Someone I'm Not

7. Collision of Present and Past

The ride is too silent for Phoenix to bear. He's not too happy about what is going on and how to deal with it any longer. He felt like he just got back to being a third-year-old kid who is still groping in the dark.

"F*ck this. . ." He mumbles to himself as he stares at the window for a couple of more seconds before taking his eyes away from the outside world, daggering his eyes into Eduardus, who is silently sitting beside him. His eyes are glued into the road. "Well, are you not going to say anything?" He asks, a bit pissed by the attitude. Instead, Eduardus rolls his eyes and throws him a glance for a split second before he shifts his attention back to the road.

"Tss, humans." He mumbles under his breath but too easy to tell that he intentionally made him hear it to piss him off longer.

"What did you say?" Phoenix asks as he crosses his arms into his chest. As soon as his hands touch the bump in front of him, he feels a quick rush of warmth crawling into his cheeks. he purses his lips, forming a thin line, not expecting it would be this much of a difficult to handle body he wasn't born on dealing with. "F*ck." he curses. Suddenly, Eduardus looks at him as he sees him redden.

"Are you okay there, Soroya?"

"Don't call me that name, dude. NOT FUNNY." He still could not accept the fate bestowed on him. But at some point, he got to have a chance to prove to everyone he's doing his best at straightening himself. But how? Now that he's controlling someone else's body, things got a pretty messed up game for him.

"I'm sorry you have to deal with this shocking switch up already, but you don't have a choice. Even if calling you Soroya would piss you off, and you should get used to it now because other people will wonder that something wrong is going on with you if you cannot remember the name of the person that you are possessing. So you either start accepting this challenge, or you'll back out now. I can always tell the Goddess to retrieve this ticket."

"You can? She'll do it?" A hint of hope and glitter in the eyes looks at Eduardus expectantly.

"Yes. . . Duh! Of course not!" he exclaims that makes Phoenix sigh in disappointment.

"You son of a gun." He mumbles as he leans on the seat, almost forgetting how comfortable the chair is.

"Look, Phoenix. I know it's hard to think that yesterday, you're living inside your original self, and the next morning, you're not. And I gotta tell you, IT IS DAMN AWKWARD considering the fact that you're going to handle a woman's body-"

"It is my best friend, body, Eduardus. Not just any woman's nody that I'm going to deal with for I don't know how long, but damn. . . This is so-"

"Frustrating? Messed up? Mind-blowing? Trust me, I know."

"How can you say that? You're not living inside a woman's body?" He raises that question, now wondering about the man beside him. Eduardus takes a right, leading into the open parking space. Beside it are buildings that, from what he recalls, are Downtown. He looks outside to admire the city view even if it is still bright; how would that area be more beautiful if night falls and colorful lights?

Before he could even turn and ask Eduardus the same question he didn't answer, Phoenix already feels the car stop. Eduardus then turns his head towards Phoenix after he pulls off. "Let's save the questions for later, okay? Right now, what's important is that we get to stuff our stomach, especially you."

"Me? Tss. The bread and juice from home are already enough for me." he confidently answers that makes Eduardus chuckle.

***

"Damn, this is just too good!" Phoenix mumbles as he devours the final bite of his third burger. Eduardus looks at him as he shakes his head as he gently takes another bite of his second one. "Hmm-mmh!"

"Can you- Okay, you know what? Why don't you give your jaw a little break at chewing and take a sip on your melon juice before-" he was cut off short when Phoenix starts to cough violently. "Oh, my goodness." He facepalms, not wanting to see any other torturous sight from the person in front of him. he scrutinizingly stare at Phoenix before pushing the glass for him to drink on. Phoenix quickly empties his glass in not less than ten seconds before he heaves a breath and places the emptied glass down on the table.

"Now you want to take it at a slow pace?" He raises a brow at Phoenix. he wipes his lips with the provided napkin before nodding. "Good." This time, it was Eduardus to take another bite from his fries, which is running cold. He focuses his gaze on his plate as Phoenix leans forward.

"You seem to know everything, don't you?" He asks out of the blue that makes Eduardus look up at him, eyeing him with a questioning look. "I mean, yeah, you seem so cool and confident the first time I saw you, then you told me at the car that the most important thing is to stuff our stomachs, but the moment we got inside, I ended up ordering The Burger Priest, a Golden Star Burger, Eggs cant be a cheeseburger and a White cheese castle sider! I even ordered a medium-sized fries. I mean, I CANNOT eat a lot of these when I was. . ." his words trail off when he realizes when the conversation is going. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Soroya- sorry, I mean, Phoenix. But to answer your question, yes I tend to know a lot. You do realize that I had a lot of souls to help before you, right?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. . . Now back to the question you've been meaning to ask before your attention drifter to the burgers. You asked how I tend to know how you're feeling?"

"Yes?"

"It is because I just think that I know how they feel. You know, being a guardian of a soul who deserves to come back is a responsibility. Sometimes, we are just too coped up with the job to impress the goddess herself, and, of course, Houdini himself is called to be a trustworthy official that also influences the court. So if you want to earn their trust, if WE want to earn their trust, we must think fast."

"And act fast?"

"Exactly. So let's cut to the chase, shall we?" he asks as the same unreadable expression prints into Eduardus's face. Phoenix nods, agreeing with him.

"What should we do first?"

"Well, for starters, you should start by addressing me with my formal name."

"And that is?"

Eduardus stretches his hand with an aura of formality. "Hello, Client number 100, I am the man in charge of your success, and you can call me Guardian Ed." Phoenix almost releases a chuckle, but he knows it is not the time to c***k it up. He clears his throat before stretching his hand in front as well, receiving Eduardus's hand.

"Okay? Well, hello, My Guardian Ed, this 100th client's name is Phoenix Oasis, currently living inside his best friend's body named Soroya Greene. And this will be a very difficult challenge to deal with."

"And the most interesting. . . So far, we'll see, so don't disappoint me and the House Justice, Client one hundred."

"And you should then do your best at guiding this client then, Guardian Ed."

"I always do WITH MY BEST, so rest assured that this challenge will be dealt with the easiest way possible."

They stare at each other before breaking into a laugh. Although there are only a few persons eating there, all of their attention seems to be caught by them. It lasted for a couple more seconds before they fall into silence.

"But seriously, Phoenix, you'll call me by that name if we are in some places where we can talk about this. But since we are in a public place, acting like normal beings, it is best if we address each other like how others would. . . And it will be a bit easy if you think of it as a DARE thing."

"Not sound too convincing but, yeah. I guess I'll put that in mind for consideration."

"What?"

"Just kidding. . . So, what's the next move?" Phoenix asks.

"Okay, so as you are aware of what is happening, I still like to make it clear for you to understand more, okay?"

"Okay."

"Great! Now to start, Queen Dyke doesn't usually do this kind of gender-switching game. Even I was surprised to see you by the door."

"Then how did you even know I was there?"

"Oh right. Well, about that. . .  When I push you on that portal before you wake up in your new body, the Goddess let me stay a bit longer, and she has told me that she'll quickly send me in front of the address of your new body. Of course, I would gladly accept that rather than she makes me look for you like a dumb kid looking for the lollipop he didn't even buy in the first place."

'he's hiding something.' Phoenix thought to himself. But then, he decided to brush it off.

"And that is why I was able to find you. But you had got to believe me when I told you that I didn't know you were living a woman's body. But right now, you should start getting used to it if you want this mission to succeed. You should get used to being called Soroya because soon, you'll meet yourself."

"Myself? But wait, I'm dead, right?" He asks, but only a smirk from Eduardus makes him wonder. His eyes widen when he realizes something. He quickly pulls his phone out of his jeans as opens it.

••••

October 14, 2017

10:45 am

"Wait, hold up. Can I have your phone?" Eduardus hands him his phone as he opens it as well. Phoenix's eyes search for Eduardus's phone date and time, thinking there might have been an error in the phone he's holding. But to his disappointment, it appears the same date and time. "No freaking way." His eyes meet Eduardus's gaze, hoping he could find an answer. But for the second time, he is disappointed.

"You just got back from time, Client number 100, if that's the answer you've wanted to hear."

"But how. . . Wait, so are you trying to say that I just got back in time?"

"That's what I said."

"Oh my. . . Things are getting more and more exciting, isn't it?"

"If you put it that way, yes. Yes, we can say it's getting exciting. But you shouldn't think that way, dude, because if I were you, I should be more worried about what complication lies with this EXCITEMENT you're feeling at the moment, hmm?"

"And what are you trying to say?" Phoenix furrows his brows as Eduardus asks for his phone back. He didn't hesitate to give it back without breaking the stare. When Eduardus takes possession of his phone, he slides it back into his pocket as his free hand grabs his glass of refreshment. He brings it to his lips as it touches the straw that shows class and fanciness. When he brings it down, he keeps silent for two seconds before talking.

"What I am trying to say is that, instead of looking for the positive ones, why not try to dig every edge of possibilities? We know that living here in the human world is anybody's game since we don't know who will and when one dies. Trust me, if you think this way rather than giving too much attention to this excitement."

"So you want me to disregard being happy and be just TOO SERIOUS about this?"

"You SHOULD be serious with this if you want not to let the goddess down. She gave you a second chance for a reason, Phoenix, and not all are given this slot. If you were to ask me, I thought we didn't have a spot there but surprisingly, we did. . . Look, Phoenix. I know everything will soon start to overwhelm you, maybe tonight when you lie in bed and think about everything.  .  . All I want to say is that you should use this opportunity to plot now who might be your killer? Was it someone you know from school or outside the school? Or just a mere stranger?"

"I don't think it could be one of my friends that would kill me-"

"Why not? Just because you call them friends doesn't mean they don't hate you.  Remember this, Phoenix. Even the closest one can stab you right in the back."

"But I was killed at a dark alley. How could a friend of mine kill me there when all of my friends are here in the town and not in my town for college?"

"I don't know. . .  But what if this is all a setup?"

"Keep this in mind, will you?" Eduardus pauses as he looks outside for a second. A grin forms into his lips as his gaze trails back inside. he then leans close, starting to talk again. "Everyone is a suspect, okay? And that could mean that everyone is dangerous at this point, especially that we haven't had possible suspects yet. This means that if there is someone, or two, that you have and should be trusting at this moment, it should be only me."

"Of course! Wait, so are you telling me that even myself is dangerous-"

"Soroya?"

Someone stops at their table. Phoenix lifts his face to meet the person's gaze. He gasps as he instantly covers his mouth. "P-phoenix!?"

"Hi. . . Oh, I guess you're here with someone."

's**t!'