Knock! Knock!
"Brother, you up yet? Breakfast's ready!" Elisa called out as she pushed the door open. "Wait… you didn't sleep? Were you up all night playing that game again… Warcraft something?"
Void quickly minimized his document and alt-tabbed to the browser. "You mean World of Warcraft. And no, I wasn't."
Elisa crossed her arms, eyeing him. "Uh-huh. You always making that face when you're lying."
Void didn't answer, just rubbed his temple.
"…Anyway," she continued, "aren't you supposed to talk to Daniel today? You said you wanted him in your capstone group."
"Daniel?" he asked slowly. "Who's… that?"
Elisa blinked. "Are you messing with me? You introduced him to me at prom, remember? Tall guy, glasses, always talks with his hands?"
Void forced a small laugh. "Right. Of course. Just... sleepy, I guess."
She tilted her head, watching him a second longer. "Yeah… okay. Just don't zone out during breakfast. Mom's making pancakes."
"Got it. Just give me a minute."
As she turned to leave, she muttered under her breath, "Did he watch porn all night?"
Void eyes narrowed the moment she close the door, "Daniel?"
With his perfect recall, Void was certain, there was no one named Daniel he'd ever been close to in his past life.
"Did I really get to know him during… that blank period?" he muttered.
He'd spent the whole day going over every memory he could, trying to plan his next steps.
That's when he realized something strange, there was a gap. A stretch of time between the house fire and now that was completely missing.
No matter how hard he tried to remember… there was nothing.
Just a blank.
Void tapped his finger against the desk.
'Was I… someone different during that time?'
The scent of eggs and bacon filled the kitchen, blending with the soft clatter of plates and the low hum of the morning radio. Void freshly washed and dressed, just finished his breakfast.
Elisa was still halfway through her toast, humming a tune under her breath.
"Elisa," he said, cutting through the morning chatter, "how's the college stuff coming along?"
She blinked, caught off guard. "Uh… good, I guess? Sent out a few applications. Mostly local schools and community colleges."
Void nodded slowly. "Did you try Harvard?"
She stared at him like he'd grown a second head. "Harvard?"
"Yeah. Don't they have scholarship programs? Especially for academic merit?"
She laughed, not meanly, but with disbelief. "You serious? Aren't you the one who told me not to set my hopes too high? That a college like that was basically off-limits unless you were rich or born into a senator's family?"
Void looked down at his plate for a second, then met her eyes again with a steady smile. "Well… maybe I was wrong."
His parents paused their chewing, exchanging a curious glance.
Elisa tilted her head, narrowing her eyes. "Okay, what's going on? You're being… weirdly supportive."
"I'm just saying, Harvard's not impossible."
"You literally said last week it was a fantasy. Like, exact words," she said, jabbing her fork at him.
Void shrugged. "Guess I changed my mind."
He laughed softly. "Well, maybe because I changed it myself."
Void stood up, grabbing his old denim jacket off the back of the chair. "Anyway, you should apply. Nothing wrong with aiming high."
He left before anyone could press further.
Outside, the morning air was crisp. He walked up to his beat-up Toyota Corolla, a faded '96 model with a dent in the left fender and a muffler that rattled like it was full of rocks.
The driver-side door creaked like an old screen hinge as he tugged it open. He slid into the seat, the fabric slightly torn, foam exposed in the corner.
"Still the same," he muttered with a smirk, twisting the key in the ignition.
The engine coughed twice, wheezed… then started with a low growl, like an old dog getting up from the floor. The dashboard lights blinked reluctantly, the radio crackled to life with some static-ridden rock station.
Void leaned back and smiled faintly. He remembered buying this thing used off Craigslist for $900. He than spent an entire weekend scrubbing the inside clean and fixing the AC with duct tape.
"It's a miracle this thing still runs," he murmured, rolling down the window with the manual crank.
As he pulled out onto the road, windows open, wind hitting his face, it felt like stepping back into a long-lost part of himself.
"Ah yes… this is life. No bills to worry about, other than student loans and a million-dollar goal," he muttered with a dry, sarcastic laugh.
It didn't take long to reach the campus. The sight of the familiar college building made him smirk.
"In the past, I dropped out after the fire. But not this time. Now, you're just another stepping stone to my goal."
He already had a plan, create an influencer.
YouTube was still growing in 2007. Most people saw it as a hobby site, just for laughs and amateur clips. But Void knew what was coming.
By 2009, ad money would start rolling in. That meant right now was the perfect time to get in early, while there was almost no competition.
Of course, this was a long-term move. A foundation for his empire.
Void didn't plan to be the influencer himself. The fame, the pressure? No thanks.
He preferred to stay in the shadows, earning money without the spotlight. And he already had someone in mind to fill that role.
He stepped through the campus gates, eyes scanning the usual crowd of half-awake students and caffeine-fueled crammers.
Then he saw her, sitting under the old oak near the side entrance, legs crossed, earbuds in, humming softly to herself like the world didn't exist.
Rachel Lin. Half-Chinese, half-white. Always with her nose in a book or scribbling lyrics in the margins. She wore faded jeans, an oversized hoodie, and a beat-up backpack covered in indie band patches.
But her voice? He still remembered how she made it big. In 2015, she started a YouTube channel and exploded, over a million subscribers. But that future hadn't happened yet.
'She's perfect,' Void thought. 'Now, how should I go about this?'
There was one problem, with Rachel. He was probably part of the reason it took her so long to start singing in public.
'She was at that party. I thought it was just a harmless dare. I didn't even realize she took it seriously… but I saw her face when someone laughed. And I laughed too, didn't I? Damn.'
He took a slow breath and walked toward the tree. Rachel didn't notice him at first. She had one earbud in, eyes down, quietly humming something under her breath as she tapped her pen to the side of her notebook.
Void stopped a few feet away. "Hey," he said, voice casual but careful.
She looked up. The moment their eyes met, her expression froze.
Then it shifted, calm to cold. "Oh," she said flatly, removing her earbud. "Here to mock me again?"
Void's stomach sank. 'She remembered. Of course she remembered.'
"No," he said quickly. "Not at all. I just-"
"Let me guess," she cut in, voice low and bitter. "Another dare? Or just bored enough to bother me for fun again?"
Void opened his mouth to respond, but nothing came out.