As soon as I had my mother in front of me, a million different and indescribable emotions surged through my mind. Both good and bad memories tackled my entire mind in a sea of emotions that were impossible for me to describe in simple words.
In a moment, I saw how my mother's face changed from cheerful to worried upon seeing my face and, with a worried tone, she asked me: "What happened, honey? Why are you crying?" Melissa asked Aaron in a tone that denoted concern. At that moment, I didn't realize the tears that began to stream down my face without control.
"It's nothing," I replied quickly while wiping the tears that streamed down my face with a slight trace of embarrassment in my gaze. Suddenly, I felt how my mother hugged me while cradling my face against her chest and slowly stroked my hair with great care to avoid touching the part where I had the bandages.
It is curious how the safest place in the world is always in the arms of that person who gave you life and raised you since you were little. If someone were to enter that apartment at that precise moment, they would see how a brown-haired woman tenderly cradled a small boy against her chest in the middle of the kitchen of a small apartment in New York City.
"Sorry for not being able to go see you at school," my mom said with a slight tone of guilt in her voice. I guess she thought I would be upset with her or simply disappointed because she couldn't be with me at that moment, but I understood that she has responsibilities to fulfill and a home to support.
"Don't worry, it was nothing serious," I replied, trying to convince her that it was nothing serious.
"Could you explain to me what happened?" she asked in an interrogative tone.
"Didn't Aunt Melissa tell you?" I asked.
At my answer, a slight trace of embarrassment and a blush crossed my mother's face, which gave her away that she had some knowledge of what happened. "She told me a baseball hit you?" she asked me while trying to confirm if that was truly what happened.
At her question, I simply gave her a sign of confirmation, trying as much as possible to avoid moving my head more than necessary to avoid the slight headaches caused by sudden movements.
"But that's not the whole story, right?" she asked, trying to coax more information out of me about how the incident had occurred. Given that, I had two options: either tell her the truth or invent a lie in order to calm her down and prevent her from worrying more than necessary.
After weighing my options, I decided to start things right in this new opportunity I have in life. "It was Lionel," I told my mother in a grave tone which denoted the seriousness of the matter.
At my answer, I saw how my mother's face wrinkled slightly upon remembering her old bosses. The short story, according to what I remember, is that the reason my mother resigned from her job at the Price house is because they were simply the worst kind of scum that can exist in this world. Mr. Price was the kind of snob who likes to humiliate people he considers below him while licking the boots of people who are above him. The Mrs., on the other hand, had an inflated ego, believing herself part of the very New York elite, always buying clothes in bulk and trying to appear to be the best family in all of Queens.
It's no wonder Lionel is the way he is, and it's because with parents with their egos in the clouds, the apple couldn't fall far from the tree. Thinking again about Lionel and what he had done to me, I couldn't help but clench my fist tightly while trying to contain myself and not rant against him.
When Melissa saw her son's clenched fist, a slight trace of guilt couldn't help but cross her gaze thinking about all the suffering her son must have gone through without telling her. Suddenly, an abrupt thought crossed Melissa's mind; a possibility that had been crossing her mind for the last few months.
"Would you like to change schools next year?" Melissa asked Aaron in an interrogative tone, wanting to know his opinion. At that option, Aaron's face went from anger to incredulity upon hearing the words coming out of his mother's mouth.
"Seriously?" I asked in an anxious tone, believing I had misheard.
"Of course, we would have to wait until next year for that," she said with a slight tone that suggested a light regret, believing she had raised my hopes prematurely about the school change.
At my mother's confirmation and slight tone of apology for getting my hopes up, I couldn't help the huge smile that appeared on my face. "No problem," I replied hurriedly, fearing that at any moment she might decide to change her mind.
At my reaction, I saw a slight laugh come out of my mother as she gave me a kiss on the forehead. "One more year and then we'll see about the transfer, okay?" she asked me, wanting confirmation from me.
The only answer she got from me was a thumbs up, that being the only confirmation she needed. If I had to wait one more year to be free and have a new beginning, it was something I was willing to endure having to go to that school. And most importantly of all, it gives me enough time to finalize my revenge plans against Lionel. If he thought I would simply forget what happened, he was very wrong; my revenge will be sweet and satisfying at the same time. Because I'm not only doing it for myself, but I'm also doing it for everything his family made my mom go through.
"Wait and see," I said to myself mentally, already having an idea of how to humiliate him and his lackeys in front of the whole school.
After that, we spent the rest of the day talking and doing the simplest things that I had missed for years. And I still find it hard to believe how foolish I was to push my mother out of my life; maybe that was the trigger for everything bad that had happened to me before.
At one point, while we were sitting on the old sofa, I hugged her all of a sudden, fearing that if I let her go, I would wake up and realize that this was only a dream.
"And why are you hugging me so suddenly?" my mother asked me with a slight laugh in her voice while a smile appeared on her lips.
"For nothing," was the only answer I gave her while I hugged her tighter. After that, we remained in that same position for the rest of the day; at that moment, all I could think about was how lucky I was to be able to hug my mother again.
Night 21:00
"It's time to sleep, sweetheart," my mother said with a tired smile as she stood up.
"5 more minutes," was the only answer I gave her while directing a pitiful look in her direction, hoping that would be enough to convince her.
Too bad Melissa, used to her son's antics, did not let herself be convinced and with a firm tone told him: "To bed now," she said, this time with a firmer tone in her voice.
With a slight moan, the small body of a child could be seen walking hunched over in the direction of his room, ready to go to sleep. "Good night, mom," was the last thing Aaron said before closing the door.
Once in bed, it was as if all his energy had been drained and Aaron fell into a deep sleep, or so he thought. Suddenly, Aaron felt that he was not in his body, or rather, that he was in the body of another person. Looking down, he saw that he was definitely in another body, simply due to the fact that he could notice he was much larger. And by large, he meant really large, as if he were a tower and the rest of the people were mere ants around him.
Suddenly, without knowing how to feel, he saw a reflective surface right next to an empty basketball court. With hesitant steps, he decided to approach to find out what was happening, until with incredulity he saw who was looking back at him.
"What the fuck," was all Aaron could say as he realized who he had become. It was none other than Hakeem Olajuwon.
the surprise on his face couldn't be greater. Who was Hakeem Olajuwon? 2-time NBA champion, 12-time All-Star, Finals MVP, and more titles accompanied the career of this player who led the Houston Rockets to their brightest moment in history.
Such was my incredulity that I didn't realize that the moment I stepped onto the court, it was as if my body went into autopilot and, to my disbelief, I saw the body run straight to the hoop to simply jump and throw a powerful dunk that made the net shake.
"What the hell is happening?" I thought with incredulity while my body, inside Olajuwon's body, began to perform a series of different movements, from dunks to shots and dribbles. I practically felt like I was performing nearly the entire arsenal of moves that Olajuwon did in his prime.
After the last shot, I felt how I regained control of the body and that I was slowly returning to my usual self. With a sign of confusion in my gaze, I began to think about what had happened and where exactly I was.
Taking a hesitant step forward, I could notice that I had control of my body again and I began to circle the court, trying to figure out what this place was. After a quick tour of everything, I realized I was alone on this court with no way out, along with the large mirror in front and some basketballs on the other side.
With a hesitant look, I grabbed a ball and began to dribble it while approaching the hoop; I couldn't help but notice the disparity in height between the hoop and me now that I was in my current body. Trying to remember the feeling of when I was in Hakeem's body, I felt a tug and suddenly I was back in Hakeem's body, and suddenly the same sequence began where I repeated the same movements, and after that, I returned to my original body in this place.
After that, I had a slight idea of how this worked, but to test my hypothesis I decided to try to do the same thing once more, looking for that same feeling from before. Until it happened again and the same sequence repeated for a 3rd time.
After that, a huge smile couldn't help but cross my face while I laughed. "HAHAHA!"
Before, I believed I had simply returned to be able to fix the great regret I felt for what I did to my mother, but now I realized that I can also fulfill one of my big dreams. If before I thought the odds of reaching the NBA were practically impossible, now I believe I can get there.
But I won't settle for just that. With what is happening right now, I feel like I could reach the top of the history of this sport and become a legend.
"This is going to be incredible," I couldn't help but shout right in the middle of the court, while I slowly began to practice to be able to replicate the movements I felt before.
Author's thoughts
What did you think of today's chapter?
In this case, the protagonist will not have a system per se, but rather a mental space where he can feel how Holajuwon plays in his prime.
It won't be OP or anything like that; in simple terms, it will have the software to emulate how Holajuwon plays, but they will have to gradually work on the hardware, which will be the physical part.
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