, I could do nothing but listen to my surroundings as I stared into the darkness. I don't remember much after that, as things faded into obscurity and silence took me a few minutes later.
---April 15, 2009---
I awoke in a scared state, I didn't know where I was! Or how long I've been here. As my eyes began to focus, I looked around the room I was in as images started to appear, it seemed like I was in some kind of recovery room, hospital maybe. With all the medical beds and equipment around, that should be right. I took a chance and called out for someone to reply, "Hello!! Anyone!! Nurse? Anyone out there?"
The way I yelled out, caused a faint echo in the room, which surprised me at how loud it sounded at first. I turned my head towards the door, because I heard a loud crash coming from behind the door. It sounded like something heavy fell off a shelf or something. Then there was a second crash, this time it was against the door of the room I was in. Hopefully the door will hold whatever was behind whatever caused the crashed.
I held my breath as to not make any more noise and looked around for something to defend myself with incase it or whatever that was is hostile. 'Better asking for forgiveness than permission I always say.' I thought to myself as I grabbed the end railing of the bed and tried to tear a piece of bar off for protection. The bed was too well made, as I slowly reaching behind me instead and grabbed a hold of the IV holder.
Now, I was ready for an attack, just in case I was a prisoner or something as I silently listened for anything. After a few minutes of nothing happening, I called out again to whoever was behind the room door. "Nurse? Hello!! Help me, please!" Then suddenly, the swung door opened, seemed like someone shoved it more like it as the door hit the back wall making a s**t ton of noise. I almost swung the IV holder towards the poor girl that walked in.
She screamed out in a fright as she saw a long bar close to her face, and then screamed after she entered the room. "AAHHH!!" My eyes widen when I realized it was just the nurse. I realized I wasn't at work, because last time I checked, I was at work, and I working alone under a Semi-truck. "What is wrong with you? You scared the s**t out of me. Mr. Willson, please put the IV holder, please. And don't do that again!!"
That was when I realized I was still holding my makeshift weapon that was pointed at her. "I'm sorry nurse. I heard a loud bang behind the door and thought we were getting attacked or something. Please forgive my rude behavior. I apologize if I scared you." She looked relieved and the way she smiled at me, told me that she forgave me. "That's ok, Mr. Willson. I forgive you. Now onto business, shall we? Let's see here how you're doing."
She reached over to end of the bed and grabbed the chart that was there. She looked through the chart for a second and then said, "Well, we have good news and bad news, and a major bad problem as well. Which would you like to hear, first?" I looked confused, as I looked at her. "OK. What's the good news?" I asked as she read the chart to me, "well, the good news is, you're fine at in great health."
I was feeling good too as released the breath I was holding, but I never felt this good in the past. "And the bad news?" I asked again. She looked conflicted in telling me. *SIGH* "The bad news is your wife left you, and said she was never returning. She said that even if you made a full recovery she was leaving you. That was mean of her, I know but good riddance to bad rubbish, I always say." She said and waited for me to respond.
"Wait!! Wife?!!" I said in confusion. Now she was the one that looked confused. "Yessss! That's what she said. Her name was... let me see here, Marie Wilson. She at least paid for the month that you've been here, but then left, and she hasn't returned since. That was three days ago." Now I was confused, again. I don't know anyone named Marie at all as I was thinking if the name sounded familiar.
"Can I ask for a few minutes to think before we continue, nurse?" She nodded her head and said, "Yeah, sure! I'll be back in thirty minutes to continue our little talk, Okay?" I nodded my head in agreement. She then turned around and left the room. I heard a click from the door as she locked it after exiting the room. Right when she closed the door, I felt a terrible pain coming from my head, as if it were about to split open.
I clenched my teeth together as the pain intensified and images of this bodies life appeared in my mind and was playing slowly like a slow-motion movie. I soon started to remember everything about what brought me to this point. I closed my eyes to process all the information that was unloading in my head. And the next thing I knew, loud sounds, and bright lights were bombarding me as I lost control of this body.
I watched everything this body had gone through in the past 16 years, but I was watching two lives play out. As if I've lived two lifetimes with two different memories that were constantly comparing each other. Some frames I was watching were like scenes of a TV series from my old world, but they were reality in this one. If I ever get a chance, once I leave from here, I should use the things I know from my world to better this life.
I had read a lot of stories in my old life. I've heard and read many fanfiction of readers getting rebirthed or transmigrated into some of their favorite fictional worlds. And to my conclusion, maybe that's what's had happened to me. There was no time to freak out and/or mourn for this bodies old family, of the first life I viewed. I knew that I had already lost most the family anyways, maybe that's why I saw two lives.
That life, I had skate by thinly with the depression I was going through and probably killed myself afterwards and then got reborn to the second life I saw together with the first. Now, I have to deal with this bodies new family, the second life I viewed, and it was poorer than the first life I went through. My father in the second life was a lout, a f**ken drunk, and my mother was very sick at home unwilling to go to the hospital.
Since my mother was sick, I couldn't go to work most of the time due to me taking care of her. While my father was too lazy to do anything anymore, other than walk to the kitchen, and grab a beer from the fridge. That was the hardest he'd ever done in the past two years. My father before was one of the best mechanics in town, and I followed in his footsteps when things got bad.
A mechanics job is hard when you have big businesses to close to your shop and other than the odd car job here and there that came once in a while to be fixed, our income was low to nonexistent. I had never turned down a job, and that included some illegal drug running jobs that kept me away from my mother for a few days. I was never forced to do anything big that had me away from my mother longer than 2 weeks.
But one day my mother's sickness got worse, and I had to take her to the hospital, and the hospital meant large bills, and bills meant money. Money that we didn't have at the time. So, I took it upon myself to drop out of school and took my father's mechanic shop as my full-time job. That was only one of the jobs I had, I had multiple jobs that would bring in the money that was needed for my mothers care.
But having all those hospital bills pill up monthly, the money that I was bringing in didn't even make a dent into the huge pile of bills that had accumulated dust which I saw every morning on the hallway table. All those bills on the table were not only hospital bills, but they were also the light, cable, phone, and the late house notices for the past year that have not been paid.
Apparently, I found out that my parents, mostly my father, for some reason or other hasn't been paying the utilities and house as well. So, not only do I have to pay the hospital bills, but I also had to worry about my dad's habits, and food as well. That sounded easy right? Yeah... well, it wasn't, let me tell you. No job out there, that was not illegal I took would put out a heavy payout.
That was when I talked to an old friend of mine that always gave me the drug runs, and I asked for a job that had a high risks and large payout. He gave me a choice, a month away in Juarez to pick up a kilo of dope or a round trip to Nicaragua for the same pick up. He would give me a large payout of 10,000 dollars for either trip. And the last choice was a trip on a Grey Hound bus with an unknown delivery package to New York for half the amount.
Which I quickly chose the two pickups of drugs and let me tell you it was the worst decision I have ever made. The first pickup was easy as pie, went like clockwork Did the pick-up and delivered the first drop off, but after delivering that pickup, I was somehow tagged by the local gangs. They somehow got a hold of the second trip I was making. Well... that is how I ended up here, in this bed, it seems that I was betrayed by my own wife.
She must have told a friend of hers, most likely that lover she thinks she hides from me. I already knew she was cheating on me with a low-level gang leader, but I wanted to hold on to something real. I guess she wasn't it. My relationships really never last long. And here I am, betrayed and alone again, but with more responsibilities than I had before. That brings me back to what is now, the present.
Well, after the thirty minutes was up, the nurse actually came back at the right time and she retold me that all my bills were paid, but I still didn't care. I just wanted to leave this place and go see how my mother was doing. I did ask the nurse if my father every came to see me, I was curious, and that was the very bad news she wanted to relay. "That is the really bad news, I wanted to tell you."
"Your father... died of internal injuries and alcohol poisoning, a three days after you were admitted into the hospital. At the time, since you were in a coma and your mother was in emergency care there was no one else to handle your father's body but your wife, so she decided to have your father's body be cremated. She did a really poor job of it too. After cremation, his remains were delivered to your room, which are on that shelf over there."
She pointed at the small urn that was on the shelf by the window. I found out afterwards that I was beat up and shot in the back when I was brought in. I was amazed at how resilient this body wanted to live. And two days later, my physical therapy had begun. And after a month after finishing my therapy, I was released, in which I returned to an empty house and a full knocked down front door.
Literally, the house had nothing in it, the land lady had broken down the front door and ransacked the whole house. When I walked in there was a note on the side of the light switch that said 'sold everything of value to pay for the rent, since it was never paid since the last month I saw you or your father. Which had been six months of rent, signed Angie Clemens, rental manager.' And that was how long I've laid at the hospital in a coma, six months.
*SIGH* I sighed as I walked in and dropped face first on the only thing in the home, a worn-out couch. There was nothing left, I wondered as to why I even came here. But I needed a place to lay my head and think for a while, and think I did. After taking a shower and changing my clothes, which was the only thing in my hands as I walked in with them. Well, since this body died, so did his name. So, I chose to live from now on by my old name Jack Keller.
---June 10, 2009---
It's been eight days since I was released from the hospital, I would say it's mid-June right now. I really don't know yet, haven't seen a calendar since I woke up. Anyways, back to where we are now. After getting being released and after hearing about my father's death, I was worried about the health if my mother. So as soon as I left the hospital that I was in, I went straight to visit my mother at her caring facility.
And when I got there, there was no good news about her wellbeing, she was barely holding on and she was getting worse. My world was about to be turned upside down again, first I was in a coma for about half a year, then my father dies a few days after I was admitted, and now I have to prepare for the inevitable death of my only living relative I had left. Not a good start for a man that just awoke to a new world.
--February 5, 2010--
And then learns everyone he held dear was either dead or about to expire. So, I did what this body always did, I got myself to invested in work to care what the world around me did. Now, fast forward to this day, nearly a year has passed since I came into this new life, and by the way, I had finally turned 18 and that was when the inevitable hit again. The mother of this body had given in to the sickness that had been plaguing her body.
I'm pretty sure that she knew that her whole family that once cared for her was long dead and gone, even after I had gone to visit her several times throughout the year. I don't know, but the last time I visited her, she squeezed my hand so softly that it made me tear up at the sight of her willingness to comfort me in this new life. It felt like it was a thank you squeeze rather than a I'm okay squeeze, like it was the last time I would see her.
Life was never fair to me, even in the first and second life I lived. After I had left the hospital back May of 09, and the visit to my mother's care, I had investigated my father's last days. I found out that my father drank himself into the grave a week after I was announced that I feel into a coma. He had blamed himself for what had happened to me, and the sickness of my mother, he didn't have time to grieve for us.
And then managed to grieve the only way he knew how to. He had always drowned himself in the bottle, death by alcohol. It was like he was holding back before all this happened, just for my mother's sake, but since he knew that we weren't going to make it, he found no reason to stay alive any longer. So, he did the only s**t that he knew would one day destroy him. I found out that he started mixing drugs with alcohol.
He started slowly, with heavy doses of alcohol, but then he began to stay out all night, getting into fights at bars he usually frequented. And then came back home usually all bruised and bloodied in the early mornings, just to do the same shit all over again day after day, until he died of all three. He didn't give two shits about only me, I knew that, since the day he threw me out of the house right after my mother got sick.
I'm sure his lame excuse of killing himself would have been somethings in lines of, 'since my family was going to die anyways, there was no need to be here as well'. Even though it was true, per say, this physical body did die once before or was it twice? Anyways. Afterall, I did take it over soon after it's death, but my mental state was way beyond that since I had died before as well. I guess that I didn't need them, per sei.
I already knew how to take care of myself since I am older, mentally and spiritually, that is. But it didn't take away the hurt and the pain it caused this new me. And hurt, in the past life I lost both my parents as well, and the new me, again, causing all the old pain of the old me to resurface onto this new one. It took me a while to let go of the loss of my new parents in the old life, so I knew how to get over the loss of my parents in this new life.
--January 20, 2010--
Even though I never knew them here, but as they say, 'time heals all wounds' the doctors say, and time goes on. So, I had to as well. Anyway, it took a shorter amount of time than the previous time to get over it. And here I am now, fifteen days later, I just ran into an old friend. Chavez!! The old drug running handler I used to run for, and yes, he was the one who sent me on the two trips the last drug run, which landed me in the hospital.
Just thinking about what happened after joining that group made my blood boil and I knew that once I sat down and thought about it, I was going to break his legs for what I would find out. After all the suffering this body had gone through. I did the only thing I was good at in my last life, I closed myself off from everything and everyone, even though they were not many.
Anyways, I wonder why I keep going off track when remembering my old life here, it seems I need to sit myself down and put all these old memories away until I have time to sort them out. As I was saying, before I met up with Chaves right now, I took a few days to sort out all the old memories. I started with the time my father had thrown me out of the house and started sorting memories from there.
Not really sorting per sei, I did what I did in the past life, I had learned an old technique from an old monk back in my old world. I had visited this small monastery hidey hole in old China Town, in the district of New York. The monk had taught me how to meditate and lock away all the feelings, dreams, memories and or everything that I did not want to show or remember in uncertainty moments.
In this meditation technique, collected all that I did not want to remember. I would put everything into a small metal box in my mind for safekeeping. All my feelings, my old memories, the old names I knew, all my old life, to include my old family, and locked it all away. Rap unbreakable chains around the whole box and lock it with an unbreakable padlock, making it impenetrable to only you.
Then put said metal box in a dark room at the corner of my mind, that had so many locks on its door, it would make it ridiculously impossible to get into and then let your mind know not to open the room or the box until you had a safe haven to unlock it, because when you do, all those locked away emotions and memories are going to flood out and you will lash out to however is there with you.
That was why the monk said that you must be alone when you do open the old you and integrate it with the new you. The reason being that the old will clash with the new, and it will not want to give up what it had before. Hence the word, 'sanctuary', it's for your protection to be alone when you open said locked box. And meditate I did, it took me four days, 4 hours, and thirteen minutes just to lock everything the old me.
It would have taken a whole lot longer if I was a beginner, but because I knew how to do meditation before, that is why it took less time to accomplish. As I awoke from deep meditation, I shook my head to clear the old thoughts. Whatever was left of the old me, I would slowly leak it out so I could arrange where it went, or when I needed it. I'd like to be both the old me and new me, but without all the negative things in it, a mixture of both.
And I would delete all the unimportant things of both lives, don't need to remember the useless stuff or the hurt, especially hurt that wife of mine here from the new me... that B**ch!! Well, back to Chavez that is in front of me, he has been trying to appease the sensibility side of me of what happened before, but t felt weird for some reason, right now. He was trying to call me over to him from an alley, I saw him tumble in holding his arm.
Was he hurt somehow and was trying to get me to help him? If it was the old gullible me from before, who by the way was no more. It felt like he was calling out in distress instead of, 'hey Jack come let me help you for what I did before.' But no, he sounded hurt, "help me, please, Jack!!" I heard him yell as I saw him lean against the wall and holding his arm. Now getting a better look of him, his arm was bleeding and dripping of the alley ground.
I could only see a shadow of the guy now, but I knew his outline, and since I saw him go in there from a few minutes ago. And since I've worked for him before, It was Chavez for sure. Wait... Chavez would never have ask for help from anyone. It had all the makings of being played, a trap to say, not falling for that s***. And be like the old me, no way. I was once an idiotic person and would fall for things like that in a heartbeat before.
(To Be Continued...)
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票