rebirth · time travel · infant body · mature mind · tragedy · family · protective · emotional · slice of life · second chance
The world dissolved into a silent, hazy drift, pressureless and still. Then, a sharp, guttural cry shattered the calm—it came from me. My eyes opened to a searing brightness and to shapes that loomed, vast and strange. A voice, warm and trembling with awe, cut through the fog. 'She's here. Our daughter is here.' My heart clenched with a grief that felt ancient and fresh all at once. With a weak, instinctual turn of my head, I saw them. Two faces, glowing with a tearful, breathless joy: Elena and Leo, alive and whole, gazing down as if I were the only thing in the universe. 'Mom? Dad?' The thought was a scream inside my skull, but my mouth produced only a thin, reedy wail. A jolt of terror shot through me as my own limbs—tiny, uncoordinated—flailed against the blankets. This was impo…