Chapter 1: Ben the landlord

He knew it was coming. He just didn’t know it would come this soon or this loud.

"Shit." Parker Ross curses as he paces the room. His bank account reads zero. His fan is barely spinning and is making a squeaky noise. It has broken for days and he has no money to fix it.

"PARKER!" the landlord bangs on the door of his worst tenant with anger. "Parker, I know you’re in there. Open the damn door and pay up." he yells. Parker shrinks into himself. He and the landlord used to be good friends in college until everything changed.

His door is so thin that he knows a few more bangs is all it would take for it to cave in. This was not the life he expected. Damn it! He was too brilliant for that and only missed a few opportunities.

"Parker. I know you’ve got nothing to do, I have money and women waiting for me. Don’t waste my damn time." the landlord yells loud enough for everyone to hear and Parker’s shoulders sag.

"What a loser." he hears the mocking voice of the woman who lives next door laugh. He can already picture her standing at the threshold of her door in a bathrobe. She and three more neighbors always find his humiliation entertaining. They’re waiting to see Parker get shamed by his former classmate. Like everyone in that building, they looked down on Parker.

"Break the door down." he hears the landlord say with a loud laugh and the three hefty men rush for the door. They are all laughing as they hit their crowbars into the door.

"Oh no. Oh no" Parker starts to panic. There’s nothing he can possibly do to fix it.

They barge into the room with strong muscles, designer clothes, expensive watches and a look of disdain on their faces. They’re glad to see everything end for the poor tenant. And while they approach with slow menacing steps, Parker, forty-three years old broke, single, and helpless, rushes over to hide behind his ratty couch with two hands gripping the headrest. "Guys, hear me out—" he starts to explain himself but they lift him by the collar roughly.

He used to work out a lot at some point in college, he stopped after the series of incidents that led to him embarrassing himself in public.

"Parker, Parker, Parker. Your time is up, buddy," the landlord says with a crooked smile as he approaches the man who is being held up by the hefty men.

"Come on, Ben. We’re friends, give me some time and I’ll pay up. I promise," he says and the landlord leans in, grinning like a maniac as he says the next few words. "Buddy, we are not friends. You and I are on different levels, do you get that? You’re nothing but an underdog," he sneers and Parker drops his head in shame.

Damn it, if he could turn back time and change things, he would do it. He would own this building instead of Ben and he would teach Ben a lesson.

"What do you have to say for yourself? Find his phone and show us his bank balance," Ben commands his lackey and they toss Parker to the floor like a hot potato. Not being able to afford a carpet, his ass hits the hard wood, sending pain through his body.

"Guys, come on. Let’s talk with reasoning—" Parker trys to come convince them, but they aren’t listening. They are busy typing away on his broken mobile phone. He tries to speak again but they burst into laughter.

"Zero?" Ben asks, shoving the phone in Parker’s face and hitting his nose. "Damn it." Parker curses and rubs at his nose, glaring at Ben as the man continues to laugh at his bank balance.

"Fuck, how do even you even get women when your bank looks this way?" Ben mocks and Parker looks away, jaw tense and eyes hard. He didn’t bother himself with looking at women anymore because all the women are stolen by Ben.

Parker is very handsome but Ben took every single woman who looked in his former classmate’s direction in admiration. It was a competition that Parker always lost in.

"Alright guys, we’ve seen enough. Throw him out of my apartment. I want him gone," Ben drops his phone to the floor, making Parker roar in rage and charge at his friend.

"Fuck you!" he yells and fights against Ben’s lackeys as they throw him around like a simple toy. "Fuck you!" he spits out again and they toss him out of the room.

"Ugh!" Parker groans as his back hits the wall.

His glasses slip down his nose and he pushes it up. His lower back is aching as he gets up. He makes an effort to charge at his apartment door, but something strange has happened. His door is no longer there.

"Huh?" he asks himself and turns around to take in his environment. A lot of things have changed. The beige walls of the hallway are now white. That’s strange. This isn’t his apartment but it looks familiar.

He looks around in confusion and when he slides one hand into his hair; he finds his thinning hair is now as thick as they used to be when he was younger. He looks at his hands and the wrinkles are gone. It looks like he has gone back in time.

"What the fuck? Hello? Anyone?" he calls in panic and a room door opens.

A sight he never thought he’d see in his life greets him. It’s Lucille, one of the hottest girls from his college days. She peeks out of her room with a finger pressed to her plump lips and the neckline of her tank top hanging low.

"Shut up, Parker. We’re trying to read for the test," she says and his jaw drops open.

[Ding!]

What was that?

[Host detected. Regression anomaly confirmed.]

[Welcome to the Second Chance System.]

[Current status: Broke. Current rating: Disappointing.]