I knew I hadn't lived a perfect life at all.
"Useless boy." I remember my mom's chisel-like voice call.
"Useless man." She called again as I had gotten older.
She wasn't so wrong about the name "Useless."
Neither was she overeating it.
I was indeed useless after all.
Thinking about it, she may have even underestimated how useless I was.
I was indeed not just useless or stupid but brought shame to my family name. The Eden family.
A prestigious family who had built an ancestral wealth. And I was the heir.
Maybe that was what made me useless. The thought of inheriting all that wealth may have gotten into my small brain.
I partied every night with my gang of useless friends. We drank and slept with different girls, having what we titled as 'having fun.'
My younger brother and sister were more useful.
Brightest in their class.
"Pride of the family." My mom always called them.
My father, on the other hand, had lost interest in me since high school branded me disowned, although he never made it public.
My eyes were already clouded with tears as my life replayed itself on my dying bed.
My death wasn't even an honorable one. Got drunk and taken down by a car at night after having "fun." I suppose that's what the journalist would tag it.
"Useless boy." My mom's voice echoed in my head.
"Can't you be like your brothers? Brightest in the class." She says.
"Call an ambulance!" I had a voice shout in the background.
"Fuck it's an Eden. I hit an Eden. I am a dead man."
'I am the dead one here.' I said to myself, struggling to keep my eyes open. I couldn't hear a thing, and my surroundings had suddenly gone blurry. 'Is this death?' I asked myself.
All I could feel was blood gushing out, from where I don't know.
"Please step aside!" a loud female voice ordered.
"Mrs.… I didn't hit him intentionally; he was drunk. I never would…"
"Sir… I am here to attend to the boy, the police would attend to you," she said with an authoritative voice.
"Master Eden." I heard my name.
I slowly forced my eyes open only to see a Black woman bent over me; people went round on us. Some who hadn't witnessed an accident had their hands on their lips, while some social media freaks had their phone cameras on me.
"I don't want to die." I heard myself say.
"You're not going to die, Xavier," she assured me.
I desperately wanted to believe her, but she was just a nurse, with no power over life and death. And right now I was on the border of life and death, what I needed was not hope but a miracle.
I felt my body being lifted from the ground to a stretcher. Then I felt the car speed off.
"I am ashamed and disappointed in you." I finally heard my dad's voice in my head.
And everything went black.
I felt myself falling, falling into an unending darkness.
'Am I dead? Am I going to hell already?' I asked myself as I fell.
Then I saw light. It was small at first, but as I felt the light get brighter and bigger until I was engulfed in light, I slightly closed my eyes so as not to get blinded by it.
"It's a boy." I heard a female voice announce.
Slowly I opened my eyes, and they locked with a pair of glowing blue eyes.
It was a lady, a stunning one at that. She looked tired and worn out. Still, she wore a bright, heart-warming smile as she held onto me.
I stared into her eyes in magnificent wonder.
"Mother Mary." I finally called. "Have mercy on your son; forgive me my sins." I shouted, my eyes fixed on hers.
"He looks very happy." another voice said.
Still in my prayers. I turned my head to see the Angel who had interrupted. Only to see another female who was staring at me, smiling.
"What the fuck is happening here?" I asked myself, looking at my surroundings. I was in a room made of wood.
Heavens aren't made of wood, is it? I asked myself, trying to remember the Bible scriptures.
The door to the room suddenly burst open, and a man hurriedly walked in.
He was very tall, and his black hair lay smoothly behind his back.
"Jesus." I called out. "Have mercy on your son, Father!"It had to be him; no angel would have the mind to barge into a room like that in heaven.
A smile slowly lit up his face, escorted by tears of joy, as he ran towards me. Taking me out of Mother's embrace, he threw me up in excitement.
"My boy." He said, not able to control his emotions.
And that was when I caught a glimpse of my hand.
Raising it up again, I looked at my hand.
It was tiny, like a baby's.
I touched my face; it felt small.
Courageously, I looked down at my body, and my eyes widened in surprise. The horror wasn't it being small or the fact I was naked. But my manhood, I could barely see it.
"No no no no no!" I shouted at the top of my voice.
"Edward hand him here. He doesn't like you." I heard mother-marry order.
"Why won't my son like me?" Edward asked, handing me over to the woman. "He has your eyes." He added.
"But he looks like you, a feature in the fancies of many young ladies," she said, taking me from Edward, who was blushing.
"I was complimenting the boy Edward." she said, smiling, noticing her blushing husband.
Edward turned pale, making her laugh.
"I'll let you guys rest then."
I, on the other hand, was perplexed. As the woman took me in her embrace, I felt a warm feeling spread across my body.
"That my boy." she said, noticing I had stopped crying.
A few minutes later. The lady was already fast asleep.
I lay on the bed beside her, thinking.
Obviously this was not heaven.
Pharpes another world, like a multiverse. Judging by the room that was built with wood, I was back in time. The year? I don't know.
I flinched as an image suddenly appeared in front of me.
Turning to the woman, she was still fast asleep; hopefully I hadn't woken her up.
Turning back to the image that hovered in midair, I observed it. It looked like my laptop screen, except I tried pressing it, and my small hand went through it.
'How do I operate it?' I asked myself.
Calming down, I read what the hovering image said.
[You have been chosen and successfully transferred into another world.]
'Another world?' I repeated, confused.
[You have successfully acquired the gift {System}].
'System?' I repeated, my mouth wide open as I read the words from the hovering image.
Another image instantly popped out.
[System would begin self-evaluation]
{Yes/No}