Chapter 1:

I want to live.

Scientist Turned Magician


Otho… My name means "Wealth." I have been living for 30 years, and all my life I was just studying. The only wealth I acquired is money. I don’t have friends or family. My parents got divorced when I was 18, and since then I have been living on my own. But I have one special friend, Christy. She is the only one who talks to me and spends time with me. It's 00:03 now, and no one has called me. Maybe they are sleeping. I better sleep, but what if someone calls and I am sleeping? I better stay up.

He stared at his phone and then pretended not to stare, using a trick where he quickly grabbed his phone for each and every notification. However, they were all spams. It was 3:00 AM in the morning, and he fell asleep on his bed. In the morning, he quickly woke up at 7 AM.

"Shit! I fell asleep. Where is my phone? Let me check… Oh, there it is, underneath my bed. Let me see if someone might have wished me. I mean, it's my birthday."

But there were no messages.

"God! I don't want anyone to wish me, not my mom, not my dad... at least Christy, that's enough for me. Why am I such a nerd? I should have just found a few friends. I HATE THIS LONELINESS. I feel like there is something heavy in my chest, my throat has that uneasiness in it. My jaws are paining. I don't know why my chin is moving. Why am I biting my lips? It feels like I'm suffocating. Even exhaling this much air doesn't make me feel better. I'm breathing heavily. Why is my nose running? My throat feels so heavy. My eyes are covered in water. Everything is so blurry... Am I crying? No... I'm crying. There is nothing to cry about... I was just born on this day 30 years ago. It's nothing... Why am I crying? I'm 30 years old, damn it!

"I should go to work now. Maybe if she sees me, she might remember my birthday. It's nothing to worry about, right?! I mean, who wakes up at 7 AM? Maybe she is just sleeping. I mean, till now, all the experiments I have done are with her. So scientifically, her hormones should react and remember all those small experiments."

He quickly went into the washroom, mixing 3 boxes and applying it to his brush. Then he quickly brushed his teeth and flossed.

"Now, I need to take a bath... For my optimum temperature, I will first turn on this heater for 9 minutes and 32 seconds, which will raise the temperature to 80 degrees Celsius. The problem with this heater is it doesn't heat to 42 degrees Celsius, so it's better to heat it till 80 and then mix it with cold water. Today's temperature is 30 degrees Celsius, so the water will be more than 30 degrees as it has been cooling down the whole night. But it's better to check it. That's the best thermometer out there..."

The alarm rings. He quickly turns it off and turns the tap on. Then he quickly starts talking to his teddy bear.

"Always pour the hot water first in the bucket. If you ever wonder why the water isn't warm enough but rather very hot on the top and cold on the bottom, it's because the density of hot water is less than the density of cold water. As the temperature increases, the density decreases. So, Teddy, it's as simple as that. Why do you think ice cubes sink in water? So, first, we pour hot water in the bucket, then we pour cold water... Fun fact, this way, even if we wait for 20 minutes, the water won't reach room temperature... Then the optimum temperature is obtained for bathing."

After a bath like this, the next thing will be to drink coffee. Coffee that will boost my whole day. Even cooking is science; it's just basic chemistry.

His coffee setup was like a mini chemistry lab. There was a size written on each sugar box, 0.2mm box, 0.4mm box, and all. And there was a place called the water plant.

"Hey, Teddy... Let me introduce you again to my baby, 'Distiller.' This baby can turn that shitty so-called water into pure water, and this will help me keep my body clean from those toxins: heavy metals like lead, cadmium, and mercury. And also fluoride, chlorine, bacteria, estrogenic compounds, and VOCs - volatile organic compounds. But at the same time, you might ask, Teddy, 'Doesn't distilled water remove all those minerals with the impurities?' Yeah! That's correct. Hence, these supplements with this water, salts of sodium and magnesium. For 100ml, 0.1mg of sodium and 0.3mg of magnesium, and the containers are always stainless steel... This stupid plastic will just spoil my water."

"Now it's time to go to the lab and meet CHRISTY!! Bye Teddy."

He quickly went to the lab with a very happy look on his face. He waited in the lab, jumping back and forth on his seat like a little boy. Then Christy entered the lab.

"Yeah!! Yeah!! She has come. I mean, she should notice. She knows I wear the same old clothes, but she should at least notice something. She should ask something by now. I'm staring at her like an owl, and she is not even looking at me... Hey!! LOOKK!! DAMMIT!!... Yeahhh, she saw me. Now say what you're going to say."

"What is she working on again? I don't know what she is even working so much about... This might be a bit pushy, but I will try to give her a few hints."

"Hi, Christy. Don't you think there is anything special about today?" I asked her with a smile on my face.

"You mean something special on July 21st? Ohhhh!! Yeahh!!! How can I forget about it? Yeahhh!! You're reaching there... That's right!"

"You mean the first person landed on the moon, right? In 1969!?" she replied.

"I mean anything else?" I asked her again, showing off my shirt.

"Ohh! You mean the Libyan-Egyptian War begins in 1977? Ohhh, that's something else."

"Something peaceful, I mean."

"The lowest temperature ever measured on Earth in 1983, right!? I mean, it's theoretically so wrong as there might be an ice age, and at that time, it might have been the lowest temperature, right!?"

"I mean a person's birthday." I hinted at her a bit.

"You mean Georg Brandt, the person who found out about cobalt!? Ohhhh, isn't that a day to remember," she replied.

Are you pretending to not know about today or is anything?

"I mean, is there anything special today?" she replied and went back to her work.

I knew it. Even she doesn't remember anything... I guess those things we did were just for research, and it was for conducting experiments... I guess I should blame myself for overexpecting and hyping things. I mean, we have a point. Why would anyone like a weirdo who is just solving stuff, gets awkward with other people? When I was young, I shouldn't have studied like a nerd. I should have been a little funny or mediocre. I don't know what happiness I gained by getting the 1st rank. I thought my parents would at least talk to me if I got 1st rank. They never spoke to me... But I became a bookworm, once I got into 8th grade, concepts got so interesting... I thought I was a weird bookworm... Until I saw Christy, she was also like me... I guess that's what brought me close to her.

Now... I figured out what love is... This is cursed. It's not the happiness or hormones that come from love. Love is about sadness. My heart feels broken even though she didn't do anything. Loneliness... I got to know about it a bit late in my life, or maybe I ignored it because she was always with me... But I think it's something that doesn't matter to her. Love is like a two-edged sword. It can make you happy, yet it hurts you at the same time... Like a bone in the neck, can't throw it nor can be eaten.

Hours have passed, it's almost 7... I lost all hope. It's already dark, nothing can be done now. I guess this will be my loneliest birthday. As a person grows old, they become more moody, I guess.

He goes to the top of his building, which was 50 floors tall... He walks on the edge.

"Even walking on this edge doesn't fear me anymore; I guess I have nothing to lose... It's just how life is, I guess... This height is perfect for a best dead. No losing legs, no paralyzed stuff. This is straight death."

3... 2... 1... Liftoff." He jumps.

3 floors have passed, and then something rings in his pants. He picks it up and sees that Christy was calling. He lifts it up, and even though he thought of not answering, he couldn't stop thinking. He picks it up.

"Hello..."

"Heyy!! Are you in your apartment?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Then you should stand outside and look straight towards the moon from your window. Quickly."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY" was written in the air with drones, and then it formed, "I love you, Otho." Where the 'O' was formed by the moon. Tears were streaming upwards from his eyes. He quickly shouted, "I love you too, Christy! I love you too... But I hope you will find someone better."

"I'm-" while Christy says this, he cuts the call and throws the phone.

God... For once, I want to live. I don't care if I lose my legs, my arms, anything. Let me live... God! Let me live... God, please... Pleaseeeeee, God, let me live, pleaseeeeee, God!! Please LET ME LIVE!

Smash

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Woah... I feel my hands, my legs... Everything looks fine... Wait, whose is that hitting me... I can't speak words... Ahhh, don't hit me... Ohh! Who's she? Whose body is this? This is not my body... Wait... I got reincarnated!

To be continued...