[* The world shattered into white. Not light. Just white.
Everything else - the shouting, the surf, the sting of saltwater around their feet - vanished.]
[* Then the white peeled away.]
[* A lake; still, glassy.
The old oak leaned over the bank exactly as they remembered, its branches trailing across the water. Rocks glimmered beneath the surface where the shore dropped away.]
[* The word left Rowan before they realized they'd spoken.]
[* A child stood at the edge of the lake.
A child wearing an orange bandana. It was too big around the forehead and the knot sat crooked at the back.
Their sleeves were rolled unevenly, exposing thin arms already marked with fading bruises.]
[* They knew that child.
Knew every awkward shift of their weight.
Every nervous glance over one shoulder.
They watched themself.]
[* But this time, it was the slightly smaller version of them speaking.]
[* Their father stood a few paces behind the child, arms folded. Their mother waited farther back, impatient.]
[* The other Rowan swallowed.]
[* Small hands lowered a soaked, trembling kitten toward the water.
Its tiny paws scrambled wildly, claws catching on their sleeves.]
[* The kitten twisted and scratched. A sharp, panicked movement.
The child gasped. They nearly lost their grip.]
[* They lunged to catch it before it fell.
That was how it happened. That was how they’d always remembered it.]
[* They'd leaned too far, slipped, and fallen. Because of that stupid cat. Because they couldn't hold onto-
But this memory did not show that supposed truth.]
[* Instead…
Their father moved.
One step.
A hand shot forward. Not to catch them or to steady them. To shove them.]
[* His palm struck squarely between the child's shoulder blades; a hard, practiced push. The little body pitched forward.
Arms flailed.]
[* The kitten slipped free, splashing into the reeds.]
[* The word came out broken.
The other them hadn't slipped. They hadn't fallen. They'd been pushed. Their head struck the rocks beneath the surface with a sickening crack.]
[* The small body floated for only a heartbeat before sinking sideways into the shallows.
The kitten clawed desperately onto the muddy bank, coughing lake water from tiny lungs before bolting into the undergrowth.]
[* It hadn't- It hadn't killed them. It had just survived.]
[* They'd hated cats. Every cat.
Every hiss, every scratch, every glimpse of their wide eyes in the dark.
Because they'd believed-]
[* Their father stared into the water. Not horrified or panicked, but annoyed.
The child's body drifted against the rocks, one hand just beneath the surface.]
* No si lo empujas más hacia afuera.
[* Then their father stepped into the freezing water, as though retrieving a lost tool. He reached down and wrapped one hand around the back of the child's shirt.]
[* The orange bandana floated beside the pale face.]
[* And he shoved them.
Not violently. Almost lazily.]
[* The little body drifted away from shore.
Farther.
Farther.
Until the lake swallowed it whole.]
[* The memory didn't end. It simply hung there.
The empty lake. The ripples fading.]
[* As though nothing had happened. As though the child had never existed.]
[* Their knees gave out, and the white returned.]
[* Cold water splashed around them.
Salt. Waves. The beach.]
[* Someone was shouting their name but they couldn't hear it.]
[* They were on their knees in the shallow surf, hands buried in wet sand and clenched so tightly their fingers ached. Their whole body shook.]
[* The words dissolved into a sob.]
[* Their chest seized.
For years.. For years they'd blamed a terrified little animal that had only wanted to live.
They'd hated every cat they'd ever seen. Flinched from them. Driven them away.]
[* All because they'd built their life around a lie.]
[* They whispered again, tears spilling freely now.]
[* The image wouldn't leave:
The hand between their shoulder blades.
The shove.
The calm expression.
The way their father had walked into the lake afterward, not to save them…]
[* ...but to make sure they disappeared.]
[* Another sob tore free before they could stop it. The surf washed around them, carrying away only their tears as they dripped into the water. The truth remained.]
[* Their parents hadn't lost them. They hadn't failed to save them. They had murdered them.]
[* They’d never even wanted a kid… Especially one like them.]
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