"Okay, thank you..."
I hang up the call before letting out a sigh, rubbing the bridge of my nose as I look at my laptop. The screen displays Microsoft Word with a list of companies. I look at one of them before deleting it from the list.
The interviewer didn't say it out loud, but their tone clearly indicates that I am completely written off the candidate list.
Great job, Wilson. Another time you had screwed up your interview. How long has it been since I graduated from college? Weeks? Months? Years? I had stopped counting after applying for jobs for weeks.
I swear, these people are just crazy. The specific requirements they ask of employees are absurd. Why do entry-level jobs require people to have at least a year of experience? It's not just entry-level jobs, but internships as well.
Oh, let's not forget the 'having at least a year of experience, a fresh graduate can apply too.' That's basically 'I will prioritise the one with experience. Fresh graduates can go fuck themselves' in a formal tone.
God, why are all companies like this?
I sigh one more time before fully collapsing into the table, looking exhausted. Despite the fact that I have applied for so many jobs, waiting for any response from the company feels like waiting for eternity.
And even worse, there are times when the job-seeking website sends emails about how my job application won't progress any further. I got so many of them that all I could feel was disheartened by it.
But I know the other reason why those companies didn't bother to glance at my job application. From what I heard, a lot of people tend to have some sort of achievement under their belt, making themselves a bigger target for any company to hire.
Me? I am a mediocre person in a crowd filled with ambitious and talented people. That was the truth and all I could to is to painfully accept that.
With how much time I wasted to apply jobs after jobs, I slowly feel like I am a freeloader in my own parents' home. My older sister got a job that earns quite a hefty amount of salary, so it's justifiable for her to stay at my parents' home as well. My little sister is about to enter college, and I bet my soul (I'm broke as fuck, so the only thing I could offer is my insignificant soul that is worth nothing) that she will have an easier time getting a job than me.
I look at the clock and grimace. It's already 10 o'clock, and to make things worse, I have yet to eat any dinner. I let out a sigh once again before walking out of my room, ignoring the loud growl coming from my stomach.
Upon entering the dining room, I am greeted with a dark room. Mom and Dad had gone to their room, and I could hear my little sister shouting, sounding like she was on the verge of crying again. From her words, it seems that her high school teacher is being incompetent once again.
Then, I feel something crawling through my leg, causing a shiver down my spine. I look down and pale to see a cockroach crawling up through my leg. I panicked and tried to shake the fucker off, which I managed to do before it opened its wing and flew towards me.
I tried to walk away, but I ended up slipping, causing my head to hit a nearby cupboard before my vision turned dark.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
???
I hear a loud buzz right next to my ear, and I groan before I slowly wake up. Then, out of nowhere, all I feel is a splitting headache. I bit my lips hard to muffle my scream; the pain was unbearable.
I feel tears slowly escaping my eyes as I slowly open them. My vision is still blurry, so I wipe off the tears from my eyes before I am greeted with an unfamiliar room.
The room is fully decorated with posters of cool-looking Pokemons. I can see Pokeball toys and some tiny Pokémon figures lying on my cupboard along with the alarm clock. I look around, and I can't help but notice that the room looks like it was decorated by a kid.
I look down, and I can't help but blanch. For whatever reason, I am now small. Not shrinking, more like the body of a young kid. I glance at my arm in disbelief, now looking like a chicken bone wrapped in skin.
And why does my skin look like I got a tan? I swear to Arceus that when I was a kid, my parents always pointed out how my skin was so pale and wondered why my sisters weren't.
Wait, why am I saying 'Arceus'?
Right, not the time...
"What the..." I mutter, instantly noticing how my voice even sounds like a young boy. I get off my bed and look at the room's mirror, staring at my reflection in sheer disbelief.
I have messy brown hair (My hair is supposed to be black), a pair of light blue eyes (I have dark brown eyes), and I somehow didn't need my glasses to see. I keep staring at the mirror while rubbing my left cheek and pinching it.
Oh...so, it's not a dream.
"How is this possible...?" It's the only thing I could ask because I can't help but feel overwhelmed at everything. I was pretty sure I was back in my own home, and trying to get some dinner before I got scared out of my life by a cockroach crawling on my leg and flying towards me.
...I died. There's no explanation other than that. I died by hitting my head on a cupboard, all because I got scared shitless by a goddamn cockroach. I can feel someone joking at my embarrassing death and even write them on my tombstone.
As I try to process everything, I feel tears escaping my eyes once again, but unlike before, it won't stop. I try to wipe the tears off my eyes, but they just keep falling.
Everything feels like one terrible joke. I should be angry at how the world decides how I should go, and I should be frustrated that I act like a fool, which leads to my demise. But that doesn't compare to the sadness I feel.
I won't be able to see my family again, forever.
I didn't get the chance to say goodbye to them. I didn't get to apologize to my parents for not being able to find a job and let them retire. I didn't even get the chance to repay my parents for dealing with a lot of my bullshits.
I didn't know how long I had been crying before I stopped. I stare blankly at the mirror in front of me, showing a reflection of the child's body. I didn't know what happened, but for whatever reason, some cosmic being had decided I should possess some little boy and live his life.
Can I even do that? Living a life based on a lie? Lying to the child's parents by pretending to be their son?
S̶h̶o̶u̶l̶d̶ ̶I̶ ̶j̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶k̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶m̶y̶s̶e̶l̶f̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶e̶?̶ ̶L̶e̶t̶ ̶D̶e̶a̶t̶h̶ ̶c̶o̶n̶s̶u̶m̶e̶d̶ ̶m̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶c̶e̶ ̶a̶g̶a̶i̶n̶?̶
I shake the thought off my head. I don't think I'll be able to do something like that. Mostly due to cowardice....
I glance at the window to see the rising sun before I notice something has flown near the window. I blink before rubbing my eyes, unable to believe what I had just seen.
A Fletchling, staring at the window, mindlessly pecks it.
I stare in disbelief at the living, breathing Pokémon on the other side of the window before I slowly approach it and open it, expecting an illusion made by a projection tech planted on the window to make the room cooler (No idea where that idea even pops out of, my head is weird). But the red bird is still there, staring curiously at me.
I try to touch it, but the bird has flown away to Arceus-knows-where. I simply stood there watching the scene unfold.
I didn't just go to a random world and possess a young boy. I somehow got isekai'd to a Pokémon world possessing a future trainer. That information didn't really make me feel any better, especially since I literally stole someone's life and future.
Then, out of nowhere, the splitting headache returns and I was greeted with memories entering my mind. I learn the name of the boy I possess, Will, and he is...quite a troublemaker.
He was a brat who had a very short temper, was unable to handle teasing, and always lashed out in violence. His parents had tried to teach him how to control his temper, which did work for a few days before all of the lessons were thrown out of the window thanks to his classmate continuing to 'test his patience' (teasing and violence. Geez, kids these days are something.) He also has an older sister and a younger sister.
Oh, god, these memories are basically my childhood, just in a Pokémon world. I can't help feeling my face heat up as the memories flash more and more. I could only feel embarrassed by how I was treated back in my childhood.
One of the reasons I had trouble making friends since the start of middle school...
I take a deep breath as I rub my forehead to ease my headache. So, in conclusion, I possessed my counterpart, or for comic book nerds, a doppleganger or variant, from the Pokémon world. The region I'm in is an original region based on my home country, and schools are similar to how they were back in my world.
I think I might need to learn more about this new world later, but for now, I'm going to panic about the fact that my new, I mean, this boy's family is just my family's counterpart. What are the chances?
...nevermind, don't answer that.
I slowly get up and walk towards the door. I can't help but gulp nervously, unsure if I could greet my family's twins from another world, the guilt of stealing someone's life crushing my heart, and my legs shake like a tree in a hurricane. I calm myself down by taking a few deep breath and open the door, slowly walk towards the stairs as I go to the first floor (It's a two-story house with 3 bedrooms on teh second floor, one bathroom on each floor, a dining room fused with a kitchen, and a huge backyard with Will's parents' and his sisters' Pokemon living in it).
As I walked towards the dining room, I was greeted by Will's parents busy preparing something. From the decoration on the wall, the floating balloons, a few wrapped gifts, and a birthday cake, it's safe to assume that they're preparing for Will's birthday. I can't help but freeze as I look around.
When Will's parents turn around, I feel my heart is brutally crushed by a mallet. Will's dad is a skinny, tall man with brown hair, dark brown eyes, and some facial hair, slightly tan, and he wears a pair of glasses. Will's mom is a short woman with long black hair, a pair of blue eyes, and some freckles on her face.
Besides his hair and her eyes, they're basically a carbon copy of my parents.
"O-oh, Will!" Will's dad exclaims before glancing at the decoration. "...Arceus, you shouldn't be seeing this. It's supposed to be a surprise after you wake up-," He pauses as he looks at me with a concerned look. "Son...you're okay? Why are you crying?"
Oh...I cried again...
"I-it's nothing...dad...." I stutter as I wipe my eyes. Why am I unable to control my emotions here? Did my brain also regress since I possessed a child's body? I don't know the answer. "J-just a nightmare..."
"Oh, son..." Will's parents gently approach me and pull me into a hug, which only worsens my guilt for stealing this young boy's life. He should be the one who got their hugs, not me...
To be continued