Chapter 11

It was so soft... Back in his room, Betoy held his favorite poofy stuffed-toy and brushed its head before positioning it down to his bed stacked with his other merch. He placed his hands on his hips and exhaled heavily in a job well done. He never fixed his bed since he always told himself he would lay on it later again anyway. Now the whole room changed. His gaze didn't leave his bed and the merch on it, it was filling him with memories of the day before; he could remember every bit of detail in his dream. He shifted to the desk with a stool underneath, pulled it out, and settled down.

"Yeah, yeah, I know I always forget to do this every morning." He said with a wry smile. He did the Sign of the Cross, relaxed his arms on the desk and conjoined his hands. He talked to God as if they were old buddies who haven't seen each other for a year. He was so casual, and he even cursed a few times while talking to his Friend. Betoy respected Him with all his heart, but he also wanted to make himself feel like he was himself again. "That was the cheapest way on making me come back to You, You know that right?" Betoy snickered in a cocky manner, "I'm glad I'm back." He stood up and turned to the door while doing the Sign of the Cross before huffing in awe a little "Amen". During the prayer, all he could think of was yesterday, or at least, what he experienced before today. All he talked about was himself, Tina, Kanor and of course, Maya. Not school, not his friends, not anime, nor anything else, only him and his family.

"Accept what's given to you."

Back then, Betoy was infuriated on how Kanor said it, he said it as if he wanted her to die. What was given to Betoy that day were facts, the fact that he could never spend time with her again, the fact that she's not inside the house anymore, the fact that he lost his mother. He didn't realize the messages behind it until now.

"Appreciate the things you already have."

"Accept the facts."

"Move on and keep moving forward."

"God has a plan for you."

There were a lot more behind that one simple quote, more of it flowed inside his head like how questions stormed in earlier that day. Kanor probably got that quote from the internet, Betoy might be just reading too much into it.

He glanced at the desk before heading outside his room. He still had a smile on his face while he went downstairs, half-way a smell went to his nose as if a truck had hit him. The smell of fried Tilapia. Once he set foot from the stairs, he faced to the direction of the kitchen. The sunlight struck him from the window. A sense of warmness came to his whole body. The singing birds danced around his ears as the brightest gleam formed on his face.

There was a familiar figure sitting on a stool at the dinner table. It was Tina.

Kanor cut inside Betoy's field of vision and glanced at the small girl for a second before reverting to the young adult.

"You're awake, I suppose you realized we have a visitor."

"Visitor?" Betoy's eyes narrowed in confusion.

Kanor cleared his throat and readjusted his glasses. "Apparently, your pet Tilapia reincarnated into a 12-year-old girl and now she's living her life as your little sister." He said bluntly as he stepped away again.

Déjà vu.

"Is this for real?" Betoy screamed internally. He approached the girl. She was looking distantly at the fried Tilapia set in front of the table. He waved his hand in front of her, but the girl wouldn't budge.

"She's traumatized." Kanor said disappointed at himself. "Can you imagine seeing yourself served in a dish with a side of salted sliced tomatoes?" He groaned after at his own failure of a parent, "I knew it was a bad time to cook the fish." He grumbled and turned away, his palm meeting his forehead.

"What's the date today dad?" Betoy faced to his dad with eyes widened and mouth opened like a cooked fish.

"Oh." Kanor looked at his watch which displayed the date as well. He formed a smile, "It's today, your favorite day of the year!" He said cheerfully.

Betoy's hands held up and its' fingers touched the side of his head. This can't be happening. Did the dream restart? Is he stuck in a time paradox or something? Did he die during his sleep and woke up in his saved checkpoint? Does he need to do something in order to proceed to the next day?

He grabbed hold of Kanor's arm and looked at the watch for himself. It was the same as yesterday's. "Are you okay Betoy?" Kanor asked in a worried tone.

Then suddenly Tina burst out laughing.

Fin