Mysterious Rebirth

Medford, in eastern Texas, America. Fall of 1989.

"Son, wake up."

A female voice echoed in the ears of a 9-year-old boy.

"Alex, wake up! We're here!"

The voice came again, but this time, the boy felt someone shaking him.

When little Alex opened his eyes, he saw a young woman, about 30 years old, looking at him.

"Who?" the boy asked, confused.

Looking around, he became even more puzzled, not understanding where he was. He was about to speak again when, suddenly, memories flooded his mind.

"I've been reborn?" Alex whispered softly.

The woman, noticing the boy's confusion, spoke again:

"Get out of the car and help me unpack our things in our new home."

Seeing that the boy still looked confused, she gave his shoulder a slight push and said in a commanding tone:

"Alex Coleman, are you listening to me?"

Alex, still disoriented, came to his senses, looked at the woman, and timidly answered:

"Yes, Mom."

His voice came out a little low. In truth, he had just been reborn in the body of a 9-year-old American boy.

He had been a 30-year-old Brazilian man, living in Escada, Pernambuco, Brazil—and his mother had died when he was 20. His father, he never knew.

After his mother's death, his world collapsed. She had been an only child, and her parents were no longer alive to support her.

She had fought hard to raise him on her own until he reached adulthood.

He grew up witnessing his mother's struggles and often wished he could grow up quickly to take care of her and give her everything she deserved.

After landing a good job—by luck, really—he thought life would finally get better for both of them.

Until one night, arriving late from work, he found his mother's cold body lying on the floor.

The medical report said she had suffered a stroke.

From that point on, he lived like a zombie. He only worked and slept—sometimes even forgetting to eat.

His only pastime, after spending so much time alone, was watching TV shows or reading web novels.

All he could remember was binge-watching Young Sheldon, and after seeing the death of Sheldon's father, he was reminded of his mom and cried himself to sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in the body of a 9-year-old boy named Alex Coleman.

And the woman who had just spoken to him was his mother—Melinda Coleman.

The reason they were moving now was because of his father, Jonas Coleman—a highly respected police officer.

Before relocating to Medford, they had been living in Dallas.

Two months earlier, Jonas had received an offer for a promotion to police chief, but the position was in another city—at a precinct in Medford, also in Texas.

His mother was a religious woman, and the idea of moving to an unfamiliar place was strongly opposed by her. She was content with the good, stable life they already had in Dallas.

Having to leave and start over somewhere unknown didn't seem like a good idea to her. The couple argued a lot during this time.

After many discussions, Jonas finally managed to convince his wife to go with him to Medford.

After selling their house in Dallas, they bought a new one in Medford.

And so, the day of the big move to their new home had finally arrived.

…

That night, Alex lay in bed after helping his parents unpack.

He was truly exhausted. A lot had happened in just one day.

"How did this happen? Why was I reborn?"

The whole day had been so busy that he hadn't had time to think about the situation.

There was no explanation for why he had woken up in the body of an American child.

But no matter how hard he thought about it, nothing could explain what was going on.

"I better go to sleep. Maybe this is all just a dream."

Alex turned off the light and lay down. He fell asleep almost immediately from exhaustion.

…

Trrrim-trrrim!

It was early morning when an alarm rang in his ears.

Alex opened his eyes groggily and looked for the source of the noise. He saw his alarm clock ringing. The time read 7:00 a.m.

He quickly reached out and shut it off. Then he got out of bed and headed to the bathroom to wash up.

Staring at his reflection in the mirror, he thought, So it wasn't a dream after all.

After washing up, he went downstairs. There, he saw a mustached man sipping coffee while reading a newspaper, and a woman in an apron cooking something on the stove.

When Melinda saw Alex coming down, she greeted him with a smile:

"Good morning, sweetheart."

Jonas, hearing his wife's voice, lowered the newspaper, looked at Alex for a moment, and smiled:

"You're up early today, champ. Usually, your mom has to drag you out of bed."

Alex felt a bit embarrassed.

The old Alex had been lazy—he only wanted to sleep and play. Even at school, his grades had been poor, nearly failing his classes.

His parents had been very worried about him.

But now, Alex was a 30-year-old man in the body of a 9-year-old boy.

"Good morning, Mom," he replied with a smile.

He pulled out a chair, sat down, and looked at his father—who had gone back to reading the paper—and added:

"I'm excited! Now that we've moved to a new place, I want to see if I can make some new friends."

He tried to say something natural for a child his age.

Smiling, Melinda placed two slices of toast with jelly—and what looked like peanut butter—alongside a glass of milk in front of him.

She gently ran her hand through Alex's hair, her eyes full of affection.

"My baby will definitely make friends. That reminds me—we're heading out later to enroll you in your new school."

"New school?" Alex asked, puzzled.

"Yes! Now that we've moved, you'll be attending a different school. That means no more of your old one," Melinda explained.

The truth is, Alex's confusion was for another reason entirely: he had forgotten that he still had to go to school. After all, he was now just a child again.

Melinda was about to say something else, looking a bit hesitant, when Alex replied:

"All right!"

Deep down, he felt uneasy. Even in his previous life, he'd only ever been an average student.

The idea of going back to school after so many years didn't exactly thrill him.

Jonas quietly sipped his coffee, seemingly uninterested—but in fact, he was listening to the entire exchange.

After finishing the last sip, he got up.

"Well, I've got to get to work. See you both later."

He kissed Melinda, walked over to Alex, tousled his hair playfully, and said:

"See you later, champ."

"See you later, Dad."

And with that, he left the house.

…

After finishing his breakfast, Alex stood up and ran to his room.

"In a little while, we're going out to enroll you in school. You'd better change your clothes," Melinda reminded him as he climbed the stairs.

"Yes, ma'am!" Alex's voice echoed from upstairs.