A cold day, walking down the street with his hands in his hoodie pocket. The night air felt cool, and the street lights buzzed above him. A few houses had lights on. Somewhere down the block a dog barked.
Jay kept his head down and walked past a corner store that was already closed. The metal gate over the door rattled a little in the wind.
"Man… I should've just stayed home," he muttered to himself.
His shoes scraped lightly against the sidewalk as he kept walking. The street was mostly quiet.
Then...
SCREEECH!
A loud screeching noise ripped through the street.
Jay's head snapped up.
A car had just turned the corner way too fast, its tires screaming against the road. The headlights flashed across the houses and straight down the block.
Jay froze for a second, confusion rising up fast, but his heart hammered so hard he could hear it in his ears. His breath caught tight in his throat, and his hands suddenly felt sweaty, stuffed deep in his hoodie pocket.
"What the fuck?"
The car slowed just a little as it rolled closer down the street. The windows were dark.
Jay stood there, staring at the car.
Something about it felt wrong.
Before his brain could even finish the thought, a sharp crack ripped through the air.
Jay didn't even hear it fully.
There was a bullet between his eyes.
His body dropped like the strings holding him up were cut. His back hit the sidewalk hard. The streetlight above him blurred in his vision.
The car sped off down the street.
Tires screeching again.
Gone in seconds.
Jay's eyes stared up at the night sky. His body wouldn't move. Everything felt cold.
'What… just…'
His thoughts moved slow. He didn't understand. He wasn't in a gang. He didn't have enemies. He was just walking home. The streetlight above him flickered. His vision got darker.
The last thing he saw was the empty street.
Then everything went black.
His eyes closed. Then they opened the very next second.
Instead of the cold, hard sidewalk under him, he felt something soft. A bed?
Warm blankets were wrapped around him. A pillow pressed against the side of his face. The room felt quiet and calm. Jay blinked slowly.
"Heh?"
The spot between his eyes burned. A hot, stinging feeling, like something had just hit him there. His hand shot up and pressed against it.
He winced.
"Ouch..."
But there was nothing there. No blood. No hole. Nothing.
Jay sat up fast in the bed. The blanket slid down to his lap. His heart started beating harder as he looked around the room.
"What the actual fuck?"
It was his room. The one he had when he was a kid.
Jay stared at his hands. They looked smaller.
His breathing got shaky.
"Time Travel?"
His eyes moved around the room again. The small desk, cheap chair, and old posters on the wall.
His brain tried to catch up.
One thought popped into his head right away.
Stories where the main character dies and goes back in time. Jay stared at the wall for a few seconds.
"Regression? Seriously?" he muttered.
The word felt stupid coming out of his mouth.
But nothing else made sense.
Noticing something next to him on the bed, Jay quickly grabbed it.
His old iPhone 7. The same one he had when he was a kid. His hands felt small holding it. Quickly turning it on, the screen lit up.
Jay stared at the lock screen.
His eyes slowly widened.
The screen glowed in Jay's hands.
His wallpaper popped up.
A simple One Piece picture. Luffy standing on a ship, looking out at the ocean. Nothing crazy. Just something he thought looked cool back then.
Jay stared at it for a second.
"Yeah… that's something I'd pick," he muttered.
For some reason, that tiny detail made this feel even more real.
His thumbs hovered over the screen. He still remembered the password. He had used it for years.
But before unlocking it, his eyes moved up to the top of the screen.
The date. He froze.
Sunday, January 4th, 2020.
Jay's stomach dropped.
"…No way."
He stared at it longer, hoping it would change.
It didn't.
His grip tightened on the phone.
"That's… seven years…"
He whispered it under his breath.
Seven years before he died.
Jay slowly leaned back against the headboard, still staring at the date on the screen.
"I'm really back."
Jay swallowed hard and finally typed in the password. Then with a soft click, the phone unlocked.
The home screen was exactly how he remembered. Messy layout. Random apps he never used. A few old games he hadn't thought about in years.
He tapped on his messages.
"Alright… let's see…"
The chat list loaded. And right at the top... was her name.
Jay's face twitched.
"Oh hell no…"
He instantly regretted opening it. He didn't even click the chat yet, and he already remembered how awkward he used to be. The way he texted. The dry jokes. The overthinking. He could almost feel the secondhand embarrassment coming.
Jay covered his face with one hand. "Man… I really gotta look at this again?" he muttered.
Jay let out a long breath. "Alright… whatever… just do it." He tapped the chat.
It opened fast, the blue and gray bubbles filling the screen. The most recent message from her was right at the bottom.
"U ready for school tomorrow? I'm lowkey not."
Jay stared at it for a few seconds.
"Damn. 5th Grade."
That hit him harder than he expected.
He could almost feel the old dread crawling back into his chest. The early mornings. The kids who talked too loud. The teachers who acted like every assignment was life or death. The constant feeling of being the quiet kid in the back that nobody noticed.
He hated school back then. Hated it.
Jay leaned back a little and sighed.
"I really gotta do that all over again…" he muttered.
It was weird. He had died a few minutes ago, at least, in his mind. And now he was here, staring at a message about school starting after winter break like nothing had happened.
He wasn't bullied or anything. Nobody stuffed him in lockers or chased him around. People just… looked at him weird sometimes. Called him quiet. Called him a weirdo.
He just never knew what to say half the time. His confidence dipped the moment he opened his mouth. He'd start talking, then overthink every word right after.
That didn't help his reputation. Jay sighed and scrolled up a bit.
He remembered exactly when things changed with his crush. They barely talked at first. She was cool, loud, funny, one of those people who made friends without even trying.
Jay winced at a memory. He could still hear her laughing about it, not in a mean way, but surprised.
"You play Roblox too?? No way. What games?"
And just like that, boom. They talked more. They played together after school. Late nights, dumb games, messing around on obbys and roleplay servers. It was the first time Jay didn't feel weird around someone.
He scrolled through the old messages, seeing their back-and-forth from months ago.
Screenshots.
Random "join me" messages.
Jay felt a tiny smile pull at his mouth.
"Man… that was actually kinda nice."
Jay scrolled a little more, and the good memories kept coming back. But whenever the good ones showed up, the bad ones weren't far behind.
His smile faded. He remembered how things really went after school started again.
They didn't just talk more. They ended up secretly dating.
Not official-official, but… yeah. They were together. They'd sit closer in class, sneak small smiles, text nonstop, hop on calls late at night even when they were both half-asleep.
It was messy, but it felt good back then. Until people at school started noticing.
"Why you two always together?"
"Y'all dating or something?"
His crush got nervous fast. She didn't want anyone knowing yet.
"Don't say anything, okay? Just ignore them."
Jay remembered nodding. He remembered promising. He remembered how serious she looked.
And then...
His dumbass opened his mouth.
Someone asked him again in the hallway, and Jay, too honest, too nervous, too stupid, just blurted out:
"…yeah."
It spread through the school in minutes.
And that was it.
She cut things off the next day.
Jay dropped his phone onto the blanket and covered his face with both hands.
"Bro… I really sold my own bag…" he muttered.
The embarrassment hit him all over again, like reliving the moment in HD.
He let out a long, painful groan.
"I gotta go through THAT again?"
Jay let out another sigh and pushed himself out of bed. His legs felt weirdly short, but he ignored it and shuffled down the hallway. The house was quiet.
He made his way into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and grabbed the cold water bottle sitting on the top shelf. He didn't bother with a cup, just tilted it back and drank straight from it like he always did when he was ten.
The cold water hit his throat, sharp and refreshing. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and put the bottle down. He glanced around the kitchen.
Same old dim light over the stove. Same chipped tile near the sink. Same humming fridge.
He checked the time on the microwave clock out of habit.
9:12 AM.
He already knew what that meant.
Like usual back then, both his mom and dad were at work. They worked mornings almost every day, sometimes even weekends. Sundays were their "short days," but they still weren't home till noon.
And his older brother...
Jay walked to the living room doorway and peeked in.
...was most likely knocked out on the couch, half-covered in a blanket, sleeping like he hadn't moved since last night. And he was right.
His brother was passed out on the couch, mouth slightly open, controller on his chest like he fell asleep mid-game. Jay shook his head and walked back toward his room.
He closed the door behind him and flopped onto the bed again, grabbing his phone. One swipe, and the home screen popped up.
Discord.
Jay's soul left his body for a second.
"Oh hell no—"
He didn't even open it. He held the app icon until it shook, then hit the little X.
"Bro… the stuff I used to say in there… I'd actually die twice…" he muttered, rubbing his face. Just the thought of his old messages, the dumb jokes, the weird servers he was in, yeah, no. He wasn't doing that again.
Jay nodded to himself. "Yeah. Fresh restart..."
Jay sat there for a second, staring at the empty spot where Discord used to be.
"Alright… new start means new everything," he muttered.
He opened the App Store and downloaded it again. The little cloud icon filled up fast, and the app popped back onto his home screen.
He tapped it, and right away, it showed the login page, no old account saved.
Jay let out a breath of relief.
He hit Create Account and leaned back on his bed while typing. Username…
He thought for a second, then just typed: zirc
Didn't sound like a nerdy ten-year-old trying too hard.
He set the password, the birth year, all the boring setup stuff, then hit Register.
A brand-new empty Discord account.
Jay nodded to himself and closed the app.
"Yeah. That's way better."
And he didn't stop there.
Every app that carried, old messages, old usernames, deleted. Then re-downloaded.
It felt weirdly satisfying, like he was erasing a version of himself he didn't want to be again.
As he scrolled through his phone, something caught his eye. He realized he didn't have TikTok installed.
"Huh. That's right."
He remembered now, back in 2020, TikTok was still considered kinda weird for having. Everybody joked about it. Half the school clowned people for having it.
That was probably why he avoided it back then.
Jay shrugged. "Well… it's not cringe anymore. Might as well." He opened the App Store, typed TikTok, and hit download.
The little circle spun until it popped onto his home screen.
Jay tapped on TikTok, and the app opened. He hit Sign Up, went through the usual birthday and email stuff, then got to the username page.
He typed it just to test.
zirc
He expected an error message.
Taken. Unavailable. Add numbers. Something annoying. But instead.
Username available.
Jay blinked.
"Ain't no way." Four letters. Clean. Simple. No random numbers attached. That never happened, even back in his old life.
He hit Confirm right away before the app could change its mind.
His account loaded up, brand new and empty.
Jay leaned back on his bed with a small grin.
"Damn… lucky already."