Everglow

A couple of hundred steps back

"Briiiiiiiiiiing"

Richard reached over the alarm clock on his bedside table and smashed it off.  He woke up with a pounding headache and struggles as he tries to remember the details of what happened the night before. 

Damn it. I am never drinking  that much again? What the hell was I thinking? What could possibly make me....

Oh. 

 Crap.

Richard immediately regrets trying to remember.

Can I please just go back to sleep?! 

He opens his eyes and grapples for his work phone from his bedside table, but it was not there. Richard jolts up. 

Did I leave my work phone at the bar? I can't  lose that phone. I have tons of client meetings today and a probate hearing the day after. No. No. Where's my phone!?

Richard's mind was in a frenzy, it took him a couple of seconds to realize that he was not at home.

Where am I?

He first notices the beige walls and a couple of band posters plastered on them. His eyes scan over a black desktop computer to his right on top of what appears to be a study table. He notices a large bookshelf filled with law books. 

This place looks familiar.

But no, it can't be. 

There is absolutely no way. 

I sold my childhood home a year ago. I can't be possibly standing in my old room.

Right?

He also noticed a lot of CD cases lying around different corners of the room. He stands up and grabs one. 

I used to have this record.

He noticed a couple of Iron Man action figures placed neatly on the right side of study table. 

I used to have these too.

He picks one up and he could suddenly feel his own heavy breathing, his heart was pounding. He flips the red action figure over and saw a strip of paper sticking at its base, it read "RFJ".

"Crap. What the hell is happening?"

He drops the action figure on the floor. 

"Am I dreaming?"

Richard closed his eyes, as if willing himself to wake up. "How can I be inside my old bedroom?" He slumps over the office chair beside him and finally noticed a first generation iPhone buzzing on top of one of the books placed on the table. 

"Maine Mendoza calling..."

I am totally having a dream right? Is this some sort of twisted flashback? 

Richard froze and let the call drop. He slowly reached out for what apparently appears to be his phone and found it extremely hard to breathe by the second. He swipes over the screen and stars at it. He taps in what he remembers was his pass code. 

0-3-0-3

Crap. It worked.  Crap. Crap. Crap. 

He watched as his home screen appeared.

I think I know what's happening. But it's impossible. There is no possible way that this is actually happening. 

He stops breathing for a moment when he noticed the calendar app. It read "Tuesday, 9 June 2009"

"No", Richard managed to breathe out. He scrambles and looks for the power button of the desktop computer. It feels like the air around him was getting heavier by the second.This cannot be happening. 2016 na! Hindi 2009!!!

It felt like the world stopped when he saw that the desktop showed that it was indeed Tuesday, June 9, 2009.

"What fucked up reality is this?! What's happening!?" He stood up, grabbed his ancient iPhone and walked towards the door. 

He opens the door and suddenly gets hit by nostalgia. 

Is this de ja vu?

He was definitely inside his childhood home. He could hear people downstairs, buzzing about. He could smell the scent of freshly brewed coffee and his mom's adobo.

He could hear a woman laughing. It was eerily familiar. He could now actually hear his heart beating. 

Richard found himself actually smiling, he suddenly felt calm and at peace upon hearing that wonderful, wonderful sound. For the first time since he woke up that morning, things did not feel out of place. He wanted to keep listening to that sound, if it all possible. 

But he hasn't heard that sound for about four years.

I'm dreaming.  But why does this feel so real?

I really must be dreaming. 

Kasi kung oo, okay na sakin, kahit hindi na ako magising. Okay na to. Please let this be reality.

Please.

"Tisoy! Anak, ikaw ba yan?! Gising na!!! Breakfast na tayo, ma-lalate ka na!"

As he hears his mom calling him down for breakfast, very much loud and alive, he realizes that this could not possibly be year 2016.

I might be going insane, but it might actually be year 2009.

I might actually get a second chance.

At life.

At Maine.