I would not have worn pajama pants with cartoon ducks on them if I'd known I was going to die that Tuesday.
But fate doesn't offer wardrobe consultations.
I was about halfway through a marathon of a BL drama that I'd watched at least three times before, blissfully floundering in an ocean of blankets, snacks, and emotional trauma, when I picked up a gummy bear and encountered my sad demise.
Not because it was spiked. Not because a killer snuck into my apartment building.
No.
Since I was multitasking—chewing and dramatically gasping at the screen during an especially angsty scene—and choked. On a gummy bear. One minute I was sobbing over make-believe people, the next I was wheezing for oxygen, flailing like a buggy NPC.
And then—blackness. Poof. Curtain call.
I was thinking, *Really? This is it? This is how I go?*
Not in some great battle, not even in my dreams—but between bites, sobbing horribly, surrounded by discarded tissues and a half-empty can of soda.
Really, it was rather inconsiderate.
---
When I opened my eyes for the second time, I found myself on a field that reeked of lavender and plot convenience.
Overhead was a blue sky that seemed photoshopped. Birds sang. The sun was shining. Somewhere close by, I could have sworn I heard the soft ring of a harp. Or perhaps that was merely the sound of my brain malfunctioning.
For I recognized this place. The rolling hills, the strangely beautiful breeze, the far-off mountains that were shaped like overly dramatic foreshadowing. This was Myltheria—the world of the fantasy novel I never got around to finishing.
The book that I dropped about chapter sixteen because I was distracted by a manhwa with more even pacing.
I slowly sat up. Gone were my duck-print pajama pants, replaced by a bizarrely well-fitted tunic and boots. Gone was my phone. Gone were my snacks. But my sense of incredulity? Still completely intact.
"Oh boy," I grumbled. "Either I'm hallucinating due to sugar deficiency, or reincarnation exists. And if so. please tell me I didn't forget to add indoor plumbing to this realm."
In the distance, a horse whinnied theatrically.
In the near distance, a voice called my name like it had been waiting for me.
That's when it hit me:
I wasn't just in a fantasy realm.
I was in my fantasy realm.