The elevator doors shut with a soft ding, and I never thought I'd be here… standing in a place that felt nothing like the life I had wanted for myself. My chest tightened as memories clawed their way to the surface, uninvited but impossible to ignore.
It all started with that birthday dinner—my mother's insistence on reminding me how "responsible adults" lived.
"So… how's life?" she asked, smiling, but her eyes were sharp, calculating. "You can't keep playing around forever. It's time you thought about having a family of your own."
I swallowed hard, trying to keep my composure, but the words ignited something in me. "Mother, I… I want my life to be mine. I don't need someone dictating who I should love or how I should live."
Her smile faltered. "Is that what you really think? You can't keep running from responsibility. One day, you'll regret it."
That was the spark. Words were thrown, voices raised, and soon the room was filled with tension so thick I could barely breathe. My father's sighs, my mother's sharp retorts—they all felt like chains tightening around me.
I had no choice but to leave. Storming out into the night, the cool air did little to calm my racing heart. I just wanted to escape—from their expectations, from the suffocating world they built for me, from the life they thought I should lead.
And that's when the world betrayed me. One wrong step, one careless moment on the street… and everything changed.
The streets were empty, save for the occasional car passing by, and I walked without a clear destination, letting the cool night air whip against my face. My mind replayed the argument over and over—the harsh words, the disappointed looks, the sense of being trapped in a life I never wanted.
I barely noticed the traffic as I stepped onto the crosswalk, lost in thought. And then—
The screech of tires, the blinding headlights, and the world spun into chaos. Pain exploded in my chest, and I crumpled to the ground, every thought of my parents, of freedom, of the life I longed for, colliding in a single, terrifying instant.
When I woke, everything was… different. The ceiling above me wasn't familiar, the feel of my body wasn't mine. Panic surged through me as memories of the accident flashed vividly—yet the body I now inhabited moved, spoke, and breathed as someone else.
Someone… else.
It didn't take long to realize: I was trapped in another life. One I hadn't chosen. One with obligations, expectations, and a path that wasn't mine. But the fire inside me—the free spirit, the yearning for a life I could call my own—was still there, burning brighter than ever.
And that was when I knew… I wasn't going to just survive in this life. I was going to take it by storm.