WHO AM I THIS TIME?

I smiled as I looked at the mirror and straightened my suit. At last. I had landed a job — and not just any job, but my dream job. The words echoed in my head like a song I never wanted to stop hearing.

I smiled even wider, studying my reflection again, utterly satisfied with my look. The navy-blue suit wasn’t new, but it fit just right. I’d saved for weeks from my part-time jobs to buy it from a friend who once shared this same tiny room with me.

It wasn’t perfect, but it made me look like someone who finally had a future.

“Time to go to work,” I muttered to myself, smiling faintly as I glanced around my room.

Calling it a room felt generous. It was barely large enough to fit a bed. it is just a mirror, and a small box where I kept my few clothes. A plastic chair sat in the corner beside two chipped plates and two spoons. The walls were cracked, the paint fading, but it was still home — my own place, my own little world.

I had fought too hard to get here. Growing up in an orphanage was hell. Life was hard, but being unwanted made it worse. My parents had died in a gas explosion when I was four. Their properties were taken by relatives, leaving me with nothing. My aunt tried to take care of me, but when her husband lost his job, she said she couldn’t feed “a mouth that didn’t belong.”

So she dropped me off at the orphanage and never came back.

There, I learned to survive. I was bullied, ignored, forgotten — but I held onto one dream: to study, graduate with first-class honors, and work at Apex Holdings, the company everyone called “the city’s pride.”

Today, that dream was real. I smiled again, grabbed my old leather bag, and locked my door.

“Hey!”

The sharp voice made me freeze. My heart dropped immediately. I didn’t even need to turn around to know who it was.

“Eli!” my landlady shouted from downstairs.

I sighed quietly and started walking faster, pretending not to hear.

“If you dare leave,” she barked, “you’ll see your things outside when you return! That’s if you even have anything worth throwing out!”

I turned slowly, forcing a smile as I walked toward her. She stood by her door, arms folded across her chest, eyes squinting at me like I’d just stolen something.

“Good morning, ma’am,” I greeted softly.

“Good what?” she snapped, scanning me from head to toe. “You had money to buy a suit but not to pay your rent?”

“Ma’am, I promise, I’ll pay you,” I said quickly. “I just—”

“Oh, please!” She rolled her eyes, cutting me off before I could finish. “I’ve had enough of your excuses. Six months, Eli! Six months! If you don’t pay by this weekend, I’ll throw everything you own outside. I’ve tried. I really have. But you’ve turned my kindness into foolishness!”

Her words hit like little stones, and I couldn’t blame her. She was right.

I bowed slightly. “I understand, ma’am. I’ll do everything I can to pay.”

“You better.” She pointed a wrinkled finger at me. “Don’t think that fancy job will save you. People lose jobs faster than they get them.”

She turned and slammed her door.

I sighed. The excitement in my chest dimmed a little. There was no way I’d have enough money to pay by weekend. My first paycheck wouldn’t even come for another month.

Still, I tried to shake the thought away. Today wasn’t the day to think about debts.

I was finally starting a new life.

As I stepped into the street, the early morning sun kissed my face. The city was already awake as horns blaring, vendors shouting, people rushing past.

I tightened my grip on my bag and smiled faintly. “You can do this, Eli.”

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I smiled when I saw the name flashing across the screen. Caleb.

“Hey, love,” I answered softly.

“Finally,” his deep voice came through, teasing and warm. “You didn’t even call me before leaving?”

“I didn’t want to wake you up,” I said, smiling. “You came back from the night shift late.”

“I don’t care. You know I wanted to be the first to say ‘congratulations.’”

I laughed quietly. “You already said it like twenty times yesterday.”

“And I’ll keep saying it till you believe it,” he said. “I’m proud of you, Eli. You worked so hard for this.”

His words sank deep. Caleb had seen me at my lowest — when I almost dropped out of school, when I couldn’t afford food, when I thought I’d never make it.

“Thank you,” I whispered.

“Text me when you get there, okay? And please, don’t skip breakfast again.”

“I won’t, Love you.” I said,

“Love you more. Always.”

The line went silent. I smiled at my screen for a moment before sliding the phone back into my pocket.

I boarded a bus and found a seat by the window. The wind brushed my face and for once, life felt… peaceful.

A small, strange feeling tugged at my chest — like déjà vu. I shook it off. Maybe I was just nervous.

The bus stopped near the Apex Holdings building — tall, glass, beautiful. My heart raced as I stepped out.

I had made it. The city’s pride. The job of my dreams. Maybe this was where my real life began.

I took one deep breath and started crossing the street. Then someone screamed behind me.

“HEY! WATCH OUT!”

I turned. A trailer was speeding down the road, horn blaring. For one split second, the world slowed.

The sunlight hit the metal, blinding me. I felt my body freeze and my legs refusing to move.

Someone shouted again, but their voice was distant now.

My heart pounded once, twice—

So this is how it ends?

The sound of the crash swallowed everything...