1 One more chance

*Gaaaasp*

With a harsh breath, my eyes opened. Lying down on a hard bed, my back was cold from sweat and my limbs were shaking with confusion.

'Am I alive? I was dead right?'

My mind could still feel the remnants of the void I had just visited. My body cramped like it was trying to get an answer to if I was alive or not.

*Ba-dum, ba-dum*

I know I died. My life ended with one last struggle for survival, surrounded by the sound of beeping machines, and a prayer for another chance. And still, my heart was beating.

Where am I? Scouring my surrounding, I found myself in what seemed to be an impossibly small apartment. The small bed in the corner with a tiny bed stand with a single lamp. A small desk with some books across the room and what seemed to be a door to the toilet at its side. Another door, which seemed to lead outside. This was not the hospital I had gotten used to. The distinct sterile smell of death was not present anymore, instead, it had been replaced with a musky odor of living.

As I sat up my body felt weird. Looking down I could immediately see some clear differences. Although my skin still looked unhealthily bleak, it did not look quite as impossibly white as it once did. Another difference was the size. My body seemed to be a lot smaller. I am not sure exactly how small I was, but my estimate would be the size of a grade-schooler.

Huh, funny... Although panic should have started to settle in, I was eerily calm. Even when I was in an alien body, with no knowing where I was, I was filled with a sense of gratitude. I was alive. I had been given a new chance, a new chance to appreciate the mundane normalcy of everyday life.

Slovenly, I cast away the thin blanket covering my body. A tiny body, thin but equipped with the essential muscles needed to be active. Turning around, I put my feet on the floor. Cold. A slight shiver traveled across me, as I felt my body rapidly cooling down from the heat of sleep.

Staggering, I rose to my small feet. Making my way to, what I assumed, was the bathroom, my body felt awkward. Moving was awkward as if a person who didn't know how to ski was suddenly thrust down a mountain... Maybe not to the extent but you get the point. Having to actively think about how to move my legs was weird but I made it to the door.

*Click*

Inside the room was, as expected, an incredibly small bathroom, equipped with the basic necessities. A basin with a mirror, a toilet, and a shower. Taking a single step forward,

I looked into the mirror.

A small face full of immaturity, slightly chubby cheeks but still a visible jawline. Feminine collarbones which seemed to break from the slightest of touch and a neck which could have been grasped by a single hand from an adult man. Jet black hair that seemed to contain a tint of purple.

'Am I some sort of anime character?'

Although my hair was a surprise, the most distinguishing part about my appearance was my eyes. Deep, jet black eyes which seemed to swallow the world. Pupils which seemed more like orbs of the void I had visited more than parts of the eye.

I was nothing more than a weak little runt. At least my appearance seemed to be above average from the neck and up. When this body grew up it didn't seem improbable that I would become a model. More than improbable, the more I looked the more it seemed like a self-evident fact. And who knows, it does seem like I was quite young so hopefully, my body would grow into something more presentable with time.

At this point, I deduced that it wasn't an apartment I was in. It was probably my room, a part of a larger house where I lived with my parents. With that in mind, the room didn't seem all that bad anymore.

'What kind of kid has a personal bathroom in his room'.

Maybe I was a rich kid, born into wealth and abundance? Thinking about the possibilities of a life with the ability to choose exactly how to live, my mood brightened drastically. What is the ultimate cure to boredom? Possibilities. The ability to choose what you want to do and how you want to do it. What made all this a reality? Money. Maybe money couldn't buy happiness but it could buy opportunities.

'Money can't buy happiness, but poverty can't buy anything.

I wasn't poor in my previous life, but I sure as hell wasn't rich. My previous family could afford some luxuries, like the occasional trip overseas and a house that could accommodate us. But we didn't have money to travel the world, to buy yachts, or the money needed to be a part of the elite. With that said, I didn't have all too high hopes. After all, if I were really rich wouldn't my room be bigger with more furniture? Nonetheless, my body was invigorated with some hope lingering.

With a refreshed mind I set out to meet my new parents. Thinking about what I would say, I wasn't quite sure. My instinct told me that if I just played along, it would somehow work out. After all, how much history could a grade-schooler really have?

Venturing out of the bathroom, I started walking towards the next door which would lead me to my answers. With my hands reaching out to the doorknob, which seemed to reach all the way up to my chin, I gulped. This was it, my new start. The chance to redeem my previous, sad excuse of a life. I could feel the excitement that I longed for. Savoring the feeling of meaning I opened the door.

*Click*

What met my eyes was a balcony railing and, sitting on top of it, the night sky full of glimmering stars. Without thinking, I made my way to the railing, only a full head taller than it. I looked out. What seemed like a relatively big college ground was in front of me. Several buildings surrounded me, some looking like other apartment blocks and some looking like school facilities. Huge fields made for physical activities were spread out between the buildings. A massive auditorium was placed in the middle of it all. With my amateurish eye measurements, I guessed that it would probably easily store about 2000 people.

'Military school? How can a grade-schooler be put in military school?!'

Absolute madness. It seemed like I had been reborn into a country where humanitarian laws were nonexistent. Was it Russia, China, or maybe even North Korea? I didn't know. The stress I had been devoid of slowly started to creep up. Cold sweat began to emerge from my back and my mind started to run at all times high.

"Fuuuuuu."

On the brink of a panic attack, my tension just disappeared, released into what seemed like an automatic bodily response in the form of a deep exhale. My mind was cleared. With steady steps, I made my way back into the shabby apartment.

Closing the door I walked back into the bathroom to wash my face.

*Wooooshhh*

Feeling the cold water on my face, my mind reached yet another level of clarity. My brain started thinking of ways to get out of the situation. Although I had wished for excitement in my previous life, I was by no means suicidal. With this body, and my own incredibly limited knowledge of the military, there was no way for me to survive going through military actions.

My mind began racing, my thinking speed started running amok. Dozens of ways to get out of this situation began surfacing. My brain was calculating at speeds I had never experienced before, but I wasn't stressed out. I was more serene than ever. My head started heating up, my eyes burning from the sweat pouring down from my forehead. All of these thoughts and no clear answer, no obvious way to solve my problems. My sight started to get cloudy and my head felt dizzy...

*CRACK*

Something broke. Not in the bathroom or the apartment. Something inside of me. Memories came flooding in. Like a flood of excruciating spikes, information was etched into my mind. Who was I? What is my name? Who were my family members in my previous life?

I could remember the outline of my previous life but it was as if someone had erased all my personal information. Names, age, family members, etc. I remembered my two parents, my father, and my mother, as well as my big sister and little brother, but there were no names. No faces.

Instead, the new information started to take its righteous place, my new story, and my new life. As my previous name was discarded I was presented with my new one.

Miren.

My name was Miren Porter.