Twenty-Nine

"Who the f-" I didn't even get to finish my curse because of confusion settling in my head. I kept staring at him until I finally have the words that I can throw. "Who the bloody son of a bitch are you?" I asked.

He bowed his head and smiled. I don't even know what will I call this shit. "Well, obviously, I'm you." he lifted his head to face me. "But, younger and wiser." he cockily added.

I'm still not processing this situation. I mean, how the hell is this even possible?

Time travel? Is that a thing? I'm not even Klaus to have the ability to see the dead. Or is this boy dead? Am I dead? For the love of God, I think I've read too many fantasy novels.

I shut my eyes closed and held a grip on my head. "No, no, no, no, no." I muttered to myself while circling around. "This is not possible, this is not possible, this is not possible." I repeatedly said.

"It is possible, Asher." he charged in. I lifted my head and pointed at him.

"Shut up!" I snapped out and circled around again.

I saw a car driving towards the bridge. I told the driver to stop by waving my hands. The driver was a middle-aged man that has a cigarette on his mouth. He did stop in front of me and I immediately went to the door of his car.

"What is it kid?" he gruntingly asked and scratched the back of his head. I quickly shook my head and gulped before talking.

"Tell me," I said, gasping for breath. "Do you see that boy?" I said and pointed at my back without looking. He then glanced at my back and looked at me.

"Do you see him? Yeah? Tell me does that boy and I have the same faces?" I asked continuously. "Well, I mean I am 2 years older than him but you can still see the similarities right? Can you see it?" I added.

The man chuckled until it turns into a burst of hysterical laughter. I joined him and also chuckled nervously. His laugh stopped and so do mine too. His face turned serious and moved closer to mine.

"You creep. You are a drunk kid. Go home." he said and drove away. My eyebrows furrowed and followed the car for a bit.

"What? I'm sober! I don't even-" I stopped following the car and started panting again. "I don't even drink." I whispered to myself.

I turned around to face the boy and I walked closer to him. He stepped back as I slowly approach him. I grabbed his collar and pulled him. "Who are you?" I shouted at him.

"I'm you, Asher." he calmly said again.

"No! Stop calling me that! That man just saw you, you sick son of a bitch!"

"No, Asher. That man did not saw me because no one else can see me but you."

I didn't respond and just held him until he forced himself to pull away. He fixed his jacket and looked at me. "I'm at your goddamn mind." he stated. "It's you who can only see every single detail about me. You were having dreams about me, remember?" he asked.

I don't have the ability to talk right now so instead of answering, I nodded my head as a yes. He also nodded and looked away.

"I'm here for you." he said. I looked at him with confusion.

We were walking around the town for more than an hour now. He told me that he's here to help me with my unanswered questions about my dreams. He kept on talking about my life decisions, about how he knows it, and why does he keep appearing at my dream.

"How old are you?" I asked him while we both walk.

"14." he shortly answered.

I squinted my eyes while thinking. "But, the first time I saw you, you were just a little boy. 5 years old to be exact." I said. "Did you grow up?" I added.

He shook his head and shrugged. "I don't know." He snapped and looked at me. "You know what let's just talk about your dreams, tell me more about it." he exclaimed and looked back to the street where we walk.

"Well, that's just it. I dream about you talking to me like this and I can't see your face until now. I didn't recognize you at all. Not even your voice." I explained. He put his right hand to his chest and pouted.

"That hurts my soft heart." he pouted. I furrowed my eyebrows as I look at him.

"Shut up." I scoffed. He laughed and put his both hands in his pockets. He let out a loud breath before speaking.

"You know that you are too young for problems, right?" he suddenly asked.

I grinned and glanced at him. "So are you." I responded.

"Man, I'm just here to help you."

"I don't even know what help do I need."

"Hmm."

He went silent after what I said. We continued walking while we still talk. I don't actually care where my feet want to go. I just follow him because I also need answers.

"Why don't you start not to overthink?" he stated and air quoted the word 'not'.

"It's complicated. I can't do that." I immediately answered. He glared at me then scoffed.

"Why the bloody hell you people always say that?" he exclaimed. "I mean, you didn't even start trying it. You always say 'I can't do it. I don't actually think I can do that. I seriously cannot do it.' Like, seriously, you didn't even bother trying, dude.Why say can't do a certain thing when you haven't actually tried it?"

I raised my eyebrows then shrugged. "It's a lot easier said than done." I responded and looked at him. "And you're wrong about not trying." I added.

"I did try. Plenty of times. I force myself to forget about certain stuff by doing something. Ya know, playing games, music, reading books, or any other things that you can think of. But, nothing happened. That specific stuff that you are thinking is stuck in your own mind. I remember being scolded and it is stuck in my mind for the whole time. And then the funny part? It happened-" I was cut off when he spoke.

"4 years ago.." he muttered. I glanced at him then looked away.

"Yeah, I remember that shit." he said. "Being accused of stealing an item from the school laboratory."

I softly chuckled. "Deep shit, right? I mean, we don't even recognize every single item from that laboratory." I laughed.

"Worst day of our lives." he teased. We both laughed as we remember that shitty moment. That probably is the worst day of my life. I just kept on thinking about that until now, but it doesn't bother me anymore like it usually does.

"What about deaths though?" I then asked again.

"Deaths? You dream about deaths too?"

"Yeah. Twice."

He stared blankly at the air and I can completely say that he did not expect that coming. Still waiting for an answer, I spoke in again. "Is there something...wrong?" I asked, worrying.

He cleared his throat. "Well, uh, dreams about death indicate an end of something." he started. "Whether it's a job, a relationship, or... career and, uh, life." he hesitated to speak that last word.

"Life?" I repeated. He gave a firm nod and looked away. I thought about what possible life does that mean. Will I lose someone I love? Is someone's life going to end? Or is it my own life?

After our talk, he gave me one last advice.

We suddenly stopped walking. He looked at me and held both of my shoulders. "You still have a lot of time. Don't waste it." he stated. That was the last words I have heard from him until he completely vanished out of nowhere when I looked away.

I glanced at my phone and saw the time. My eyes completely widened as the thought of buying the water bottles and going back to the stadium is one of the things that I totally have forgotten.

I rushed out of the streets and made my way back to the school.

When I got there, students are already leaving the venue. The event has ended, that's what I thought first.

I ran to the stadium, expecting that I could still meet the team and my friends but when I arrived I saw nothing but the janitors cleaning the whole venue. I went to ask one of them.

"Excuse me?" I approached. The janitor looked at me while holding a broom. "When did the match ended?" I asked. He looked at his watch to check the time then went back to cleaning.

"20 minutes ago." he answered. I didn't get the chance to thank him or say goodbye as I immediately rushed out of the stadium.

I went to the building where our classroom is located to find my friends. I thought that they will be still hanging out because that's one of our habits after an event. But, that was very dumb of me to think that.

Why would they go back to the classroom just to hang out?

With that thought, I made my way back to the stairs and went down. Halfway down, my left foot lost its balance, causing me to trip and fall from the stairs.

I hit my head at the corner of the wall while I fall down then I completely face planted to the ground. Grunting in pain, I weakly tried standing up while holding the part of my forehead that hit the wall.

When I had the 50/50 chance to stand up, I quickly ran again but this time, to go home.

My right side hurts terribly. I was running all the time and I didn't even think about my situation. I entered the door and saw my Mom preparing the table. She has her apron on while putting dishes on the table. My brother popped out from the living room and noticed me.

He looked at me with the same expression from the guy from the TV. His jaw was hanging while scanning me. "What on earth happened to you?" he finally spoke after seconds of staring at me with pity.

My mother glanced at my brother before me. Her eyes grew wide as she slowly approaches me. "Oh, sweet Jesus, what happened to you?" she asked with the tone of worrying.

"I'm fine, Mom." I insisted as I flinch because she was touching my wound on my forehead.

"You are bleeding, Asher! How is that fine?" she argued.

"I'm completely fine, Mom. I need to clean myself." I countered and walked away from them to go upstairs.

Before heading to my bedroom, I did go to the bathroom first to clean my forehead. When I stared at the mirror, I realized that I looked like a mess. My shirt has stains, I have bruises in one arm, and there's blood dripping from my forehead wound.

My right side still hurts like hell. I can't help but feel the pain. I cleaned my wound then decided to take a quick bath.

After cleaning myself up, I went to the bedroom and when I opened the door, I saw Archer at his couch sleeping already.

I hesitated to enter the room because my chest is pounding because of nervousness. I know he is upset or disappointed at me. So, what if he suddenly stands up and punches me in the face?

I went to my cabinet to grab a shirt but I can't help but think about what to say.

Should I apologize now or let him rest first and wait for tomorrow?