"Gah!"

I wake up to a throbbing headache yet again. I should be use to these by now, but you are never fully prepared for the consequences of an all-night drinking binge! As I start to wearily open my eyes, I take a look at my surroundings. Seems like once again, I am lying on the living room floor. I know this by the familiar sight of the bottom of my coffee table. I sit up slowly, careful not to hit my head on the table as I am greeted by another familiar sight. An empty bottle of whiskey and a half-spent cigarette.

"Good morning..." I say to inanimate empty bottle of alcohol as I drag myself on the couch. I sit back and look towards the unlit hallway that leads to my bedroom. The bedroom that I haven't slept in for at least a year. For a brief second I imagine someone coming out of that room. She walks into the living room wearing that beautiful smile that I have grown so addicted to. It's her! Even though she has that beautiful smile and an all-to recognizable glint in her eyes, she still chastises me for my drinking and demands that I clean up the living room. As I start to raise myself off the couch to do so, a thought hits my mind like a bolt of lightning and snaps me back to my reality. A reality that I have made for myself.

She's not here anymore. I silently reprimand myself as I quickly avert my eyes away from the bedroom.

I click my tongue and let out a sigh as I sit up and light the half-spent cigarette. I then notice my phone sitting on the coffee table, I pick it up and sure enough, it's dead. It doesn't really matter though because I really don't have anyone trying to get a hold of me outside of debt collectors. The clock on the wall reads 3:35 in the morning and that tells me only one thing...I have time to drink again! I don't have to be at work for another 30 hours. So I have plenty of time to punish my liver while I watch videos on the net.

There's only one problem with that plan though, I think to myself as I glance over at the empty bottle of whiskey mocking me from the edge of the coffee table. Looks like I'm going to have to hit the store. I wonder if Aaron is working tonight? I shrug my shoulders as I get up to find my cleanest, dirty shirt.

Lucky for me, I live merely half a block away from a grocery store. And the best part of said grocery store, it's open 24 hours! Being open 24 hours is a godsend for a screw up like me since I often have to make these late night alcohol runs. It's perfect for the luxurious life of a divorced alcoholic. I find one of my work shirts. Although it is stained with sweat and grime, it'll do for a quick excursion to the store and back, right? I mean, who do I have to impress? No one's going to look twice at an overweight 34 year old man with bloodshot eyes, an unkempt beard, and who reeks of whiskey and musty cigarettes. I'm probably their main buyer of whiskey, cigarettes, and instant ramen. Maybe I should get a discount for my loyal patronage over these last couple years? I chuckle softly at the thought as I lock up my apartment and make my way towards the store.

A light, cool breeze blows against my back as I walk down the dark street which sends a slight shiver up my neck. Most people would be a little wary walking down a dark city street at night, but not me. I don't really have anything of value on me beside my cash card. And if I was to be honest with myself, I don't really value my life as much. People would rather not lose their lives because they have something to hold dear. They have a spouse at home, or a child, or both. Hell, even a pet waiting for you at home would be something to live for! Maybe they have friends that are dear to them? I have none of that. I drank that all away. My wife became sick of my shit and left me, and soon after my friends followed suit. These aren't sour grapes though. I do not blame them one bit for leaving this utter failure of a man that I have become. My parents are dead, my siblings are dead as well. So if a robber was to jump out in front of me and blow my head off, the police would be hard-pressed to find an individual to come and identify my corpse.

Jeez! Where did that come from?! A shiver runs down my spine at the question. Am I really that far gone? Maybe I should seek therapy? I ask myself. I sigh in annoyance. Yeah, that'll help! Talking to a complete stranger about how much of a piece of shit I am! I sarcastically scold myself for even thinking about the idea of therapy.

The truth is, I used to be this outgoing extrovert that was constantly garnering the attention of my peers. I was attending university with a focus on music and education. And that is where I met Sarah. We hit it off and a year later, we were married! We moved into the apartment that I have now which is situated right off campus. Our plan was simple enough. We were going to finish up university, start our careers, start a family, and live happily ever after. But that all changed one evening in early March. You see, that was the day my family died in a car accident. I lost my father, my mother, my twin sister, and my baby brother. All because of a drunk driver who happened to fall asleep at the right time, I lost everything. I tried to keep myself together, I really did. But slowly, my drinking started to become a problem. My attendance at the university was the first thing to suffer. Gradually, I would be too drunk or too hungover to attend until I finally dropped out all together. My wife...was not pleased. She tried to hide it though! She swore that she supported my decision to drop out and join the workforce, but I could see the disappointment in her eyes that she tried to mask. I watched that disappointment grow substantially over the next several years as my drinking became worse. And then one day I awoke to an empty apartment. In my drunken state, I searched for her until I found the one thing I should've expected, but I was too ignorant to her feelings. I found the divorce papers. She ended up moving back with her parents to start a new chapter in her life while relegating me into just a footnote in her story. One by one our friends ended up leaving my side as well. And here I am today, a lowly drunkard working a dead-end job barely holding on to what is left of my shredded sanity.

The parking lot is rather dark tonight, you would assume that there would be more lights. But this is an small grocery store so maybe they don't have the funds? As I near the store entrance, I spot a dark red van out of the corner of my eye. Two men are standing near the side of the van. I cannot make out their faces, nor do I want to. You can get yourself into a bit of trouble if you stare at strangers for too long. So I act as if I didn't notice they were there as I head inside the automatic sliding doors of the grocery store.

As soon as I enter the store, I hear a familiar voice call out my name. It's the store clerk that works the night shift. A university student working to survive the harsh student life.

"Hey Aaron, how work tonight?" I ask as I make my way to the counter. He is in the middle of ringing up the items of a lovely looking young woman.

"It's been pretty quiet tonight, this is the first customer I've had in like three hours."

"You're complaining?"

"Hell no, just bored! Time seems to go faster when I've got shit to do, you know?" He says as he finishes bagging the last of the young lady's items.

As she picks up her bag she glances over to me and gives me a polite smile. Although she smiles at me, I can tell by her facial expression that she is somewhat disgusted by my appearance. Not that I blame her though. I probably stink and I look like I crawled out of a gutter from somewhere. I return the gesture as she turns to leave the store. After she leaves, I make my way toward the aisle that has my alcohol while Aaron talks to me about... something? Honestly, I'm not really paying attention to what he's saying. I just want to go home and drown myself in this bottle. I pay for my bottle and tell Aaron that I will probably see him tomorrow when I run out. He looks at me nonplussed as I make my way toward the exit. I can hear him murmur under his breath,

"That's almost a two-liter bottle of whiskey, what the-"

"Later!" I interrupt. I don't wait around to hear him finish that thought. I wave and walk through the exit into the night.

I make my way across the dimly lit parking lot when suddenly I hear a strange noise. Oddly, it sounds like the muffled scream of a woman. I scan the parking lot for the source and I am immediately greeted by an unwelcome sight. It's that young lady from before that making the sound! The two men that were by the van from earlier seemed to be trying to drag her inside their vehicle for god knows what. Her shirt is torn, most likely due to her struggling and the items that she bought lay strewn on the concrete. The young lady notices me and tries to scream for help but her mouth is being covered by one of the men.

What do I do? Do I run over there and try to save her? I think to myself while trying to make sense of the situation. I could get myself killed and could possibly make it worse for her. Do I do nothing? As the thought of doing nothing slips into my head I begin to feel physically sick. Why am I thinking this over when the answer is so obvious? I chastise myself for even contemplating my involvement in this situation. I'm here in this moment! They are abducting her right in from of me! Whether I like it or not, I'm involved now! I need to do something! But I'm running out of time! I begin to muster up whatever courage I possess as I look at what I have in my hand, a full glass bottle of whiskey.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Could this be used as a weapon? I have no time to process this, I must do whatever I can!

As I run over to them, I take a quick inventory of the situation. The two assailants have their backs to me so they have not noticed my approach. My guess is that they are hyper focused on the young lady as she makes their job harder by struggling with all her might. Keep fighting, for the love of god, Keep! Fighting! I pray that the young woman keeps their attention. When I reach striking distance, I raise the heavy bottle of whiskey and smash it down on top of the taller of the two. I feel the dull impact of the bottle reverberate up my arm as I hear the thud. To my surprise, the bottle did not break like it does in the movies. The man drops to his knees and grabs the top of his head with a groan. Blood spurts from the top of his head. His partner immediately lets go of the young woman and lunges at me. I swing the bottle once again, connecting with the side of his face. He falls back and leans against the hood of the van, blood leaking from his eye socket. I turn to the woman who is looking on and she seems paralyzed by fear.

"Don't just stand there, GET OUT OF HERE!" I scream at her in an attempt to jolt her out of her shocked state.

The woman who seemed to be paralyzed suddenly comes back to her senses and without a word, tearfully runs inside the grocery store. I turn my attention back to the assailant leaning against the hood of the van. In an attempt to buy her some time, I grab him by his throat and press him against the hood. As I raise the bottle to pummel him some more, I suddenly feel a deep burning sensation on my lower back. A split second after I am overcome with pain and I start to feel dizzy. I drop the bottle and I hear it shatter on the concrete. I reach behind my back and I feel something warm and sticky. I soon as I see what is on my hand, I start to feel nauseous. It's red. I-Is that my- Slowly, I turn my head just to be greeted by the grinning face of the other abductor. Blood trickles down the top of his head to his face. His eyes seem glazed over but there is a visible grin. I try to turn my body and defend myself but I lose all feeling in my legs and I drop to the ground. That is when I see what he is holding, a bloody knife.

That son of a bitch stabbed me! I scream internally as my assailant assists his friend back to his feet. They start to move toward me as I try to get to my feet. Why can't I move?! Dammit! I need to get up! They're gonna kill me! I try to move but to no avail. I must've lost too much blood already or maybe the knife severed something in my back. I don't know. But it doesn't matter. I close my eyes as they reach me and reserve myself for whatever painful retribution they deem fit. But it is at that moment I hear footsteps running up to our location and Aaron screaming my name. I open my eyes and tilt my head slightly just in time to see Aaron run off the would be kidnappers with a baseball bat. He then turns to me lying on the ground and he loses all color in his face. Without a word, he takes out his phone and starts calling for the emergency services. But something deep down in me tells me it's no use.

I feel another presence beside me, I tilt my head and sure enough there was someone kneeling down next to me. It was the young woman who I just saved. She doesn't have that same look of disgust from earlier inside the store. She's crying. She has a look of fear on her face. I don't blame her a single bit. The poor youngster has been through a whole hell of a lot in the past few minutes. But besides fear, I see another expression, she looks concerned. There's no need for that, if this is how my life ends...at least I did one decent thing right. I take a breath, which is starting to get harder, and I ask her, "So, what is your name?"

Tears stream down her face as she quietly answers, "Monica."

I sigh, "Well it's nice to meet you, Monica. I try to give her a half-decent smile as I introduce myself. "My name is O-Otto. Otto Sterrett." I try to lift my hand up to place it on her shoulder but to my surprise I cannot move my arms either. I let out a sigh as the realization hits me that these are my final moments.

Realizing this, I decide to ask her, "Hey, can you do me a favor?"

"Yes..." She answers quietly as she tries to push back her tears. "Whatever you want..."

"Could you reach in my front left pocket and take my phone? It's...dead, so you'll need to charge it. Find someone named S-Sarah in my contacts and I'll need you to t-tell her something."

She reaches into my pocket and pulls out my dead phone. It should be easy for her to find Sarah in my contacts since I only have three people in there. I begin coughing uncontrollably for a moment as blood starts to fill my mouth. I choke it back and look at Monica once more. I say with my final strength, "Tell...h-her...I-I'm so...s-sorry f-for...for e-everything." I feel a tear rolling down my face.

"I-I will. Thank y-you for saving m-me." She says as she shakily puts my phone in her coat pocket.

A minute passes and my breath is getting more labored as the area around us seems to be growing darker. I can't hear anything anymore and I can no longer see Aaron. In fact, the only thing I can clearly see for the moment is Monica as she puts her hand on my chest. She's still crying though. Damn, I've always hated seeing a woman cry. Especially someone I actually care about. This woman is a complete stranger to me, but I saved her life so that makes us acquaintances, I guess? I've got to hand it to her, she has some beautiful eyes. Dark green. Hmm... I stare into those emerald green eyes as her facial features become more blurry by the second. Soon enough, all I can see is her eyes. Am I even breathing anymore? I don't feel the pain either. Is this it? And just like that, her eyes are gone and there's nothing but darkness.

For what feels like an eternity, I seem to be floating in complete darkness. I'm still me, right? Otto Sterrett? Yes. I think I can turn my head, but in this dark place I cannot really tell which direction I am looking towards. Is this it? This is what comes after death? Just... pitch black? Wow...what a letdown! I feel as if I was somewhat lied to. There's no pearly gates, no angels playing harps while floating on clouds. Although, I haven't really done much with my life to warrant my entrance into some heavenly realm, anything's got to be better than this! Then again...I amounted to nothing in my life. So maybe I deserve this...absolute nothingness. As I reserve myself to my fate, suddenly my whole field of vision is enveloped in a blinding light. When the light dies down, my vision remains blurry for a few moments. As my vision starts to improve slowly, I am met with a new sensation. I feel like I am laying on something comfortable. Gone is the floating sensation from before, now I feel like I am on some kind of cushion. My eyes look up and I see a giant figure standing over me. I blink a few times and my vision becomes much more clear and what I see next shocks me to my core. I seem to be laying in a bed with high walls surrounding the edge. But that's not the shocking part, the giant woman standing over me is way more shocking! I try to get to my feet so I can flee but my body does not respond. I feel the sensation of my body, but it doesn't respond to me. Then I see my hands moving into my field of vision on their own volition, and they are...small. My fingers look so frail and tiny, but I have seen hands like this before. My baby brother had hands just like these when he was born. And then the realization hits me like a speeding train, Am...I-I a...A BABY?!

My eyes look up at the giant woman as she returns my gaze with a soft, warm smile. That is the smile a mother would give her newborn, surely. I've got to say, she is very beautiful. Light blue eyes, fair skin, light brown hair pulled up out of her face. But she is wearing something odd. A yellow dress that seems like it's straight out of Victorian-era London. She leans in closer and says in a soft, seemingly loving voice,

"KLEPER IKY CHAH. OKLKAY UHN."

Holy shit! What was that?! I hope it was "I love you, son" and not "Time to sacrifice you to our god!" By the expression on her face, I am fairly certain it is not the latter, but you can't be too careful. I have seen plenty of Isekai anime and other media to come up with a decent explanation for what is happening. Apparently, I did die in the parking lot of that store saving that young woman. And now, I have been reincarnated. Now as far as where and when, I am not sure. Am I even on Earth still? If I am, am I in the past? Is this the future and Victorian-era garb is in style again? I obviously do not recognize the language. But that doesn't mean much since I'm not really an expert in languages. There are so many questions, but I am unable to find any answers in this current state. I guess I'll just have to ride this out for the time being. Learning this language shouldn't be too hard since my brain is developing. I am an infant, after all. But that brings up another concern. If I have truly been reincarnated, why do I still retain the memories of my former life? Why do I still remember the drunk loser I was? Why do I still feel the pain of everything I lost and everything I pushed away? Why do I still remember my parent's faces? The many arguments my sister and I had while growing up? The smell of my baby brothers hair after giving him a bath? Why do I remember the first day of university? And why...do I remember Sarah?

As these questions and memories start to pile up and overwhelm me, I feel my eyes start to become warm soon followed by a choking sensation in the back of my throat. I begin weeping as the memories of my life begin to haunt me and I realize I don't deserve this second chance. My eyesight once again becomes blurry again as tears stream down my face. I don't deserve this! I DON'T! If there is a hell, THAT is where I need to be! I destroyed my whole life! I pushed everyone away and I hurt the one person who tried to help me! I. DID. NOTHING. I must pay for what I squandered! I did nothing in my life to deserve a second chance! I was worthless! PATHETIC! The tears flow down my pathetic face as I wallow in my own deserved self-pity.

Suddenly, I feel a sensation that I haven't felt before as I feel myself being lifted out of the cradle. Through the tears, I can see the woman's face as it comes closer to my own. I feel something soft and warm touch my forehead and soon I find myself cradled in her arms. I feel myself rocking back and forth as I hear her singing something softly. Once again, I have no understanding what she is actually singing but...I feel better for some reason. I feel a lot calmer. I don't deserve to feel this calm, but no matter how much I fight it, my anger with myself diminishes for the time being. What is this power? How is she able to do this? I can't explain it, but whatever she is singing softly to me seems to have some sort of calming effect on me. I look up at her as the last of my tears dry on my cheek. Is this lady...my mom? Is that how she is able to calm me down with just a whisper? Or a soft song? I contemplate this for a few moments as she continues to hold me. Soon, my eyes become heavy. Am I dying again? No...n-no... My eyes close and I fall into a peaceful sleep.