Afterlife Dream

"Daniel, rise and shine! Come on, wake up!"

I rubbed at my eyes.

God, so sleepy.

"Mom, I am so tired."

I rolled in my blanket, refusing to get up.

"Awwww come on. You don\'t want to be late on your first day!"

I frowned with my eyes still closed tightly.

First day...?

But my first day was yesterday. What was Mom talking about?

"Come onnnnn."

Mom pulled at my arm. She then put a hand across my forehead. "Unless you are sick? Do you not feel well?"

"I am fine, Mom..."

"Then go take a shower! We must leave before eight!"

Mom went out of my bedroom. I climbed off my bed and found neatly folded clothes at the end of my bed.

I took them and dragged my feet to the bathroom.

Alas, Jaden was still inside.

"Jaden...!" I called. "Quickly come out, I still need to take a shower!"

A muffled cry sounded from inside the bathroom, telling me that my brother heard me.

He only heard me, but he was not coming out at all.

"Jaden!!!" I hammered on the door again. "Quickly come out already!"

Another muffled cry was heard from inside the bathroom.

Dad came downstairs and saw me standing in front of the bathroom. "Danny, what\'s wrong?"

I gave him a dejected look. "Jaden is taking ages in the bathroom."

Dad laughed.

"Oh, he has been there for an hour. I think it is not going to be over soon. Look, why don\'t you go up to our bedroom and take a shower?"

"Can I?"

"Sure! Go up!"

Dad gave me a slap on the back. "And be quick. You don\'t want to be late for your first day."

I frowned as I walked upstairs. First day? Why did Dad say the same thing Mom did?

It was not my first day. It was supposed to be my second day.

Right?

For some reason, Mom got me the exact same outfit that I wore yesterday. Did I have two of the same outfit in my wardrobe? Weird. Anyway. It did not matter much.

I came down twenty minutes later. Dad was already off to work. Jaden was poking at his poached egg gloomily. I took my seat next to him and nudged him. "What\'s wrong with you? Stomachache?"

Did we eat too much junk food the night before? All that cheese must have done something to his stomach. Jaden nodded.

"It is fine now, tho," he said.

Mom put my breakfast plate in front of me. It was the same breakfast I had the day before. Two poached eggs with grilled chicken sausages and two pieces of whole wheat bread. I looked up at Mom curiously.

Why was it the same breakfast as yesterday?

Mom put down the pitcher of orange juice on the table and then took her seat. When she saw me looking at her, she tilted her head and smiled at me.

"What\'s wrong, Danny? Don\'t you like the breakfast?"

"I do," I quickly dug into my plate.

We ate our breakfast in a rush, then Mom ushered us into the car.

It was not until I got into the car that I noticed Mom was still wearing her usual house outfit.

"Mom?" I called out to her with a frown. "Where is your suit?"

Mom widened her eyes and stared at me through the rearview mirror. "What suit, Danny?"

She sounded a little flabbergasted.

"Um, your suit? Yesterday you said you got a new job, right?"

Mom\'s jaw dropped visibly. She took her eyes off the road and turned to look at me. "Danny, how did you..."

"MOM!!!" I screamed and pointed at the road. There was a truck heading toward us because our car happened to veer off to the opposing lane. The truck driver had no way to avoid the collision. He could only honk the car horn desperately.

Mom gave a shriek before she quickly pulled away to the right lane and saved us all from a collision. Thankfully we did not have other cars next to us when it happened.

My heart was pounding like crazy. Not only mine. Jaden was pale as a ghost and Mom was even paler.

"Okay no more talking in the car," Mom said.

I agreed and said nothing else until we all got out of the car. Mom dropped Jaden at the middle school ground before she delivered me to the high school ground. I thought that she was just going to dump me in the lobby, but no. She got out of the car and held my shoulder as we walked into the building.

"Mom?"

We were no longer in the car so surely I could ask?

"What is it?"

"Why did you get off the car? Should you not head to..."

My words were swallowed by the loud chatter of the high school students who were wandering in the lobby. As soon as I saw them, I had a weird feeling in my gut. I felt like I saw them before. All of them, in the very same clothes. In the very same position. The previous day.

Before I had a chance to process my thoughts, I was hauled up the staircase. Mom took me to the principal office. After three knocks, the principal\'s voice was heard coming from behind the door.

The door opened to reveal the principal, who was all smiles when she saw me.

"Hi Daniel," she said as she extended her hand in my direction. "How are you doing today? Ready for some studying?"

I felt as if a bolt of lightning just struck me.

What did she say?

I blinked at her in disbelief.

Was this not the exact same thing that she said a day ago?

Seeing that I did not react, the principal ended up patting my shoulder and spoke to Mom instead. "Daniel looks quite nervous. I guess that is understandable."

Mom patted my head and said, "Oh, he has been waiting for this day to come. He could not stop speaking about it for days! I guess once that the day arrives, he cannot believe it at all."

The two adults broke into laughter. The principal beamed at Mom. "Mrs. Weston, do rest assured. Daniel is in good hands."

Mom gave me the same worried look she did a day ago. Seeing the petrified look on my face, she then turned to the principal and said, "Truthfully, I still have some qualms about leaving Daniel out of my sight for the first time after all these years. Mrs. Briggs, please do contact me if anything happens. Anything. This is my number..."

The principal nodded placatingly. "Mrs. Weston, the school shall contact you right away when something happens. All the teachers have been briefed about Daniel\'s circumstances. We will all pay extra attention to him."

Feeling reassured, Mom breathed out a sigh of relief. She pressed a kiss on my cheek, "Have fun, Danny. I will come to pick you up at 3 PM, okay?"

I gaped at Mom\'s back as she retreated from Mrs. Brigg\'s office. I was speechless.

What was happening?

Why were we repeating yesterday?

The principal leaned closer to me and spoke, "Shall we, Danny? Your first class already started a while ago."

Oh.

"Sure."

I knew where she was going to take me and what she was going to say before she even said it.

"You have your timetable already, right? Your first class is math. Miss Hayes is your math teacher this year. She has been informed about your presence today..."

It was as if I was watching a replay of a movie back to back. Not a single detail was amiss. As we walked down the corridor, we even encountered the same student who was late for his science class. The girl was running along the corridor, holding her checkered bag in front of her chest as she rushed to her first class of the day.

"Mary, you are late," Mrs. Briggs noted with a raised eyebrow.

Mary gave Mrs. Briggs and me a toothy grin before she ran past us. "Sorry, Mrs. Briggs! I overslept today, hehehe..."

Mrs. Briggs and I took the same route to head to the math class.

The same knocks. The same class. The same cheerful voice that welcomed us as soon as we entered the class.

"Everyone! We have a new addition to the class!"

"Miss Hayes, I brought you Daniel Weston. Introduce yourself, Daniel."

The same expanse of curious faces looked up at me from their seats. They were all sitting in the exact same seats they did the day before. I looked at the boy who sat in the left corner of the back row of the class. It was still Jason with his thick pair of glasses. He was wearing the same red reindeer sweater.

"Daniel?"

Miss Hayes sounded concerned. "Everything alright?"

I nodded stiffly, but my head was filled with unanswered questions.

"My name is Daniel Weston. Nice to meet you all."