Thump! Thump! Thump!

  Eh? What is happening? What's that sound, and what is that feeling in my upper body?

  The sharp movement moved from my stomach to my chest, it felt like someone was walking on me, stumbling and then walking on top of me.

  Am I dreaming?

  I need to wake up.

  I slowly woke up, stretching my arms, the feeling of someone on me still persisting, the ceiling was old.

  Wait, it's different this time. The ceiling is different, it isn't the ivory and golden one with the chandelier hanging from it. This ceiling had nothing on it save for the ceiling fan that made sharp noises every few spins. The ceiling was beige, it was dirty with cobwebs and flaking plaster.

  "Huh? Why am I here? Wasn't I next to Shona?"

  I rubbed my eyes again to clearly get a view, but instead I saw an infant standing right on my upper chest. It had its back facing me, I could see the diaper it wore. It had cute little pandas and hearts.

  "What is a kid doing on top of me?"

  I turned my head to the side, the bed creaked. It wasn't comfy either, it must be the old ones, and the cushioning was nonexistent. The entire room was in the same state as the ceiling; though neatly arranged and organized, the walls were ruptured and with efflorescence. The calendar read the date 2054, Month of Selune, 7th.

  "What is happenin—"

  The baby fell right on my face, and it slipped to the side, but I caught it instinctively and lifted it up to my face, which was stinging with the light pain, and looked at it.

  This child's name is Rory, and it's a boy.

  Wait, how do I know its name? Don't tell me I got transmigrated again?

  The child called me "Papa." It was smiling as I looked at it, my face softened seeing the child's tiny face.

  Wait, what? I am thinking about.

  I placed the child to the side and instantly rolled out of bed and made my way to the bathroom. It was tiny; the bathing area and toilet were in the same space, and the vanity was small with just some basic necessities.

  The vanity had some stains and cartoon stickers on the side of the mirror. A brush stand adjacent to it with two adult-size brushes and a baby brush. My face looked like a man in his early thirties. Thirty Three, to be precise.

  "Agghh, my head."

  Memories started to flood my mind, and everything started to make sense.

  My name is Angus Finlay, a construction worker in Silverpark, and I reside in Coppergrounds Block G with my wife, Maisie Finlay, and that child is mine, Rory Finlay.

  "Aagghh, what the hell is happening?" I scratched the back of my head.

  "Is this some kind of sick joke? am I in a simulation?"

  "Alyss, wake up. Alyss, you need to wake up."

  I slapped my cheeks, and they stung.

  "Tch, so I am not dreaming. What is happening? First I was Duncan, and now I am Angus."

  I untucked my T-shirt and lifted it up and saw the swirl around my navel. I had three swirls. My ability allows me to numb my upper body, which results in lower pain, making me work extra hours in construction, though it has it's demerits.

  "Wow, now I am the blight, the lowest of the low."

  "What the hell is happening? Did I transmigrate again? No, it isn't possible. If I did, how would I adapt to my new life? I was just getting the hang of Duncan now, Angus? I am in a simulation."

  Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

  I heard the bathroom door being knocked.

  What is it now?

  "Papa, Papa, uppies. I uppies," I heard rory in a small, high-pitched tone.

  Uppies? Is Rory asking me to lift him up?

  The knocking became more violent.

  "Don't disturb Rory," I said, trying my best to make a dad voice.

  I heard another tone this time of a woman in a mature voice, a low and steady voice.

  "Rory, dear, don't disturb your papa's morning time, he will come out to give you lots of uppies."

  By the sound of it, that must be Maisie, and the knocking stopped. Maisie must have taken away Rory. That's a relief; time for me to think.

  "Honey, get out real quick; we have to go shopping, or the discounted items will be gone."

  Discounted items? Right, we are in Coppergrounds. Of course we survive on discount goods.

  "In a moment, honey," I replied in a tone trying to imitate Angus's tone.

  I sat on the toilet and stared at the ceiling, confused with no idea what to do.

  "This isn't right. I know that I am Angus, but how did I end up here? Wasn't I, Duncan? Why am I here? Am I cursed? Only if I was careful that night, only if I didn't get stomped by those idiots, everything would be okay. Only if I had a single swirl, Mom and Dad wouldn't be executed, and now I am here taking the body of a guy who is married and has a child."

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  "Aagghh, I want to get back home."

  "Honey, it's getting late," I heard Maisie's voice from the other side.

  Why don't they let me stay for more than a minute?

  I flushed the toilet and looked at the mirror, staring at it intently for some sort of miracle to happen, which didn't.

  I let out a heavy sigh and turned the doorknob to exit the bathroom, only to be hit in the face by a sponge ball thrown by Rory right as I took my first step out.

  "Off to a bad start in this dream, huh?"

  *****

  "Honey, did you dress up Rory?" Maisie said as she was sweeping the house. She wore an ankle-length lime-colored frock, which was worn out but not too shabby. It was plain, with no patterns or embroidery, just pure lime from top to bottom. The clothes were a perfect fit on her petite frame. Her hair in the color of ash flowed down on her sculpted figure all the way to her chest, tied in mini braids with a few strands of it in front of her light-skinned face. Her eyes were sharp, with a mole right below her left eye. shallow cheeks that complemented her looks to a near-perfect face structure and small lips that fit, which was apt.

  "On it," I said with absolutely no idea on how to dress a three-year-old and looked over at Rory. He was going around in circles in his toy car inside the small and tightly packed house.

  Dressing up a child can't be that bad, right? I know how to dress myself, I even dressed Leo in reality, so I would easily be able to dress a kid. After all, it's a dream, so it should be easy.

  Indeed it wasn't.

  *****

  Rory is three years old, and he looks like a gender-bent miniature version of Maisie. He wore a blue t-shirt with a yellow hippo on it and matching yellow shorts with blue hippos. His tiny hands were held by me and Maisie as we walked to the store where the sale was marked.

  Gosh, when will this kid shut up? Stop talking already, you dumbo, or I will hit you.

  I want to hit him so bad.

  Okay, focus, focus on something else. The pavement—well, it's broken with dirt and garbage all over it. It was almost impossible to walk on it, but we had to since we are too poor to afford a vehicle.

  "Pa...Papa, wh...what's tha...that?" Rory said as his tiny hands pointed at a half-rotten dead crow, which was swept to the side with fluids and substances on it.

  "It's a dead crow, Rory."

  "de-dead...cr-..crow?"

  "Yes"

  "What...what is it?" Rory pointed again at the same crow.

  "Rory, it's a dead crow."

  "Wh...what...what dead?"

  Did this kid hit his head or something?

  "The Crow"

  "What is dead?" he said again, this time without the usual quiver.

  "The crow, Rory," my voice became impatient.

  "Honey, I think he is asking what 'dead' means," Maisie said as she lifted Rory up to her shoulders.

  Dead? What am I supposed to say? It died.

  "Pa...Papa...Cow...Cr...ow...want"

  Great, now he says "crow" as "cow."

  "It's dead."

  "W-why?"

  "I don't know," I said in a loud tone, and Rory hid his face inside Maisie's bosom.

  Annoying brat

  "Honey, why are you so angry already? Does he nag you that much?"

  If I am honest, yeah, this little brat sure is.

  "No, it isn't. I am just under the weather." I blurted out a lie.

  "Oh, don't worry, we could get you some meat today as a side for beer."

  Beer? Isn't that the adult drinks? Dad used to drink it, but Mom never lets Dad sleep in the same room as us whenever he comes home drunk.

  "Sure."

  We continued to walk. Soon Rory once again began to open his mouth and started to talk, asking the same things over and over again to Maisie like a broken cassette, and Maisie, she sure has a lot of patience for answering the same dumb question eight times straight.

  The shop was located on Block C adjacent to the People's Park, a park that was opened from the financial support of residents of Block C. All of this flashed through my mind as I crossed it.

  "Honey, why don't you hold on to Rory? I will be quick, the shop's pretty crowded. I will make it out fast. We don't want Rory to be stuffed in there, do we?" she said and let out a hearty chuckle and took the bags from me, exchanging Rory for them, and left for the store, sliding between the little to no gaps in it.

  "You are stuck with me, buddy."

  Why is carrying a kid so hard? This brat is a fatso.

  I continued to roam around the area, holding Rory close as he continued to blabber. I had to hold my urge to beat this kid.

  "Pa...Papa...Want...Ic-Ice," Rory said and looked at me with puppy eyes.

  Gosh, he is cute.

  I patted his head and said,

  "Okay, let's get you one. What flavor do you want?"

  "Fl-a-vo?"

  Amazingly, half the words vanished.

  "What color do you want, Rory?" I bent down to his level.

  "Yellow"

  Yellow, that means butterscotch, I guess.

  "Alright, let's get you one."

  Thankfully the ice cream shop was right after the market. It wasn't even a shop, just a small stand with a shabby-looking dude next to an ice cream machine in a red uniform.

  Ooh, ice cream's pretty cheap here, it's only Twenty Lumes. I guess I will have one too.

  "We will have One butterscotch and One chocolate ice cream."

  "Sorry, sir, the machine's broken," the shabby dude said in a squeaky voice.

  Well, that goes down the drain. What's the point of opening a shop if the machine is broken?

  Rory tugged at my trousers, pulling them to draw my attention.

  "Ice?"

  "The machine is unfortunately broken, Rory."

  "Mach-unfurt-broken? What?"

  tch, he couldn't understand

  "No ice cream"

  "No ice ceam?"

  "Yep, no ice cream."

  "Why?"

  "Machine broken"

  "Mac-broke?"

  I sighed and pointed at the ice cream machine in the shop.

  "That broke"

  "No ice"

  "..."

  "Why no ice?"

  Agh, there he is again.

  I looked back at the ice cream stall to find a way to shut him up but the news sheet, which was posted on the stall caught my eye.

  The first one was from the day before yesterday. The headline in bright red and bold font read

  "Fugitive Child Alyss Moreau Found Dead in Golden Estate"

  My eyes widened at the headline, and I proceeded to read the body text.

  "At around 1:15, Alyss Moreau, the runaway child for whom the government had promised a one million Lumes reward, was discovered dead in Golden Estate, Block W. According to preliminary reports, death was caused by severe impact injuries. Even though he was once considered a threat to the Kingdom of Everheat, the Peacekeepers have launched a thorough investigation to find and capture the person or people who killed him."

  The hell? The peacekeepers knew who killed me, those five drunkards. What the hell do they mean they are searching for the person who murdered me?

  My eyes scanned over the other useless news and landed upon the next one, which sent a chill to my bones. It read

  "Golden Estate Couple Found Murdered in Block U Apartment"

  "Residents Duncan Kerr and his wife, Shona Kerr, both of the Hearth, were found murdered in their apartment in Golden Estate, Block U, in what authorities now believe to be a deliberate act of homicide. Investigators estimate the time of death to be approximately 3:30. Contrary to earlier speculation of a robbery gone wrong, preliminary findings indicate the victims were fatally attacked, with evidence pointing to a stabbing to the head using a pair of scissors. The incident has plunged Golden Estate into widespread panic. Peacekeepers have sealed the area and begun a thorough investigation under the leadership of Officer Iker Emi, who has assured residents that the perpetrator will be captured."

  For a moment it felt as if the world around me stopped. I could hear my own heartbeat, my own sweat trickling down my neck, and the droplets hitting the ground.

  What is happening? No, Duncan didn't die. Shona didn't die. This is all a made-up thing. I didn't die as Duncan and transmigrate into Angus. This isn't happening. This isn't the truth.

  My mind raced to find an answer, but everything was a dead end. Regardless of how many times I deny it, I transmigrated again.

  "Honey, where is Rory?" Maisie's voice reached my ear, and I looked at her. She was right around my neck.

  "Honey, where is Rory? Honey, Why are you pale? Oh my god, Rory!!!" Maisie let out a scream, and I turned to the road, where I saw Rory in the middle of it, stumbling around.

  Panic started to hit me like a truck, I need to get him up.

  I looked to the right, and I saw a dump truck on the way heading towards Rory. Should I jump in and save Rory? What happens if I die?

  But before I could think of something, my body immediately jumped in to curl Rory into my arms instinctively. The truck skidded as the driver slammed on the brakes, and I looked over my shoulders. And I died again.