Glance Into The Past

Kaede suddenly felt a burst of life from his soul as he quickly opened his eyes, sharply inhaling as he tried to catch his breath as if someone had strangled him.

He looked around frantically in the unfamiliar environment, feeling a tight knot form in his chest, gripping it firmly with his hand in an attempt to quell the pain. Only once it subsided did he realize he was wearing a tattered dress shirt with dozens of rips in it, covered in dried blood. The sight of it initially made him panic, and he quickly rose to his feet, only to notice his surroundings.

I’m not at the hospital. Where the hell…

His vision focused as he noted the decently large wooden house he was in. The ambient light cast shadows in the sharp corners of the triangle-shaped roof. Oil lamps hung from the wooden supports in the room. From the looks of it, he was in the living room. From the architecture and decorations, he assumed he was in the Victorian era.

The carpet underneath him was shredded and covered in splatters of more dark, dried blood. It looked as if a storm had torn up the furniture and thrown it everywhere, much like his clothes. Upon closer inspection, he noticed a hole in the roof and several other sections of the home covered in black ash.

There was a stinging sensation around his neck as he raised his hand to feel it. Looking down, he saw bright red blood smears on his fingers, which caused him to inhale sharply.

He quickly got up and ran down the hall, finding a mirror to examine his injuries. His bloodied fingers stained the charcoal table that sat underneath the mirror as he gripped both ends of it, seeing a deep cut slashed horizontally across his throat.

But what made him even more perplexed was that the wound seemed to disappear slowly. The skin slowly fused, erasing any trace of the cut.

Kaede attempted to speak, but only a few groans and gasps escaped his lips. What the hell…what—where even am I…?

Kaede caressed his face, feeling how smooth it was, despite having supposedly died. His amber-colored eyes darted to several parts of the mirror as he ran his hands through his short, dark brown, almost black hair, checking for any more injuries that were hiding from sight.

Is this a dream? Who am I…?

He then noticed the sharp red splashes that fused with the large, circular, dried blood pool, staining the carpet near the area against the wall where he had woken up.

Now, I’m not an expert on forensics, but I can sense the true crime fanatic in me attempting to escape…

Patting his abdomen instinctively with his right hand, trying to feel for the wound, he only felt the solid but soft skin of his stomach. Looking down, he saw a sizable circular tear in his torn clothes, outlined in dark red. His theory had more truth to it as he looked at himself.

What even killed me? I thought it was Kana, but…Kaede’s internal voice trailed off.

His senses slowly returned, being greeted by the smell of rusted iron and smoke that entered his nostrils.

A sudden wave of pain coursed through his head in the form of an intense headache, almost making him want to sit down as he clasped his forehead with his hand in a futile attempt to quell the pain.

Only a few moments later, the headache slightly subsided. Kaede composed himself and began exploring the house to understand where he was and how he'd gotten here.

The only plausible explanation would be transmigration. But that can’t be true, right…? After all, that was a work of belief and fiction…something I only thought existed in manga and light novels.

To his right, several photos that had been tipped over and survived the fire sat. Picking one up out of curiosity and rubbing the soot and ash off of the glass with his thumb, he saw himself, or rather the person he was inhabiting, with an apathetic expression compared to everyone else, who seemed overly joyful in this family photo.

He wore a sumptuous-looking black suit with white gloves, indicating that the family of the person Kaede was possessing was fairly wealthy.

To his right in the photo was a teenage girl who didn’t seem much younger than he, presumably the sister. A black ribbon held back her long, silky hair with a single braid. Her dress was a deep, ink black, darker than Kaede’s suit.

Like, jeez, I could only assume this family was either goth or depressed. But, I’ll admit, their clothes do give off a certain classy energy.

The other side of the photo drew his eyes. A beautiful woman who appeared young but showed subtle signs of aging was most likely his mother.

In contrast to his sister, his mother wore a white dress and a large white hat, the brim wrapped in a light blue ribbon with a small flower. Her smile was the biggest of them all, and her perfect white teeth shone in the photo.

Last but not least, his father, who, oddly enough, had white, wilting hair, as if he were on the verge of death, even though he appeared to be at least in his mid-fifties, wore a dark charcoal suit with a black tie. His black top hat was almost as big as his head. He had a sly grin, nearly as if it were awkward and out of character for him to smile correctly, which the young outsider found odd.

Something caught Kaede’s attention, a tiny purple light that glowed within his father’s right eye. Leaning closer to get a better look, Kaede suddenly felt his vision shift, and the environment drastically changed.

~

The distraught young man blinked a few times, realizing the picture transported him inside. As he looked around, a man stood before the entire family, a large camera on a wooden stand aimed at them.

Without the photographer counting down before taking a picture, Kaede would have had a minor mental crisis trying to make sense of what was happening. A few seconds later, the camera shuttered as the photographer gave them a thumbs-up.

Kaede’s supposed father coughed loudly, his breath raspy as he covered his mouth with his hand, balled up into a fist. He had difficulty breathing as he leaned against his wooden cane for what appeared to be dear life, stumbling a few times as he tried to face the two siblings.

“I’m glad we were-” He coughed once more, this time covering his mouth with his palm.

Kaede saw specks of blood as his mother took out his handkerchief and helped his father wipe them away.

“-able to get that photo before I was too ill to get up.” The brittle man finished, attempting a weak smile but obviously in pain.

“You should rest, Father.”

At first, Kaede was confused. He said the words so naturally, as if he had lived in that moment.

So, it seems I’m reliving the memory within the photo—but how is that possible? My list of inquiries keeps getting steeper…

“Yes…Yes, I shall…” His father said weakly and began to hobble away with the support of his cane towards the Blackwood family home. A key attached to some string around the older man’s neck glistened under the sunlight before disappearing underneath his jacket.

“You kids should be off to school now. I’ll bring your father back. Lawrence, take care of your sister.” His mother instructed as Lawrence nodded.

“Good day, Father. Praise be to the Goddess in hopes your health recovers!” Kaede, now Lawrence, gently waved at them. He then looked over at his sister and playfully roughed her hair up a bit, which made her angry, and she tried to hit him as he ran away laughing.

The memory feels so real…

A gentle breeze brushed past him as Lucy fervently chased him. He could smell smoke from the factories afar and hear every distinct noise, like birds chirping nearby and cries of horses in the distance.

~

Shortly after Lawrence's vision returned, he found himself in the lonely, torn-apart wooden house. A strange sense of tranquility passed through him while inside the memory, but it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

He set the photo down next to the others, for some reason feeling deeply depressed. Perhaps it’s the lingering feelings of this body I’m inhabiting. I have no recollection of Lawrence Blackwood’s life or even what happened to him…

Looking around again, a scrap of black cloth torn from a coat or cloak lay in the middle of the floor. Approaching and picking it up, Lawrence’s vision changed again, just as it had in the other memory.

~

An imminent dread crept up his spine, sending shivers through him as the heavy heat made his skin feel too hot to touch. When he opened his eyes, a black void of absolute darkness greeted him.

The sounds of smoldering flames replaced the low hum that emanated from the darkness. As the temperature rose, Lawrence felt intense heat toasting his skin.

His surroundings were still shrouded in darkness, and the sudden assault on his senses left him frantic. His nerves vibrated intensely to the point where they felt like they were screaming in the midst of the sudden lack of air that made him short of breath.

Lawrence began to panic, but couldn’t do anything since it was only a memory. As he searched around him in the pitch-black, barely able to stay conscious, he saw two beady white eyes glowing in the shadows.

After the eyes took notice, a wicked smile followed, causing Lawrence to yelp in fear. As he blinked, the face disappeared, causing him to be more hysterical, his eyes darting around to find the eyes again.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

The face appeared behind Lawrence as he quickly turned around and attempted to jump back, but an unknown force lifted him into the air by his neck. It felt like some appendage or tentacle was slithering around his throat, holding him in the air to face the harrowing figure, or lack thereof.

Lawrence could hear his breath becoming shallower as he stared at the creature intently, his eyes fluttering shut. The formless entity eventually let go of the frightened transmigrator as he fell to the familiar invisible ground, coughing and catching his breath.

The feeling of flames engulfing him disappeared, and it was easier for him to breathe as the figure continued to watch him.

“You’re too early, Kaede.”

The young transmigrator’s eyes widened in horror upon hearing his real name from within the shadowy veil that surrounded him.

His heart was beating fast and increasing due to the horrific ambiguity of the figure speaking to him, to the point that it felt like his heart would explode.

“Come back when you’ve grown a little.” It laughed maniacally before the glow of its face slowly retreated into the darkness.