An Old Man's Perils To Work

"So you're telling me to hobble and wobble to work? Seriously?" James asked the system with an annoyed tone.

"Telling you? Oooh... no. You see these are mere... suggestions.. HaHa! I mean, you CAN ignore me.. it's up to you." The system responded in a voice akin to a witch.

James stopped in his path at his bedroom door and thought to himself very carefully.

'What can this voice even do? He's probably bluffing.' James thought, he carried on like before, ignoring the system.

"Tsk tsk tsk.. James.. James.. James.. look what you did to MY attempt of kindness.. In response.. I will give you the back of the ORIGINAL owner of that body for you.. enjoy.. HAHAHA" The voice screamed out in a demonic tone.

"Huh?" James said aloud, he then got to experience the back of a hardworking 70 year old man for the very first time..

Immediately James fell to the floor in pain, gasping.

"What.. What's going on! What's.. What's wrong with me?!" James asked, screaming to the system in agony.

"Oh my. Do you not listen Jamsey? Ah well I guess you did die quite clumsily.." The system responded happily.

"I understand!! Please.. just fix my back!" James shouted at the system in pain

"Fix? What's wrong with it? Heh. I mean that back WAS earned by the man, he worked hard to put that many cracks in it! You're going to have to ask a little nicerrr" The system said, cackling.

"Okay! Okay! I'll act as an old man I swear!" James said in frantic worry

"Swear on your what?" The system responded like a spoiled child.

"I swear on my life, no, on my soul!" James replied, screaming in pain.

"Ah.. there it is.. yes.. okay I accept this contract.. enjoy your back, back! Hehe" The voice replied in ecstasy

James regained his composure and began to do as the system asked, he acted as if it strained every single fiber of his very being, as if it took the very essence of his life out of him, to walk like a normal human being.

James as hunched over and twisted in many abnormal positions, just to appease the system. He wanted to ensure that he was able to walk like an old man exactly as it wanted him to do so.

After exiting his room he got a cane out of the closet, he then struggled to open his front door.

James prepared to open the door to the car when he was once more interrupted by the system's antagonistic voice.

"Ah yeah, about that. The original body has a revoked license and he died due to the fatigue of walking to work everyday.. So you can't drive, heck ya shouldn't anyway! Get to walkin Old Man!" The voice said, when James heard this his heart sunk and he felt as if his body suddenly got many times heavier.

"So I.. have to walk to work like this?" James asked in a pitiful tone

"Obviously. Just like the old James did.. Isn't that nice?" The voice seemed as if it had been smiling when it said this.

James then took his handle off of the car door and began to walk down the street. very strenuously. Thankfully when the time came to him needing to cross the road a fine helpful man appeared.

The man was wearing a light suit, he was clearly someone like a successful business man.

He looked at James and saw how hard and painful it looked to walk so he decided to help him, even if it wasn't much of help at all.

"I'll help you across the road!" The man said with a friendly smile.

"Thank-" Before James could get the word out the system interrupted him once more.

"As. An. Old. Man." It pronounced each word stressed on the vowels.

James then coughed twice and said with an extremely dusty, dry voice that sounded as if he had been stuck in the sahara for years;

"Ah.. yes.. I'm glad a strapping youngster such as yourself is here to help a bag of bones like me. Hahaha!" He then coughed a few more times, he looked as if he could collapse and die at any time.

The stranger felt bad for James and immediately helped him cross the street, he shielded him and ensured his complete safety.

"There you go" The man said with a smile and walked away with a waving hand.

James waved back and smiled halfway.

"Woooow what an actor you areee.. good job!" The system said mockingly

"Thanks, I mean I was a successful model.." James replied with confidence.

"Here's a bit of a gift for your first act.. +1 Wisdom!" The voice said before disappearing

'Wisdom.. that sounds pretty important.' James thought to himself silently as he continued walking to work.

Finally after a treacherous amount of time, which was exactly 1 hour and 30 minutes, James finally was able to get to the school he worked at.

"Interesting school name.." When James laid eyes upon the school he thought it was quite interesting. It was a pretty plain school which had both a high school and an elementary, there was a playground and a lunchroom, the school name was on a giant sign in front of the school which said "Old Town School".

When he made it to the sidewalks he was then spoken to by a fellow teacher, it was a man in his 40's who had a grey horseshoe for hair and a grey cheeto mustache.

"Gmornin' Mr. James!" The man said, waving as he passed by into the school faculty entrance.

"That's Mr. Samuelson, don't forget.." The system whispered in James's left ear.

"Good morning Mr Samuelson, I wish you a good day!" James replied, trying his best to put on the perfect act of an old man.

After Mr. Samuelson left, James asked the system "Really? So my name is James James?"

The system was quiet for a short time before yelling "I NEVER SAID YOUR FIRST NAME YOU IDIOT! YOU'RE A TEACHER!"

'oh. my bad.. "Old man teacher system".. right.' James was internally disappointed with himself.