Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Hereafter
Though he was born to a loving family his early days was filled with challenges, his young and frail body gives him no control over his limbs and having an inability to control bodily functions like peeing and pooping. it is as if he was trapped in his own body unable to do anything. Perhaps his mental fortitude and idea that it will come to pass, is the only thing keeping him sane.
However, even if he's young, Jared already showed flashes of genius as early as 8 months old, at that time he can already crawl, at 1 year and 6 months old, he can already replicate speech patterns and words like a normal 5 year old would, to their surprise he can already say few words from different languages, though it's still a bit rusty, but by age 2 he can already read and since then, he's been sneaking every night into the family's study room. Reading History, Geography, World News and Pop culture.
The study room is pretty spacious. It looks cozy and comfortable, as you enter the room the wall behind where the side of the door is lies a huge long book shelf that extends to the edge of the room to the left corner. you can see that the entire room floor is covered by thick soft accoustic carpet which soundproof the entire room, right in the middle of the room lies a low black wooden japanese table, and on top of it is a slick small screen projector, facing a blank wall to his right, His Dad often uses that wall to scribble basketball plays and write reminders. Meanwhile, around the table sits three comfortable bean bags to sit or lie down to, the entire wall adjacent to the long book shelf is a smart glass panel which lits the entire room during the day, the glass can be changed from invisible to apaque to solid shade. On the same corner lies a chair and a study table with an apple computer on top. Right beside the Glass panel is a wall where frames of Certificates and photos were hung, below it is a small display cabinet for his parents' Trophies and awards.
Most of the time he uses books to read, he would only use the PC to checkout news and current world affairs. Luckily some important books are located on a level that his height and stature can reach.
Throughout his nights of escapade. Jared realized that this world is almost the same as his old world with a slight difference, currently it's the year 2045, technology is now well developed, And there exists an asian country which his old world doesn't have, [it is named "Eriothera" official name "Federal Republic Nation of Eriothera" and it's the country where he is right now. Founded by a Greek noble after the Greek-Persian wars, located northeast of Japan near sea of Okhotsk (East of Russia) where the Bering sea is located on his old world, the country extends far near coast of Alaska. Eriothera is a Transcontinental country where its territories stays in more than one continent (Asia, Europe and North America) but generally Eriothera is considered an Asian country.
The country became a melting pot of different race and nationalities as the nation became the center of trade and commerce, bridging the gap between the east and west.
When it comes with race, 60% the country is of european descent (Greek, Russian and French) 20% North American (Black American, Caucasian) and the rest is Asian (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) English is the official language of the country, although some regions speaks, Mandarin, Filipino, French, Russian and Greek.
In the present day, Eriothera is a first world country and is now the leading contributors to technology, transportation and medical medical field. Throughout history, ever since the inception of the World Olympics, Eriothera has been one of the most dominant countries in the world of Sports, Producing Legendary Athletes from generation to generation, they were dubbed "The Olympians of the East"
However, the country's athletic dominance starts to dwindle. The great recession on 2009 hugely affected the country's economy and in order to recover the GDP, the national government salvaged the remaining assets and resources and shifted their attention to agriculture, technology and medicine, leaving the sports industry to dry, eventually the economy successfully, Unfortunately the Sports Industry didn't.
"The Olympians of East" era is now over and was soon forgotten. However, in the early 2030s Dr. Athena Isaacs was named commissioner of the Eriotheran National Athletics Association (ENAA) As soon as she was named commisioner, she pionered the "Project Altus" an athletic development program aimed to scout and train talents who have a huge potential.
Project Altus is not limited to Basketball only but it also covers other sports as well, Football, Volleyball, MMA, Figure Skating, Gymnastics and other Olympic Sports.
Judging from the Medals, Photos and Certificates hanging from the walls and trophies displayed on the study's cabinet, Jared recognized his parents, Her Mom's name is Elena Summers she stands 5 foot 5, she has black short bobbed cut hair and a pretty blue eyes, at the age of 29 her Mom looked young for her age with her slim perfectly toned figure where one won't recognized that she's already a mother as she looks more like a maiden on her early 20s, She is a successful psychologist, providing corporate counseling to most fortune 500 companies. Although his mom is a gentle and kind-hearted person, she keeps the reins in the family.
Meanwhile, His Dad's name is Arthur James Summers, Age 32 standing 6 foot 0, Has slick short silver hair with a faded trim on the side, strong facial features and a light complexity. Dad has a strong toned built body due to his profession. Although his Dad has an intimidating demeanor, he has a charismatic childish nature and a huge passion for his family. His Dad is the current Head of the Athletic Development team for ENAA under the authority of Commissioner Isaacs. Earlier in his career his Dad worked as a Head Coach for the G-League Ignite at the same time taking PhD in Sports Science, He published a groundbreaking research for player training and development, Which leads to him being scouted by Dr. Isaacs to Lead the Altus project.
Jared realized his family is well off, although both sides came from a middle-class family.
He's been keeping an eye on the social media every night to make sure his wish of living with the same era as most of the NBA legends, so far no rumors, no signs, which is great considering most of them might be born the same year as him or they're still in school.
Time skip 3 years....
Jared is now 3 years old, and he can now stand upright and walk on his own, His facial features are now much more distinguishable with his short silver hair which he got from his dad and a pair of cold blue eyes from his mom, he has a strong yet adorable symmetrical facial features and a cute little pointed nose, a rosey lips and a bright skin, one could tell he really is handsome as a result of his genes coming from two beautiful parents. He often hears his parents joking about him getting all the girls when he grow up.
"Honey come here!! look at this!!" His Mom shouted excitedly. while playing with young Jared in the study room.
His Dad raced towards the room.
"What? ... What is it?" his Dad asked.
"Check this out" his Mom said.
"Find the red lego piece ... okay sweetie?" His Mom told Jared. Jared nodded while smiling.
Mom placed a red lego piece on top of the table then she covered the lego piece with a plastic box, then she added four plastic boxes on either side and she shuffles the 5 boxes like a three card monte. After a few seconds Mom stopped.
"Now where's the piece??!!? mom asked Jared. Jared pointed at the third one on the left and as he does, Jared lets out a cute chuckle.
Mom pulled up the box and revealed the red lego piece surprising Dad while Mom feels so proud at their son. Jared meanwhile jumps up and down in celebration
"Again, just follow the red piece okay sweetie?" Mom asked, Jared nodded. She placed the red lego piece underneath the box in the middle, this time she pulled up another red lego piece, making it two red lego pieces at the table to find underneath 5 boxes, even adults will have hard time finding one, let alone two. His Dad raised his eyebrows realizing the difficulty of the task.
Mom then shuffled the boxes, this time much quicker and much longer than the previous one. Then she stops. Mom looks at Dad, Dad shook his head as if saying he has no idea where it is.
"Now pick the correct boxes sweetie!" Mom asked with enthusiasm.
Jared smiled and pointed the last one on the right and the second one on the left, mom lifted both boxes up, revealing the two red lego pieces. Dad's jaw dropped.
"Good job sweetie!! that's amazing!!" Mom opened her arms asking for a hug from her son, Jared then warmly hugs her Mom and she kisses him on the cheeks.
"Wow Holy shii..." his dad said
"Shhhhh language!!!" Mom interrupted while she puts her finger on her lips "He can hear you!!" Mom added while softly punching her husband's arm
"Sorry" Dad remarked.
"Not only that ... here, check this out!" Mom said. "Remember the two copies of the Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell book that we have? the one that you bought for me and the one my Mom gifted to you?" Mom Asked.
"Yeah i remember, what about it?" Dad asked.
"Sweetie can you see this?" Mom asked Jared as she help up a copy of the book in front of Jared, he can see a red Hardbound book with symbols and markings around the cover right outside the title border. Mom flipped the books and showed him the spine, he saw a square logo with circular maze symbols inside and underneath it, is the the title, on the bottom most part he can see a letter, more like a signature, while he examines it, Mom said "This book has a twin and he needs to find it, can you help Mommy find it?"
Jared ran towards the book shelf. "Careful okay!" Mom instructed.
It didn't take long for Jared to find the book, he just stood there and and quickly scanned through all the books on the shelf then he tiptoed his feet to reach the book, the couple giggled.
Jared then ran towards the couple excitedly with a red hardbound book in hand "Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell"
"Here you go mommy!" Jared said while handing out the book smiling.
"Awwee thanks sweetie!!.." Mom smiling.
Mom held the two books together and showes the spine to Dad, showing the patterns, Identical.
"Ohh my God!! we got a smarty pants in the house haha!! Dad grabbed Jared and wrap him in his arms, playfully tickling Jared and the two laughed.
"See honey?? ... three years old and he can already recognized complex patterns and speak other languages!!" Mom said to Dad in awe.
"Right! what does your studies say about this? he's a genius right?" Dad asked.
"Well children don't actually start learning at home or at school, they start learning while in the womb, where they can begin to recognise words." Mom said
"And they'll never stop learning. That process will continue for the rest of their lives." She continued.
"There's no more important time in a child's life than from birth to age three. Their brains are developing faster than at any other time. In fact, by age five a child's brain is 90% developed." Mom said.
Dad just looks at his son in adoration.
"Right now he's right in middle of that stage, for his age he's so advanced! so yeah i believe our son is a genius" Mom remarked.
The couple watched their son play and hugged each other.
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After a few days...
Dad is silently sitting on the chair on the study room, his files are cluttered in the table, it's a busy day for him, but he can't seem to focus as he kept thinking about what happened the other day.
"Honey?!!" Dad shouted.
"Yeah?!" Mom shouted, Dad can hear her voice coming from downstairs.
"Can you come here for a sec?!" Dad said
Complete silence, after a few seconds he can hear her footsteps coming.
"What's up?" Mom asked.
"Just wanna talk to you about something" Dad said. Dad stood up and gestures Mom to sit on the chair where he sat few moments ago. Dad grabbed a bean bag and sit in front of mom.
Dad sat in silence, composing his thoughts, mom is just looking at him.
"I've been thinking about what happened the other day and... I think we've known for a while that our son is remarkable and i just want to make sure that we can provide the guidance that he needs, and from what i believe, we just provide whatever things he need to succeed, since you mentioned that he's been sneaking into this room from time to time, i think we need to just let him be and just be there for him, what do you think?" Dad said.
"Yeah, since the other day I'm still trying to take it in, and see how we can approach this, im sorry to not talk to you about it soon, coz i wanted to make sure i have a complete plan" Mom said. "But yeah you're right, we can do that, that way we can nurture his interests and we need to avoid comparison, every child is special including our boy" Mom said.
"Of course ... and i think we need to expose him to new Ideas, so that he can discover his passion" Dad suggested.
"That's a good one!! maybe we can bring him to Museums and theaters" Mom remarked,
"Or basketball?" Dad suggested.
"Of course haha" Mom laughed. "The most important thing is we always motivate him, that it's okay to fail and that everything is not always about achievements" Mom added.
"And trust his choice of friends!" Dad added.
"You're so good at this huh?" Mom jokingky remarked while giggling.
"Well Im the best Dad honey haha" Dad said
"Ugh please stop" Mom making face while laughing.
"Isn't that why you're maried to me?" Dad said, he stood up and opened his arms asking for a hug.
Mom stood up and hugged Dad and kisses him, the hugged for a while "We got this" Mom said.
Dad replied "Of course, you're gonna be the best Mom!" Mom blushed.
"Now get outta here i need to finish this haha" Dad sad while giggling.
"I hate you!!" Mom said and throws the Bean bag to Dad while laughing. "I'm gonna finish things up on the kitchen wanna have a snack?" Mom asked as she walked towards the door.
"No, thank you ... I'm good honey!" Dad said while picking up the cluttered files. "I Love You!!" Dad shouted.
"I Love You too" Mom replied, her voice slowly fading as she went downstairs.
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