Ch. 3 - An Unexpected Scene
Alvarez:
AHHHHH!
*BZZZZ BZZZZ!*
Alvarez jolted upright, drenched in sweat, his phone buzzing violently beside him.
̶H̶e̶ ̶h̶a̶d̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶w̶o̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶a̶ ̶d̶r̶e̶a̶m̶ ̶o̶f̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶ ̶s̶o̶r̶t̶.̶ ̶A̶t̶ ̶l̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ̶t̶h̶a̶t̶'̶s̶ ̶w̶h̶a̶t̶ ̶h̶e̶ ̶t̶h̶o̶u̶g̶h̶t̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶w̶a̶s̶.̶ ̶H̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶u̶l̶d̶n̶'̶t̶ ̶r̶e̶m̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶d̶e̶t̶a̶i̶l̶s̶.̶ ̶J̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶a̶ ̶b̶l̶u̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶a̶ ̶h̶o̶l̶l̶o̶w̶ ̶v̶o̶i̶c̶e̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶y̶e̶t̶,̶ ̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶h̶e̶a̶r̶t̶,̶ ̶a̶c̶h̶e̶.̶
He had woken up, this time, remembering the "dream".
Alvarez:
Was it a dream?..
No that can't be, it felt too real.
He noticed that his phone was blaring.
Alvarez:
*picks up the phone* It's the same message?!
"NDRRMC: (5:33AM, 12Apr25) A Magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Pasay City 7:36PM this morning. Aftershocks are expected."
Alvarez:
Have I gone back to the past?!
Did I go back in time?
Alvarez, heart racing, frantically looked at the notifications on his phone, looking for a certain message.
And there it was.
Hannah Martinez (Message):
"Hey illagan right? I'm hannah from highschool, yk, your class president from
Grade 9-Laura? we're organizing a reunion this April, just tell me if you'll attend 🤍"
His eyes widened.
Alvarez:
Holy shit?!!
It's real!
He stared blankly at the ceiling for a long time. His body refused to move. His breath felt shallow, like something heavy was resting on his chest.
The thought came uninvited, but it had been lingering beneath the surface since the moment his eyes opened. The memory..or whatever it was, clung to him like static. A void. A voice. A choice.
Alvarez:
Breath, breath, breath, everything's fine.
If it was indeed real, then that means I could change my decision. What if I accept the invitation? It wouldn't hurt to try right?
He began typing a response to the message.
Alvarez:
Let's see, what's the best response to this message?
Typing:
Okay I'll meet you there
Alvarez:
No..no... that sounds creepy.
Typing:
Okay
Alvarez:
That's too vague.
Alvarez spent 10 minutes of internal debate to figure out the best response to Hannah's message, only to settle with "When?" In the process, he nearly forgot that he has a job to get to.
Alvarez:
Oh right. Crap I almost forgot. Damn me.
As he gets his clothes for work ready, he got a message notification.
Alvarez:
Is it Hannah?
He checked his phone to see an message from his manager:
"I apologize for the abruptness, Alvarez, but I've decided to have you day off today, something just came up. Again, sorry for how unexpected this was."
Alvarez looked at the message with surprise.
Alvarez:
HUHHHHHHHHHHH?!!!
He shouted in disbelief.
Alvarez:
WHEN DID THIS ASSHOLE GET SO KIND ALL OF THE SUDDEN?
AH I GET IT, THE BOSS MUST'VE DISCIPLINED HIM AGAIN
He soon calmed down.
Alvarez:
Why am I getting so hasty for?
Shouldn't it be a good thing that at the very least, he's polite..
Still though, it's so out of character.
...
...
...
...
Then it hit him.
Alvarez:
Wait...this never happened 'that day' (Referring to the day in which Chapter 1 started) right?
Or did I forgot? ...No, I'm pretty sure I went to go to work 'that day' and that's where 'that' (Referring to the emergence of monsters, the event that killed him) happened..
Alvarez:
Did I do something that changed the course of the future?
Perhaps It was because i replied to Hannah right? Yeah, that should be it.
It's the Butterfly Effect! (The butterfly effect, in chaos theory, describes how a small change in one state of a system can lead to large, non-linear differences in a later state).
Alvarez:
So there's a possibility that there wouldn't be any monsters. Right?
As he carefully concluded what it could have been, he unintentionally read the warning message once more:
"NDRRMC: (5:33AM, 12Apr25) A Magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Pasay City 7:36PM this morning. Aftershocks are expected."
Alvarez:
7:36PM this morning?!
Is this a bug?
It's only 6:22AM, so this must be a bug.
Bugged ass alert.
(Authors Note: If this seems like an unnecessary thing to even include here, that's because it is. I made a mistake while writing Chapter 1 and accidentally messed up the time, so now it's officially a canon. Oops.)
Alvarez:
Might as well enjoy my free time.
Alvarez headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.
A few hours later, he's in the grocery store, shopping for supplies.
Alvarez:
My fridge's been empty for a week, and the smell, how do you even get rid of that again?
He paused mid aisle.
Alvarez:
Wait, shouldn't I clean the fridge before restocking it? Fuck...
Alvarez racked his brain to try and remember how he got rid of the bad smell of the refrigerator a few months ago. Soon enough, he got it.
Alvarez:
It's vinegar and soda!
Wait, not soda, it's baking soda.
Alvarez began looking for baking soda, he found it soon enough, but he has no idea where the vinegar is located.
Alvarez:
Where the hell is the vinegar
I swear I've bought it here before
While ranting in his head, he spotted a store employee nearby, restocking shelves.
Maybe, he can ask him on where the vinegar is located–
Alvarez:
Hell no.
He turned and walked in the opposite direction.
After a few minutes of trying to find where the vinegar is, he finally found it. His hard work had paid of. It's as if God himself rewarded him.
Alvarez:
LET'S GO!
As he was about to reach for it, someone else does the same thing, at the same time.
(Authors Note: WHOA! YEAHHHH! NEW CHARACTER UNLOCKED!)
Alvarez:
Eh??
???:
Eh??
The two froze, awkwardly stared at each other for quite awhile before getting back to their senses. And in unison..
Alvarez:
I apologize! *nods*
???:
I'm sorry! *nods*
Two confused souls. Two awkward nods.
Both united by vinegar.
The two were obviously embarrassed.
Alvarez:
Wait.. isn't this.. Martinez?
It's her! Hannah!
As much as he'd hate to admit it. There were certain people in highschool he didn't forget.
One of them is currently standing right in front of him.
(Authors Note: Hannah is currently yapping in the background while he gets this realization.)
----TO BE CONTINUED----