"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!"
A piercing, shrill scream pierced the air. Adrienne could feel her earbuds about to burst from the sound. She weakly opened her eyes and in a hoarse voice, she muttered.
"Shut up."
The scream stopped right away providing Adrienne's throbbing headache with some relief. She blinked a couple of times to make the blur in her eyes go away.
As her vision cleared she could see the bottles of alcohol lying messily on the ground. She was stunned. She immediately sat up and observed her surroundings. She was lying on the floor of a small apartment building that clearly wasn't well maintained. There was a weird inscription underneath her. In front of her was a young man who looked to be around the age of a college student. His hair was dyed a pale pink and his clothes looked cheap and were wrinkled.
Adrienne could still remember clearly how she had gotten struck by lightning, yet she seemed perfectly fine and was now in a suspicious place with a stranger. Her head was filled with questions and she hoped that this mysterious youth had answers.
"Excuse me-"
She stopped herself midway through as she saw the youth turn around. Her face filled with disbelief as she saw the appearance of him. Why did he look so much like Ayden? He was almost an exact copy of him besides the fact that he looked younger and had pink hair.
The youth looked at her apologetically.
"This might hurt a bit."
Suddenly, she felt a piercing pain in her head. She almost screamed involuntarily but bit her lip instead. She could feel her consciousness leaving her as her eyes closed.
~~~
The last thing Ayden could remember was going out for drinks with Adrienne, swearing, puking, and… hugging a pole? He'd gotten drunk before but never had he gotten drunk and woke up looking almost 10 years younger and with pink hair. Considering that he had woken up naked in a hotel bed with two other naked men, woken up in a bathtub, woken up to his house on fire, and woken up with a new tattoo on his ankle, this was saying something. He originally thought that he'd drunkenly signed up to partake in some sort of clinical trial until he noticed the slightly younger-looking girl lying next to him on the floor. To his surprise, she looked a lot like his friend Adrienne. A relative perhaps?
Thinking of Adrienne once again solidified his belief that he wasn't in some suspicious experiment. After all, she wasn't someone who would leave him alone drunk. They were so close that something like that would never happen. He also vaguely recalled a flash of light before his… "transformation" to his younger self. It seemed somewhat unnatural.
He curiously leaned over to take a closer look at the girl when all of a sudden he could feel a sensation no less painful than biting your tongue, stubbing your pinky toe, or dropping your phone on your face. It was seriously painful. He immediately started screaming in pain. Countless shards of memories flooded his mind. He suddenly knew what had happened and it made him want to strangle himself.
Haha! He f*cked up.
"Shut up."
He heard a hoarse voice. He stiffly turned his head to see that the girl had woken up, remembering what he had experienced he couldn't help but look at her apologetically.
"This might hurt a bit."
He said somewhat guiltily.
He watched as pain replaced the confusion in her eyes. Then she fainted. Ayden thought realistically to himself.
'She's going to kill me once she wakes up.'
~~~
Less than a minute later, Adrienne woke up. She could see the younger-looking Ayden exploring the surroundings. With a pale face, she turned to him:
"Please help me up."
She said weakly. The boy's eyes sparkled with relief as he dashed to Adrienne. He immediately gave his hand to her.
"You're finally awake! Now don't be too shocked when I tell you this but-OUCH!"
Ayden crouched over holding his stomach that had ruthlessly gotten punched. He hissed in pain.
The weak expression on Adrienne's face vanished. She stared emotionlessly at Ayden.
"I'll give you five minutes to explain. No more, no less."
Ayden sat up at lightning speed on his knees.
"Well, maybe we should, I don't know…take some time to adjust to our situation?"
Adrienne: "…"
She was speechless at the sight of her friend trying to get out of this situation… How shameless could he possibly be?
It was only a week later that Adrienne would learn firsthand that as long as you have the willingness to do so, there is no limit to a person's shamelessness. But for now, she simply glared at Ayden.
"Talk."
Adrienne then listened intently as Ayden recounted what happened.
Or at least tried to.
~~~
"We are in a parallel world."
Ayden ignored Adrienne's suspicious gaze on him as he continued.
"You should have received the memories of the "you" who is living in this world. I did too, but I suffered less than you because I was the one who performed the ritual."
"Ritual?" Adrienne questioned. She had no recollection of this "ritual" Ayden was talking about.
"How much do you remember?" Ayden asked.
"Well, using the memories of this body, I was drinking with you, fell asleep after drinking then woke up with this inscription under me!"
Ayden coughed lightly, "…I drew that."
Sensing Adrienne's disbelief, Ayden provided his side of the story.
"You see the other me kind of discovered this old book that was apparently my family's treasured possession that has been passed down through generations. In it, there were some rituals and spells you could do in case you were in rough times or in desperate situations."
Adrienne had a bad premonition.
"He didn't-"
"Oh yes, he did! The other me used one of the spells in the book to transfer the souls of you and me into the bodies we are in now and vice versa."
"Can it be reversed?" Adrienne asked.
Ayden expressionlessly bent down and took out a soggy book that was still dripping wet from underneath the couch. It was in tatters and most of the words were ineligible from the ink that bled out.
"…"
Ayden watched Adrienne's face turn gloomy. He tried to clear the air.
"Haven't you ever imagined becoming a celebrity? We have the skills and knowledge of our older selves, but the youthful looks of our current selves. This is our big chance to become famous!"
"Didn't you say that the rituals were only performed during rough times or in desperate circumstances?"
"…"
"F*ck!" Ayden hurriedly checked his memory and couldn't help but swear. They really were in a desperate situation!
~~~
According to their memories, he had a debt of over $100,000 and he owed another $15,000 to his friends that was long due and needed to be repaid. Adrienne was the one paying for their necessities and rent but she had just managed to repay a debt of $6000 leaving her savings nonexistent. She was also the co-signer of the loan Ayden had taken. This $45,000 debt not only had high interest rates but was also owed to a not-so-legal company, well known as loan sharks.
It all started two years ago when the family who adopted him died in a tragic accident, and they were the ones found to be at fault. He who lived carefreely suddenly found himself burdened with funeral costs, medical bills, and a lawyer's letter. His parents had also been set up by a so-called "friend" earlier, the same month of their death, who had stolen all of their savings, including even the land deed for their house!
As for Adrienne, she had no family in the first place. She and Ayden had both lived in an orphanage for a long period of time until when she was 12, she was sponsored to an accelerated learning program that included free meals and living arrangements until the age of 18 provided as long as sufficient intellect was shown. Ayden, on the other hand, had been adopted that same year to an elderly couple. Adrienne had skipped some grades and had just gotten a bachelor's degree in Health Science. Unfortunately, policy changes and issues in management had led that program to unravel leaving her "homeless" with the tuition fees for her final semester; around $6000. Ayden and his adopted parents were the ones that offered to take Adrienne in at that time, which is how she got roped into co-signing this debt. Her relationship with Ayden was also pretty good, basically at the level of non-related siblings. As for personality, the Adrienne of this world was at most a bit more withdrawn and had a gloomier air, compared to her who had a more polite and "sociable" personality. The personality of this world's Ayden was more carefree and naive, which is how he got tricked into borrowing money from the loan sharks in the first place. As for the personality of the Ayden now inhabiting this body…
~~~
Ayden: "…if I cried my heart out and begged on my knees in front of the loan sharks, do you think we can get an extension in our debt repayment or should we both just jump out the window and hope for the best?"
Adrienne: "…Huh?"
Ayden: "If we die…then maybe we can transfer back to our world?"
Adrienne: "Wake up! In any of the transmigration stories you've read, did dying work?!"
Ayden: "Good point, let me try something else out…System! System! Open system!"
Adrienne: "…"
Ayden: "Status Window! Log in! Golden finger, come to me! System! Syste-"
Adrienne: "Shut up! You have to be more realistic here. Think about how the combination of both our luck would still be a negative value. Do you really think we'll be blessed by a system or golden finger? With our luck, it's already a blessing that the loan sharks haven't sent gangsters after us over the debt!"
*Knock-knock-knock-thump-thump!*
Adrienne: "No way right?"
"Open the f*cking door, or I'll bash it in!"
Ayden: "Sh*t."