Chapter 1 - Awakening

Jack groaned and opened his eyes, wincing at the bright sunlight streaming through his window. Blinking rapidly, he tried to piece together the events of the previous night, but his memories were fuzzy and disjointed. All he could remember was the sound of loud music, the taste of cheap beer, and the sight of blurry faces.

He sat up slowly, rubbing his temples as he tried to shake off the pounding headache that threatened to split his skull in two. As he looked around the room, he froze in shock. There was a girl sitting cross-legged in front of him, with her eyes closed and her soft hands resting on her knees. She was stunningly beautiful, with ruby hair and delicate features, and she was dressed in a simple red robe.

For a moment, Jack just stared at her, wondering if he was still dreaming. But then he noticed something strange. The girl's chest was rising and falling in time with his own breaths. And as he reached out to touch her face, he felt it, just like when someone touches his own face, he felt a touch on his face! Jack retreated to his bed until his back reached the wall.

"Hey ! Wake up!" said Jack timidly.

"..."

'Huh ? Why can I hear myself ?'

Jack tried breathing really fast and saw that the girl would also breathe really fast, next he tried furrowing his brows and... nothing happened.

'I think we are connected one way or another' thought Jack.

Jack's mind raced as he tried to make sense of what was happening. Was this some kind of bizarre dream? Or had he stumbled into an alternate dimension? He looked at the girl again, and noticed that her eyes were still closed.

Taking a deep breath, Jack tentatively reached out to touch her eyelids. As soon as his fingers made contact, the girl's eyes fluttered open, revealing two piercing blue orbs that seemed to glow in the dim light of the room.

'Oh fuck, my head feels like it's going to explode!' The moment the girl opened her eyes, Jack could see everything the girl was seeing and, at the same time, what he was seeing. Without realizing, Jack closed his own eyes and the only thing he could see was a clear image of himself.

'This is weird...' Jack lifted his arm and saw himself lifting his own arm. 'It's like looking in a mirror' he thought.

He focused all his energy on trying to move her head, but to his dismay, nothing happened. It was like his consciousness was trapped inside her body, but he had no control over it.

Suddenly, the door burst open, and a group of his classmates walked in, laughing and chatting loudly. Jack panicked, realizing that he couldn't open his eyes or his brain would explode, and that he couldn't just explain his way out of this situation, nobody's going to believe that a random girl just decided to meditate there. But to Jack's surprise, the girl disappeared, and Jack couldn't see himself anymore, so he just opened his eyes.

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Sitting up in his own bed, drenched in sweat. He looked around frantically, trying to figure out what had just happened, but everything seemed normal. His room was exactly the way he remembered it, and he could hear the sound of his classmates talking to him.

"Hey Jack, you missed out big time!"

"Paul ? What happened ? Why everything happens only when I'm not there ?! "

"There was one guy sleeping, and he fell off his chair, the teacher was so mad he was literally fuming !"

"Oh, this happens quite often, anything else ?"

"Yeah dude, you know that guy that always wears a beanie, right ? He puked in front of the whole year! The teacher called him out and told the guy to get a mop or clean it with his beanie !"

"That sounds cool, I bet you guys had lots of fun."

"You bet, what were you doing ?"

"Oh, nothing much, I just got out of the bed, I was going to go eat something."

"My man, Jack, you have to stop eating noodles all day."

"One day, Paul, one day."

Jack got off the bed and started walking to the kitchen, there were still dirty dishes waiting to be washed and some garbage waiting to be thrown, but Jack couldn't care less about any of that. He took some water and started boiling it.

'That must've been a dream or something, I've heard about it, daydreaming, right?' Jack tried to convince himself. '

But the more he thought about it, the less convinced he was. The experience had felt too real, too vivid. He couldn't shake the feeling that something strange was happening to him, something that he couldn't quite explain.

Lost in his thoughts, Jack didn't notice that the water had started boiling over. Suddenly, Paul's voice broke through his reverie.

"Hey man, watch out!"

Jack quickly turned off the stove, feeling embarrassed for not paying attention. He poured the water into a cup and added some instant noodles, trying to focus on the present moment.

Paul looked at him, concern etched on his face. "Are you okay, man? You seem kind of out of it."

Jack hesitated, not sure if he should tell his friend about what had happened. "Nothing, man, just a weird dream."

Paul grinned, "Like the one you've had a week ago ? The one with the three vampire wives ?"

"No man!" replied Jack with a cold stare. "It was something different, I could control another body"

"Oh that sounds cool, learn how to control a thousand and make an army, I give you all my support, but only if you make me a general." said Paul with a smile.

"Stop these jokes, man, It felt like my head was going to explode!"

"You think too much, just feel it, dude. Overthinking it won't get you anywhere." Said Paul contemplatively.

"Thanks Paul, It means a lot, but it was just a dream, there's no point worrying about it anymore".

"I guess, but I do worry about you man, stop eating noodles and get something healthy."

"I mean, you can give me some of your chicken breast..." said Jack with a shit-eating grin.

"Cook your own, you have the money and the time, you stopped working, right ?"

"Someday, friend, I swear I will do it." Jack appeared to be thinking intensely.

"Good." nodded Paul and left.

Jack started eating his noodles and soon finished with a slurp. 'Just how could I stop when they're this easy to make and delicious ?' he thought. Soon enough, he went back to bed to browse the internet on his phone for a bit, but his mind kept going back to the strange experience he had.

As he sat in bed, lost in thought, Jack found himself alone again in the dorms 'Huh, I wonder where everyone is' he asked himself. And soon enough, almost like he knew it was coming, he saw a blinding light in front of him, and, the red haired girl was back there again, sitting cross-legged on the floor, with her eyes closed. 'H-huh, it wasn't a dream ?' Thought Jack while looking at the most gorgeous girl he has ever seen.