~ Prologue ~
[The Engineer’s point of view]
The 1st of January 2027, the start of a new year, the beginning of new promises, new hopes, new dreams.
Just like many others, I too believed that I would finally have the chance to turn my life around yet... here I was... hanging on for dear life by a piece of broken rebar sticking out of the cracked pavement of the Golden Gate Bridge. My left arm was limp, broken and my right leg was pulsing with pain, my vision was blurry, and my breathing was heavy. Another piece of rebar was sticking out of my stomach.
“Is anyone hurt?!” someone shouted through the smoke on the bridge.
“Yo, come here! I’m finna pull this dude out! Need help!”
“911? Yeah, there’s been one hella accident on the bridge halfway through to...”
“Help! Somebody help! My mom! Please...”
“Get that kid out of the car! The fire’s about to...”
“God, please... oh God!”
So, why did it come to this? Why was everyone screaming and shouting?
What I could remember was vague… I was on the bus... heading to my little studio apartment in the Bay Area, coming back from a party with friends. Then tragedy struck. A car crashed into the truck in front of us, which hit another car, which sent a truck filled with explosive materials into the rails. Moments later, there was a loud explosion, the bus flipped, and I found myself flying out the window... and the last thing I knew... was this... hanging for dear life above the cold waters below, bleeding heavily.
I could not even understand how this happened. The pedestrian side was wide, the protective rails were sturdy, there were even suicide protection nets, to say a car somehow bypass all this and caused enough damage for a human to slip through to fall... was a bit of a stretch. It was a one-in-a-million chance. It was worse than winning the lottery. Yet... here I was.
The bridge above me was burning.
The water below was freezing...
The cold air struck me furiously, and the piece of metal I was hanging from... how?
“It’s just like me... I’m close to dying, and I’m wondering about where the engineering failed... Well... maybe it didn’t... and I’m just dead already...” those were my last words.
My fingers slipped, and I fell.
There was nothing from this point on. No memory of me striking the cold waters, of suffering or drowning. Everything turned off like a phone that ran out of power.
Then... I opened my eyes, and the world around me had changed...
There were a bunch of adults, but I did not recognize any of them. My vision was blurry, but I was not alarmed by it, and I felt... small... really small.
“Look, dear! He’s smiling!” a woman said.
“Our little boy is so cute!” a man agreed with a nod.
“Your name is Cody.” the woman suddenly declared as she looked at me with what I felt was... a gentle and loving motherly gaze.
Cody? But... my name is... what was my name? I... my thoughts then began to swirl in my mind like a bunch of hounds chasing an imaginary fox.
Then, I remembered... my death... the moment when I could not hold on anymore, and I... fell.
I’m dead... but... then... reincarnation? I thought as I looked up at these strange adults.