I opened my eyes, and everything was white.

  I couldn’t recall what had happened. I tried to move, but something felt… off. My body felt weightless. When I looked down at my hands, they were transparent.

  <“What happened to me…?”>

  A sudden shift in the air. The endless white dissolved, replaced by familiar scenery. Houses lined the streets—a neighborhood I hadn’t seen in decades. I hovered above the ground, floating weightlessly.

  <“This is… my childhood home.”>

  I had moved many times as a child, but I recognized this place immediately. I was around three years old when we lived here. The memories were distant, blurry, but undeniably real.

  Testing my movement, I realized something bizarre—I could fly.

  Driven by instinct, I floated toward a particular house. A small, rented home—one we had lived in briefly before moving again. The door suddenly creaked open.

  A young boy ran outside, grinning as he clutched a small chocolate bar. He was oblivious to my presence, his laughter echoing in the air.

  I froze.

  <“That boy is… me.”>

  Though my memories of childhood were hazy, I recognized my own face.

  <”So carefree… so innocent.”>

  I chuckled bitterly.

  <”It seems my past self could even smile naturally back then… I envy him.”>

  The boy wandered through the street, savoring his chocolate, until he suddenly stopped. His expression stiffened.

  A sound came from a nearby house—raised voices, sharp and hostile.

  My chest tightened. I knew this scene.

  <”No… not this. “>

  The boy took a hesitant step forward, staring at the house with its front door wide open.

  “Mom…” he mumbled.

  Inside, two women stood face to face. One of them was my mother. The other—her older sister, my aunt.

  “At least I’ve paid the interest! I can’t pay more because I don’t have the money right now!” my mother shouted.

  Her voice trembled, not with fear, but frustration.

  My aunt’s response was cold and sharp,

  “Your debt is enormous! How long do you think you can keep paying only the interest? At this rate, you'll never pay it off! Moreover, I saw you shopping yesterday!”

  “It’s just monthly shopping for our daily needs! I already told you, I don’t have a choice! We barely have enough for rent and food! If I gave you everything, how would my family survive!?”

  “You’re just making excuses! Admit it—you don’t want to pay!”

  I clenched my fists.

  "STOP!" I shouted, surging forward—only to pass through them like air.

  They couldn’t hear me.

  Of course, they couldn’t.

  I wasn’t really here.

  But I still tried because it would be bad if this continued.

  I turned toward the boy outside—the younger me.

  He stood frozen, gripping his half-eaten chocolate. He was too young to understand the argument, but he felt the tension. His small hands trembled.

  I already knew the truth behind this fight.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  My father’s so-called friend had borrowed money under my father’s name—and then vanished, leaving us with a 30-million-rupiah debt. A huge sum for our family at the time.

  To avoid dealing with debt collectors, my father had borrowed from my uncle—my aunt’s husband. But my uncle wasn’t generous. He charged interest, turning it into a business deal.

  And now, after months of struggling, my parents could only pay the interest, never the full debt.

  It led to this.

  The boy’s chocolate fell from his grip. His small body shook.

  My anger surged, realizing that this event was the first of many that darkened my future.

  Then my aunt said something that froze my blood.

  “Do you want me to kill you first? That way, your husband will have no choice but to pay me back!”

  My mother’s eyes flashed with fury,

  “Then go ahead! Kill me if you dare!”

  “I WILL KILL YOU…! I WILL KILL YOU…!” My aunt, fueled by anger, grabbed a knife from the kitchen, ready to harm my mother.

  “I will kill you..!” She raised it as if she really wanted to stab my mom.

  My mother didn’t move. “Go ahead,” she spat. “Let’s see if you’re brave enough to go to jail..!”

  The knife trembled in my aunt’s grip. Her breathing was erratic, her eyes consumed by rage.

  “STOPPP!!!”

  The neighbors rushed inside, pushing between them.

  “Enough! Look at your kid outside!”

  Silence.

  My mother and aunt turned toward the door. Their eyes landed on the small boy standing outside, trembling. Their eyes widened, their faces reflecting regret, as if they had just realized what they had done.

  “…Bintang…” my mother whispered, taking a step forward.

  My aunt quickly hid the knife behind her back, as if the child hadn’t already seen it. As if that could erase what had just happened.

  But it was too late.

  The damage was already done.

  A five-year-old child had just witnessed his own aunt try to murder his mother.

  The same aunt who had once been kind to him.

  The moment seared itself into his soul. The first trauma. The first time he learned that family could be enemies.

  The first time he learned to hate.

  I hate my aunt.

  The boy’s cry shattered the air.

  “HWAAAAAAAA—!!!”

  Then—darkness consumed everything.

  I gasped, my eyes snapping open.

  Tears streamed down my face, evidence that the nightmare had transcended into reality.

  The nightmare… wasn’t just a dream. It was my past. A past I had buried deep, only for it to resurface after all these years.

  Then I noticed—my hands.

  Stained red.

  <”What…?”>

  My heart pounded as I slowly turned my head. As I assessed my surroundings, I discovered the grim scene before me.

  I couldn’t move my body. My hands were stained with blood, a detail I pushed aside in the urgency of the moment.

  "Dad…? Mom…?" My voice trembled.

  They didn’t answer.

  They lay beside me—motionless.

  Their bodies were covered in blood.

  Their faces were pale, lifeless.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  <”No… this can’t be real…! “>

  “Dad…! Mom…! Wake up…!” I cried, desperate, pleading.

  Nothing.

  <“Why…”>

  My heart screamed silently.

  My mind went blank as tears cascaded down my cheeks like a waterfall.

  Outside the wrecked car, the night sky wept.

  Rain poured endlessly, as if the universe itself was mourning with me.

  I felt something inside me break.

  <“Why, Why, Why, Why…!?”>

  <“Why…? Why does this always happen to me!?”>

  I gritted my bloody teeth.

  <“God, Goddess, Angel, Devil, Demon, I don’t care who you are, but you toyed with my life too far!”>

  I couldn’t take it anymore.

  The weight of the past, the weight of this cursed life—it crushed me.

  My body felt cold.

  My vision blurred.

  The last thing I heard was the distant wail of an ambulance siren.

  <”Mom… Dad… Please…”>

  <”Wake up…”>

  <”You were the last reason I had to keep going in this cursed life…”>

  Darkness swallowed me whole.

  “December 31st, 2024, at 11:55 PM.”

  A melodious voice filled the empty space.

  A figure of ethereal beauty gazed at a radiant mass of blue light taking on a human form—me.

  “You perished at that precise moment. The doctors tried to save you, but their efforts were in vain.

  "As for your parents… they departed five minutes before you regained consciousness.”