This is reposting of the first chapter of this story. The rest will be completely different from how it was posted last time. This is also apart of my SI/OC Twin series. There is one more story i will be posting that's apart of this.

No onto the good part, the story!

ONE

death and rebirth

"Tonight do homework 4.5, tomorrow in class we'll start 4.6." My math professor says as the class starts packing up their belongings.

I curse lowly when my calculator slips out of my hand and falls to the ground. Irritated, I push my chair back so I can pick it up. I stuff it into the front pocket of my backpack as I stand up. I swing my backpack over my shoulder at the same time I push my chair back under the desk. I start walking out of the classroom, slipping my arm under the other strap of my backpack as I reach the door. Only a foot or so behind my tablemate. I stop walking to slip my headphones out of my jacket pocket and into my ears. I plug them into my phone and start walking, unlocking the phone as I walk. I open my music app, find the playlist I frequently listen to and push play on the first song on the list. Looking up briefly to make sure I don't bump into anyone or anything as I make my way to the stairs to the main floor of the building my math class is in. I send a quick group text to my family, my two older siblings and my parents, telling them I love them. Then I slip my phone into my back pocket and make my way out of the building. I still have one class today, in about an hour so I pause once I get to an intersection of walkways and contemplate whether to go to the student center for lunch or head towards the Science and Tech building to do my homework while I wait for my last class of the day. Deciding to eat when I get home, knowing my mom had planned to make a roast dinner I head towards the Science building.

The hour before my next class passes quickly. As does my class, it's an introductory programming class and the project we are working on is quite fun. After class, I take a detour to the quick stop shop in the student center to buy a snack and a drink before walking to the bus stop. I stop for a second to open the candy bar before I step into the crosswalk that separates the community college campus from the bus stop at the corner. I take a bite of the dark chocolate covered candy bar and sigh in contentment. I'm only a few steps from the sidewalk when it happens. There is a long honk, the sunlight reflects off the metal Nissan symbol on the front of the car and then there is a sharp pain at my side. The screech of metal meeting metal and a sickening crunch. My body flies like a ragdoll as I get pulled along by my backpack. I land a few feet away from the two crashed vehicles, barely aware of anything but the pain. Distantly I am aware that I am dying. I can feel the blood and there is something metal in me, but I can't really focus on that, I don't want to focus on that.

I don't want to die. I am only twenty-years-old I have so much more I want to do. I haven't even finished my second semester of college. I regret taking that gap year, I could be farther along with my degree if I hadn't taken that year off. It's almost funny, that now that I'm dying I realize just how much I regret. So much I wish I said or did, so much what could have been if I had just had the courage. I guess it's true you never realize what you could have had until it's too late. It feels like I'm drowning in all these regrets, from little things like never entering that short story contest in high school to the big things like wishing I would have hugged my dad goodbye this morning. It hurts. I know I'll never have the chance to do that again. I'll never be able to kiss my mother again. I'll never be able to cuddle with my sister and watch a movie again. I'll never be able to sit and do a puzzle with my brother again. I'll never be able to play with my nephew again. I won't be able to live again. I never realize how much I truly loved living until I was dying. I think I regret that the most. I regret that I didn't value my life enough to truly live it.

This is how I die, drowning in both my own blood and regrets.

Kurosaki Haruka is born three minutes and twenty-seven seconds after her brother on July fifteenth. She is a surprise as there was no indication they were having twins. Her mother only had the bare minimum of ultrasounds because she was mildly allergic to the gel used. In each of the ultrasounds that were taken, she was hidden by her brother or just mistaken as something else. Her heartbeat, the only other way she could have been noticed, was mistaken as an echo of her mothers because it was so faint. So truly, she was a surprise to her parents. A happy surprise, for the young couple wanting a big family.

Unknown to both her parents and even herself, her soul remembers the life it had before. Old souls are not uncommon, but those that leave echoes are. These echoes come in dreams, in small bits of memory that mix with the present and understanding of things learned before. Echoes bleed into the new life of the soul and manifest themselves in small things, like a dislike of a food never tasted or an unusual flare for learning a new language. For Kurosaki Haruka, these echoes will shape her more than she will ever know.

(It's not a bad thing, for there is much you can learn from the past, even if it's only through its echoes).