Chapter 2

'Huh? Why am I still alive?'

The pain in my chest which I felt a few moments ago disappeared and I was suddenly moved into a room?

"Where the heck am I?"

Scanning at my surroundings, it doesn't look like a hospital at all. In fact, it didn't even look like a proper place for a human to live in.

Rotten wall, dusty ceiling.

'But why does this room look very familiar?'

That cupboard and the familiar stickers on it. As well as that school bag.

Wait...

Isn't this my old bedroom?

Is this a flashback of my life in heaven? Did I return to the past?

Even my hand became younger.

Bam*

"How long are you going to sleep? Eat your damned breakfast and go to school."

A fierce-looking man barged into the room. He then proceeds to drag me out of the bedroom aggressively, not treating me as human but as an object.

'Big brother?'

What the hell is this!

Why am I a child again?!

Did I actually return to my past?

I have long forgotten everything about my past, I didn't want to remember about it because there was nothing good to be remembered about in my past.

I could be considered as the most pathetic person in the world. I was the worst of the worst.

Thankfully, researching and making games made me forget about my dark past but since I'm here again, being dragged by my brother in the same old way, I start to remember my dark past again.

My poor family and my horrible old self. I remembered how much I disappointed them in the past.

Seeing me making a blank expression instead of struggling out of his grip. Mervin was confused.

'Hm? He didn't struggle?'

'Usually, he would always start annoying rants at this time.'

'For example, I don't want to go to school or I want to sleep ten minutes more.'

Finally arrived at the table, Mervin left me on the floor and proceeded to eat his own breakfast.

I was still lying down on the floor as I was organizing my thoughts.

"Oi stop day-dreaming!"

"After you ate, change into your school uniform or else you're going to be late."

Mervin's yelling woke me up. Without complaining, I started to eat my breakfast?

Plain rice and dried anchovies on the side. Other than that, there's nothing on the table.

While eating, I unconsciously stare at Mervin.

Seeing me being weird, Mervin spoke with a mouthful. "What's wrong? Don't like the food?"

Gulped*

Realizing that I was staring at him awkwardly I immediately looked away.

Mervin then resumes eating. As always, he ate as fast as he could so he could go to work.

Judging from how young Mervin looked, I should have returned to around the 2000s.

Which means I should still be in middle school.

"This is your school allowance, don't f*cking buy expensive snacks."

I nodded my head quietly.

"Then I'm off to work, study properly you hear me!?."

Bam*

Mervin went off, leaving me alone in the house.

Yes, my brother is already working despite he's only one year older than me.

Looking at Mervin who is running frantically to his workplace. The 'me' right now should be ashamed.

Though I'm not sure. From what I remembered, Father always opposed the idea of me going to school but Mervin wanted to at least give me, his younger brother, an opportunity to study.

Because of me, he didn't get to study. He sacrificed himself to give me the opportunity to study.

He works very hard to help pay the school fees for me, though father still helped to pay the majority of the fees, it was still admirable for thirteen years old to earn money.

'I can't believe I used to hate him to death.'

The more I thought about my dark past, the more I hate myself.

Looking at the clock on the wall, I noticed there's not much time left.

I quickly finish all of the food and wear my school uniform. It was odd to wear a uniform again but nevertheless, I still wear it.

Following that, I quickly grabbed my school bag and ran out of the house to go to school.

Which way is the school?

I walked back and forth trying to see if I remembered anything. People that saw me perceive me as a weird kid.

'Since I can't recall anything, I'll rely on my instinct. To the right then.'

Slowly, after I ran for a while, the sense of familiarity hit me and I finally recognized a few places.

'Oh, I used to hang out in that area and wait for someone to pass by so that I could ask them for a bit of money.'

'That place, I used to smoke behind the wall. I would hide there when I ditch school. '

None of them are good memories, isn't it...

Arriving at the school gates, the nostalgic feeling hits me instantly.

'I'm back to school again.'

I remembered that I used to sleep throughout the class and when it finally breaks time I would bully weak kids.

That sentence basically sums up my school days. That's the only thing I did during my middle school years.

I definitely won't repeat the stupid actions of mine again.

At this moment, I already accepted that I'm back in the past.

Whether it was a dream or not, I don't care, it felt very realistic to me.

The only thing that mattered right now was that I was given a second chance to redeem myself.

'I will not repeat the same mistakes that I made in the past. I will also achieve my dream in this life!'

I don't know if this is the right classroom…

I came here because there are people that stare at me when I arrive, I figured out they know me and which is why my classroom is around this area.

I also politely asked one kid about my classroom, making a dumb excuse but he believes it anyway. (That poor kid was scared to death when Andy approached him.)

Currently, there's only one empty desk left in this classroom. Other students have already arrived. So, I guess that's my desk.

Walking over to my seat, a boy suddenly spoke to me as I was about to put down my bag.

"Andy! When are we going to ditch school again?"

'Who is he again?'

I tried my best to remember but no matter what I can't recognize him.

Though I've forgotten about him since he talked to me, it means he's my friend. I don't remember having a friend though...

Wait what did he say again?

"What did you say?"

"Ditch school?"

I see. He's my partner-in-crime. I definitely had one back then. If I'm not wrong, his name is Micheal.

He's the only one, which is why I remembered it.

"Not today."

I proceed to walk toward my seat and put down my school bag. The moment I sat down I noticed that other kids were awfully quiet.

Usually, I would be sleeping by now and didn't notice anything around me.

But since it's the current me, I noticed their odd behavior.

"Um, why are they so quiet? There's still a lot of time before the class starts right?"

"Oh, they're probably just anxious about the upcoming test."

The boy replied calmly as though he had finished studying but in fact, he just didn't care.

"Um, what test? Is it history? or civics?"

"Worse than that, it's math!"

Even though he said it in a terrified tone, he was probably the only person that could smile while mentioning math.

On the other hand, I was quite relieved when it's a math test.

Thank god, if it's math I can still do it. I remembered middle school math wasn't that hard.

Fortunately, it wasn't theory-based subjects, If it was I'm doomed. There's no way I could answer something that I've never studied before.

"The teacher is coming!" One of the kids warned everyone as he caught a glimpse of the teacher's face in the hallway.

"Stand up!" The class representative commanded the whole class.

Afterward, the teacher then walked in, after putting his stuff on the table we bowed.

"Good morning, teacher!" Everyone said in unison.

"Keep all of your belongings except for pencil and eraser. The rest keep them inside your bag, and put your bag in front of the class."

"You! Switch seats with him!" The teacher pointed at me, wanting me to switch the boy that sits in front.

"You too! switch seats with her!" The teacher started arranging our seats in a unique pattern so that we couldn't cheat.

He separated the children according to their grades, the incapable one at the front so he could watch them as they would try to cheat.

Lastly, the capable one at the back since they will try to do the test on their own.

Of course, this doesn't mean he was biased toward the smart kids. If he discovered that they're cheating, they will still be punished.

After all, he's the 'Devil'. Everyone has to follow his rules.

No talking, no cheating.

This particular teacher. even though it has been years. I can still remember his personality and face.

'Same as usual, Mr.Ridwan that I used to know.'

He was the strictest teacher that I ever met, but he's not a bad teacher, it's just that don't be cheeky or naughty in front of him. He can't stand annoying kids.

If you comply with his rules and listen to him, he is actually quite kind.

After finishing arranging the students' seats, he handed out the test paper to each student and started the test.

As I expected, the questions are quite easy.

If I can't do these questions, I'll be ashamed as a game developer as being a game developer requires you to do harder maths than the questions on the paper.

I finished answering all of the questions in less than ten minutes.

After I finished, All I did was stare at Mr.Ridwan until the test was over.

An hour passed and all of the children have handed in the paper including me.

We then continued another hour of class math before we moved to the next class, which is according to the given schedule it's literature.

We were taught by another teacher, Miss Fitri.

I don't have a solid memory of her but I can see she's kind. Since the kids in the class didn't fear her at all.

Another hour passed peacefully, the class ended and it's finally the time for the lunch break.

"Hey, Andy wants to bully people?"

The boy that talked to me when I first arrived, approached me again. This time he asked me whether I wanted to bully people or not.

'Yep. He must be like this because of me. I should be responsible, to fix his personality before it's too late.'

"Um, we should go to the canteen and eat."

I dragged him to the canteen without asking Micheal, but he wasn't opposed to it either.

The break time ends and we have to quickly return to the class.

The reason was that the next class is the history class which was taught by Mr.Ridwan. Since it was his class, we can't be late or else we'll be punished.

If it was another teacher's class, most of the children wouldn't mind at all being late for a few minutes and take their time to enjoy the scenery of the hallway.

After all, it's not their fault. The break time given by the school to the kids was too short.

More importantly, most teachers knew what's going on for the kids because their lunch break time is the same as children's lunch break time so they won't blame the kids.

Anyway, you can see one of the kids from our class stopped chit-chatting and quickly ran upstairs to return back to the classroom.

We followed along, as we didn't want to be punished.

After the next few hours of class, the school was over. Without saying a word to Micheal, I left home early.

I usually hang out with him after school, either in an internet cafe or just loitering around in the streets.

Tomorrow I'll definitely accompany Micheal since I'm responsible for him but right now, I just can't. I still have to sort my mind out.

There's too much going on in my head.

-----

Back in my bedroom, I was laying down on the wooden floor.

Looking at the dusty ceiling, I thought to myself.

'Now that I'm back, what is the most important thing I have to do right now?'

Sigh*

'I need money again.'

I realized it as soon as I arrived but I didn't want to acknowledge it. Though money can't buy happiness, it can still at least allow you to live comfortably.

'Anyway, I need to get more money but I don't know how I will achieve that?'

Develop games? but I don't have a computer with me. I could develop games on the internet cafe's computer but Mervin will definitely misunderstand my good intention. I can't just tell him I'm going to make money by making games can I?

Well, either way, that idea can't be happening since other people can watch as Internet Cafe in this area has no private one where no one could see you.

So, how do I help my father and my brother? Should I visit their workplace?

My father, he should be working as a mechanic at that store.

If I'm not wrong, at this time he's about to stop being a mechanic.

That's when the debt came.

I don't know the story behind it but he will definitely borrow a huge sum of money from a loan shark and that money will then be invested to build an internet cafe.

But then a year or so, before he could pay the debt back, he passed away from lung cancer.

Though he has passed away, the loan shark still wanted the money back and since we're the only ones related to him, they come for us every day asking for money.

For now, the money for the debt wasn't that important. I can solve that if time was given.

What's more important was lung cancer. He got that because of smoking as well as the unhealthy environment around him.

I'll get money, at least enough for Father to get surgery or check-up in a famous hospital.

That is my target for now, which is why tomorrow I will try to find a job.