1 Living the Past

August 27, 2020 | London

It was such a fateful night; Clyde Evans was certainly happy as it was going to be his 40th birthday at midnight. Looking back over the years he went through; he was lucky that he was able to achieve most of his goals. As Clyde was an orphan, he needed to work harder in order to combat poverty. Thankfully, Clyde was a gifted child who was able to learn more knowledge faster and was able to remember things more quickly and accurately.

Being outstanding, Clyde was able to snatch a scholarship for his studies starting from grade school up until high school. He was quickly going through the curriculums that they needed him to skip grades often. Clyde then was able to graduate high school only at the age of 12. Having top marks, Clyde was able to apply to Harvard University with the aim of enrolling to the double degree major of BS Biology and Physics.

Fortunately, the university has its own dormitory, thus he was able to leave the orphanage at Boston and went to Cambridge, Massachusetts for another page of his life. It was a hard time for Clyde, but he enjoyed every moment of it. He was able to finish his double degree at the age of 15 and was sponsored by the university to continue his double master's degree in BS Biology and Physics at Harvard.

It was quite a privilege for him to be able to receive this opportunity, but Clyde thinks he deserved it as he finished with Latin Honors, specifically Summa Cum Laude in both majors, thus receiving plenty of offers from other top universities because of both his grades and existing work. His undergraduate thesis for biology and physics was able to compete at an international scale, and despite his work not winning in the conference, the academia was certainly positive about his future thus awarded him of the most promising researcher of the year.

He worked with both of his master's degree for three years where he mainly focused on one work, collaborating both his biology and physics research into one thesis. He quickly finished his courses in both master's degrees and then gave all his efforts to finish his master's thesis. Clyde was able to graduate with master's degree in both BS Biology and Physics at the age of 18. His work was very successful, and the committee agreed to his graduation, however Clyde stated that he will not publish his work as it was only theoretically feasible at that moment. They allowed this with the condition to publish it within 7 years.

After graduating, Clyde plunged into the world of learning again. Due to studying science, he then decided to enter the waters of finance, as it would pave the way for his graduate thesis. Clyde applied to Harvard Business School; and with the recommendation of his professors, he was able to enroll, majoring in both BS Business Administration and Economics. Despite being engorged in science for years, Clyde was very good at numbers and logical thinking, and with his formidable memory, he was able to graduate within 3 years, with Latin Honors, specifically Summa Cum Laude, again.

Deciding to test the waters, Clyde continued the master's degree for both BS Business Administration and Economics and underwent experiences in a few companies for around 3 years while attending his courses. He was smoothly able to graduate in both master's degree. All his years of studying paved the way for Clyde when he decided to start a company mainly based on his graduate thesis. His starting funds consists of all the money he earned during childhood and his scholarship funds which he never actually got to use, thus totaling to a large amount.

The company was named Evanescence, which dealt with converting wastes into nothingness through spatial technology. His mastery in biology made use in deconstructing the compound of the materials while his mastery in physics was made use to create a certain channel for these deconstructed materials to pass through. Clyde had no idea what was on the other side, but he had no plan to know as he was certain that he would never be able to get back if he ever tried to enter. Also, it was hard to deconstruct his biological compounds to pass through the channel in the first place.

This company earned him billions of US dollars, as he was able to get the partnership of almost all countries in the world to sort through their garbage. Not to mention the help that his company brings to the environment, so Clyde could say that he was certainly loved by environmentalists.

After his success, Clyde launched another company named Transcendence, which aims to create applications that makes life easier. His initial project was called ArchiTech, a program that stimulates a corporate building based on the parameters set by the blueprint. A project followed the success of the first project, which is called AccounTable, which helps manage accounts for accountant. Another followed this which was called EaScience, which is primarily made for the ease of calculating data for research, mostly, this program was made by inputting different formulas of different researches and sketches out the process of calculating the data.

There were more projects launched after this that aimed to make the lives of people easier, however Clyde only always sets the goal of the project and the tentative approach on how to do this, mostly he hires people involved in those field to be part of the project and he takes over only to check over the progress and inputs of different professionals on each project so that he could manage the projects into what phases they are or if they're already prepared for launch.

To give back to his youth and his belief in charity, Clyde founded a charity foundation named Metamorphosis Foundation, which aimed to help orphans worldwide. This foundation focused on providing school needs and living needs of orphans so that they could secure their future. With the cooperation of other countries, he managed to build thousands of orphanages worldwide, where all orphans in the orphanage can study and secure their future.

Of course, orphans need to show the foundation that they are worthy of the scholarship provided, and that they deserve it more than other orphans out there. In order to do this, the orphanages have set that there should be no more than three failing grade of a subject each year. If it has exceeded those terms, their scholarship would be put on a probation in the following year where they need to have no failing grade that year. If succeeded, their probation would be null, and they could have an easy mind, if not, the orphanage would need to take out the child's scholarship, though they could continue their schooling, their studies might not be supported by the foundation. Of course, being put on the probation could only be limited to up to three times, in case it exceeded three times, the terms would be similar in failing in nulling their probation.

This system put on by the orphanage may be harsh, but time proved it to be effective as they have sponsored more than tens of thousands of orphans every year. Most of those who graduated in the orphanage was able to integrate into society well and has been a productive part of their respective society. Fortunately, most of those who graduated with the help of the orphanage gives back to the foundation which made a virtuous cycle. Most of the funds of the orphanage came from Evanescence, while his personal assets and liquid assets are mostly from Transcendence. Clyde believed that he does not need an extravagant life, but only a comfortable and happy one.

Reflecting on it now, Clyde realized that he was satisfied with his life, that he had achieved so much and contributed so much at the age of 39. Today, at the verge of his 4th decade of living, he decided that he would celebrate it by indulging himself through the playing his childhood favorite game, Pokemon. Clyde was currently staying late at Evanescence Company, while most of his staffs, including Transcendence Company, are in a party for his sake at a hotel nearby.

He planned to go later at midnight, but for now, he just wants to stay in this childhood bubble named Pokemon. Alas, as the excitement of the staffs for their boss' birthday were palpable, this led to an unfortunate event. Those responsible in managing the internal channel of Evanescence forgot to turn it off. The spatial channel expanded unknowingly, and at exact midnight, the stable channel finally collapsed.

"Ka-boom!"

The whole building vanished, leaving his world left with just the trace of his name, his foundation and the billions of dollars left in his will for charity. His life started at 40's, yes, but in another world, and another life.