The workday continued and soon the golden hour known as five o’clock had come. Workers exited the building, got into their cars, and drove off for the night. The sun moved through the sky and was soon replaced by the moon. Night had come and Mikomi was still at his desk finishing up some paperwork. An empty teacup from earlier in the day lay to the side. The door to his office opened and Alice stepped into the doorway, poking her head inside.
“I’m about to head out, Mikomi. Is there anything else you need before I go?’
“No, Alice. I’m fine. Thank you for your hard work as always. We have a big day tomorrow. The press will be here and I’m going to need all the support I can get to make it through the bombardment of questions.”
Alice shot Mikomi a reassuring smile. Mikomi looked up from his paperwork just long enough to catch a glimpse of it. To say that Mikomi wasn’t captivated by her beauty would be a flat-out lie, but even though Mikomi found her attractive, he couldn’t find any true romantic feelings for her. Whether or not there was interest on Alice’s side remained to be seen. For all Mikomi knew, Alice could just be the friendly type who likes to make people feel comfortable.
“I’ll do my best,” said Alice as she took a step back through the doorway, but stopped. “Mikomi… are you going to be alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“About earlier. You’re not afraid?”
“They were just empty threats. It’s just a clear indication that Mr. Rutherford is getting really anxious. If he’s willing to go to such lengths to try and protect his assets, it only means that we’re on the right path. Lief has always been that way, too. He pressures the competition into caving so that his father can swoop in and reap the benefits. Legally, there’s nothing he can do. Besides, it’s going to take more than that to scare me.”
Mikomi’s tone was certain, but Alice wasn’t buying the tough-guy attitude.
“Please be careful, Mikomi,” said Alice with a tone of concern in her voice.
Mikomi gave her an approving nod and she closed the door, leaving Mikomi alone in the building save for the evening security crew. Mikomi put his signature on a piece of paper before placing it into a file folder and moving it to a drawer in his desk.
“I suppose it’s time I get out of here myself.”
Mikomi stood up and walked over to a coat rack in the corner of his office. He grabbed a light grey suit jacket off of the rack and put it on. He checked his pockets and pulled out a set of keys before walking through the door to his office, locking it behind him. Mikomi exited the building, wishing the security guard a pleasant evening as he passed him.
“You, too, Mr. Saigo,” responded the guard.
Mikomi walked through the parking lot to a row of cars. One belonged to him, others belonged to the security guards and the nighttime janitorial staff. One would think that the CEO of a company would take advantage of his parking arrangements and have a spot reserved by the front door but something like that just wasn’t something Mikomi was interested in. He believed he was just another employee and preferred to park wherever he could find an open space. Those kinds of qualities are what made most of his employees think highly of him.
Mikomi once again pulled the keys out of his pocket and just when he was about to insert the key into the lock on his car door, there was a loud bang that came from behind him. The sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the evening air.
Mikomi’s eyes widened as the penetrating heat of the bullet tore through him. It was a burning sensation like no other he had felt before. At first, he wasn’t even aware of what had happened. The loud pop surely startled him but the intense pain that followed quickly grabbed his attention and it wasn’t until a mere moment later he had put two and two together.
Mikomi reached down and placed his hand over his stomach where the pain was radiating from. He felt a warm liquid quickly coat his hand, the stench of pennies filled his nostrils as he suddenly developed difficulty breathing. His lungs felt as if they had begun to fill and a few coughs later, his mouth had been stained by the very stench that emanated from his stomach. Blood began to drool out of his mouth as the world around him began to become blurred and muffled.
With his strength weakened, Mikomi dropped his keys on the ground as he attempted to turn around to face whoever had obviously shot him; however, he lost his balance and fell up against his car as he needed its support to remain upright.
A closeup of the gun could be seen with smoke hissing out of its barrel. The gun pulled away as a man, who could barely be seen, faded away into the shadows of the night. Mikomi couldn’t remain upright for much longer and fell to a seated position, leaving a streak of blood on the side of his car as the bullet had passed straight through his abdomen. As blood continued to fill his lungs, Mikomi began to breathe a bit more heavily as he fell to the ground, fighting for every gasp of air that he could get. Mikomi held his stomach as he closed his eyes, wincing in pain.
“MIKOMI!!” a voice cried out.
It was Alice. She quickly ran up to Mikomi and knelt next to him. Thankfully, she hadn’t completely left for the evening just yet. Mikomi was covered in sweat as the color drained from his body. He looked incredibly pale and Alice knew she had to act quickly. She pulled out her phone and began to dial 9-1-1.
“Just sit still. Don’t move. Don’t talk!”
From Mikomi’s point of view, his eyes closed and then opened again. The world around him began to get more and more blurry. He could hear Alice talking, but her words were becoming increasingly muffled as the seconds passed.
“A.. Alice…”
He closed his eyes and opened them again. The world was a smear of blurry monochromatic colors. He couldn’t discern anything anymore. Although muffled, he could barely make out what Alice said.
“STAY WITH ME! MIKOMI!”
Mikomi’s eyes closed once more. A few moments later, his eyes opened again, his vision still blurry. Bright flashes of reds, blues, whites, and amber danced around. Blurred silhouettes of people could be seen in front of him but he couldn’t make out any features. Still, in this state, he realized what was happening.
“EMTs… Will I be okay?”
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Soon, his vision darkened again. Muffled sounds of panic could be heard. At that moment, his body began to feel weightless. A floating sensation washed over him; however, it was only momentary. Soon, he opened his eyes once more and he could see lights passing over his head. He looked around and barely made out people in green scrubs. He realized he was at the hospital and was being rushed somewhere. For a brief moment, his hearing returned.
“We need O.R. room two prepped immediately. We have a young male with a gunshot wound through his…”
Mikomi couldn’t hear the rest of what they were saying as his hearing went muffled again. His vision faded back to black for a brief moment. His eyes suddenly opened a few moments later. He saw doctors and nurses scrambling around him. His hearing briefly returned again.
“There’s too much blood loss! We’re losing him! We need to operate now! Get him under and get me as much Type AB blood as you can, we’re going to need all we can spare!” yelled one of the doctors before turning and looking at Mikomi whose vision became blurry once again.
“Dammit! NURSE!!”
Those were the last discernable words Mikomi heard. His eyes closed one final time. The sound of the world around him faded out until there was nothing but dead silence. Mikomi strained to hear something… anything, but there was nothing to be heard.
There was nothing but darkness and silence.
It was over.
As Mikomi lay there, despite not being able to see or hear, he could still think.
“I guess this is the end… and before such an important day. Alice… I’m sorry… I promised you, but… I’m afraid I’m going to have to break that promise. If only I could have…”
Mikomi tried to finish that thought but he just couldn’t think anymore. His time had come. A sensation of peace washed over him, almost as if he were falling asleep after a long day. Just when Mikomi had lost all hope, his eyes snapped open and he sat up in bed, gasping for air!
The room was dark, but there was just enough light from a nearby window to see Mikomi sitting up in a bed covered in sweat. His chest heaved in and out as anxiety gripped the whole of his body. He quickly looked around the room to see if he could make out anything, but it was too dark. Then, Mikomi recalled the last memories he experienced. It was of the doctors rushing to save his life. It was then that Mikomi realized that he was still in the hospital. He reached over the side of his bed to find the call button for the nurse. He patted the sides of his bed, but couldn’t find anything.
“Where is that button? Does this bed not come equipped with one!?”
Mikomi began to panic but then he suddenly stopped all of his movements.
“Wait a minute… this feeling…”
It was only then he realized that he wasn’t in any pain whatsoever. Even if the doctors had fixed the damage, there would still be pain from the surgery. Mikomi pressed against his stomach and he felt completely fine.
“Surely there has to be a scar.”
Mikomi lifted his shirt and in the moonlight, he could see that there wasn’t a trace of damage anywhere on his entire torso.
“What’s going on?” Mikomi said out loud and as soon as he said those words, he covered his mouth and his eyes widened.
“My voice is…”
His voice was different. It was higher pitched than normal.
“Is this a side effect of the anesthesia?”
He would like to think that, but that didn’t seem like a logical explanation to him. As he sat there in the darkness with his hands over his mouth, a door opened and light creeped into the room.
“Mikomi! Get up! It’s time for school.” said the voice.
“I must be dreaming. That couldn’t possibly be…”
Mikomi recognized that voice. It was his mother.
“Am I home visiting my mom? Did I just have a bad dream?”
Mikomi couldn’t say a word. All he could do was sit there and stare at the open door but the light that came from it allowed him to survey his surroundings. He slowly looked around and his eyes widened even more. He slowly took his hands off of his mouth and swung his legs over the side of his bed. He planted both feet firmly on the floor and stood. He looked around and instantly recognized everything. This was his room from when he was a teenager.
“Am… am I dead?”
Mikomi then pinched his cheek.
“Ouch...”
Realizing that this was no dream, Mikomi slowly turned and walked towards the doorway. He recognized the small hallway on the other side of it. Immediately to his left was the bathroom. To his right was the living room and around the corner from his doorway was his parent’s bedroom. He, indeed, was back in his mother’s home. Mikomi had no idea what was going on, but he knew that he couldn’t raise any suspicions just yet. After all, what would people think if he just started going around asking for basic details such as the date, the time of day, and where he was?
Mikomi decided he would head to the bathroom for now. It was only inevitable that all of the details would come to him if he just pretended everything was normal. Somewhere along the way he’d find a newspaper, overhear a conversation, virtually anything.
“I guess the only thing I can do for now is play along. Sooner or later, I’ll figure out just what in the hell is going on around here.”
Mikomi considered this a puzzle and he decided he would try and solve it on his own. For now, all he knew was that it was time to get ready for school. Mikomi turned left out of his bedroom and stepped into the bathroom. There, Mikomi stepped in front of the mirror and took a step back, bumping into the wall behind him. His eyes displayed an expression of shock at what he saw. He was the spitting image of himself when he was just fourteen years old.
“This… this can’t be real.”
Mikomi slowly inched his way towards the mirror. He touched his face as he gazed at his reflection. Just then...
“I’m afraid it is real, my dear Mikomi.”
Mikomi’s head snapped towards the shower. A man was standing there about six feet, three inches tall sporting medium-length blonde hair, blue eyes, and was wearing a white suit with a royal blue dress shirt underneath. He had with him a golden cane with a black handle. Mikomi backed up against the door and nervously reached for the doorknob. He was almost paralyzed with fear as the man sighed.
“Everyone has that same reaction. I’ve seen it so many times I’ve lost count.” said the man with a slight English accent.
The man then took a seat on the edge of the bathtub.
“While fear is a natural reaction, I assure you that there’s no need for such an emotion, Mikomi. You seek answers to your questions and I am the one who can deliver them to you. Although I’m certain that by answering your biggest question, it will, undoubtedly, raise a greater number of questions. So I believe the best course here is to be quite blunt about it. Mikomi Saigo...you have been transported ten years back into the past. You have been given a second chance.”
Mikomi simply stood there in shock, unable to process a single word of what the man had just said. The look on the man’s face told that he was serious in his statement. Even still, Mikomi had no idea what to do or how to react. Could this really have happened? Did Mikomi Saigo truly travel ten years into the past?