It didn't take them long to reach Darion's home in a quiet little suburban part of Georgia. He stepped out of the car and stared at it for a while. 

His home is almost exactly as Darion remembered it, save for the new brown coat of paint on the roof. Otherwise, it's all still the same to him, right down to the knife cuts in the front tree where the words "Libinski Family" is still etched in. His dad smiled as he watched his expression. 

"Welcome Home, Darion," His mom said quietly the moment he stepped put on their lawn. Darion smiled as best he could, but the state of their house made him shiver inside. 

He didn't know how to feel about himself.

"Thanks, mom," Darion said. Then he frowned as he looked at them. Both his parents stayed near the Buick while they let his eyes explore the place. "Arent you guys coming in?" 

"Not yet," his old man said. "We promised ourselves that the moment you wake up we will celebrate your revival. Unfortunately, you wake up so abrupt that we are not ready." He chuckled to himself.

"We are just gonna do a quick trip to the grocery and we will have a feast tonight."

"Mom..." Darion said reluctantly. Having a party is like the last thing on his mind right now. Then he stopped as he saw the look in his mom's eyes. The sad, expectant look of a mother wanting to take care of his child was so palpable that it hurt. Darion realized that this get together is not only for him but for the rest of the family. He could just imagine what they went through while he fucking slept in the hospital.

For 3 goddamn years, he thought bitterly.

"I want spaghetti with meatballs," Darion said promptly. 

His mom beamed and his dad chuckled at his words. "Why am I not even surprise," he said.

Darion watched them for a moment as they left the driveway before he entered his house again after 3 years.

******

Even the air smells familiar, He noted to himself as he gazed about the place. There are pictures of him and his family on the walls along with his Mom's old nursing degree and Darion's Junior boxing tournament award. Darion's eyes glance down at a photo of his parent's wedding picture. The rest of the pictures are entirely new to him. 

So, it's true. Three years did pass me by just like that.

He stared at the new partition that divided the kitchen from the dining area. It looks aesthetically pleasing, but he liked watching whoever is cooking in the kitchen from the dining table. It seemed cozier then. Overall, it wasn't a big deal, but it was just another reminder that things did change while he was sleeping.

"Yoh," said a beautiful lazy-eyed girl sitting on the sofa. Darion had to consciously stop his jaw from dropping to the ground. 

It seems like it was just yesterday when his clumsy and chubby little sister, who is barely ten years old, was following him everywhere like an annoying puppy. Now she is almost as tall as he is, making good use of the family genetics since she has mom's beauty and dad's height.

She may be a thirteen-year-old kid, but she has the body of an 18-year swimsuit model. I better watch this little she-devil more closely from now on, Darion thought silently.

Only then did Darion realize that his younger sister was staring at him. 

No, glaring at him. 

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Darion smiled at her. “What?" he asked.

"I said, 'Yoh!" she said in an annoyed voice. "And you didn't even acknowledge me."

"Sorry, I'm just wondering whatever happened to the girl who comes running at me when I go home and crying, "Oniichan! Oniiichan!"

Janiya, my sister, actually has the decency to blush as I reminded her of her past. "I'm done with the whole manga phased of my life." 

She stood up from the sofa and hugged his brother. Darion didn't know exactly how he feels, but somehow, the gesture calmed the turmoil in his soul a bit. "I'm glad you are back," she whispered.

"It's good to be back." He kissed Janiya's temple before he separated. "And jeezes, what have you been eating?"

She laughed. "Is it too mind-blowing to see that your sister turned out to be a hottie?" she quipped.

"Whatever," Darion said, lifting his bag as he walked towards the stairs and into his old room. "Just tell whoever your boyfriend is that I'll mess him up if he hurts you."

There was a twinkle in his sister's eyes as she smiled at him mysteriously. "I will. Don't worry."

He waved lazily back at her as he walked up the stairs. His room is the one at the end of the corridor, and he needed to use the key given to him by his mom to enter. They've locked the place up while he was in the hospital.

He unlocked the door and let it slid open. It was like everything he left that fateful morning was still as they were before. He can’t believe he just left this room one day all excited for his karate tournament and then return three years later as if nothing happened. It was all surreal.

He stepped inside and turned slowly 360 degrees to see everything. The bed sheets and pillowcases were definitely new and replaced just today. Maybe mom returned a lot of things back to help him cope easier. If so, then he was grateful.

His eyes ended up in his old cabinet. He stared at it for a moment longer. He knew what he would see the moment he opened that cabinet. 

Don't do it, a part of him warned. 

He walked towards that cabinet and stared at the copper handle.

It's not worth it, man. 

He reached up the handle and gripped it.

Don't be an idiot.

He opened it, and there she was. A lone picture of Alana and him in a carnival ride, hanging in the back of the cabinet door. They were both smiling and happy then. When the photo was taken, from his perspective, it was just a month ago. Now three years had passed. Did she even remember that day? 

He noticed his hands were reaching up to touch her face. He stared at his hands for a moment, and suddenly he was engulfed in this white-hot anger.  

Darion didn't know how to explain it, for it was more of a feeling. The darkness just behind his eyes exerted a pull, a tug in his soul, and the void within him burst within his veins. Suddenly, he was smashing the cabinet with his bat. He hit the cabinet once, twice, three times before he knew what he was doing. He didn't even feel himself summon the damn bat, which is sitting in one corner of the room. 

He just imagined himself smashing that cabinet with a bat, and his hand was suddenly holding one just before he broke the furniture into pieces. Now that he is staring at the destroyed furniture, he felt like an idiot. "Fuck me," he said chagrined. 

"Hey, is everything okay?" Janika said in the stairs, and Darion winced.

"Y-yeah, I'm okay," he shouted back. "Some junk on top of my cabinet fell on me. Why is my room suddenly became a storage area?" Darion said, lying through his teeth. Someone once told him that the best defense is a quick offense.

"Well, don't look at me," His sister said, before retreating to her sofa. "Mom never let me enter your room."

He sighed. And then he looked at his hand, which is still holding the baseball bat. He looked at one corner of the room where the bat was leaning in, a mere seconds ago.

He looked at the mess of scattered clothes and wooden splinters, and he exhaled his breath very slowly. "Good job, asshole," he said to himself.

He walked down the stairs and smiled at his little sister. "Hey, Janika," he said. "Where does mom put the black bags again?"

In the next 30 minutes, he cleaned out his room and disposed of the broken furniture. While he was at it, he decided to get rid of anything that would remind him of those two. That one takes more time. So he started throwing away stuff toys, shirts that Alana gave him, miscellaneous things like his karate tournament trophy, and even the basketball tournament trophy they won together with Ernie during the elementary years. He barely hesitated to throw those things since now all that shit seems so very trivial to him. 

By the time he finished, he was profusely sweating, and his shirt is soaked with perspiration. Damn, he better start exercising again. He cannot believe that a mere hour of work is making him very shaky. Where was the guy who can keep his energy despite a dozen rounds in the boxing ring? 

He used a nearby hand towel to dry his face, and only then did he realize a blinking icon on the lower right corner of his vision. 

The moment he concentrated on the icon, it sprang to life, and a blue screen was in front of his face. 

First, the screen merely said:  "INITIALIZING....."

 Then the words scrolled out: HERO PROFILE INITIALIZED.

"What the fuck?" Darion said out loud in a surprised voice. He tried to wave over it, but his hands simply passed through it. 

The screen changed again, and suddenly he was looking at a character screen.

Name: Darion Libinski

Level: 1

Age: 17

Hero name: Not applicable

Class: Not applicable

Attributes:

Strength: 0

Agility: 0

Perception: 0

Constitution: 0

Speed: 0

Mind: 0

Essence: 0

Abilities: 

None

Available Hero points (HP): 0

Available Attribute points (AP): 1

A new screen overlapped his character screen, and Darion read that as well.

Congratulations! Due to your diligence, you are able to increase your MIND attribute by 1. 

Current MIND: 1

Congratulations! You unlocked the ability "Telekinesis."

Requirements: MIND 1

Current level: 1

Darion stared at the screen in shock for a long time before echoing two words that represented his entire thought on the matter. 

"Holy shit."