It was morning and Devlin could hear a familiar alarm clock ringing by his bedside. "Shut up alarm, this is really comfy." He tries to sneakily peak his arm out from his blanket to reach for the clock. His hand reached out and pressed a button on a wooden rectangular box and the alarm stops beeping.
"Ahh that's better." Devlin tucks himself in deeper into his bed savoring the warmth and the softness of his comforter. A few seconds later he thought to himself "Wait...something isn't right...when was the last time I heard an alarm like that." He opens his eyes and noticed that he is not in his room.
In a panic, he lifts himself up and looks around and finds himself in a very familiar place. He stares at room full of scattered hot wheels toys on the ground and some classic green plastic G.I. Joe figures arranged in playfully on the carpeted beige floor. He looked at his bed and notices his He-Man bedsheets on his bed back from when he was a child.
"This is.."
"Devlin!" a voice interrupted through his closed bedroom door giving Devlin a shock as he hasn't heard that voice in years. "Breakfast is ready! Come down and eat!"
"Coming!" Devlin replied instinctually on habit. Devlin gasped and covered his mouth as he was surprised the noise that came out of his mouth was the sound of a young boy! As he covered his mouth, he also then just realized that his hands are small!
"NO WAY!" he thought to himself as he rushed over to his mirror that is mounted on his bedroom door. An overwhelming feeling of shock came to him as he noticed that the figure staring back at him wasn't a 38-year-old overweight man, but a young boy under 10 years old!
He pinched his cheeks hard thinking maybe he is dreaming. "Did I die? Did I dream a whole lifetime? What is going on??" Devlin was trying to gather what limited information he has in his current situation.
"Yesterday I was in my room in my own home working in my home office developing an app for a law firm. What is going on? Did I overwork myself?"
He continued to think of his situation while staring at his young figure in the mirror. He observed his messy fringe black hair and child-like figure poking himself on the cheek to verify that this is indeed real, he noticed a hot wheel car floating in view from the mirror behind him.
"What?!?" he turned around and noticed all his toys that were once on the ground is floating about in the air as if gravity was turned off in the room. He walks towards one of the floating hot wheels toy cars and looks at it closely as it floats in the air. Out of curiosity, he took his finger and reaches out to poke the toy.
"DEVLIN! Are you coming down?" In shock he turns his head in the direction of the voice and all the toys crashed down on the ground as if gravity turned back on. His bedroom door opens as an adult woman in her later 30s with similar black hair and brown eyes looks at him.
"Breakfast is rea.... my goodness Devlin...Clean your room! It looks like a hurricane hit it! Your father will freak out if he sees this mess!" As she complains and leaves the room.
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Devlin looks around his room in confusion as he was still dumbfounded on his situation. As curious as he is, he walks out of his room and follows his mother down the stairs into the kitchen.
As he walked down the hall and stairs, he looked at the picture frames on the wall of his family. Baby pictures of him and his sister are mounted on the wall by the stairs. "Everything is exactly what it was when I was a child...maybe I reincarnated back into the past?" Devlin thought to himself as he looks at his childhood environment. He's reminded of the many webnovels and manga he's read in his previous life. "What was that situation in my room though?" Thinking of floating toys in his room.
He follows his mother to the dining area and he sees a nostalgic view. His father reading a newspaper at the head of the table, and his older sister her breakfast in a rush.
"You took your time this morning..." Devlin's sister said.
"Yea..." Devlin replied in a monotone voice as he is still observing the situation. He stares at the younger versions of his older sister, his father, and his mother and felt some nostalgia within himself. "This is real..." he smiled knowing he was back in the past.
Devlin's father put down the paper revealing his brown haired man with blue eyes staring at his son.
"Just as we discussed yesterday, if you do not want to do Karate anymore, that is fine. But take gymnastics with your sister. This will benefit you in the future."
Devlin recalled his previous life. There wasn't anything deep or a great story to behold in his life. He lived a fairly peaceful life. His parents gave him many opportunities.
He got along with his family and if anything, lived a privileged life. His parents were very successful as his father worked in corporate finance and his mother was a nurse. They provided very well for him and his sister. As a result, he was kind of a spoiled and bratty. He wasn't evil like you would read in the novels, but since he always got what he wanted, he was a little selfish and unmotivated to achieve anything.
He would be introduced to many things like karate, gymnastics, piano, sports, or the arts... He wasn't the best at things, but he also wasn't the worst. His parents introduced many things to Devlin in hopes something would inspire him. But he was just doing what he was told because his parents made him do it. He never thought of taking them seriously because his parents forced him to take those lessons. It would be possible if he just pushed a bit more and dedicated himself, he would find some success.
If there was anything he was innately good at, was his memory. But he never applied to it where it mattered the most. He was a big fan of fantasy genres and stories of heroes being transformed from weak to strong. The problem was, even though as a child he himself wanted to be like the characters in the book, he wished it would magically just be given to him and didn't want to work hard.
Once he was old enough to become independent, he lived a typical normal life. He secured himself a job as a software engineer, had his own place to live and had healthy adult relationships. After one bad relationship with his girlfriend at the time, he depressed himself into the virtual, anime, and fantasy world with the typical hobbies along with it. He lived a lonely introverted sedentary lifestyle. This resulted in his health deteriorating. There wasn't any dramatic or webnovel worthy stories to be said in his life like he was an assassin or a specialist in his previous life.
Oddly enough, Devlin thought it surprising that he of all people has an opportunity to relive his past. "I'm not the type of character that would be the main character in anything...but...here I am..reliving my life."
If he recalled, he argued with his dad about joining gymnastics with his sister in his past life. But now, "It wouldn't be bad to change it up from here right? With what I know now, it's very possible I can achieve something meaningful!"