Tallahassee, USA
6:15 a.m., August 15, 2010
“Jason, honey, wake up or you’re going to be late for school!”
His mother’s voice carried through the bedroom door and pulled Jason from a deep sleep.
“Ugh…
I’m getting up!” he replied, covering his face with his pillow for a few more seconds.
With a resigned sigh, Jason sat up in bed and glanced at the alarm clock.
The moment the numbers came into focus, his drowsiness vanished.
“Damn it!”
He ran a hand through his disheveled hair.
Jason knew he should not have stayed up late playing video games.
On the other hand, it was his birthday.
If there was ever a day when he could allow himself a few indulgences, this was it.
He leaped to his feet and rushed to the bathroom.
Minutes later, already dressed for school, he stared at his reflection in the mirror.
The boy looking back at him had blond hair, blue eyes, and a face that was beginning to lose the roundness of childhood.
Adolescence was advancing without mercy, bringing with it the first signs of facial hair and an increasingly irritating collection of pimples.
Fifteen years old.
Jason placed his hands on the sink.
Fifteen years since he had been given a second chance.
Fifteen years since he had been reincarnated.
Even after all that time, he still could not remember how he had died.
The memories of his previous life were fragmented, like pages torn from a book.
He knew he had come from the year 2027 and that, for some impossible reason, he had awakened in the body of a baby in 1995.
The “how” remained a mystery.
The “why” was even harder to answer.
Fortunately, not all of his memories had disappeared.
Jason remembered companies that would grow into global giants in the years ahead.
He also knew about technological trends and investment opportunities that most people could not even imagine.
Thanks to that knowledge, his plans for the future seemed remarkably clear.
And that day marked an important step.
After months of insisting, making his case, and presenting results, Jason had finally convinced his father to allow him to manage his own investments without constant supervision.
It had not been easy.
Most parents would consider the idea of a teenager investing his own allowance in the stock market absurd.
Fortunately, Jason had always been an exemplary student.
His flawless grades had helped him build the credibility he needed to be taken seriously.
“Jason!” his mother’s voice echoed through the hallway again.
“You’re going to miss the bus!”
He blinked, pushing his thoughts aside.
“I’m coming down!”
When Jason made it downstairs, he was greeted by the irresistible aroma of frying bacon.
In the kitchen, Jennifer Miller was finishing breakfast.
At forty-one, she still looked surprisingly young.
Her platinum-blond hair fell over her shoulders, and her brown eyes retained the warmth Jason had known all his life.
She was only five foot two, hardly imposing in stature, but her presence was impossible to ignore.
When she saw him enter, Jennifer smiled.
“Finally.
I was beginning to think I’d have to go up there and drag you out of bed.”
Jennifer placed the plate on the table and crossed her arms.
Jason gave an awkward laugh.
“It was just today.”
And it was true.
Ever since he had joined the school’s football team, waking before dawn had become part of his routine.
As the starting quarterback, he needed to stay in peak physical condition and constantly work on his throws.
His decision to join the team had surprised many people.
In his previous life, Jason had always been the smartest student in the class.
He spent hours studying, reading books, and learning everything he could about technology.
The problem was that being better than others usually attracted envy.
Thin and socially isolated, he became an easy target for taunts and bullying throughout much of his adolescence.
His life, however, had not revolved entirely around studying.
Jason had been fascinated by wilderness survival.
Whenever he could, he spent hours reading manuals, watching documentaries, and learning navigation, first aid, shelter building, and how to find resources in the wild.
When he was reincarnated, that interest came with him.
As a child, he joined the Scouts, where he could finally put some of that knowledge into practice.
Camping trips, hikes, and outdoor activities quickly became some of his favorite experiences.
Although most children participated simply for fun, Jason treated every activity as an opportunity to learn.
After all, survival skills were never truly useless.
When he was given a second chance, he promised himself he would do things differently.
He would continue to value his education, but he would not neglect his body.
This time, he wanted to discover what life was like on the other side of the school hallways.
He wanted to feel the excitement of the games, make friends, attend events, and experience the youth he had never had in his first life.
That was why he woke every day before sunrise.
That was why he trained even when he was tired.
And that was why he had no intention of wasting the opportunity life had given him.
“I noticed,” Jennifer replied.
“I suppose we can blame your birthday this time.”
“And the video game,” Jason admitted.
“Mostly the video game.”
As he ate breakfast, Jason heard the front door open.
A few seconds later, his father walked into the kitchen.
“Happy birthday, son.”
Robert Miller carried a bag filled with notebooks and papers to grade.
An elementary school teacher for almost twenty years, he often brought work home with him.
“Thanks, Dad.”
Robert placed the bag on a chair and studied his son for a few moments.
“So, fifteen years old.”
“Fifteen.”
“You’re getting old.”
“You’re the one getting old.”
Jennifer could not contain her laughter.
Robert shook his head, feigning indignation.
“I’m not even fifty yet.”
“That’s exactly what an old person would say,” Jason replied.
For a few moments, the kitchen was filled with nothing but laughter.
When Jason boarded the school bus, he naturally headed toward the seat beside a boy wearing the football team’s jacket.
“There he is at last—the birthday boy.”
“Don’t even get me started.
My mom almost killed me for waking up late.”
The boy laughed.
His name was Todd Jones, and he had been Jason’s best friend since childhood.
On the team, Todd played left tackle, making him one of the key players on the offensive line responsible for protecting the quarterback.
Or, as Todd liked to joke, Jason’s personal bodyguard.
After a few minutes of conversation, the bus arrived at school.
As soon as Jason stepped off, students from different classes wished him a happy birthday.
Some of his teammates called him over to talk, while other students greeted him in the hallways.
Even a few teachers smiled when they saw him.
Jason was popular.
Not only because he was the team’s starting quarterback, but also because of his outstanding academic performance.
It was rare to find someone who could balance perfect grades, athletic achievement, and a friendly personality.
Moreover, Jason never participated in taunting or bullying other students, which earned him respect even among those outside his social circle.
The same could not be said of Todd.
Although he had never crossed certain lines, he was not as kind as Jason.
Taunts, nicknames, and tasteless jokes were part of everyday life at the school, and Todd frequently joined in.
Nothing that ever escalated into physical violence or constant harassment, but enough to make some students avoid crossing his path.
Curiously, it almost never happened when Jason was around.
Jason did not tolerate that kind of behavior and made his disapproval perfectly clear whenever he witnessed it.
Because of that, Todd had learned to moderate his behavior in his friend’s presence.
Even so, he occasionally made sarcastic comments at the expense of quieter students or those the athletes considered strange.
In Todd’s mind, it was not bullying.
It was just a joke.
But deep down, he knew some people did not see it that way.
Todd watched everything in silence.
As Jason’s best friend, he was genuinely happy for him.
He truly was.
But that did not make it easy.
For years, Todd had struggled to keep up with him.
He trained harder, studied more, and tried to improve at everything he did.
Even so, he could never catch up to him.
When it came to football, Todd had believed he had finally found something at which he could excel.
Then Jason joined the team.
Before long, Jason became a starter, earned the coaches’ trust, and began receiving more attention than any other player on the team.
Todd would never admit it aloud, but it bothered him.
Especially when his father started making comparisons.
“Why can’t you be more like Jason?”
“Look at his grades.”
“Look at how well he plays.”
“Look at his discipline.”
Todd clenched his fists inside the pockets of his jacket.
Why do you have to be so good at everything?
Academics.
Football.
Even investing.
He cast a discreet glance at his friend, who was walking a few steps ahead, smiling as he spoke with other students.
The guilt came immediately.
Jason had never done anything to hurt him.
Quite the opposite.
He had always helped him.
With a sigh, Todd pushed those thoughts aside.
Jason was his best friend.
And he would not allow a little envy to destroy that.
On his way to class, Jason made a brief stop at a particular locker.
Melody Tyler’s.
She was, without question, one of the most intelligent students in the school.
If Jason did not exist, she would probably hold first place in nearly every academic ranking.
Her long brown hair was as voluminous as it was unruly, waging a daily battle against combs and brushes.
Behind her understated glasses, her brown eyes observed the world with almost analytical focus.
Melody possessed a logical mind, admirable determination, and a courage few people noticed at first glance.
Perhaps that was why she was one of the rare people capable of keeping up with Jason in a discussion about almost any subject.
They had met years earlier in the Scouts.
During a camping trip, an unlikely friendship formed between two children who preferred spending hours discussing survival strategies and scientific curiosities rather than playing with the others.
As time passed, that friendship grew stronger.
Unfortunately, their closeness also brought problems.
Many girls were interested in Jason, and some of them took their frustration out on Melody.
Cruel remarks, social exclusion, and even hair-pulling became common whenever Jason was not around.
He discovered what was happening when he found her crying after one of those incidents.
The solution he proposed was simple.
And extremely calculated.
“Then let’s start dating.”
At the time, Jason saw it only as a strategy.
If everyone believed Melody was his girlfriend, most of the girls would leave her alone.
And it worked exactly as he had predicted.
The problem was that neither of them had accounted for their own feelings.
What began as a convenient arrangement soon became something more.
Planned gestures became natural.
Pretend smiles became genuine.
Moments that were supposed to be merely part of the act became the best parts of their days.
A year later, there was no strategy left.
They were simply a couple.
“Hey, Mels.”
Melody looked up from the book she was reading.
“Hey, Tiger.
Happy birthday.”
The nickname made Jason smile.
“Thank you.”
“So, what does the birthday boy want for a present?”
Jason stepped a few inches closer and lowered his voice.
“A kiss.”
For a moment, Melody froze.
Then her cheeks turned a deep shade of red.
“W-When we’re alone,” she murmured, unable to meet his eyes.
Jason could not contain his laughter.
Teasing her never stopped being fun.
Especially because, despite all the intelligence and confidence she displayed during academic competitions, Melody remained adorably vulnerable whenever romance was involved.
Realizing she had fallen for his teasing, Melody cleared her throat and quickly changed the subject.
“Did you see the preliminary results of the State Math Olympiad?”
Jason smiled.
And there she was again.
The girl who could turn any conversation into an academic debate.
Honestly?
He would not change that for anything.
During lunch, Jason joined his usual group in the cafeteria.
The group consisted of six football players, including Jason and Todd, as well as five cheerleaders who often ate lunch with them.
In practice, however, most of those students were closer to Todd than to Jason.
Jason was popular and got along with practically everyone at school, but he spent much of his time studying, training, participating in the Scouts, or with Melody.
Todd, on the other hand, was far more sociable and always surrounded by people.
Among the cheerleaders, Heather Williams stood out the most.
Blond, blue-eyed, and with skin so fair it looked like porcelain beneath the Florida sun, she was the captain of the cheerleading squad and Todd’s girlfriend.
Heather had a strong, confident personality.
She was the kind of girl who could command the attention of an entire room simply by walking into it.
“Happy birthday, Jason!” she said when she saw him approaching the table.
“Thanks.”
“Fifteen years old.
You’re getting old already.”
“Someone already used that joke today.”
“And you’ll hear it a few more times.”
The other girls laughed.
As he sat down, Jason observed the group’s interactions.
Todd was at the center of the conversation, telling an exaggerated story about a recent practice and making his friends laugh.
It was curious.
Although Jason was the quarterback and probably the most well-known student at school, Todd was the one who truly held the group together.
Perhaps that was exactly why they had remained friends for so many years.
The two complemented each other in different ways.
Jason was the brains.
Todd was the social heart of the group.
Todd finished another of his exaggerated stories, drawing a few laughs from the group.
When the conversation began to die down, he picked up his phone and shook his head.
“Did you guys see that story out of Georgia?”
“What story?” Heather asked.
“The one about the disappearances.”
The table fell silent for a few moments.
“Are you talking about those rumors online?” one of the players asked.
“They’re not just rumors.
People are disappearing in some rural areas.
I saw a few reports last night.”
“People disappear all the time,” Jason replied.
“Yeah, but this is different.”
Todd unlocked his phone and began searching for something.
“There are videos of locals talking about it.
Some search parties found abandoned campsites and human remains in wooded areas.”
“Human remains?” Heather repeated, grimacing.
“Yeah.
Some people are saying it might be a cult.”
“A cannibal cult?” another player asked.
“That’s exactly what I thought.”
Some of them laughed.
Others appeared uncomfortable.
“You watch too many movies,” Jason commented.
“Maybe.
But you have to admit it sounds like something out of a horror movie.”
Todd finally found the video he was looking for.
“Here.
Watch it later and tell me it isn’t strange.”
Jason’s phone vibrated when the message arrived.
He glanced at the video’s thumbnail.
The image showed a dirt road surrounded by forest and a man being interviewed by a local news station.
Before he could open the file, the bell announcing the end of lunch echoed through the cafeteria.
“I’ll watch it later.”
Jason slipped his phone into his pocket as he stood.
“That’s what everyone says,” Todd replied.
The students began leaving the cafeteria.
Within seconds, the conversation about disappearances, cults, and cannibalism was replaced by far more immediate concerns, such as tests, assignments, and practice.
Jason had no idea that the video would return to his thoughts far sooner than he would have liked.
I’m using AI to translate this story.
English is not my native language.
If you would prefer to read it without an AI translation, you can find the original Portuguese version on this same profile.