I finished my morning class and walked to the cafeteria. I let out a silent groan when my stomach began to growl. But I could only blamed myself for skipping breakfast before going to class.
Soon, I bought some sandwiches for lunch and found a quiet corner to sit. While I carefully unwrapped my sandwich, I suddenly let out a long and tired sigh.
I had failed to make friends again. No one had talked to me for the whole day. No one had smiled at me even my seatmates.
Once again, it felt like I was invisible.
But I suppose I can blame myself for that. I also didn't approach anyone today. I also avoided looking at my classmates. I just focused on our professor. I also avoided small groups of friends in our class.
I also find it funny that I wanted to make friends but I'm not doing anything about it.
I chewed my sandwich slowly while staring at the floor. Soon, my thoughts drifted to the past.
It was hard not to think about my past life that had ended up without a warning. I had been an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl. I was quiet, ordinary and living with my aunt whose family was so big after my parents died. Life had been simple and sometimes loney. But it was still mine.
That was until the accident happened.
I had fallen on the stairs in my old school. One moment I was walking. Then the next moment, everything went black when my head hit the floor. It was painful and suffocating.
But I remembered none of it when I woke up. Because when I wake up again, it wasn't in my old body anymore.
I opened my eyes to a hospital room. My head was splitting with a severe headache. It was because a flood of memories that weren't mine hit me all at once. They weren't just memories.
Those memories were 'hers'.
I now occupied the body of a girl who had lived her own life. The girl with a loving family of her own. The girl who wanted a simple life.
And now, I am going to share her name too.
Erin.
When someone noticed this body moved and created a sound, everyone panicked. The doctor and nurses surrounded the bed while checking the apparatuses connected to this body. They kept whispering medical terms that no one could easily understand.
I was not sure how long it happened. But I remembered the people around her bed after that. There were a couple who cried when she woke up. There was also a teenage boy who sobbed and clutched her hand as if the world had nearly ended.
Soon, I learned this body had been in a coma for almost three months. It was unresponsive and only the life support was keeping it alive. So when this body woke up, the doctors called this recovery as a miracle.
When I could finally speak again, I asked them who they were. Despite the sadness in their eyes, these people did not appear surprised anymore. The doctor informed them that because "Erin" had an accident and spent some time in a coma, she must still be confused. So they introduced themselves and gave me an explanation of what had happened.
I learned that the couple in front of me were her parents. Their love and concern for this young girl was also clear to me. And the teenage boy who cried devastatingly that day was Gray, her older brother.
I also heard that Erin, the original Erin, was a fragile girl. But she had lost her balance and fell on the stairs similar to what had happened to me. The maids saw it and rushed her to the hospital immediately.
And I am that "Erin Vallen" now.
But somehow, the name Erin Vallen was too familiar to me. I was pretty sure I heard this name somewhere.
After being discharged, I spent my days observing my surroundings quietly and taking note of everyone around me. I used my coma as an excuse to memorize the routines of my new life.
I needed to know this world before I acted in it. It was for my survival. I had to stay quiet and follow the story as it was meant to happen while avoiding any attention to myself.
And so, weeks passed.
It was during one of those days that I finally discovered the truth. I wasn't just in someone else's body. I was in a world I had read about once in my past life.
It was a teen novel that I had picked up in my free time. It was a story about the lives of other students, the families, the dramas and the romances.
I remembered it all when Cale Martinez, the male lead of this world, came to visit my house. But he wasn't alone. He was with Dannie, his older brother. Dannie and my older brother Gray were best friends so it made sense that they were here.
Everything finally made sense to me after meeting Cale Martinez. I remembered the names, the places and even the small exchanges from the book. I had read this story before.
But I am not an important character here.
I am not the heroine. I am not even a secondary character. I was a passing extra.
I was a background character.
It was strange and terrifying. Although I was living in someone else's body and in someone else's world, I was still given another chance at life. There was an overwhelming sense of pressure to survive in a strange world without making any changes.
But still, I couldn't help but wonder.
Is surviving really enough? Or would my very existence cause a story that wasn't mine to be rewritten and changing everything?
I took a bite of my sandwich while staring at the window. The college life in this world was similar to my past life. But here, it was just the beginning for this world.
And somehow, I had a feeling that staying invisible wouldn't be as easy as I thought.