Reset

Chapter 4

Peter hastily grabbed his beer and emptied half of the glasses content. Then he put the glass back on the table and wiped beer foam from his chin. He looked straight at Milo with a big question mark in his eyes.

After a short pause he slowly spoke: “I think it is better that we begin at the end. Where the hell are we and how did we end up here?”

“The answer to your first question is fairly simple. We are in the suburbs of Bombay. That leads to your second question, where the answer is not so straight forward.”

He took a deep breath, pulled a beer jug to his mouth and took a sip of a golden liquid. He quickly continued after he noticed the look Peter was giving him.

“The simplest way of putting it would be if I tell you I somehow managed to move the matter through space and that means any matter anywhere in the space.”

Peter wrinkled his forehead.

“It doesn’t matter if you believe me or not. I think that deep down you know I’m speaking the truth.”

“Ok. Let’s live that on the side. It still doesn’t explain the fact, what you have been doing on a ledge and why you have …”

He searched for the right word to describe a suicide attempt, but Milo spoke first.

“Trying to take my life?”

“I had something like that in my mind.”

“It is quite a long story,” started Milo.

“According to the fact you have brought me to the Bombay, I will try and listen to you.”

“I’m so tired of everything,” Milo started his story.

“I might seem to be in my early twenties. While this is technically true and this body is in fact twenty two years old, my soul is a completely different story. It is a lot older than that.”

He looked at Peter who lifted his right eyebrow, but remained silent.

“Maybe it is better that I tell you how it came to this in the first place. It happened a long time ago. If it could be measured in years it would mean centuries or even millennia ago. But I can still remember it like it happened yesterday. I was twenty five in a time being. I was just returning home from a birthday party of a friend of mine. It was very early in the morning and the day was just dawning. I was walking over a bridge on my way home when suddenly I heard a faint voice. I stopped and listened, but there was nothing. When I thought I was just hearing things, I’ve heard a distant yell for help.”

He made a short pause to add to the feeling of drama.

“I needed quite some time before I spotted a person in the river. He was a hundred meters or so away from the bridge holding on to the reef in the middle of the river. It was an early spring and after a horrific storm, so the river rushed with quite a force. If the man would let go he wouldn’t stand a chance. Taken the fact I’m a pretty good swimmer I decided to help him. I ran by the river coast to the spot that was nearest to the man. I waved him and signaled him I would be trying to rescue him. When he saw me I noticed he is exhausted so I had to act quickly. Some twenty meters ahead was a wooden pillar like the ones they use to tie boats to. I looked around and I managed to find a rope. I have tied one end of it around a pillar and the second end around my waist. Then I went into the water. I assumed if I get into the water some twenty meters above the reef and strongly push myself from the edge, I might reach the reef and the man.”

Peter was quiet all the time he just nodded from time to time.

“I got into the water and started to swim as fast as I could. I nearly missed the reef but with the extreme exertion I managed to get a hold of it. I was unable to speak because the water was constantly washing over me so I untied myself and put the end of the rope in man’s hand. I signaled him to tie it around his waist. I just hoped the pillar would take my and his weight. When I saw he is tied I grabbed the rope and tried to use the river current to take us ashore. I was pretty good at it until I was too exhausted to swim anymore. It pulled me under the water just before we reached the coast. What happened next was more like a fairytale than a real life.”

He looked at Peter.

“I have listened this far and I must admit I’m interested how it goes on,” said Peter.

“I was under water quite a long time. I think the man I was helping pulled me out and some other people that came by helped him. I felt my strengths were leaving me and the darkness grew around me. Obviously my brains didn’t get enough oxygen. Suddenly it was like I was floating. I saw my body from the outside. I saw myself and the rest of the people trying to bring me back to life. Then the man kneeled beside me. He took my shoulders and leaned forward. He whispered something in my ears. I have no idea what he said, but instantly I felt his thoughts among mine. He telepathically said he is sorry that he can’t do anything for my body. The only thing he can offer me is another chance. Only later when I opened my eyes I found out exactly what he had in mind by another chance.”

“And what was that?” sincerely asked Peter.

“I saw my mother holding me in her hands.”

“I don’t get it.”

“He gave me a chance of rebirth. Any time I want I can be reborn again and do things differently or even the same if I want to. It is like pressing a reset button on a computer.”