Medford, in eastern Texas, America. Fall of 1989.
"Son, wake up."
A feminine voice echoed in the ears of a 9-year-old boy.
"Alex, wake up, we've arrived!"
The voice sounded once more, but this time, the boy felt someone shaking him.
When little Alex opened his eyes, he saw a young woman around 30 years old looking at him.
"Who?" the boy asked, confused.
Looking around, he became even more bewildered, unable to understand where he was. He was about to speak again when, suddenly, memories flooded his mind.
"Did I reincarnate?" Alex murmured softly.
The woman, seeing the boy's confusion, spoke again:
"Get out of the car and help me arrange our things in our new home."
Seeing that the boy still seemed lost, she pushed his shoulder and spoke in a commanding tone:
"Alex Coleman, are you listening to me?"
Alex, still confused, snapped out of his thoughts, looked at the woman, and timidly responded:
"Yes, Mom."
His voice was a bit low. In fact, he had just been reborn into the body of a 9-year-old American boy.
He had been a 30-year-old Brazilian man living in the city of Escada, in the state of Pernambuco, Brazil, and his mother had passed away when he was 20. As for his father, he never knew him.
After his mother's death, his world collapsed. She had been an only child, and her parents were no longer around to support her.
She fought hard to raise him into adulthood.
He grew up watching his mother's struggles and often wished he could grow up quickly so he could take care of her and give her everything good and wonderful.
After fortunately landing a good job, he thought life would finally improve for both of them.
Until one night, when he arrived home late from work, he found his mother's cold body lying on the floor.
The medical report indicated that she had suffered a stroke.
After that, he lived like a zombie for a while. He only knew how to work and sleep, sometimes even forgetting to eat.
His only pastime, after a long time of loneliness, was watching TV shows or reading online novels.
The last thing he remembered was binge-watching the series Young Sheldon and, after witnessing Sheldon's father's death, he was reminded of his mother and cried himself to sleep.
When he opened his eyes, 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, named Melinda Coleman.
The reason they were moving now was because of his father, Jonas Coleman, a highly respected police officer.
Before moving to Texas, they had lived in Dallas.
Two months ago, Jonas received a promotion offer to become the chief of police, but it was in another state, at a precinct in Medford, Texas.
His mother was a religious woman, and the idea of moving to an unfamiliar place was strongly contested by her, as she had already built a good and stable life in Dallas.
Having to leave everything behind for a new place and start over was not appealing to her. The couple argued a lot about it during that time.
After much discussion, Jonas managed to convince his wife to go with him to Medford.
After selling their old house in Dallas, they bought a new home in Medford.
And now, the day had finally come for them to move into their new home.
"..."
That night, Alex lay in his bed after helping his parents unpack their belongings.
He was quite exhausted. A lot had happened in a single day.
"How did this happen? Why was I reborn?"
He had spent the whole day settling into the new house and hadn't had time to think about it properly.
There was no way to explain why he had woken up in the body of an American child.
But no matter how much he pondered the issue, nothing could explain what was happening.
"I'd better go to sleep. Maybe this is all just a dream."
Alex turned off the light and went to bed. Since he was tired, he fell asleep very quickly.
"..."
Trrrim-trrrim
It was already early morning when the sound of an alarm rang in his ears.
Alex opened his eyes, groggy, and searched for the source of the noise. He saw that his alarm clock was ringing. Looking at the time, it was 7:00 AM.
He quickly reached out and stopped the alarm. Getting out of bed, he went to the bathroom to wash up.
As he looked at his reflection in the mirror, he thought: in the end, it wasn't a dream.
After washing up, he went downstairs. He then saw a mustached man drinking coffee while reading a newspaper, and a woman in an apron cooking something on the stove.
Seeing that Alex had come down, the woman spoke with a smile:
"Good morning, dear."
Jonas, hearing his wife's voice, lowered the newspaper and looked at Alex for a moment. Then, a smile appeared on his face, and he said:
"You woke up early today, son. Normally, your mother has to force you out of bed."
Hearing this, Alex felt a bit embarrassed.
The previous Alex had been a lazy boy who only wanted to sleep and play. Even in school, his grades were very low, almost failing his exams.
His parents were very worried about him because of his poor performance.
But now, he was a 30-year-old man in the body of a 9-year-old boy.
"Good morning, Mom," Alex replied with a smile.
Pulling out a chair, he sat down, looked at his father, who had already gone back to reading the newspaper, and added:
"I'm excited! Since we've moved to a new place, I want to see if I can make new friends."
He responded with what he thought was the most normal thing for a child his age to say.
Hearing her son's response, Melinda brought two slices of toast with jelly and what seemed to be peanut butter, along with a glass of milk, for Alex.
Running a hand through Alex's hair, her eyes were filled with love and affection.
"My baby will definitely make friends. Which reminds me: later today, we're going out to enroll you in your new school."
"New school?" Alex had a confused look.
"Yes! Now that we've moved, you need to study at a new school. That means you won't be going to your old school anymore," Melinda explained to Alex.
Actually, Alex's confusion was for a different reason.
He had forgotten that he still needed to go to school. After all, he was now just a little boy who still had to study.
Looking at her son with a reluctant expression, Melinda was about to speak when Alex responded:
"Alright!"
His reluctance was actually because he had to go back to studying. Even in his past life, he had only ever been average.
Thinking about the fact that he would have to attend school again after so many years made him feel a bit uncomfortable.
Jonas simply drank his coffee in peace while reading his newspaper. He didn't seem to care much about anything, but he was actually paying close attention to the conversation between mother and son.
After taking the last sip of coffee, Jonas stood up.
"Well, I have to go to work. See you all later."
As he spoke, he kissed Melinda.
He then walked over to Alex, ruffled his hair, and said:
"See you later, champ."
"See you later, Dad."
Saying that, he left the house.
"..."
After finishing his breakfast, Alex got up and ran to his room.
"In a little while, we'll be leaving to enroll you in your new school. You'd better change clothes," Melinda reminded her son, who was already heading upstairs.
"Yes, ma'am," Alex's voice called from above.