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Cutting the Cord Reborn as My Mom's High School Frenemy - FULL | Reelshort
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00:00:021996, Texas
00:00:04I suddenly jerk up from the sink, gasping for air
00:00:06Water drips from my thick blonde hair
00:00:08I stare at the mirror in shock
00:00:10The face staring back at me is vibrant, beautiful, full of life
00:00:12Vintage smoky eye makeup framing a chalky teenage face
00:00:1518, you young, healthy, cancer-free
00:00:18I've been thrown back into the dead-end Texas high school years
00:00:21My mom spent her entire life clawing her way out of
00:00:24Suddenly, the bathroom door swings open
00:00:27A familiar grapefruit perfume hits me instantly
00:00:29It's Valerie, my 18-year-old mother
00:00:31Her hair is pulled into a high-tony tail
00:00:33High-waisted jeans hugging her hips
00:00:35A white tamtop straight out of a 90s teen magazine
00:00:38Come on, the pep lolly's about to start
00:00:40She yanks me forward hard enough to make me stumble
00:00:42But instead of following her, I freeze
00:00:44Stare at the young face in front of me
00:00:46Untouched by wealth
00:00:47Untouched by surgery
00:00:48Untouched by the years that twisted her into a monster
00:00:51Valerie, we're... friends?
00:00:53Uh, duh, we're best friends
00:00:55Why are you being so weird today? Come on!
00:00:57She turns and keeps pulling me towards the door
00:00:59Half a step behind her, I stare at her back
00:01:01The confusion in my eyes vanishes instantly
00:01:03Replaced by something cold, something vicious
00:01:06The school's public address system drones on
00:01:08From the loudspeakers overhead
00:01:09Buzzing with the daily lunch menu
00:01:11Pizza slices, tater tots, and chocolate milk
00:01:14Valerie pulls me through the crowded hallway
00:01:16Her hand warm and dry in mine
00:01:18And then it hits me again
00:01:20That sharp grapefruit perfume
00:01:22The scent wraps around me so suddenly my breath catches
00:01:26It was the smell I knew best as a child
00:01:28Before I turned five
00:01:30She used to hold me in her arms
00:01:31Humming old country songs
00:01:33And asking if I loved her
00:01:34But after she ditched me to chase her high school sweetheart
00:01:37To the big city
00:01:38That scent only ever showed up in my nightmares
00:01:42Scarlet, you've been acting weird all day
00:01:43Scarlet?
00:01:45God, even this body's name sucks
00:01:47Carefully, I slip my hand out of hers
00:01:49My eyes swamp across the hallway
00:01:51The dented locker numbers
00:01:52The faded football team pictures
00:01:54The bulletin board plastered with fall semester 1996
00:01:57Cheerleaders rush past us
00:01:59Ponytails flying
00:02:00While some varsity asshole
00:02:01Has a scrawny kid pinned against a logger
00:02:03Shaking him down for lunch money
00:02:05This isn't a dream
00:02:06I'm really back in the 90s
00:02:08That's when a tall, lanky guy with glasses
00:02:11Started walking toward us
00:02:12Hector
00:02:12My mother's first love
00:02:14The man who ruined all our lives
00:02:16Hey, this is my Scarlet
00:02:17She just transferred it in
00:02:18Scarlet, meet Hector
00:02:19Straight A student
00:02:20Total teacher's pet
00:02:21Basically tutoring half the school
00:02:23Hey, I'm Hector
00:02:25Welcome to East Ridge
00:02:26The second I hear his name
00:02:28My stomach turns
00:02:29I ignore his hand completely
00:02:32And scan the noisy hallway
00:02:33For the one person
00:02:34Who should have been here
00:02:35Where's my dad?
00:02:37Austin should be at this school too
00:02:39Wait
00:02:40Austin's not in your class?
00:02:41Austin?
00:02:42There's no Austin in this entire school
00:02:46Austin Walker
00:02:47My dad
00:02:48He's not, he's not here?
00:02:51Your dad?
00:02:53Just as I'm scrambling for an excuse
00:02:54A roar erupts from the end of the hallway
00:02:57And saves me
00:02:57The pep rally's starting
00:02:59You coming or what?
00:03:01Sunlight spills across her shoulders
00:03:02For a second she looks nothing like the woman
00:03:05Who would one day watch me die without blinking
00:03:07The gym is loud
00:03:08Humilded
00:03:09Packed wall to wall
00:03:10Football players in red jerseys
00:03:12Charge onto the court
00:03:13While cheerleaders shake palm balls
00:03:15Under the flashing lights
00:03:16The bleachers thunder
00:03:17With stomping feet
00:03:18And screaming students
00:03:19This Friday
00:03:21Let's show East Ridge
00:03:22Who really runs this town
00:03:24The crowd explodes
00:03:26She's radiant up there
00:03:27Beside me
00:03:28Hector adjusts his glasses
00:03:30Eyes fixed on her
00:03:31She's gonna get out of this town someday
00:03:33He says it like he already knows the future
00:03:36I don't answer
00:03:37I just stare at Valerie beneath the spotlight
00:03:39After the rally
00:03:41Students pour out of the gym
00:03:42The halls fill
00:03:44With slamming lockers
00:03:45And overlapping conversations again
00:03:47People argue about Friday's game
00:03:50Girls debate who's gonna win prom queen
00:03:52Last period is study hall
00:03:54Valerie sits one row ahead of me by the window
00:03:56Her notes neat enough to look typed
00:03:59As she flips a page
00:04:00Something slips out from between her books
00:04:03A pale green application packet
00:04:05Harvard University
00:04:07My breathing catches
00:04:08She actually got an application
00:04:10But later in life
00:04:11She always says Harvard was never an option
00:04:13For someone like her
00:04:14So that was a lie too
00:04:15Valerie
00:04:16Your future turns out cheap and pathetic anyway
00:04:18So why are you out here
00:04:19Pretend to be some gifted golden girl right now
00:04:21It makes me sick
00:04:21I rise from my seat
00:04:23Then
00:04:24With one sharp shove of my elbow
00:04:25I knock over the black coffee on her desk
00:04:28The dark liquid spills perfectly across the application packet
00:04:31Soaking through the giant Harvard crest
00:04:33Until the ink begins to bleed
00:04:34I stare at her coldly
00:04:36Waiting for her to snap
00:04:37Waiting for the mask to fall off
00:04:39Waiting to finally see the real Valerie
00:04:41Underneath all that fake sweetness
00:04:43But her reaction throws me completely off
00:04:48Oh god Scarlet
00:04:50Are you okay?
00:04:51She grabs a stack of napkins
00:04:52And immediately starts swiping coffee off my hand
00:04:54There's real concern in her eyes
00:04:55No anger
00:04:56No blame
00:04:57Not even irritation
00:04:58It's wrong
00:04:59She's too nice
00:05:00So nice it scares me
00:05:02Nice enough to make me wonder
00:05:03If the woman I remember
00:05:04Was ever the real Valerie at all
00:05:06Just then
00:05:07The classroom door swings open
00:05:09A Latino teacher steps inside
00:05:11And walks over to Valerie's desk
00:05:13Hey Valerie
00:05:14Something came up with Scarlet's family
00:05:16Kind of an emergency
00:05:17Your parents called
00:05:18And asked if you could bring her home with you after school
00:05:20An emergency?
00:05:22What the hell happened?
00:05:24By the time school lets out
00:05:25The Texas sunset looks like the whole sky's on fire
00:05:28Stadium lights flicker on one by one around the football field
00:05:31The cheer squad is still practicing
00:05:33While snippets of 90s pop songs crack through the loudspears
00:05:36Valerie walks a few steps ahead of me
00:05:37Her ponytail swaying softly behind her
00:05:39She suddenly stops and turns to me gently
00:05:41I heard about your parents
00:05:43Scarlet, don't be scared, okay?
00:05:44You've still got me
00:05:45We're best friends
00:05:46Then she pulls me into a hug
00:05:47I'm sorry for what happened
00:05:48If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'll always be here
00:05:50That faint grapefruit scent wraps around me again
00:05:53And just like that, I break
00:05:55In my last life, there were countless nights
00:05:57When I would have given anything for this exact embrace
00:05:59As I sob into her shoulder
00:06:01I deliberately smears and snot all over her pretty shirt
00:06:03Petty revenge
00:06:04Pathetic, tiny revenge
00:06:06But her arms are warm exactly the way I remember from childhood
00:06:09So how the hell did someone like this
00:06:12Become the woman who wouldn't even save my life?
00:06:14A bicycle bell rings behind us
00:06:16Hector catches up, pushing an old bike with a paper box of cupcakes sitting in the basket
00:06:20He adjusts his glasses awkwardly
00:06:21Sugar helps
00:06:23A little, anyway
00:06:24I watch the two of them walking side by side beneath the football field lights
00:06:27And something bitter twists in my chest
00:06:29What, Hector?
00:06:30You gonna pick her up like this every day?
00:06:32Keep her stuck in this town and make her your wife someday?
00:06:34Hector stops walking
00:06:35But when he looks at me, his expression is completely open and sincere
00:06:39Valerie's meant for bigger things than this place
00:06:41She's too talented to spend her life shrinking herself for some guy
00:06:47That'd be... wrong
00:06:48I freeze
00:06:49Because I never imagined Hector would say something like that
00:06:54I'm not getting stuck married with kids at 18
00:06:57I want to see what's out there first
00:06:59But you did have me at 18
00:07:00You ended up trapped in a rotting trailer park full of violence and screaming and broken walls
00:07:05Valerie, did your dreams betray you?
00:07:07The whole walk there
00:07:09Something about this timeline feels off in a way
00:07:12I can't explain
00:07:14And then Valerie opens the front door
00:07:17The smell of home-cooked food hits me instantly
00:07:20So you're Scarlet, huh?
00:07:23Hi, Mr. Wyatt
00:07:24Thanks for letting me stay over
00:07:27He bursts out laughing and pulls me inside before I can even finish
00:07:31The house is warm, spotless, lived in
00:07:34There's a brand new pair of slippers waiting for me by the entryway
00:07:37Along with folded pajamas set out they've been expecting me for days
00:07:40The living room walls are lined with plaques, commendations, and framed Federal Service Award
00:07:44On the TV, a local news station is covering a major drug trafficking case near the Texas border
00:07:48A photo flashes on screen of two fallen narcotics agents
00:07:51Your parents were good people, kiddo
00:07:53Best partners I ever had
00:07:55Real heroes
00:07:57And from now on, this house is yours, too
00:07:59You hear me?
00:07:59That's when it finally hits me
00:08:01The parents belonging to this body are already dead
00:08:04Dinner is loud and warm and painfully alive
00:08:07Grandpa keeps piling food onto plates
00:08:09Grandma laughs at everything
00:08:10A dog nudges against my legs beneath the table
00:08:12The kitchen light glows so warmly it almost hurts to look at
00:08:15And across from me sits Valerie
00:08:16Laughing freely while her parents dole on her like she's the center of their universe
00:08:20My chest tightens so hard it feels unbearable
00:08:23This is insane
00:08:24Like some cruel cosmic joke
00:08:26She grew up surrounded by this much love
00:08:28So how the hell did she become someone who could watch me die without a single shred of kindness?
00:08:33Late that night, Valerie and I lay side by side in the dark
00:08:38There's been this huge cartel case near the border lately
00:08:40I keep having nightmares something's gonna happen to my parents
00:08:44At 18, she looks so young
00:08:46So fragile
00:08:47Before sunrise, I wake to the sound of movement in the living room
00:08:51Grandpa is sitting by the door pulling on his police boots
00:08:53I run out barefoot and grab onto his sleeve before he can leave
00:08:56Mr. Wyatt, please be careful out there
00:08:59He smiles and ruffles my hair
00:09:00I will, kiddo
00:09:01Promise I'll come home safe
00:09:03Then he and grandma disappear together into the pale border fog of early morning
00:09:07And the dread in my chest only grows heavier
00:09:12Valerie stumbles out of bed half asleep the next morning and stands in front of the mirror
00:09:16Completely lost trying to fix her ponytail
00:09:20God, she's hopeless
00:09:21I walk over and quietly redo her hair for her
00:09:24It's the first time in both my lives that I've ever been this close to her
00:09:28Scarlet, how are you so good at this?
00:09:30And suddenly I remember how, when I was little
00:09:32She always hacked my hair off into awful tomboy cuts
00:09:35Maybe it wasn't coldness after all
00:09:37Maybe 18-year-old Valerie just barely knew how to take care of herself
00:09:40A bicycle bell rings outside the yard
00:09:42Hector, right on schedule
00:09:44He hands me an ice-cold soda
00:09:45Then stares at my face for a little too long
00:09:49Scarlet, is it just me or are you starting to look more and more like Valerie?
00:09:53A chill shoots straight through me
00:09:54Right before I died in my last life, I was barely recognizable
00:09:57Skin and bones from the cancer
00:09:59But the last time I looked in a mirror, I realized something horrifying
00:10:01I hadn't taken over someone else's body
00:10:04I came back wearing my own 18-year-old face
00:10:06Pretty girls always kind of look alike, right?
00:10:09Surrounded by all this warmth, I start wavering
00:10:11It gets harder and harder to connect this version of Valini to the woman from my last life
00:10:15This girl is kind, bright, alive
00:10:18I finally begin to understand why my dad, Austin, spent his whole life loving her even when she never truly
00:10:23loved him back
00:10:24Part of me even starts thinking that when I finally meet him in this timeline
00:10:27Maybe I should tell him to fall for somebody else
00:10:30But I never imagined that just as I started letting my guard down, hell was already opening its doors
00:10:35School lets out early that day
00:10:37Hector and I stop by a taco truck on the corner
00:10:39Valerie says she's tired and asks us to grab her a baked potato before heading home ahead of us
00:10:45We're almost at her house when an old pickup truck with no plates
00:10:49Suddenly comes flying backward out of the driveway
00:10:53Several tattooed men in masks jump into the bed of the truck
00:10:56Then a scream tears through the air
00:10:59It's Valerie
00:11:03Hector and I sprint toward the house so fast
00:11:06My lungs feel like they're tearing apart
00:11:08The front door hangs crooked on its hinges
00:11:10Creaking heavily as it swings loosely against the broken frame
00:11:14The second we step inside, the smell hits me
00:11:16Blood, sweat, whiskey
00:11:18The living room looks like a battlefield
00:11:19Furniture overturned
00:11:21Glass shattered everywhere
00:11:22Family photos ripped from the walls
00:11:23Blood smeared across the wooden floorboards in long streaps like someone had been dragged
00:11:26Grandpa and Grandma lie motionless on the ground
00:11:29And in the middle of the room
00:11:31Valerie, covered in blood
00:11:33Curled up on the floor
00:11:34A tattooed man stands nearby
00:11:36Calmly fixing his belt like nothing happened
00:11:40Hector roars and charges at him
00:11:42Only to get kicked hard across the room
00:11:44The stranger turns toward me slowly
00:11:46Then he grabs my collar and jerks me forward so violently my feet leave the ground
00:11:51Hector!
00:11:52The stench of blood and cigarettes floods my nose so hard I nearly gag
00:11:56Well, damn
00:11:58If it isn't Officer Miller's kid
00:12:00Lucky day for you, sweetheart
00:12:02Boss already told us to pull out
00:12:04Otherwise you'd have been a lot of fun too
00:12:06He spits onto the floor beside me and turns to leave
00:12:10Behind him, Valerie curls tighter into herself
00:12:13Desperately clutching the ripped fabric over her chest
00:12:16A broken sound escapes her throat
00:12:18Something inside me snaps
00:12:20I throw myself forward and grab the man's pant leg with both hands
00:12:23Moonlight spills through the shattered window
00:12:25Sliding across the side of his face
00:12:27That jawline
00:12:28That scar near his mouth
00:12:29That voice
00:12:30My entire body freezes
00:12:32The world goes completely silent around me
00:12:35Because he isn't some random cartel thug
00:12:37He's Austin
00:12:38My father
00:12:44Hector scrambles to the wall and grabs the landline
00:12:46But the phone cord has already been cut
00:12:51You brought this on yourself, you little bitch!
00:12:54He lunges at me and starts ripping at my clothes
00:12:57Yanking violently at my collar
00:12:59Trying to save me
00:13:00Hector throws himself at Austin again
00:13:02Without a second thought
00:13:03In the chaos
00:13:04I catch a flash of murder in Austin's eyes
00:13:07He suddenly pulls a hunting knife from the back of his waist hand
00:13:10And in that instant
00:13:11I completely lose it
00:13:13Without thinking
00:13:14I grab the blade with my bare hand
00:13:16My dad
00:13:17How could this be my dad?
00:13:19Tears crash into the growing pool of blood beneath me
00:13:22The man I loved most growing up
00:13:24The father who raised me in that trailer park with nothing
00:13:27How could it be you?
00:13:28You're a rapist now
00:13:29A murderer
00:13:30I can't take it
00:13:31I feel like I'm losing my mind
00:13:33But the sharp pain slicing through my palm
00:13:36And Valier's desperate sobbing
00:13:38Remind me this is real
00:13:39I clamp down on the knife with everything I have
00:13:42And scream hysterically at Hector
00:13:44Hector, run!
00:13:46Go get help!
00:13:47Go!
00:13:48Now!
00:13:49Blood streams down Hector's face
00:13:50As he staggers toward the door
00:13:52And bolts outside
00:13:53And the second he's gone
00:13:55Austin completely snaps
00:13:57With a vicious twist of his wrist
00:14:00He jerks the knife free
00:14:01And points the blade straight at my throat
00:14:06But just then
00:14:07My grandmother
00:14:08Who had been lying motionless in a pool of blood
00:14:11Somehow forces herself back up
00:14:13With the last bit of strength she has left
00:14:16Austin turns
00:14:17Ready to stab the next
00:14:20No!
00:14:21I slam into him with everything I have
00:14:23The blade plunges straight into my stomach
00:14:26Warmth explodes through my body
00:14:28Then comes the pain
00:14:29Endless
00:14:30Crushing pain
00:14:31I press both hands against the wound
00:14:33Holding onto the knife with everything I've got
00:14:35So Austin can't pull it back out
00:14:37You can't kill them
00:14:39You
00:14:41Can't
00:14:42I'm crying
00:14:43Choking as blood pours from my mouth in heavy bursts
00:14:46But Austin just twists the knife cruelly inside me
00:14:50The agony sends me collapsing to my knees in the blood
00:14:54That's when Grandma suddenly wraps both arms around Austin's neck from behind
00:14:57And drags him to the floor with every ounce of strength she has left
00:15:00My grandfather, already covered in blood
00:15:03Grabs onto Austin's leg and refuses to let go
00:15:06Realizing he's about to get caught
00:15:08Austin curses violently
00:15:09Kicks himself free from them
00:15:11And climbs out the window
00:15:12Disappearing into the darkness near the border
00:15:15Scarlet!
00:15:16Scarlet, stay with me!
00:15:18Please don't close your eyes!
00:15:20Through my fading vision
00:15:22I feel Valerie pulling me into her arms
00:15:25My consciousness is already slipping away
00:15:27Sobbing controllably
00:15:29With tears and blood all over my face
00:15:31I still try to take off my jacket and cover her with it
00:15:33But I'm too weak
00:15:34My arm barely lifts halfway before it drops limply into the blood
00:15:37In the distance, sirens scream through the night
00:15:40I hear Hector crying as he rushes back inside with the police
00:15:43Then everything goes dark
00:15:45Somewhere far away
00:15:46Voices echo around me as I'm lifted onto a stretcher
00:15:49She's flatlining
00:15:51Move! Get the defibrillator! Now!
00:15:55When I finally open my eyes again
00:15:57All I see is the pale white ceiling of a hospital room
00:15:59Sitting beside my bed is Hector
00:16:00When he ran for help, Austin's men caught him and beat him half to death
00:16:03The second he sees me awake, arrogant genius, completely falls apart
00:16:06He wipes his eyes while gripping to entice
00:16:08You were the last one to wake up
00:16:10Do you have any idea how close you came to dying?
00:16:13You scared the hell out of us!
00:16:14He's crying so hard it's a complete mess
00:16:16Tears, snot, everything
00:16:17At one point he even spits on my face while talking
00:16:19I let out a weak laugh
00:16:20The anesthesia still hasn't fully worn over
00:16:22I can't really feel pain yet, just a heavy numbness all over my body
00:16:24I look at him anxiously
00:16:25Valerie's parents and Valerie, are they okay?
00:16:29Her folks made it to the hospital just in time
00:16:31If that knife had hit either of them any worse
00:16:35I struggle to sit up, desperate to see her
00:16:37But before I can move, the hospital room door slowly opens
00:16:40Valerie is standing there
00:16:41Her eyes look hollow
00:16:42And when she looks at me
00:16:44There's something shattered in them I can't even begin to explain
00:16:47I say her name softly
00:16:48She nods faintly and walks over
00:16:49Her cold fingers are on my shoulder
00:16:51Does it hurt?
00:16:53I shake my head
00:16:53Looking at her red-rimmed eyes, I force a small smile
00:16:57Have you been crying?
00:16:59She doesn't answer
00:17:00She just holds my hand tighter and gently squeezes my cheek
00:17:02Like she's afraid I'll disappear
00:17:03And suddenly she lowers her head and tears drip onto the back of my hand
00:17:07Thank you, Scarlet
00:17:08If it weren't for you, I would have lost my parents
00:17:12I look at the 18-year-old version of my mother standing in front of me
00:17:15Her fate already completely changed because of me
00:17:18I sniff hard, holding back tears
00:17:20I don't say a single word
00:17:21I just let her tears soak into my skin
00:17:23Before slowly lifting my free hand
00:17:25And placing it softly over the trembling hand resting on my shoulder
00:17:30Valerie looks down at my hand covering hers
00:17:33As if she understands the comfort in my eyes
00:17:36She takes a deep breath
00:17:39Tears still cling to her lashes
00:17:41But for the first time in forever
00:17:43Her voice carries a little relief
00:17:45I've got good news
00:17:46The case is over
00:17:48The cartel operation finally got busted
00:17:50Every single person involved in the attack was caught near the border
00:17:53My parents can finally rest for a while
00:17:55The moment I hear Austin and the traffickers were all arrested
00:17:58My entire mind goes blank
00:18:00Relief crashes over me so hard
00:18:02I almost shoot upright in the hospital bed
00:18:04Wait, seriously?
00:18:05They caught all of them?
00:18:07Yes, seriously
00:18:09Now stop moving before you rip your stitches open
00:18:12The crushing weight that haunted me through both lifetimes
00:18:14Finally disappears at that moment
00:18:15Meanwhile, Hector
00:18:16Who has been sitting nearby this entire time
00:18:18Calmly peels a banana like nothing's happening
00:18:21Doctor said you should eat this
00:18:22You've already woken up a few times these past couple days
00:18:24You've managed to pass gas
00:18:26So now they're just waiting to see if you can finally have a bowel movement
00:18:29Coming from someone usually this serious
00:18:31It's so absurd I completely lose it
00:18:33Unfortunately, the second I laugh
00:18:34Pain rips through the stitches in my abdomen
00:18:36I immediately hiss in pain, clutching my stomach
00:18:38Valerie starts laughing too
00:18:39But after a few seconds, her laughter fades
00:18:41Tears suddenly begin falling again without warning
00:18:43She tries to cry quietly
00:18:45She doesn't want either of us to notice
00:18:47Hector's smile slowly disappears too
00:18:49I wrap both arms tightly around this 18-year-old girl
00:18:52At that moment, through my chest is no longer the hatred I carried in my previous life
00:18:57Mom, if I had known my biologed father was the monster who destroyed your entire family
00:19:02How could I ever have hated you?
00:19:04I would have only hated myself for ever being born
00:19:06Since fate gave me another chance
00:19:08Then this time, I'll set you free
00:19:14After surviving the nightmare, the little Texas town slowly comes back to life
00:19:17Once I'm discharged from the hospital, my grandparents take me home
00:19:20Grandpa proudly hands me a limited edition Barbie doll he brought back from New York
00:19:23In my previous life, it was the only toy my mother had ever given me
00:19:26But this time, somehow, it heals me first
00:19:28Then Grandma completely hijacks what was supposed to be an emotional family dinner
00:19:32With giant sizzling Texas steaks
00:19:34Oversized cowboy hats and boots that look straight out of a Hollywood audition
00:19:37And enough chaos to turn the whole night upside down
00:19:39Even Hector, who normally acts way too composed for his age
00:19:42Finally laughs without holding back
00:19:46But beneath the warm yellow glow of the dinner lights
00:19:48The conversation eventually turns to goodbye
00:19:50Hector's mother lifts her wine glass, eyes red and swollen
00:19:53And quietly announces that they're moving back to Boston before Thanksgiving
00:19:56She can't handle the danger near the border anymore
00:19:58And in that moment, a misunderstanding from both my lifetimes finally unravels
00:20:03In my previous life, Hector never left because he looked down on my mother's reputation
00:20:07His mother had simply watched her son nearly die
00:20:10Any parent would have wanted to run from this place after that
00:20:12As an old country song crackles through the radio in the background
00:20:16We start talking about the future
00:20:18Valerie asks where I want to go to school someday
00:20:21I look at her
00:20:22The girl whose entire future was crushed fate in my previous life
00:20:25An answer without hesitation
00:20:27Harvard
00:20:28Under the endless Texas night sky
00:20:30With the Milky Way stretched above her like a dream
00:20:31I finally understand the suffocating pain she carried in her previous life
00:20:34I turn my head slightly and whisper so softly that only I can hear it
00:20:37Mom, this time go live your life
00:20:39Chase your dreams
00:20:40Be yourself again
00:20:41As for me, I'll stay behind in the darkness of this timeline
00:20:43The day Hector leaves, the boy who has always been calm and restrained
00:20:47Completely breaks down the moment he steps onto the bus
00:20:49Clinging to the window, he cries so hard he can barely breathe
00:20:52And then the bus slowly pulls away, kicking up clouds of Texas dust
00:20:55Before disappearing at the end of the highway
00:20:57Watching the bus vanish into the distance
00:20:59I think life might finally return to normal
00:21:02But fate still isn't done with me yet
00:21:03Something happened to Valerie
00:21:08After seeing Hector off, we head home through the bitter Texas winter wind
00:21:11I cling tightly to Valerie's arm
00:21:12Trying my best to keep the mood light while talking excitedly about Christmas dinner plans
00:21:15It has to be there
00:21:16And Mr. Wyatt smoked pulled pork too
00:21:18No argument
00:21:19This year we are eating like royalty
00:21:20I'm still rambling happily when Valerie's expression suddenly changes
00:21:23Without warning, she jerks her arm out of my grasp
00:21:26Like a frightened deer, she stumbles towards a trash can on the side of the road
00:21:29Bends over, and starts violently throwing up
00:21:31She vomits so hard there's eventually nothing left except bitter dry humps
00:21:35By the end, she can barely stay standing
00:21:38She grips a freezing telephone pole for support
00:21:40Her whole body trembling violently
00:21:42Her face drained completely white
00:21:44My mind goes blank
00:21:45The smile freezes on my face
00:21:49Watching her clutch her stomach and reek in pain
00:21:51A terrifying cold realization crawls slowly up my spine like ice water
00:21:58No symptoms
00:22:00No, no way
00:22:07You, you're pregnant?
00:22:10Valerie instinctively places a hand over her stomach
00:22:13Her eyes are filled with the kind of panic and confusion
00:22:17No 18-year-old girl should ever have to carry
00:22:19What happened that night may have been stopped halfway through
00:22:22But some nightmares had already rerouted themselves deep in the dark
00:22:27She looks at me helplessly
00:22:29Tears trembling in her eyes
00:22:32I... I don't know, Scarlet
00:22:34I thought maybe it was just stress lately
00:22:37I haven't had much appetite
00:22:39And I kept feeling nauseous
00:22:42Come on, we're going to the clinic
00:22:43Now
00:22:44I don't even let her finish speaking
00:22:46I grab her hand and practically drag her down the street
00:22:49Toward the town's small community clinic
00:22:53The doctor on duty is an elderly Cuban-American woman with silver hair
00:22:57Dr. Ramirez
00:22:58She isn't just the only general practitioner in town
00:23:01She's also one of Grandma Wyatt's oldest friends
00:23:03And her child's alongside her years ago
00:23:05The second Dr. Romero sees Valerie's face
00:23:08And the sheer panic in my eyes
00:23:09Her sharp, battle-wurned gaze immediately narrowed
00:23:12Wasting another second
00:23:13She starts ushering every remaining patient out of the clinic
00:23:17The entire room falls into suffocating silence
00:23:22Tell me what's going on
00:23:24My scalp precles with dread as I quickly explain Valerie's nausea and vomiting
00:23:28The old doctor says nothing after hearing me out
00:23:31But a deep, piercing sorrow flashes through her eyes
00:23:34She quietly takes Valerie into the examination room in the back
00:23:38The moment the door closes
00:23:40All the strength drains out of me
00:23:41I collapse into the cold metal chair outside the office
00:23:44Shoving both hands deep into my hair
00:23:46More than anyone else, I know exactly where I came from
00:23:49And because of that, a horrifying truth finally pieces itself together in my mind
00:23:53In my previous life
00:23:54Austin, the man who raised me after sawing Valerie's life
00:23:56Was actually released from prison early
00:23:58After committing crimes like that
00:24:00He still got out in less than 20 years
00:24:02Back then, when the case went to court
00:24:03Valerie must have stayed silent
00:24:05Maybe to hide the shame of being pregnant as a teenager
00:24:08Maybe to protect the Wyatt family's reputation
00:24:10Whatever the reason, her silence helped set a monster free
00:24:13The guilt of my own existence tears through me like a dull blade
00:24:16This nightmare destroyed a brilliant girl who was supposed to go to Harvard
00:24:19And the one thing it gave back to the world was a demon
00:24:23Half an hour later, the exam room door slowly creaks open
00:24:27Dr. Ramirez steps outside, looking exhausted
00:24:30She gently pats my shoulder
00:24:33Scarlet
00:24:34Go get Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt for me
00:24:39The moment the truth comes out
00:24:40The house, which had barely survived one nightmare already
00:24:45Falls into dead silence all over again
00:24:56Grandpa sits heavily on the couch
00:24:59This massive, hard-nosed cop who once stared down cartel gunfires
00:25:03Now looks hollowed out
00:25:04Like a man aging 10 years in a single night
00:25:10He buries his rough, caliphate hands over his face
00:25:13And says nothing
00:25:17Meanwhile, Grandma holds 18-year-old Valerie tightly in her arms
00:25:21Sobbing so hard she can barely breathe
00:25:24We're packing tonight
00:25:27We'll go straight to Boston and stay with Hector and his mother
00:25:32I won't let that monster's family lay a finger on you ever again
00:25:39Valerie stays curled up in the corner of the bed the entire time
00:25:42Silent as a porcelain doll
00:25:44She doesn't say a word
00:25:45She just keeps staring at me with those shattered, empty eyes
00:25:49But somewhere inside them is still this helpless instinct begging for someone to save her
00:25:54The sight tears me apart inside
00:25:58I lower my head immediately
00:26:00Too ashamed to even look my own mother in the eye
00:26:03And then things somehow get even worse
00:26:07Austin's trashy parents
00:26:08The grandparents I had in my previous life
00:26:11Somehow hear about Valerie's pregnancy
00:26:13Right after the attack
00:26:14Those two cowards vanished completely to avoid being dragged into the police investigation
00:26:18But the second they hear Valerie is carrying Austin's child
00:26:21They swoop in like vultures smelling blood
00:26:23To them, this pregnancy is leverage
00:26:25The perfect weapon to destroy the Wyatt family
00:26:28We barely made it back home before the two of them show up outside the house
00:26:32With some sleazy lawyer they hired
00:26:35The smell of cheap cigarettes and stale alcohol
00:26:38Hits before they even step into the yard
00:26:44My former grandfather, Silas Walker
00:26:46Doesn't show even a trace of shame
00:26:49No guilt
00:26:50No apology
00:26:52Just this disgusting, smug arrogance
00:26:58Standing in the yard
00:27:00He bellows toward the house like he owns the place
00:27:02Officer Wyatt
00:27:03Don't hide in there
00:27:05My son Austin may be in prison
00:27:07But he still has parental rights
00:27:09That maybe is part of our family
00:27:11And you're not taking our grandchild anywhere
00:27:13The sleazy lawyer beside him adjusts his glasses
00:27:16Smirks coldly
00:27:21If Miss Yight refuses to drop the charges
00:27:23We're fully prepared to drag this through family court for years
00:27:26And trust me, once the media gets involved
00:27:29Everybody in Texas is going to know exactly what happened to your daughter
00:27:35Then Mayabelle Walker, my former grandmother, blows out a stream of cigarette smoke and starts screeching in the house
00:27:42You go testify in federal court
00:27:45And we'll swear Valerie wanted it
00:27:47We'll tell everyone you cops framed our son
00:27:53We'll make damn sure every police department in Texas knows what kind of girl your daughter really is
00:28:00You think those badges are going to survive this?
00:28:03You think those badges are going to survive this?
00:28:04We'll ruin your whole family!
00:28:10The police had kept the details of that night sealed tightly
00:28:13Nobody in town knew what Valerie had actually suffered in the dark
00:28:17But now, these two shameless monsters are ripping open her deepest traumata in public
00:28:21Just to save their worthless son from federal prison
00:28:24They stand outside with a damn megaphone
00:28:26Turning a survivor's private nightmare into some sick public spectacle about protecting the family bloodline
00:28:32Before long, the whole town knows
00:28:34But they don't actually want the baby
00:28:36That's never been the point
00:28:37What they want is pressure
00:28:40They want to weaponize this conservative little town
00:28:43The gossip, the judgment, the victim blaming
00:28:46Until the Wyatts have nowhere left to run
00:28:48And their terms are crystal clear
00:28:51They want Valerie to change her testimony in federal court
00:28:55They want her to claim Austin was just the driver
00:28:57And knew nothing about the attack
00:28:59In exchange, the Walkers will stop harassing the family and leave them alone
00:29:04Hearing the whispers rising outside the fence
00:29:06Seeing neighbors stare with that fake sympathy hiding disgust underneath
00:29:13Everything suddenly clicks into place inside my head
00:29:17Now I understand exactly how Austin got that early release in my previous life
00:29:22There had been a deal
00:29:23And Valerie had been crushed into accepting it
00:29:27Looking at those two smug bastards standing outside our home acting righteous
00:29:30Every ounce of humiliation from my previous life
00:29:33And every drop of rage from this one finally explodes inside me
00:29:36To hell with staying calm
00:29:37I grab Grandpa's Louisville slugger from behind the front door
00:29:40And storm outside
00:29:41Gripping the bat so hard my knuckles go white
00:29:43By then, all I can see is red
00:30:00Right in front of everyone, I swing the bat
00:30:02Crack, crack
00:30:03The heavy end of the Louisville slugger smashes straight into Silas and Maybean's faces without a shred of hesitation
00:30:09The sound of teeth breaking mixes with their screams as both of them stumble backward
00:30:13Clutching their bloody mouths before collapsing into the dirt
00:30:15Your son is a convicted rapist
00:30:18I point the bat directly at the two of them
00:30:20Shaking with rage
00:30:21Where the hell was the talk about the La La when your psycho son was pointing a gun at federal
00:30:26officers?
00:30:26And now you want to come here and black rail cops?
00:30:31Gripping the bat with both hands
00:30:32I swing as hard as I can into the lawyer's sedan parked by the curb
00:30:35The windshield explodes instantly into a spiderweb of shattered glass
00:30:39Then I whip around towards the neighbors gathering outside the fence
00:30:42All of them whispering and staring
00:30:43What are you all looking at?
00:30:46Anybody else wants to stand here screaming at a victim with these two pieces of trash?
00:30:50I raise the broken bat
00:30:51Splintered wood jouting from the barrel
00:30:53I swear to God the next swing straight goes through your skull
00:30:57Get the hell away from the Wyatt house
00:30:59All of you, move!
00:31:01The hot border wind tears through the street
00:31:03One look at the shattered bat in my hands is enough
00:31:05The neighbors pale instantly and start backing away in fear
00:31:08And then suddenly
00:31:09Silas runges at me with a rusty switchblade in his hand
00:31:13Drop the charges or I'll kill every last one of you!
00:31:19The gunshot detonates through the street like thunder
00:31:21The bullet slices past Silas' ear
00:31:23And blasts apart one of the wooden fence posts behind him
00:31:26Everyone freezes
00:31:27Grandpa Rick stands there gripping a cork python revolver
00:31:30The barrel pressed directly against Silas' forehead
00:31:33His voice is low and deadly
00:31:35Officer Miller's daughter took a knife from my family
00:31:37You touch her again and see what happens
00:31:41The ringing echo from the gunshot leaves everyone stunned
00:31:44Silas drops the knife immediately
00:31:46It clatters onto the dirt beside him as he collapses in terror
00:31:52He's gonna kill us!
00:31:54The cops are trying to murder us!
00:31:56But before she can say another word
00:31:58Another figure comes flying down the porch steps
00:32:00Grandma
00:32:02She moves like lightning
00:32:04Grabbing a fistful of Maybella's brittle yellow hair
00:32:06She yanks her sideways so hard the old woman nearly falls
00:32:10Slap!
00:32:11Grandma backhands her across the face hard enough to send her crashing into the dirt
00:32:15Then plants a boot against her chest
00:32:17Her eyes are pure steel
00:32:19You think you can threaten my daughter's name?
00:32:21I'll go to prison smiling before I let your family destroy her life
00:32:25Now get the hell off my property before I bury all of you out in the desert myself
00:32:29Rick cocks the revolver once
00:32:32Never taking his eyes off Silas
00:32:34You assaulted my family
00:32:35As a police officer I have every right to arrest you right now
00:32:38Next time you won't walk away this lucky
00:32:41Now get out
00:32:42The sheer violence radiating off the two retired narcotics officers terrifies everyone into Silas
00:32:48The gossiping neighbors scatter immediately
00:32:50Silas and Maybella scramble to their feet and flee down the road like stray dogs
00:32:55But then suddenly
00:32:56Grandpa Rick doubles over coughing violently
00:32:59Fresh blood begins soaking through the white bandages wrapped around his torso
00:33:09Grandpa stitches tear open again so grandma rushes him back to the hospital
00:33:12I stay behind to take care of Valerie
00:33:13Standing outside her bedroom door I force myself to breathe through the panic crushing my chest
00:33:17I wipe the tears and blood off my face over and over with my sleeve until my skin burns raw
00:33:20I can't let Valerie see me falling apart
00:33:22Right now I have to be strong for her
00:33:24I shove the bedroom door open and lock it tightly behind me shutting out the chaos outside
00:33:28Then I walk straight towards her bed
00:33:31The second I see her sitting there
00:33:33Pale, hollow, motionless
00:33:36Something inside me finally breaks completely
00:33:40Valerie
00:33:41Let's leave
00:33:42We can start over somewhere else
00:33:45New York, California, anywhere
00:33:47Please
00:33:48Just pack a bag and come with me, okay?
00:33:50I almost sound desperate
00:33:52I grab her shoulders gently
00:33:54Trying to pull strength from the girl who
00:33:56In another lifetime would become my mother 19 years later
00:34:00But Valerie never says a word
00:34:02She just stays curled in the corner of the bed
00:34:05The fading sunset filters through the blinds
00:34:08Strip by strip
00:34:09Dying slowly across her face
00:34:10Then she finally lifts her head
00:34:12And once again she looks at me with those same shattered eyes
00:34:16Empty
00:34:17Helpless
00:34:18But still quietly begging someone to save her
00:34:20Sight crushes my chest
00:34:22For my entire previous life I thought I had been born unwanted
00:34:24But now I finally understand the truth
00:34:26My birth was never love
00:34:28It was a chain
00:34:29A weapon crafted by a monster to trap my mother and destroy her family forever
00:34:32I have never hated myself more than I do right now
00:34:38Valerie
00:34:39Listen to me
00:34:40This baby
00:34:41Before I can finish
00:34:42Valerie suddenly covers my mouth with her hand
00:34:47I look up at her
00:34:49And suddenly the dam inside me
00:34:51Completely breaks
00:34:53Tears pour down my face
00:34:55As I collapse to my knees beside the bed
00:34:57I pull her hand away from my mouth
00:34:59And finally scream out the truth
00:35:01That destroyed me for an entire lifetime
00:35:04This baby
00:35:05Is a stain that monster left on your life
00:35:09You'll hate it forever
00:35:12Every time you look at it
00:35:13You'll remember him
00:35:15You'll wish
00:35:16It had never been born
00:35:18My voice cracks apart completely
00:35:21It's better to end this now
00:35:23Than let that child grow up trapped in pain and misery
00:35:26I can barely breathe through the sobbing
00:35:30No one can calmly beg their own mother to erase them from existence
00:35:34But at that exact moment
00:35:35Valerie
00:35:36Who has been sitting there lifeless and hollow this whole
00:35:39Whole time
00:35:40Suddenly trembles violently
00:35:41It's like something inside her finally snaps awake
00:35:44She bolts upright from the bed
00:35:46And throws her arms around me without warning
00:35:48Crushing me against her chest
00:35:50She holds me so tightly
00:35:52Her fingers dig painfully into my back
00:35:54Hot tears spill onto my neck
00:35:56Burning against my skin
00:35:57And then she completely breaks down
00:36:00I never wanted you dead
00:36:02Nora
00:36:05Her voice is raw and shattered from crying
00:36:09Not once
00:36:10Not for a single second
00:36:12Did I ever wish you were dead
00:36:18That single sentence crashes through the room
00:36:20With the weight of two lifetimes behind it
00:36:22Every ounce of pain
00:36:25Resentment
00:36:26Anger
00:36:26And loneliness
00:36:27I carried inside me
00:36:28Shatters instantly into dust
00:36:31Because she called me Nora
00:36:33Not Scarlet
00:36:34Nora
00:36:35In this timeline
00:36:37Nobody knows that name
00:36:38Nobody except my mother from my previous life
00:36:41I freeze in her arms
00:36:43My mind going completely blank
00:36:45She isn't just the 18-year-old Valerie
00:36:48Who knows nothing about the future
00:36:50She remembers too
00:36:52In this broken, twisted timeline
00:36:55In this broken, twisted timeline
00:36:56And near my find
00:36:57My mother was reborn alongside me
00:37:00I know
00:37:02My entire body shakes
00:37:04As I cling to her shoulder, her shoulder
00:37:06Like a lost child
00:37:10I know I was never supposed to be born
00:37:13You had every reason to hate me
00:37:15Because of that monster
00:37:17Valerie suddenly grabs my face with both hands
00:37:20And forces me to look at her through her tears
00:37:22How could a mother ever hate her child?
00:37:25After two lifetimes
00:37:26Inside this old Texas house in 1996
00:37:28She finally tears open the truth she buried for decades
00:37:32And through uncontrollable sobbing
00:37:34My mother finally tells me why she stood beside my hospital bed
00:37:37And watched me die in my previous life
00:37:42The reason I couldn't donate bone marrow
00:37:45Was because I had terminal cancer too
00:37:48I wasn't eligible to donate
00:37:50I wasn't abandoning you, Nora
00:37:52How could I ever abandon my own daughter?
00:37:57Outside, the winter wind screams across the Texas borderlands
00:38:02But inside this cold little room
00:38:04A mother and daughter separated by two lifetimes
00:38:07Finally find each other again
00:38:09In the ruins of everything they lost
00:38:12Valerie clutches me so tightly she's shaking
00:38:14I never gave on you, Nora
00:38:17I begged everyone I could for help
00:38:19I borrowed money from anybody willing to listen
00:38:22Because I wanted to save you
00:38:23Every word tears out of her throat
00:38:25Like it physically hurts to say it
00:38:27Your bastard father wouldn't pay a single dime
00:38:29The ICU bills kept piling up every single day
00:38:32The hospital kept mailing notices
00:38:34Until my bowel box was overflowing
00:38:35In the end, I sold every apartment
00:38:37And every piece of property I owned in Boston
00:38:39Just to barely cover your medical bills
00:38:41Then her breathing completely falls apart
00:38:43And Austin
00:38:45That monster wanted to pull your ventilator out himself
00:38:47Back at the trailer park
00:38:48He lied to you
00:38:49He actually convinced you that I was the one who abandoned you
00:38:52She cries so hard she can barely breathe anymore
00:38:55Decades of humiliation and buried motherhood
00:38:57Finally exploding out all at once
00:38:59Back then, I left with Hector's mother
00:39:00To work in the city because I needed money
00:39:02I was trying to build enough of a life to come back
00:39:04And take you away from that rotting border town
00:39:07But the second I left
00:39:08Austin cut off every possible way for me to contact you
00:39:11He guarded the trailer park with a gun
00:39:13And wouldn't even let me get near you
00:39:15The only thing I could do
00:39:19Her voice breaks completely
00:39:21Was stand outside your school at the beginning of every semester
00:39:25And watch you from across the street
00:39:30I bite down so hard on my little lip I taste blood
00:39:34My vision is completely blurred by tears
00:39:38And finally, I understand everything
00:39:42Back then, she was only 18
00:39:45A girl who had survived something horrific
00:39:47Whose mind was already hanging by a thread
00:39:49There was no way she could go back to that monster
00:39:52For her, every step towards that trailer
00:39:55Grant was like walking back into hell itself
00:39:57But fate has always been cruel
00:39:59By the time mom finally saved enough money
00:40:01And came back to fight for custody of me
00:40:04Austin had already sensed something was coming
00:40:06He grabbed me in the middle of the night and disappeared
00:40:08And in the 1990s
00:40:10Before cell phones, databases
00:40:12And internet tracking connected the world
00:40:14We vanished into countless forgotten trailer parks
00:40:17Scattered across America
00:40:19She never found us again
00:40:22Valerie cups my face with trembling hands
00:40:28When you turned 18, you finally tracked down my private number
00:40:31Her voice cracks apart
00:40:34But by then
00:40:36I'd already been diagnosed with terminal cancer
00:40:41I didn't have much time left, Nora
00:40:46Her tears mix with mine
00:40:47As they stream down our faces together
00:40:49My body was falling apart day by day
00:40:52I didn't want to drag you into that
00:40:53I couldn't bear the thought of you watching me die in a hospital bed
00:40:57Or inheriting all my debt after I was gone
00:41:00That's why I acted cold on the phone
00:41:02That's why I pretended I didn't know you
00:41:04Everything inside my head goes completely blank
00:41:10The mother I spent my whole life hating
00:41:12Never abandoned me
00:41:14Not once
00:41:15With a body and soul shattered by a monster
00:41:18She still fought through the filled and hopelessness of the 1990s
00:41:21With everything she had left
00:41:23Just to keep loving me
00:41:24We cling to each other in that dark little room
00:41:27And cry until there are no tears left
00:41:30Finally
00:41:30I wipe my face hard
00:41:32And force myself to look straight into her eyes
00:41:35Mom
00:41:36If we've really both been given another chance
00:41:39Then don't let me become your chains all over again
00:41:42We can still fix this
00:41:44We'll go to the hospital
00:41:45Without me you can finally live your own life
00:41:47Valerie instantly shakes her head in panic
00:41:50Stop!
00:41:50Don't say that!
00:41:51I can't do it!
00:41:53Nora!
00:41:53You are part of me!
00:41:55I will never let you go!
00:41:57She covers her face
00:41:59Crying uncontrollably
00:42:00And seeing the pain and determination in her eyes
00:42:03I can't force her anymore
00:42:05The sunset over the Texas border paints the entire sky blood red
00:42:08Hot wind rolls through the yard
00:42:11Carrying dust and dry heat
00:42:12That makes my chest tighten with unease
00:42:14Grandpa fires up the smoker in the backyard
00:42:17Using a stash of oak wood he's been saving for years
00:42:20Before long
00:42:20The air fills with the smell of smoked brisket and ribs
00:42:23Grandma and I spend the entire afternoon preparing dinner
00:42:25Wanting to give mom
00:42:26The girl who suffered so much in this timeline
00:42:28The happiest 18th birthday possible
00:42:30But just as grandma wipes her hands clean
00:42:31And starts heading inside to call Valerie at a dinner
00:42:42Officer Wyatt
00:42:43We've got a problem
00:42:44Austin escaped during transport to federal prison
00:42:47He killed two federal marshals and stole a shotgun
00:42:50Dispatch intercepted a report ten minutes ago
00:42:52He's heading straight for town in a stolen pickup truck
00:42:54The second I hear Austin's name
00:42:56Rage destinates inside my body
00:42:58Every ounce of blood in my veins feels like it catches fire
00:43:02He's coming here for revenge
00:43:09That monster ruined my mother once already
00:43:12Why the hell should he get another chance to destroy her life
00:43:21While grandpa and grandma rush back inside in scotch
00:43:24To grab their Remingston shoe dunes
00:43:26I move first
00:43:34Without hesitation
00:43:35I snatch up the heavy cleaver sitting beside the cutting board in the kitchen
00:43:48I don't even look back at the house
00:43:50Eyes burning red with hatred
00:43:53I run straight into the blood-colored Texas dusk
00:43:56Austin
00:43:56Even if this drags my soul straight into hell
00:43:59This time
00:44:01I'm going to kill you myself
00:44:06Night falls fast near the border
00:44:09Freezing wind filled with sand cuts across my face like blades
00:44:15I crouch silently in the shadows near the edge of the neighborhood
00:44:18My palms slick with sweat around the handle of the clemver
00:44:23But no matter how long I wait
00:44:25Austin never appears
00:44:27Then around midnight
00:44:28A horrible instinct suddenly clenches around my heart
00:44:32Valerie should have returned from the clinic hours ago
00:44:34But she still isn't home
00:44:36Headlights suddenly tear through the darkness
00:44:38Grandpa's old wake-up truck skids to a stop beside me
00:44:42Scarlett, get in!
00:44:49Grandma and Grandpa both look pale with fear
00:44:51Gripping loaded Remington shoot guns tightly in their hands
00:44:54We immediately start tracking tire marks and crushed brush along the bide side
00:45:01Following every sign we can find
00:45:04The search leads us all the way to the edge of town
00:45:06Then the pickup engine dies
00:45:08Silence
00:45:09Nothing but cold desert wind and darkness
00:45:11In front of us sits an abandoned trailer park that's been empty for years
00:45:15We split up to search for Valerie
00:45:17Let go of me! You're insane! Let me go!
00:45:22Let go of me! You're insane! Let me go!
00:45:26My mind goes blank
00:45:29I know instantly there's no time to turn back for Grandpa
00:45:33So I run toward Valerie's screams alone
00:45:38But somewhere during those few desperate seconds
00:45:41Hearing my mother crying inside that trailer
00:45:45Something strange happens
00:45:48The panic inside my head suddenly disappears
00:45:51Something strange happens
00:45:53The panic inside my head suddenly disappears
00:45:55Completely
00:45:56As I sprint through the freezing dark
00:45:58I grip the heavy meat clever hidden beneath my coat so tightly my hand aches
00:46:02My palm is slipped with sweat
00:46:04But my eyes hold no fear anymore
00:46:06Only calm
00:46:07And certainty
00:46:10In that moment I finally understand why I came back to this world
00:46:13I wasn't reborn to keep living as that monster's unwanted child
00:46:16I crossed 28 years of time for one reason only
00:46:20To set my mother free
00:46:21Even if it cost the life I was never supposed to have in the first place
00:46:26I stare at the battered trailer door glowing faintly under the moonlight
00:46:29And I never slow down for even a second
00:46:33You sick bastard!
00:46:39Without hesitation, I slam my foot into the flimsy aluminum trailer door
00:46:44Using the momentum, I throw myself straight at Austin from behind
00:46:49Under the pale moonlight, I raise the heavy cleaver high over my head
00:46:54And bring it down with every ounce of hatred from both lifetimes behind it
00:46:59Austin lets out an animalistic scream
00:47:02But I underestimated what kind of monster he really is
00:47:08I'm gonna rip you apart
00:47:09A man who survived years of cartel violence along the border doesn't go down easily
00:47:16The pain only drives me insane
00:47:18But before I can swim again, agony shoots through my arm like the bone is about to snap
00:47:24I'm gonna kill you!
00:47:27The cleaver is ripped out of my hands instantly
00:47:29Clang!
00:47:31The weapon crashes to the floor as Austin slams me hard against the ground inside the trailer
00:47:38Under the dim moonlight leaking through the broken trailer walls
00:47:41Austin finally sees my face clearly
00:47:47You little bitch again
00:47:50You just keep ruining everything!
00:47:53He roars hysterically and raises the clember over his head
00:47:56And then it comes down
00:47:58Again
00:47:58And again
00:48:00The blade flashes silver through the cramped trailer
00:48:03Each strike tears violently into my stomach and chest without mercy
00:48:12Warm blood immediately floods from my mouth, soaking my clothes
00:48:18But strangely, I can't feel pain anymore
00:48:26My mind is terrifyingly clear
00:48:28Only one thought keeps screaming inside my head
00:48:31Don't let him go
00:48:32Don't let him get to Valerie
00:48:34No!
00:48:35Please!
00:48:36Stop!
00:48:37Let her go!
00:48:39No!
00:48:42Please!
00:48:44Stop!
00:48:45No!
00:48:45Please!
00:48:47No!
00:48:48No!
00:48:49No!
00:48:52No!
00:49:02No!
00:49:09No!
00:49:12No!
00:49:13No!
00:49:15No!
00:49:16No matter how violently he punches me
00:49:19No matter how many times the blade carves into my flesh
00:49:23I grit my teeth so hard I taste blood
00:49:25and hold on anyway
00:49:27Even as blood pours from my mouth, I use my dying body weight to keep him pinned in place.
00:49:34You want to hurt her?
00:49:36Then you'll have to cut me into pieces first.
00:49:40Then you'll have to cut me into pieces first!
00:49:44A deafening shotgun blast erupts through the trailer.
00:49:47Austin!
00:49:49Blinding police spotlights flood the darkness as Grandpa storms inside, roaring.
00:49:54The blast tears straight through Austin's skull.
00:49:57The impact stops the monster cold.
00:50:00His body jerks violently before collapsing to the floor like dead weight.
00:50:04Scarlet!
00:50:05Finally, the demon falls silent.
00:50:07And with the last bit of life draining from my body, I collapse into the blood beside him.
00:50:17Scarlet! Scarlet!
00:50:22Scarlet, wake up!
00:50:24Please!
00:50:26Mom's begging you, please wake up!
00:50:29My mother's screams tear through the freezing Texas night.
00:50:33Raw.
00:50:34Desperate.
00:50:35Sharp enough to rip the sky apart.
00:50:37I want to lift my hand.
00:50:40Wipe the blood off her face.
00:50:41Like I always do.
00:50:43Pull her into my arms one last time.
00:50:44But my arm feels filled with concrete.
00:50:47My body is getting colder by the second.
00:50:49And the voices around me sound farther and farther away.
00:50:51Like they're trapped beneath deep water.
00:50:53The whole world is slowly drifting out of reach.
00:50:55I lie there helplessly in the cold, moldy blood pooling across the floor of the abandoned trailer.
00:51:00I see Grandpa and Grandma rushing toward me.
00:51:04Grandpa's hands.
00:51:04The same steady hands that held a gun his entire life without trembling once.
00:51:09He presses so hard his knuckles turn white.
00:51:12But the blood still keeps pouring through his fingers.
00:51:16Grandma collapses beside me.
00:51:18Covering her mouth as sobs wreck her body.
00:51:22The whole world is slowly drifting out of reach.
00:51:26I know then.
00:51:28I'm never gonna wake up again.
00:51:32That monster who haunts both of my lives.
00:51:35Like a curse carved into my bones.
00:51:39Austin Walker is finally killed that night by Grandpa's shotgun.
00:51:43The blast tears straight through his head.
00:51:46His blood.
00:51:47His violence.
00:51:47His evil.
00:51:48All of it splatter across the rusted trailer walls and sinks into the mud of the Texas borderlands.
00:51:54Justice comes late.
00:51:55The law never even gets the chance to put him on death row.
00:51:58Fate beats it to the punch.
00:52:00Brutal, bloody, and absolute.
00:52:02After two lifetimes of suffering, the debt is finally paid.
00:52:06But the devil's death doesn't bring life back to our family.
00:52:09A few days later, an unusual storm rolls across the border.
00:52:12Cold rain mixes with sand and dirt, turning the whole town gray, muddy, and bitterly cold
00:52:16as if the sky itself is mourning everything we've lost.
00:52:19The Wyatt House falls silent.
00:52:20The kitchen that once smells of barbecue and fresh coffee never lights up again.
00:52:24Valerie becomes a ghost.
00:52:26She barely speaks.
00:52:28Barely moves.
00:52:29Like someone winds her up once and then forgets to do it again.
00:52:33Late one night, after the rain finally stops,
00:52:36she stumbles into my room alone.
00:52:38Dust has already settled across everything I leave behind.
00:52:41With trembling hands, she folds my faded jeans,
00:52:44picks up my unfinished notebooks,
00:52:46smooths out the wrinkles in the blanket on my bed.
00:52:49And the moment her fingers touch those cold sheets,
00:52:52the ones that will never hold my warmth again,
00:52:54something inside her finally breaks.
00:52:56Tears hit the hardwood floor one after another.
00:52:59Soft. Heavy.
00:53:01Nora?
00:53:02Can Mom come find you in heaven?
00:53:07Valerie drops to her knees beside the bed.
00:53:10She buries her pale face deep into my old pillow,
00:53:13the one I never get around to washing.
00:53:16There's still the faint smell of cheap shampoo lingering in the fabric,
00:53:19the last trace of her daughter left in this world.
00:53:22She clutches the sheets so tightly her fingers cramp,
00:53:26crying like a child who loses everything in the middle of the desert.
00:53:31The news of the border shooting reaches Boston overnight.
00:53:36Hector and his mother immediately cancel everything
00:53:39and drive back to Texas.
00:53:41Neither of them asks questions.
00:53:44They simply stay beside my grandparents
00:53:47and help them hold themselves together long enough to bury me.
00:53:52The funeral is held in the little cemetery outside town.
00:53:56For once, there is no sandstorm.
00:54:00White roses cover my grave.
00:54:02Hector stands at the very back of the crowd.
00:54:05The boy who once looked so calm and untouchable
00:54:09now has eyes darkened with grief and rage.
00:54:12He stares at the photo on my headstone,
00:54:15my 18-year-old smile frozen forever in time,
00:54:18and clenches his fists so hard his knuckles turn pale.
00:54:24After the funeral,
00:54:25the atmosphere inside the Wyatt house feels suffocating.
00:54:29Grandpa and Grandma sit silently at the dinner table,
00:54:33exhaustion and grief etched into every line on their faces.
00:54:37Hector sits alone on the old bench near the living room window,
00:54:40staring out at the empty Texas highway.
00:54:42He struggles with himself for a long time before finally standing and walking over to Valerie.
00:54:47He crouches down in front of her carefully,
00:54:49like he's afraid she might shitter if he moves too fast.
00:54:56Valerie, come with us. Leave this place behind.
00:55:00We can start over somewhere else.
00:55:03Okay?
00:55:04His voice is barely above a whisper.
00:55:06He doesn't even dare touch her.
00:55:08He just looks at her with quiet heartbreak in his eyes.
00:55:11Valerie doesn't answer.
00:55:13She sits there in the shadows,
00:55:15clutching my faded denim jacket against her chest like it's the last oxygen left in the world.
00:55:21That night, after everyone finally falls asleep from sheer exhaustion,
00:55:26the old house sinks into silence.
00:55:34And Valerie wanders back into my room again.
00:55:52She doesn't turn on the lights.
00:55:54In a room without me, even the light feels like a mockery.
00:56:03She kneels alone on the cold floor,
00:56:05organizing my belongings one piece at a time under the pale moonlight coming through the window.
00:56:18My textbooks full of notes.
00:56:23My erasers worn down to almost nothing.
00:56:25Then finally,
00:56:28my old backpack.
00:56:30The cheap one with frayed edges and fading fabric.
00:56:33She pulls it into her arms and buries her face against it,
00:56:37breathing in what little remains of my scent.
00:56:43Then her hand brushes against something hidden deep inside the torn inner lining.
00:56:56paper.
00:56:57A folded envelope slips loose and falls softly into her lap.
00:57:01On the front is only one word.
00:57:05Those are the words I want to say across two lifetimes.
00:57:09The words I never managed to say out loud before I die.
00:57:20Valerie freezes.
00:57:21Her whole body stiffens as her trembling fingers slowly tear the envelope open.
00:57:27She's shaking so badly,
00:57:29her fingernail slices the edge of the paper and draws blood,
00:57:33but she doesn't even notice.
00:57:35Then she sees the first line.
00:57:38And the moment she reads the name buried deepest inside her heart.
00:57:46her breathing stops.
00:57:54Mom,
00:57:56if you're reading this,
00:57:58I'm probably already gone.
00:58:06Don't cry for me.
00:58:09From the first day I came back to this timeline,
00:58:13I already make up my mind.
00:58:16I'm going to trade my life for your freedom.
00:58:21Under the moonlight,
00:58:23Valerie's eyes instantly turn red.
00:58:26She covers her mouth tightly
00:58:28to stop herself from sobbing out loud
00:58:30and keeps reading.
00:58:34During those 28 filthy years in my first life,
00:58:39I hated you so much sometimes.
00:58:41Living in that moldy trailer park,
00:58:43I wonder every day why everyone else has a loving mom except me.
00:58:47Why you left me alone in hell.
00:58:49But in this life, I finally learned the truth.
00:58:52My mother loves me more than anyone ever could.
00:58:55You burn your whole life away trying to protect me.
00:58:58And honestly, mom,
00:59:00being loved by you like that is already enough.
00:59:02You're brilliant.
00:59:04Beautiful.
00:59:06Grandpa and grandma love you so much.
00:59:09Hector's mom once says you're meant to soar high above the clouds.
00:59:13Not rot away in border town dirt because some rapist destroys your life.
00:59:17Please let me go, mom.
00:59:19Don't give birth to me again.
00:59:20As long as the name Nora exists,
00:59:22Austin Walker's shadow will always haunt you.
00:59:25This time don't look back.
00:59:26Promise me.
00:59:27Go somewhere cleaner.
00:59:29Higher.
00:59:29Better.
00:59:30Go live the life you're supposed to have.
00:59:32Be free.
00:59:34By the end of the letter,
00:59:35Valerie has completely collapsed onto the floor.
00:59:38She presses those pages against her chest like they're the last pieces of my heartbeat left in the world
00:59:42and cries so hard she can barely breathe.
00:59:45Curled up beside the bed in the darkness,
00:59:47she breaks apart completely.
00:59:49And in that winter night of 1996,
00:59:53in a world without her daughter,
00:59:56my mother lets out the most shattered, guilt-raden, heartbroken sobs of both our lifetimes.
01:00:05That night, the Texas winter wind howls so hard it nearly tears the old wooden house apart.
01:00:12Valerie clutches my letter against her chest and cries until her voice gives up.
01:00:20In that letter, I beg her to let me go, beg her not to look back, beg her to chase
01:00:25her dreams and finally become the free person she deserves to be.
01:00:30But staring into my empty room, something reignites in her hollow, lifeless eyes.
01:00:38A fire.
01:00:40A stubbornness stronger than grief itself.
01:00:44Valerie whispers hoskily into the darkness.
01:00:49You silly girl.
01:00:51How could a mother ever stop loving her child?
01:00:54She can't do what I ask.
01:00:58Because she had already told me once before.
01:01:02I will never let you go.
01:01:06You are part of my body.
01:01:09Part of my life.
01:01:13A few days later, Hector and his mother help my exhausted grandparents finish arranging everything.
01:01:28Then, carrying unbearable grief with them, the entire family leaves Texas for Boston.
01:01:41The day the bus pulls away, kicking up yellow dust behind it.
01:01:48Valerie stands by the window and takes a deep breath of cold New England air.
01:01:55This time, she isn't running as a victim buried under shame.
01:02:00This time, she's a mother determined to rewrite fate itself and bring her daughter back into the world with every
01:02:08ounce of love she has.
01:02:12Time moves quickly beneath Boston's blue skies.
01:02:18Valerie throws every ounce of grief and pain into studying.
01:02:24Fueled by the determination of two lifetimes, she works through endless nights until she's accepted into Harvard with near-perfect
01:02:34scores.
01:02:35And Hector, the boy who once cries for me at that Texas bus station, finally achieved his own dream too.
01:02:45Earning a place at one of the country's top medical schools.
01:02:51Textbooks become Valerie's shelter and the child growing inside her.
01:02:55The child once used by monsters as black man is finally being nurtured in warmth and love.
01:03:03The following autumn, beneath golden maple leaves and the bright lights of a Boston maternity room,
01:03:09a baby girl enters the world with a loud, healthy cry.
01:03:15Valerie lies exhausted against the hospital bed, tears blurring her vision as she smiles wider than she ever has before.
01:03:22With trembling arms, she holds the tiny newborn against her chest and kisses her forehead gently.
01:03:27Noah, welcome to the world, baby.
01:03:32This time, there's no moldy trailer park.
01:03:35No violence.
01:03:36No shadow left behind by monsters.
01:03:38Sunlight pours through the hospital windows onto a warm nursery crib.
01:03:42Grandpa and Grandma show up crying and carrying brand new Barbie dolls.
01:03:47Hector adjusts his glasses and smiles softly beside him.
01:03:50And this version of Nora is finally born into life.
01:03:57After that, life slowly finds its way onto the right path.
01:04:01Without the suffering and burdens of the first timeline,
01:04:04Valerie and Hector both reach the futures they are always meant to have.
01:04:08Hector becomes one of the country's leading surgeons, saving countless lives.
01:04:13Valera becomes a legendary attorney known across America,
01:04:18dedicating her career to protecting women and children through civil rights law.
01:04:23And the new Nora grows up in Harvard's golden autumn trees,
01:04:27surrounded by love instead of fear.
01:04:30She is bright, confident, happy.
01:04:35The cancer that once destroys my body,
01:04:39never appears in hers.
01:04:45As little Nora grows up,
01:04:47she watches Valerie and Hector eventually fall in love
01:04:50and build a quiet, beautiful family together.
01:04:53Their life isn't glamorous,
01:04:56but the love they give her overflows far beyond what most families could ever offer,
01:05:01and somewhere inside the golden evening light.
01:05:04The version of me that crosses time itself.
01:05:07The wandering soul, carried away by the wind,
01:05:11finally smiles.
01:05:12At the end of her autobiography,
01:05:14my mother writes one final dedication.
01:05:17Every achievement and honor in my life belongs to a girl named Nora.
01:05:21My daughter once tears open the darkness with her own life,
01:05:25and I spend the rest of mine bringing her back into the light.
01:05:28I lean quietly against my mother's knee in that final memory,
01:05:32and whisper softly in my heart,
01:05:36Mom, this time, you get everything right.
01:05:39And at last, those two wounded souls walk hand in hand towards the endless stars waiting beyond the clouds.
01:05:45The dark, that's the way.
01:05:47The weak of the world.
01:05:49The dark.
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