Michael stood on the edge of the roof, wind roughing his short dark hair. He was panting of exertion after climbing over twenty floors without an elevator. His face looked expressionless and stoic, but terror was hidden deep within his eyes.
Michael lifted one leg over the edge and kept his balance for a second. Wind here was sharp and cold, even in summer, as if pushing him back from taking this final step of his life.
"Goddamn Leon," Michael whispered softly. He was really left with no choice in life. Because of his weak body, he couldn't go to work like most people. And even if he could, Leon held back no effort to make sure Michael wouldn't hold a job for long.
So, he had to stay at home and survive, cut off all contact with people, spend his days reading, gaming and watching TV. But after ten years, his parents' money and what he could earn from selling his apartment, came to an end. Then, some goons knocked on his door this morning and announced that the small flat was no longer for rent. There were only two options: live on the streets or keep some dignity. That was why Michael found a tall building with access to the roof.
'I swear, if only I was born healthy, if only I had a chance…' he thought. He took a deep breath, forbade himself to close his eyes and gently shifted his weight.
His overstretched clothes fluttering in the wind, Michael heard a buzz in his ears and saw the ground approaching fast. Grey asphalt was coming closer and closer…
…
Meanwhile, a strong current, millions of times stronger than the one on that roof, stirred a few leaves on a small branch of the World Tree. Two leaves, each representing a separate world, most alike on the same branch, drew closer. They touched in a single point and then settled again.
"Caw, caw!"
…
Crack!
Michael grabbed his pulsating forehead. Falling to his death was so painful! Wait, painful?
He opened his eyes. Instead of grey asphalt before him was a wall laid out with sea-blue tiles. He was standing in this room when he should've been lying there…
"Are you all right?" someone asked.
He looked to his right. There was a young man of no more than 16 years, with a face that seemed familiar. But just as Michael tried to remember where he could have seen this boy, he was interrupted, "Bro, do you mind? Trying to do my thing here."
Oh, right. He was in the washroom. And he just maintained eye contact with this boy for over five seconds.
"S-s-sorry," he stuttered, unused to actually talking with people, and looked away. He felt a certain heaviness in his lower abdomen. Right, he was here for a reason. As he satisfied his body's immediate need, accompanied by the sound of the boy zipping up and leaving with hurried steps, he realized something.
"Wait, my little brother has shrunk so much! And where is my goddamn belly?" After years of slovenly lifestyle and inability to work out, Michael's weight exceeded 250 pounds, but now he turned slim and fit. His hands were smaller and thinner, he was dressed in formal suit pants and a shirt, with a wool vest over it.
He glanced in the mirror above the sink near the door. A childish face with parted dark hair looked back at him.
"That's me. That's me when I was a boy."
He looked around and realized that this washroom was exactly the same as the one in his school. He approached the door and turned the handle. There it was, the familiar floor, the walls, the classroom doors. The boy he met before was already nowhere to be seen.
The day Michael jumped was August 15th. Judging from the way he was dressed now, he still wasn't a student here, and considering the date, he should be in the middle of entrance exams. Question was, what exactly was going on?
He was alive. He was in school. He was 14 years old, almost a 9th-grader. These were all reasons to celebrate, except Michael couldn't adapt to the change so quickly. One thing was certain – that his school years were the best of his life.
Michael was a good student when he was a teenager, very intelligent and determined. His greatest shortcoming was his genetic defect, LZD1, "laziness disease". It was not yet discovered in 2008, but in 2028 where he was just a few minutes ago, it was well-known. Not because of its widespread, but because it was easy to ridicule. Only those few people in a million who had it, realized how terrible it was, living with a constantly depleting supply of energy.
The disease manifested in youth, and by the age of 20, few people who had it could run a kilometer. Even walking around and concentrating for more than an hour were real challenges. In fact, it took Michael an hour to climb those floors before the jump. LZD1 was his greatest enemy, the reason his life was destined to be ruined. He was only happy his mother died before the disease was discovered and didn't blame herself for giving birth to him like that.
Oh, if it is 2008, then his mother is still alive! And father too! And Alice, Leon, Pavel and so many others are still children...
Suddenly, a sound of footsteps broke his train of thought, as a plump middle-aged woman entered the floor and headed towards classroom 204. "Sorry I'm late," she announced energetically, entering the room.
"That means it's the second stage of the exam," muttered Michael. First, there were written tests on English, Maths and two more subjects of the student's choice. Then, a week to prepare and deliver a research paper from a set of prearranged topics. Those lucky few who passed, had to attend a week of trial classes. Michael remembered well that his research paper was on Alexander the Great, a Macedonian king who lived in three-hundred-something BC. And his second exam was exactly in classroom 204!
Not hesitating any longer, he hurried to enter the classroom. Everything else could wait.
'So what if I don't remember the details of my own paper? This daddy here is a 34-year-old highly educated man! I come from the future! I rode in hovercars and enjoyed virtual reality games! Competing with children? Too easy!'