So if one method doesn't work of rousing oneself from dreams, surely the other methods in the art of waking up in a dream would work, right?
Right…?
…
…
Nope!
Blinking several times? Nothing. Trying to go back to my bed and close my eyes and hopefully, my body signals my brain to wake up. Nah. Banging my head in the wall to put shock into my brain!? If biting my arm doesn't work, how the fuck does banging my head on the wall help!? It would just probably give me a concussion. Which isn't helping me. I don't like dying, even in my dreams so no thank you.
Either I am so in control of this dream that I can't wake myself up out of it or I'm in an Isekai. And oh boy, I am NOT willing to entertain that notion at all. People have no idea about the dangers of Isekai genres if they are not the main protagonists.
And even if they are, if they are destined to die…they will die so I pray to the gods that did not just die from my bed and got reincarnated somewhere where demons exist or magic BS that is here in this Modern Fantasy shit.
Ok enough panicking as that won't help anybody. It's time for me to take a few deep breaths and just…explore. Who knows? Maybe this is a dream and I'll just wake up when I'm tired. Better thinking that than entertaining the notion of Isekai.
So the first thing I explored is my closet which is neatly arranged, something that doesn't exist back home since all my clothes are in a box that acts as my closet.
Sad life I know but my family is broke so bite me.
I inspected my clothes that were just hanging there one by one, checking out for anything abnormal in them. Finding nothing extraordinary, I hung them back and checked the drawers beside them which had my shirts, and shorts all neatly folded. Damn this guy really knows how to clean his shit well. Wish I can fold at least half as good as he does…
Oh man, getting jealous of a guy's body you're dreaming about must be really depressing. And it fucking is.
Closing the drawers in envy, I checked the bottom drawers and found a black bag on it which seems to be full of books that I am unfamiliar with, and also a laptop. Perfect, I can use this later before I go to bed again. I can only sleep if I use a gadget before going to bed since my mind is always active and shit.
Placing the laptop on the bed, I quickly opened the books, and yup, nothing interesting or weird knowledge that I never received during my high school years. Man America must be really ahead of the Philippine education system. Either that or my school sucks. Could be both.
Finding absolutely nothing of interest here, I placed all my books in my bag and placed them back in the drawer. I looked at the door that leaves this room. Guess there is no other option but to leave the room and see what's on the other side.
I slowly made my way to the door, my hand inches away from the knob before it stopped. I began to feel trepidation from this action. I don't know why though. It's not like anything bad will happen outside of this door…right?
Still, my brain begins to imagine the absolute worst scenarios out there. A possibility of the door just being unable to open, leaving me claustrophobic. Opening the door that could lead me to the endless abyss as I fall out of the room. Or maybe I could even get eaten by a monster with sharp teeth that would rip off-!
Ok, stop those thoughts now. No need to get even more scared than you are right now… Just gotta fucking do it.
And so with a deep breath, I grabbed the knob, twisted it, and swung the door open.
…
…
…
And that's it. No jump scares, no weird hallucinations, not even the emptiness of the abyss. Just another door across my room.
Ok, I legit just worried for absolutely no reason. Way to go me. You fucking coward.
Letting out a sigh of relief, I looked to my left to see another door but much bigger than my own and the one across. It even has some neat ornate decorations and shit. So that must be the master bedroom of this…dream house.
As much as I want to open these doors and see what's in there, I rather not get another panic attack because of my irrational fear so fuck that. I instead decided to go to my right which is a bit of a long hallway before greeting me with an arch staircase that curves right. Never in my life, I have seen staircases like this, at least from what I can recall so this is a first for me.
Slowly going down the stairs, I looked at another door which must be the entrance to the house. And from what I can see from the windows, it's nighttime, almost midnight judging by the last time I checked the time on my phone.
Still, on the no-opening door policy, I turned to my right to see the living room. Which has a flat-screen TV, nice-looking couches, and a glass table that has nothing on it. Unsurprisingly though, the flat-screen TV doesn't look as futuristic as I thought it would be, being in America and expecting it to be high-tech and crap, this is kinda disappointing.
Then again, I'm in 2009 somehow so I gotta remember that.
Moving on from the living room, I stumbled upon the kitchen which kinda looks similar to my kitchen back home. Except for a much bigger space with a big fridge and loads of cupboards, way more than mine.
Going to the fridge first, I opened the bottom half and found out that none of the brands here of the juices, water, and even some cream are familiar to me. Which is kinda frustrating. I wanted something familiar to eat or drink at least. Opening the freezer, it's just a bunch of meat that I'm unfamiliar with. I don't even know what that feet-looking meat is. Who cooks feet and actually enjoys it!?
Being so done with the fridge, I decided to check the cupboards to see what we have in store.
We got some boxed cereal, some canned goods, some condiments, bread, and even some spread. All of which I don't recognize. This is becoming the trend of not knowing American brand shit and it's frustrating.
So with this lack of knowledge in mind, I said fuck it and just got a cereal box that looks like it was mixed with fruits. Eh, whatever I have eaten worst.
Too lazy to find a bowl and eat in it, I opened the box and ate in it like it was some sort of junk food. Which it probably is. The taste is meh, 6/10.
Dealing with this weird stress through eating is not how I usually do things. Usually, I would just play on my phone and unwind but with my current dream phone not being really good, stress eating seems to be my next best option. It's really odd how accurate the taste of cereal with sugar fruits in it is. Then again, probably dream shenanigans and hopefully, I can be awake soon so that I don't have to be stuck here in this handsome body that has no belly fat in it and is kinda stick thin.
Great, my thoughts are going back to this BS again, I just wish there was something else my mind can be distracted on besides-!
"Reggie?"
I choked a bit on my cereal, almost about to spill it out before swallowing it and taking deep breaths. I turn around to see who almost scared me to death.
It was a girl that has eerily similar features to me. Bottle-green eyes stared at me in confusion, dark blonde hair tied neatly in a ponytail style. Her face oddly enough looks like one of those foxes on those Youtube videos I see occasionally. She also has freckles but is placed on the bridge of her nose instead of the cheeks.
Her outfit indicated that she went to bed, judging by the wrinkles on her pajamas that are purple colored with black stripes. She must have woken up from her sleep and decided to probably drink some water or maybe even eat.
And I have no idea who this girl is. Great just fucking great, another weird dream shit I guess. No hidden knowledge from the back of my brain or anything like that so I'm stuck in a head deer lights position. Fuck.
And I gotta respond. Double fuck.
"Ye-yeah!? What's up?"
Seriously..? Really what's up brain!? That's the first thing that comes to your fucking mind!? You dumb son of a bi-!
"Ummm, just gonna drink some water?" The girl still looks quite confused at me as she stares at what's in my hand. "Why are you eating out of a cereal box?"
Of all the fucking things she's gonna ask, that's the one she is most intrigued about!?
It could be worse I guess.
I shrugged, trying to maintain an aloof expression. "Just too fucking lazy to get a bowl to eat out of it."
The girl flinched at my answer though and I became immediately concerned. Oh, fuck what did I do wrong.
"Lazy? You're a neat freak though, you always hate getting your hands dirty with food…"
…fuck. I did not account for her being familiar with this body. Oh dear, I'm dead.
"Also…since when do you swear? I never heard you swear before?"
That's even worse! Curse my potty mouth, you got me in trouble CRAAAAP!
"Well…now you have…so there you go I guess. First time for everything, am I right?" I chuckled nervously as I tried to finish my cereal as quickly as possible to avoid talking to this unusually pretty girl who is somehow familiar with me…
Oh for fuck sake, can't my brain stop looking at how beautiful she is?! This is getting ridiculous. And she might be creeped out too.
The confused girl continues to look at me, trying to decipher the mystery behind my weird and unpredictable actions. I can already feel the sweat beginning to pile on my back underneath her stare. Please for the love of God please just get your water and leave!
After a few more moments of uncomfortable silence, she looks at the cereal before telling me. "Reggie, that is also my cereal you are eating."
…goddamnit. Of course, it was hers. Why else is this mediocre cereal here in the first place…
"Your cereal sucks." My mouth opened before even my brain can process how stupid that response is. Oh shit.
"Su-sucks!? You have no right to tell me that Reggie! Your taste in food is just as bad as mine!" She sputtered back a rebuttal at me which I have no idea on how to respond to since I don't know what this body's taste in food is. But I gotta keep up the charade of being irritated at that remark.
"Bad as yours huh? I resent that remark, considering that I can find cereal ten times better than this garbage." I snarked back at the girl which made her face turn red. Whether it was from embarrassment or anger, I wouldn't know.
"Ten times better huh!? You don't even leave your room! How would you know good cereal if all you eat is that licorice garbage!"
Licorice!? Seriously!? What the fuck!? I'm actually disgusted with myself. Who eats licorice and thinks it's good?! Not me that's what. But apparently, this body likes it…
Why do you torture me so dream-san? You're killing me here! And I'm about to dig a bigger hole for myself here!
"At least the licorice I eat is ten times better than this dump of a cereal," I smirked as I wagged the box in front of her to just provoke her and it worked, much to my amusement.
"Then why are you eating it then!?"
"Because it's a waste of food if I don't finish it. Unless of course, you wanna still eat this after digging my hands from it."
I can hear her growling and I maintained my smirk on my face as she just simply let out a huff and went straight to the fridge, hearing her mutter under her breath of how dumb I was and whatever insults she can think of.
I am still panicking from this shit but at least now she won't ask too many questions and let her focus on being angry at me for stupid reasons. Ah the power of taunting, it never fails.
After listening to her gulp a huge amount of water, she closes the fridge and stares blankly at me. I tried to maintain my smirk but it falters as she kicks me in the shin.
"Aggh! What the fuck was that for!?"
"For being stupid and stealing my cereal!"
"Hey I was hungry and this was the first thing I got!"
"Then you should have placed it back, you jerk."
"Nah I wanted to see if this was good or not. Turns out it wasn't really that good. Next time, get better cereal."
"Only if you stop eating licorice."
"Not gonna happen."
"Then screw off and go back to your room, you loner creep!"
She left the dining room, huffing all the way to the stairs before disappearing from my sight.
The tension in my body dropped, along with a sigh of relief. I had somehow avoided the crisis of being asked way too many questions about who I am in this body. Still, though, was it just me, or was that girl actually enjoying bantering with me?
…Nah it was just my imagination. No way she enjoys it.
I looked down at the cereal box, noting that I still have a ways to go before I can finish it but considering that I started to get a bit sick eating it, I decided to just seal the box and place it back in the cupboards. Who knows, maybe I might dream back here again and finish it…
Or not. Eh, who really knows.
After going back to my room, I checked my phone on what time it was.
September 13, 2009
00:30
Damn it's only been an hour since I took control of this dream!? Dammit, you're killing me here! Just let me leave already!
Complaining about waking up won't help me here so instead I decided to simply pass the time by using the laptop that is on the bed. I also noticed that the laptop brand is also something I'm unfamiliar with, because of course it is. I'll just assume that I don't know any of these brands from now on and just accept what they are.
After turning on the laptop and waiting a bit, there was a password screen in front of me…crap. I don't know the fucking password for this laptop. I decided to check back on my bags to see if I had written down a password just in case I forgot. I even went back to the bin to look at those papers again to see if I had written anything resembling a password don't avail.
At this point, there was no other choice but to forcibly factory reset the damn thing. Hopefully, nothing important is in this laptop.
It took about at least maybe an hour or two to reset the laptop, in which case I entertained myself with playing snakes and ping pong on this old ass phone. I really hope I can wake up back to my bed with my advanced smartphone with all my awesome games in it.
After all that, I was able to finally access the laptop and started to use it, opening an unfamiliar web browser that is not Google or Firefox. The search engine here is Bing, which I remembered using once, only because I was using a VPN for a phone to access some things.
Deciding that I had nothing important to search for, I searched first where exactly I am, which is yup, America, specifically in the Boston Area.
After that, I searched up some old video games and see if they would pop up in here…nope. All these video games are way too unfamiliar to me. No World of Warcraft, No Fate stay/night, not even the famous Steam gaming platform exists here. It's kinda frustrating as those are the games I'm most familiar with.
I decided to search up some anime and manga but they don't exist here…why though? There are some cartoons here but nothing resembling an anime from Japan. No Dragon Ball, One Piece, not even the dreaded Naruto that I hate so much. I'm actually kind of worried that this is really another world and I might never wake up…
I slap myself a couple of times to focus. This is a dream and I will wake up when I get tired. I just have to get this weird dream over with.
I continued to browse the web mindlessly until I stumbled upon something very familiar.
The PHO forums.
…
…
…this can't be real…right?
No way I was just…no no no. Just stay calm and just click it.
I opened the website to satisfy my curiosity and just see how weird this website is.
My stomach began to drop as I read, looking at the news of Weld joining in the Boston Wards, a villain called String Theory being arrested and sentenced to the Birdcage, a villain duo by the name of Fog and Night making their base in Boston, A New Wave member by the name of Victoria Dallon, announcing herself to the crowd, Blasto being a crime lord in-
I closed the laptop as I began to hyperventilate. There is no way I just got sucked into Worm right..? Yeah there is no way, this is just a weird dream that I did a CYOA of sorts and somehow transport myself here and I got godlike powers that somehow I can't fucking use and maybe the only way I could use it is to let go of the control of my dream…
But no matter what, I just couldn't wake up!
I decided to just place the laptop, cover myself in these blankets and just let my mind shut down…and before you know it, this will all be just a dream…
Right…
…
…
…
September 13, 2009
07:45
…
…
…staring blankly at the time in my old ass phone I realized a lot of things but just to be sure, I opened up the laptop to confirm my suspicions…
I'm in Earth Bet, living in Boston where the Teeth is in, Blasto lives also somewhere here, there is also the PRT, The Protectorate, and The Wards too.
Not to mention that world-ending monsters known as Endbringers also exist, which explains why anime cant exist since Leviathan fucked over Japan… and a shit ton of things too that I can't recall since my knowledge of Worm is only based on the fandom, fanfics and reading only a bit of Interlude.
So I'm living in a story that is basically hell on Earth but that's not the worse part.
I went back to my desk to open up the school ID of this body. Reginald Livsey…now everything makes fucking sense. No wonder why this name sounds fucking familiar.
I'm the dead brother of one of the main protagonists of Worn. Sarah Livsey aka, Lisa Wilbourn also known as the villain, Tattletale…
…
…
…why oh why…
HAVE THE GODS DECIDED TO MAKE ME THE SIBLING OF MY OWN FICTIONAL CRUSH?! OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU COULD HAVE REINCARNATED ME INTO WHY HER SIBLING?! WHY HER USELESS DEADBEAT BROTHER WHO DID NOTHING BUT JUST FUCKING DIED LIKE A BITCH FUCK YOU, GOD, FUCK YOU ZION, FUCK ALL OF YOU ENTITIES, FUCK YOU GOD, YOU PIECE OF SHI-!
[̸̱̝͓͙̬̞̘̞̺͔̜̟͔̉̆̎̌D̶̬͖̄͗͗̾̈́͝E̷̥̟͖͍̲͕̰͎̅̇͆̅́̔̔͐̒͘͝͠͝S̴̼̠̙͒͊̿͌̈́͂̽͝T̵̤̲͔̬͍̝͚̣̮̫̥͑̂̀I̵̢̡̡̲̜͒̃̔̀͒̏̀͌̉̇͘͠͝͠N̸̺̝͉̭̯͕͖̟͇̮͔̩̬̲͒̈̆͂̚A̴̺͉͉̫̦͔̯͈̣͉̲̱̪͍̱̒̏̀̆̀̍̈́̓̄̽̂̕̕̚͠Ť̴̛͔̳̗̆̃͋͒̐͒͝Ị̶̢̨͈̞̺͓̲͇́̔̿̏͒͂̃̃̌̒̐̚̚̕O̴̖͎̓̅͛̌̈̕Ň̴̡̝̣͊̓͊̓̐͛̿͘͠͝]̵̤̞̭̈́͒̀
̷̧̝̪̰̥͍̙̯̣̜̹͎̹͕̈́̅̔̒͜͠
̶̳̍͛̔̿̐͒͛̔͝͝[̸̡̧͕̹̦̟͎̞̫̙̯̀͑̇̀̽͌̀̐͋́̒̍͑̚͜͝A̶̛͕̹̲̥̍͐͒͠ͅG̴͇̰͇̙͂̀̽̎͑̄̆̎̍̄̕͠͠G̶̡̨̨̛̛̤͍̘̲̻͖͈͇̱͙̹̣̋̀̒́̋̐̚R̶̥̫̠̘̓̊̅̄̿̊͛̊͂̓̏̓́̍͜ͅȨ̵̣̯̣̭͎͚̏͗̀̑͝Ḿ̵̧͈͔̑͊̀̂͝E̷̮̋ͅṄ̷̨̧̧̤̮̣̗̪̼̜͓͒ͅṰ̷̡̘̫̔̋̏̀́̑̈̏̕͝͝]̶̨̣̝̦̔̃̒̇͑̄̚̚̚͜
I collapsed at that moment, unaware of the powers I had gained at that moment.