On the same day night he couldn't sleep.He had to choose an option.It was around 10 p.m. when Raj unlocked the school gate.
He knew where the spare keys are. Coach had shown him once hidden behind a loose brick near the storeroom.
The school was silent. Even the streetlights are glowing high for his eyes.But the cricket ground was empty and silent felt strong with many memories.Raj walked to the center pitch and sat on the ground, cross-legged. No phone. No notebook. Just silence and the moon above.
He looked down at his hands.worned out,cuts and marks.Scarred from threads.
But these hands weren't the same ones that had once failed.
Four years ago in his first life he had stood on this very pitch.Final selection match.One over left.He had the chance to win it with one clean hit.But his glove had torn. His grip slipped. The ball fly up in the air.Caught Out.
He just not only lost the match.He lost everything that followed confidence, support, even his dream.That night, he told himself he'd never try cricket again.That cricket wasn't for boys like him.
But now, he was back.Same ground. Same moonlight.But something had changed.He had changed.He stood up, walked to the crease, and shadow batted practise.
One step,Pull.
Two steps,Drive.
He breathed in.This time, his glove didn't slip.This time, he didn't feel afraid.As he walked back toward the building, he noticed something near the base of the practice net.A small, cloth pouch. Tied tightly.Raj bent down, untied it, and opened it carefully.
Inside was a photograph.A photo of him from his old life.Same ground.Same expression.Same failure.But this photo shouldn't exist.Raj got shocked and confused.No one had taken it.Not in this life.
His heart raced. Something was placed in the back of the photo ,it was a folded note written:
"You dropped everything that day... except your spirit.
I still see it."
— S
Raj looked at the letter for a long time.Whoever "S" wasShe just didn't know him but also she remembered what no one else could.
[System Alert: Memory Link Surging]
Observer ID: 78% match with Timeline Alpha
Access Unlocked: Memory Echo Panel
Someone in this timeline knows your past life. And remembers how it ended.
Raj closed his eyes.The photo. The glove. The decision ahead.He was standing at the obstacles again.But this time, the path wasn't just his.It was also for someone else.
To be continued.....