It was 7:00 pm on Friday, Christian had just returned from soccer practice. He felt really down which was very unusual for him. He never really took anything that happened in training to heart. Winning or losing ended on the training ground. But tonight he felt like a complete loser.

He stuffed his boots in his bag, put on his flip flops and was on his way home. Today's training was really disappointing because he couldn't face off against his rival and classmate, Michael. He had prepared for the match for weeks and on the day he hoped to finally outclass him terrible news came.

Their coach was dead. Chris was sad beyond words, "how could this happen to Miss Sharron?", "Why do people have to die?", "Is there really a divine reason behind all this or is that just a coping mechanism?", These questions wandered through his mind as he walked down the street. He was still muttering to himself while he crossed the road when suddenly he heard a loud scream come from behind him. He was jolted from his thoughts and realised that he was about to get hit by a truck. There was no way he could make it out alive and he was certain of it.

"So this is how it feels like to state death in the face, I expected it to be more terrifying" he thought to himself as he let down a big smile and yelled "I'm about to get isekaied".

In his last few seconds he tried to think about anything that actually made his life worthwhile but nothing came to mind... Not a single thought.

Yank!

He felt himself being pulled away from the road really quickly as the truck sped past him with horns blaring. He wasn't dead, he was shocked for few seconds before he realised that he had been saved. As he turned around to check who his saviour was he saw none other than his rival and classmate, Michael.

"You really can't imagine how embarrassing you looked while waiting to be isekaied" Mike said.

"M...mi.. Mike what are you doing in this part of town?" Christian said with a surprised look on his face.

Christian and Michael lived in two different parts of town. Michael stayed in the Upper Zone where the wealthy resided while Chris stayed in the stale zone where the non-wealthy stayed.

"My dad decided that I should pay you a visit on his behalf. You weren't back from soccer practice so I decided to walk around the neighbourhood and came across a certain young man waiting to be isekaied" Mike explained

"So you wouldn't come to visit if it wasn't your father's request" Chris said jokingly "Or did you come to reschedule our match?"

"Actually, I have information on something related to that." Mike said, with an even more serious look on his face. "It turns out Mrs Sharron was murdered"

"How do you know that?" Chris said with a grim expression. He was really fond of Mrs Sharron even though he never liked to show it.

She often teased him saying he was no good at sports and that he would be better off as a writer or some other nerdy profession but deep down she wished him nothing but the best. At least that was what he felt.

"word around the upper state is that the cops found a murder weapon, plus Olumide the chief-of-police's son confirmed it to me" Mike said, " I decided you deserved to know"

"Thanks, Mike" Chris said as he walked in the direction of his house without even turning back to say goodbye to Mike. Mike understood Chris and understood that he needed space to sort out his thoughts and feelings.

...****************...

One week later

Christian received a phone call. It was from Mike

"Hi"

"what's up"

"I didn't see you in school today"

"Was busy"

"come meet me somewhere, I'll text you the address"

"I don't really feel...."

" See you there"

Mike hung up. He had been concerned about Chris for a while so he decided to invite him to a party to cheer him up. Hopefully he'd be motivated to continue living and enjoy life.

Chris laid on his bed for a few minutes before deciding to go. It was 8:42 pm. He hadn't attended lectures that week. Unlike Mike who was a natural born genius he had to struggle a bit academically. He wasn't way behind Mike but it didn't help that Mike was always a step ahead looking at him from above.

As he put on his black hoodie and combed his long black hair he began to remember his first meeting with Mike

It was 3 years ago

Christian was still new to Nerd elementary, a school in the upper area of town. His mum had struggled to raise the application fee so he studied hard and got 97% in the entrance test which was 37% above the average. He finished among the top 5 in the entrance exam and was awarded a scholarship.

He got into grade 10 on special recommendations which was especially rare considering the fact that he was just 14 at that time. He had a slightly muscular appearance and generally looked good even though he wasn't too tall. He was dark skinned and wore a bored expression. Bullies just seemed to stay away from him. In fact, sometimes it was like he never existed. He was just that kind of guy. Since his father went missing he learnt to stop depending on people excessively because his father was the person he cared about most and he was just gone. He was 8 when it happened. He still remembers the date - 12th of December 2015. Just two weeks to his birthday.

He woke up to his mother's tears and a group of cops outside his house. It all seemed blurry to him as he wondered what was going on. After a few minutes a policeman called him and began asking questions about his father and his behaviour recently. Chris hadn't noticed any changes and wondered why the police were inquiring about his father, that was when it struck him that something bad must have happened. He later found out that his father's left arm was found in the store close to the ramen restaurant. He was assumed missing.

5 years later, he was in grade 10. He had lost all hope of his father's return and had realised the truth about life.

Nothing ever goes as planned in this world, but even with that you are not special in your suffering. Everybody suffers and noone is special for suffering. Deep down noone cares.

The day he met Mike he was sitting on his seat as usual enjoying his solitude when he heard a sharp yell of pain behind him. It was lunch time so most of the kids had gone out. He looked behind him and saw a 5 boys beating up a kid behind him. He had never seen that boy before. It was almost as if the boy didn't exist. He knew all 56 people in his class except that kid. The kid was a ghost, just like him.

Immediately he stood up and grabbed the fist of the guy who was about to punch Mike and gave the kid a punch straight on the nose.

For about 5 seconds Chris felt invincible, until the other four boys ganged up on him and mike and beat them up. both boys took themselves to the nurse’s office and got themselves treated.

"You're a really dumb guy y'know" Mike said "you don't just stand up for someone you know nothing about, that's not how the world works"

"I just didn't want blood staining my seat, at least not your blood" Chris said.

"You've got a bit of a mouth on you, don't you?" Mike said as he laughed. "You should meet my dad"

Since that day Mike and Chris became friends. Mike's dad was happy that his son made a friend willing to fight for him.

Chris was at the address Mike had sent him. It looked like a party was going on so he called Mike to confirm if it was the right address

"Yeah, today's Jin's birthday dude. I thought it would be a nice way for us to relax and unwind a bit. You know ever since the Incident you've been quiet and reserved. Too quiet...even by your standards and.."

"It's alright Mike, you didn't have to go through the trouble of attending a party just to cheer me up. I know you a lot better than you think. Plus you should come outside. It's hard to hear you through the noise"

"CAN'T HEAR YOU, I'm too busy having fun."

"C'mon Mike...now isn't the time for.."

Mike hung up. Chris knew he had to walk in and go find him then take him home but he was nervous. That was his first birthday party since entering Nerd Academy. He gathered the courage to walk in.

Push!

The door swung open. He was greeted by the noise of loud music playing through big speakers and bright led lights shining across the room. His head suddenly felt lighter, almost as if he should dance.

He realised he was about to get sucked in to the vibe of the party and decided to get out quick. He really had a bad feeling about the place.

"Hi", a voice said from behind him. He sprang away in shock before realising it was Mike.

"Dude, why did you invite me here, I've really got to go" Chris said "And I'm taking you with me, you look high dude"

"C'mon dude, just stay for one little drink." Mike requested "you aren't going to reject Mr the first time I'm asking for something will you?"

"I just might, I just might Mike" Chris said, he was kinda happy that Mike tried to cheer him up but at the same time he didn't want to be cheered up.

"DUDE, get over her death. It's not like she was that nice of a person you know." Mike said, his voice sounding slurry. His sentences began to break. "I...under..stand how you muzz fil b..but I need you to also understand that being sad and depressed won't bring herb hack.. let's just celebrate tonight in her name"

By now some of the people at the table begun to observe the two boys' conversation.

"Sometimes, we just want to be sad.. we need to be sad" Chris said

" Fine then, let's be sad together. But on one condition.. you get high with me. Just for tonight."

The whole party was watching them at this point. They hadn't realised it but they had been screaming at the top of their voices.

Chris looked around and screamed "Let's do it" as he let out a playful chuckle.

The club erupted back to life at that point. The night raged on and soon enough it reached the games. The now high duo of Chris and Mike wanted to have a go at the games.

"Alrighttty it's time for CRACKHEAD. In my hands is a bag of DMT." DMT was a hard drug known to simulate hallucinations and had several mild psychotic effects during "trips" when people let the drug into their body system.

The rule of CRACKHEAD was simple. Whoever lasts the longest without raising their head from the bag wins.

The game started and Mike and Chris immersed their heads into the powder bags... At this point something very unexpected happened.

Chris immediately felt like he was in a body of water. He didn't know how to swim so he jerked his body frantically thinking of a way to escape. it felt as though he was going to drown when he felt an hand touch him and pull him out.

Instantly he was in a room. It was more like a corridor with various doors. He seemed to be alone and the floor seemed hard. He immediately deduced that this was an effect of the drug and sat down to enable him return to normal.

Eventually he fell asleep. He was asleep for what felt like a few hours. He then opened his eyes and realised he was still in the same room. He began to panic. He stopped thinking logically and began to frantically open all the doors one by one. By the time he reached the 100th door he stared at his watch and realised that only 2 minutes had passed. He decided to focus on his watch, he realised that time moved very slowly. His heart beat 56 times before a second passed and his average heart beat was 97 beats per minute. He decided to consider it as 130 beats per minute due to fear and being on drugs.

He estimated that he felt 35 seconds pass before a second actually passed.

The question arised In his head

"Am I moving too fast, or is time moving slowly?"

Christian opened the 101st door and as he peered inside he saw what looked like modern day Lagos, CAU. CAU stood for central African Union.

All the African states had combined resources and technology to develop the country so it looked like a modern metropolis. The entire country of Nigeria and some of it's surrounding countries had been renamed Lagos.

Christian quickly recognised the famous China route to the industrial estate. That was where Mike's sister worked. He saw her walk by the sushi shop and walk into the fabric company she worked in. Christian tried to step out but couldn't. He simply watched. It was as though there was an invincible barrier blocking him from getting past the door.

Few seconds after Ming, Mike's sister entered he heard a large boom and the entire building collapsed. It felt so real that Mike could feel the heat of the flames. Just then he saw a familiar face walking out of the building. Half of it completely burnt as she screamed in agony to extinguish the fire. She writhed in pain as she tried to escape.

Christian was in tears as he pulled out his spaghetti dinner and yelled while crying

" Where am i? Why are you showing me this??"

He rolled and cried because this felt so real, he had no doubt that it was reality. He punched himself over and over again just so he could escape but he just bled. He was still in shock when he felt a sharp pain on his right hand.

Very close to the wrist a clock tattoo had formed. It looked like a vintage clock with Roman numerals forming the 12, 3, 6 and 9. He didn't understand why he had this on his arm and he was growing fearful of this strange place. The pain disappeared as fast as it had come. Immediately Christian began to wonder if Mike was going through the same feat or even worse. He knew he had no other option but to wait in that lobby because there was nothing else he could do. He dreaded opening the doors so he sat down and began to rethink the events of his life.

Today was August 8, 2024. He would be 17 in a few months. He just graduated from grade 12 and was preparing for college. The school was scheduled to resume in February. He was going to east gorteau which was at the other side of the continent. That was the best school in medical bionics. He'd made the decision to go there while his father was alive but since then a lot had changed and at this stage he didn't know what he wanted. Did he really want to go to college? Make new friends? Did he really even care about med bionics? These questions roamed his mind. Subconsciously he thought of Mike. Mike decided to stay in the Lagos zone and attend the prestigious university of Lagos. He wanted to study business administration so he could inherit his dad's business. Mike's dad was among the richest and most influential people in the entirety of Lagos. He owned 35% of the fabric industry which was where his daughter worked. He had a majority stake in the industry.

Mike's Mom died of brain cancer when he was 7. His sister was 14 and she immediately assumed the role of a mother in the family but Mike knew that noone could replace his Mom and he didn't appreciate anyone trying so he got into constant arguments with his sister. They were the only kids that she had before she died.

Chris wondered if the same questions roamed Mike's mind too. All the while he was thinking he was still counting his heartbeat. By now 35 minutes had passed in the real world which meant that only a minute had passed in this world. He was correct. Meanwhile, someone else had looked in the first door Chris opened and stepped Inside.

Mike had assumed that this was an effect of the drug and opted to stay still but realised that an hour and fourteen minutes had passed. He had not experienced the same sensation that Chris had felt. He was also surprised when he realised that 10 of the doors in front of him had been opened simultaneously. He peered into the first one and saw himself looking outside.

He jumped back in surprise. The clone also jumped back. It was almost as if he was staring at a mirror. He deduced that quickly and calmed himself down. Then he walked into the room. All the rooms had identical colour, shape and handles. The only thing he noticed was that each of them had a Roman numeral in front of them. And the one he stepped in was labelled MMM which meant 3,000. They were labelled in descending order. Mike caught all these details in less than a second meanwhile Chris did not notice this.

Mike walked inside the room and then began to fall. But he wasn't falling downward, he was falling upward. This scared him a lot but as soon as he stood up he felt perfectly balanced and what he thought was the floor was infact the roof.

"This place doesn't respect the sensation of space" he said

"It does, it just doesn't respect YOUR sensation of space". Mike was transfixed to his spot in fear. Whoever said that had his exact voice and he turned around slowly with goosebumps forming round his entire body.

He saw a reflection of himself. No, it wasn't a reflection. He saw a clone of himself. There was no plain surface behind it. It had a two dimensional shadow and it looked 3D.

Instantly Mike punched the clone, with as much power as his adrenaline would let him.

"Ow" the clone said as blood gushed out of it's nose "why the hell would you do that, I was just answering your question you dumb fool"

By now Mike was utterly surprised and asked "what are you?"

By now the bleeding had completely stopped and there was no trace of blood. The clone had completely healed it's nose but there was still a blood stain on his shirt. Mike quickly verified that it was real.

"Have a seat" the clone said as it extended it's shadow to form two chairs and a table "this might be a bit tricky to explain" it said as it let out a chuckle. Mike's chuckle