Jon stared at the boy in the mirror, at the easy grin taped across photos and medals, at the bright-eyed swimmer who seemed to belong in every inch of this cheerful blue room.
That wasn’t him. Not really.
But it was, wasn’t it?
He pressed his palm flat to the cool surface of the mirror, the stone heavy in his other hand. His chest ached with conflict. He didn’t want to erase himself. He didn’t want to forget the sixteen-year-old outcast who had stumbled through high school, clung to Karyn, and longed for a single proud word from his father. That boy was him. The real him.
But he couldn’t survive here if he stayed like that. Not in this world where everyone expected him to be Jonny, the younger, brighter, stronger son. If he kept acting lost, confused, broken, someone would notice. He’d blow his cover. He’d lose everything.
The house felt different now—cleaner, warmer. His parents smiled. His brother adored him. For once, his family wasn’t a cage of quiet disappointment. It was whole.
Maybe being thirteen again wasn’t so bad. More time. A fresh start. A chance to figure out who he wanted to be.
He glanced back at the mirror, at the medals, at the photos of him and Mikey shoulder to shoulder, grinning like idiots. That life… looked good. Too good to throw away.
Jon lifted the stone, closing his eyes.
“Okay, stone,” he whispered, voice trembling. “I wish that I fit into this life. That I was the happy, sporty Jon everyone now expects me to be. That I’m close to Mikey, that I know my friends, that I can swim—and love it—as much as this Jonny does. I wish I could feel like him, live like him… but also still know that I was once someone else. The outcast Jon. The boy who struggled. I don’t want to forget that. Not even when I’m an old man.”
The words left him, final and certain. The stone pulsed once, like a heartbeat.
And then it hit him.
Memories crashed in—floods of laughter and chlorine, of summer days at the pool, of running through sprinklers with Mikey. The thrill of racing, the pride of winning, the ache of losing but knowing he’d bounce back. Sleepovers, video games, endless inside jokes. The burn of muscles after practice, the joy of diving into water and slicing clean through it like a knife.
He staggered against the sink, gasping, overwhelmed by joy that wasn’t his but suddenly felt like it had always been.
He knew what to say to his parents. He knew how to joke with Mikey. He knew his friends’ names, their faces, their voices.
And underneath it all, at the very back of his mind, was still Jon. Sixteen. Awkward. Outcast. Watching. Remembering. Never gone.
He lifted his head and grinned at his reflection. “This life is… sick.”
He didn’t just look like Jonny now. He felt like him.
Stepping out of the bathroom, he moved with new ease, shoulders loose, smile easy. The panic that had sent him running was gone. He could fix this.
In the kitchen, Mikey was still scrolling on his phone, laughing at some video. Jon slid up beside him, nudging him with his shoulder.
“Sorry, dude,” he said casually, grabbing a piece of toast. “Guess I was tired earlier. Being lame.” He leaned in, grinning. “But that video you showed me—the guy jumping over the shark? That was insane. Think I could do that?”
Mikey lit up instantly, elbowing him back. “Dude, you’d crush it. You’re way better than that guy.”
Jon laughed, warmth blooming in his chest. For the first time, he didn’t feel like he was pretending.
This life fit him. He could be happy here.
But as he sat down at the table, smiling at his parents, something gnawed at the edge of his awareness of his old self what the new self did not listen to. and should of with it being a quiet reminder that not everyone was swept up in the rewrite.
Somewhere out there, Karyn was still walking around with long blond hair and a body she hadn’t wanted, carrying the memory of a different Jon—the awkward sixteen-year-old who didn’t belong, with she new this with well she made a sicred wish when she had the stone to always remember who they where.
And she wasn’t happy, resizing Jon has gone from her phone and pitchers and her and his history, with finding a 13 year old boy looking happy and cute and put together with Jons name on Facebook and well when out to find him wanting to know what the hell has he done now.
