By the time the family of five stepped out of the restaurant, the rain was coming down hard.
The sky had only been overcast when they went inside, and none of them had noticed when the rain began.
Now the entire street was blurred behind a dense curtain of water.
Rain hammered against the awning above the entrance, fast and relentless.
The road was already soaked, and every passing car sent water spraying up from the puddles along the curb.
Clara stood beneath the awning for a moment, watching the rain before pulling out her phone.
“I’ll call a car.”
Arthur had already taken out his keys.
“No need.
I’ll drive everyone home.”
Clara looked up at him.
“The three of us don’t even live together.”
“I’ll drop off whoever lives farthest away first.”
“That’s a huge detour.”
Clara checked the time and quickly worked out the route in her head.
“That’ll add at least forty minutes.”
“In weather like this, I’d rather make the extra trip than have the three of you find your own way home.”
“We’re not kids anymore.”
Arthur opened his umbrella and glanced back at her.
“Doesn’t make a difference to me.”
With that, he stepped out into the rain.
Clara stayed beneath the awning, watching her father walk away before shaking her head helplessly.
“Police Dad.”
Helena happened to pass beside her and smiled.
“You should be used to it by now.”
Before long, all five of them were in the car.
Helena sat in the passenger seat while the three siblings squeezed into the back.
Arthur started the engine but didn’t pull out immediately.
Instead, he adjusted the rearview mirror and glanced behind him.
Lucas had fastened his seat belt.
So had Clara.
Theo was already leaning back against the seat, his belt securely buckled as well.
Only after checking all three of them did Arthur slowly pull out of the parking space.
Clara caught the movement.
“Dad.”
“Hmm?”
“We’re all in our thirties.”
“So?”
“We know how to fasten our seat belts.”
“I know.”
“Then why do you still check?”
Arthur kept his eyes on the road.
“Habit.”
Clara opened her mouth, then thought better of it and leaned back in her seat.
Arguing about something like this with a man who had spent so many years as a police officer was probably just as pointless as Arthur trying to argue with Helena about being late earlier.
There was simply no point.
The car slowly disappeared into the rain.
The windshield wipers swept back and forth without pause, but the rain was so heavy that the glass was covered again almost as soon as it was cleared.
Arthur kept his speed low and left far more distance than usual between them and the car ahead.
Clara glanced at the navigation screen.
“At this speed, it’ll take fifty-seven minutes to get to my place.”
“It’s raining.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t rush me.”
“I’m not rushing you.” Clara kept her eyes on the route.
“I’m just working out what time I’ll get home.”
Arthur decided not to answer.
Lucas managed to sit quietly for only a few minutes before discreetly pulling out his phone again.
The screen had barely lit up when Arthur’s voice came from the front.
“Lucas.”
Lucas froze.
“I’m only replying to one message.”
“Do it tomorrow.”
“This student says it’s urgent.”
Arthur glanced at him through the rearview mirror.
“He’ll still be there tomorrow.”
Lucas fell silent.
After a moment, he put the phone back into his pocket.
Clara turned toward the window to hide a smile.
Theo, on the other hand, really couldn’t stay awake any longer.
Not long after getting into the car, he fell asleep against the seat.
When Arthur turned a corner, Theo’s head tipped toward the window with the movement of the car.
Lucas instinctively reached out and caught him before his head could hit the glass.
Once the car straightened again, Lucas noticed that Theo’s window wasn’t completely closed.
He quietly raised it the rest of the way so the cold, damp air wouldn’t keep blowing in.
Theo slept through the whole thing.
Clara noticed what Lucas had done but said nothing.
She simply muted the video she had been about to watch.
The car gradually fell quiet.
Only the steady sweep of the windshield wipers and the muffled drumming of rain against the roof remained.
After they had driven a little farther, Helena noticed warning lights flashing through the rain ahead.
“Is the bridge still under repair?”
Arthur saw them too.
“It isn’t closed.”
Even so, he slowed down again.
They had crossed the bridge many times before and knew the road well.
Tonight, however, the rain was unusually heavy.
Water had already begun collecting across parts of the bridge, and whenever the tires passed through it, a thin spray rose from the road.
Arthur kept both hands on the wheel, his attention fixed on the road ahead.
They had barely driven onto the bridge when a sharp, frantic horn suddenly blared from the opposite lane.
Arthur looked up at once.
A heavy truck came sliding out of the rain.
Its rear wheels had clearly lost traction.
The cab was still more or less in its own lane, but the back of the truck had swung sideways across the wet road and was skidding straight toward them.
It was too close.
Arthur’s expression changed instantly.
“Hold on!”
At the same moment, he jerked the steering wheel aside.
Helena reacted immediately, grabbing the handle above the door.
Lucas and Clara both snapped their heads up in the back.
The sudden movement woke Theo as well.
“What—”
He never finished.
Their car narrowly avoided the sliding truck, but the bridge was too wet.
The tires hit standing water and lost their grip.
The next second, the car slammed into the guardrail.
The impact tore through the cabin, throwing all five of them hard against their seat belts.
Arthur’s temple struck the side of the car.
His vision went black for a split second.
Warm blood began running down the side of his face almost immediately, but he didn’t even have time to touch it.
The moment his vision cleared, he looked into the rearview mirror.
“Everyone in the back okay?”
“I’m fine,” Lucas answered first.
Clara sucked in a breath and braced herself against the seat in front of her.
“I’m okay too.”
Theo had hit his shoulder.
He cautiously moved his arm.
“I can move it.”
Arthur had barely begun to feel relieved when a horrible metallic groan came from beside them.
The guardrail was bending beneath the weight of the car.
Helena heard it too.
Her expression changed.
“Arthur—”
Before she could finish, the car suddenly dropped.
The sickening sensation of weightlessness hit them all at once as the vehicle plunged off the bridge.
A moment later, the river swallowed them.
The impact shook the entire car, and everything around them seemed to go dark at once.
Arthur had no time to think.
“Seat belts off!”
His voice cut through the chaos and pulled everyone back to their senses.
Helena released hers immediately and twisted around.
“Lucas?”
“Here.”
“Clara?”
“Here!”
“Theo?”
“I’m okay.”
Only after hearing all three voices did some of the tension leave her face.
Arthur was already trying the door.
It wouldn’t move.
He shifted his position and shoved again.
Nothing.
The collision with the guardrail had clearly warped the body of the car.
The door was jammed completely shut, while river water was already forcing its way in through the damaged sections.
At first, only a shallow layer covered the floor.
Then it began to rise.
“Lucas, try the back door!”
Lucas immediately unfastened his seat belt and turned around.
He pulled several times.
His expression darkened.
“It’s stuck.”
“Clara, find the emergency hammer.”
“I’m looking.”
“Theo, check if anyone’s badly hurt.”
The confusion in Theo’s eyes disappeared almost instantly.
He quickly moved his own arms and legs before using the dim light inside the car to check the two people beside him.
“Lucas is fine.”
He took Clara’s right hand and examined it.
“Clara scraped the back of her hand.
It’s shallow.”
Then he carefully moved his own shoulder again.
“I hit my shoulder.
I can still move it, so it probably isn’t fractured.”
He looked toward the front.
His gaze immediately stopped on Arthur’s temple.
“Dad.”
Arthur was still fighting with the door.
“Talk.”
“Your head’s bleeding.”
“Conscious and mobile.” Arthur didn’t even turn around.
“Ignore it for now.”
Theo pressed his lips together.
He knew this wasn’t the time to deal with the wound, so he said nothing more.
The water had already risen past their ankles.
Soon it reached their calves.
The cold made every movement harder.
Clara bent down and searched beside the seats until her fingers finally closed around the emergency hammer.
“Found it!”
She had only just picked it up when the current suddenly shoved the car sideways.
The vehicle tilted sharply, throwing everyone off balance.
The hammer slipped from Clara’s hand and disappeared beneath the seat.
“Damn it.”
She immediately bent down to search for it again.
Lucas had already started kicking at another window.
Arthur searched for another way to break the glass.
Helena helped while repeatedly turning around to make sure all three of their children were still where she could see them.
No one stopped.
No one gave up.
But the water was rising too quickly.
From their calves to their waists.
Then to their chests.
The freezing river slowly forced the remaining air out of the car, making every breath harder than the last.
Arthur slammed his shoulder against the door one final time.
It still wouldn’t open.
He drew a ragged breath and finally stopped for a moment.
Then he looked back.
Helena was beside him.
Lucas, Clara, and Theo were still behind them.
All three were there.
Helena looked at him.
She said nothing.
She simply reached out her hand.
Arthur took it.
In the back, Lucas caught Clara by the wrist.
Clara reached for Theo.
Even then, no one said goodbye.
None of them wanted to be the first to admit that they might truly have no way out.
They were still waiting.
Waiting for the door to loosen.
Waiting for the glass to break.
Waiting for even the smallest chance.
But in the end, the freezing river swallowed the last pocket of air.
The sounds around them slowly began to fade.
The rain disappeared first.
Then even the rush of the water seemed to grow distant.
Until there was nothing left but a long, endless darkness.
…
Arthur’s eyes flew open.
“Helena!”
He shot upright.
His chest heaved violently, his breathing so ragged that it felt as though he had only just fought his way out of the river.
His right hand reached instinctively toward the space beside him.
There was no freezing water.
No twisted car door.
His palm landed on a rough blanket instead, coarse enough to scratch against his skin.
Arthur froze.
He remained like that for several seconds before slowly raising his head.
He wasn’t in the car.
He wasn’t in a hospital either.
Dark wooden beams stretched across the ceiling overhead.
The walls were made of roughly laid stone, and a small wooden window stood to one side.
There was no glass, only a pair of wooden shutters, with a faded cloth curtain shifting gently in the morning breeze.
The room was cold.
The air carried the faint smell of firewood, dry grass, and old timber.
Arthur didn’t get out of bed immediately.
Once the first wave of confusion passed, years of professional instinct quickly took over.
Before doing anything else, he surveyed the room.
One door.
One window.
An old wooden table beside the bed, with an extinguished oil lamp and a chipped clay cup on top.
No one else.
No obvious danger.
Only after confirming his surroundings did Arthur finally look down at himself.
Then he stopped moving.
His hands were wrong.
The skin looked much younger than he remembered.
The small scars left by years of work had vanished.
Even the old scar between the thumb and index finger of his left hand, one he had carried for years, was completely gone.
Arthur turned his hand over and clenched his fist.
There was none of the occasional stiffness he had grown used to in his joints.
Even his wrist felt strangely light.
He raised a hand to his temple.
No blood.
No wound.
Before he could make sense of any of it, the bedding beside him rustled softly.
Arthur turned sharply.
“Arthur?”
The familiar voice stopped him at once.
A young woman was sitting beside him.
She looked no older than her twenties.
Her long hair fell messily around her shoulders, and there was no trace of middle age on her face.
Even the faint lines that had once rested around her eyes were gone.
But those eyes—
Arthur could never mistake them.
He stared at her for several seconds.
“Helena?”
The young woman stared back at him, equally stunned.
After a moment, she answered quietly.
“…It’s me.”
Neither of them spoke for a while.
Helena was the first to look down.
She examined her hands, touched her face, then quickly checked her arms and the rest of her body.
No injuries.
No trace of what had happened in the river.
Once she had confirmed that, she looked at Arthur again.
Most of the shock on her face had already been forced under control.
“Where were we last?”
Arthur immediately understood why she was asking.
“Under the bridge.”
“In the car.”
“Underwater.”
Helena continued.
“You hit your head?”
“Yes.”
“All three kids in the back were still conscious?”
“They were.”
“And at the end?”
Arthur fell silent for a moment.
“The water came in.”
Helena asked nothing more.
She lowered her eyes to her unfamiliar, youthful hands.
Their final memories matched.
At the very least, that meant what they remembered hadn’t been Arthur’s dream.
But if it had really happened—
then where were they now?
Arthur was just about to get out of bed when a faint voice came from the room next door.
“Is anyone there?”
Both of them stopped.
It was a child’s voice.
Soft and young, belonging to someone who sounded no older than three or four.
And yet, for some reason, the way the child spoke felt strangely familiar.
Before Arthur could think about it any further, a second childish voice came through the wall.
“Don’t move around yet.”
“We know nothing about our current surroundings, and our physical condition has clearly changed.
Until we can confirm—”
A little girl’s voice cut him off without hesitation.
“Lucas.”
“What?”
“Can you stop analyzing things for one minute?”
“I’m only stating the current situation.”
“But hearing you say all that in that voice is really weird.”
The next room went quiet for two seconds.
Then a third voice spoke.
Just as young.
But already noticeably irritated.
“If you two have time to discuss your voices, maybe you could figure out how to get down first.”
Another brief pause followed.
Then the same voice came again, this time sounding even more sullen.
“Also…”
“Can somebody come over here?”
“My feet can’t reach the floor.”
Arthur and Helena turned toward each other.
One look passed between them.
Then both got out of bed at almost the same time.
Arthur reached the next room first.
He pushed open the wooden door—
and stopped dead.
The room was small.
Aside from an old wooden cabinet, there was only a modest bed.
Sitting side by side on that bed were three children who looked about three years old.
Two boys.
One girl.
All three wore slightly worn, pale nightclothes.
Their hair was messy, making it obvious that they had only recently woken up.
Arthur stood frozen in the doorway.
Helena quickly came up behind him.
The three children on the bed looked up.
For several long seconds, all five of them simply stared at one another.
The only sound was the faint breeze outside the window.
Lucas sat on the left.
Unlike an ordinary child, he was neither crying nor panicking.
Instead, he was looking down at his hands, moving his fingers one by one.
Then he squeezed his arm and bent his knees, as though carefully checking exactly what had changed about his body.
Clara sat in the middle.
Her reaction was completely different from her brother’s.
Judging from the way she looked around, she had already examined the room from top to bottom.
The bed.
The window.
The cabinet.
Their clothes.
She had even felt the material of the bedding.
Now her eyes were fixed on Arthur and Helena in the doorway.
Theo sat at the far end.
One leg was still dangling over the side of the bed.
Clearly, he had already tried to climb down on his own.
Unfortunately, his pitifully short leg was still nowhere near the floor.
Lucas was the first to speak.
“Dad?”
The moment the word came out, even he froze.
Arthur did too.
Lucas slowly lowered his head.
It was probably the first time he had ever heard himself speak in such a soft, childish voice.
The calm expression he had maintained until now finally cracked.
Clara had been doing her best to keep a straight face.
The moment she saw her brother’s reaction, the corner of her mouth twitched.
Lucas immediately looked at her.
“You want to laugh?”
Clara shook her head at once.
“No.”
Unfortunately, the moment she spoke, her own voice came out just as soft and childish.
This time, Lucas went quiet.
The corner of his mouth seemed to twitch.
The amusement instantly disappeared from Clara’s face.
“Go ahead.
Laugh.
I dare you.”
Lucas immediately turned away.
“I wasn’t.”
Arthur remained in the doorway, watching an exchange he knew far too well.
The last trace of uncertainty disappeared.
Helena was already walking toward the bed.
She crouched down and looked at them one by one.
“Lucas?”
Lucas looked at her.
“Yeah.”
“Clara?”
Clara nodded.
“It’s me.”
“Theo?”
Theo raised his head.
“Here.”
Helena said nothing more.
But her shoulders visibly relaxed.
Three.
All three of them were here.
Some of the tension Arthur had been holding onto finally eased as well.
Whatever this place was, and whatever had happened to them, at least all five members of the family were still together.
For now, that mattered more than anything else.
Theo, however, clearly wasn’t as easily reassured as his parents.
He looked down at his chubby little hands, turning them over and back again.
Then he felt his arms and knees.
After confirming that his joints moved normally, he touched his face.
Finally, he tried getting off the bed again.
He planted both small hands on the mattress and carefully shuffled forward.
Eventually, he reached the very edge.
He stretched one leg down.
It didn’t touch the floor.
Theo frowned and shuffled a little farther.
Still nothing.
He remained like that for several silent seconds.
Then, expressionless, he pulled his leg back onto the bed.
Clara had already turned her face away.
Her shoulders were shaking.
Theo slowly looked at her.
“Is this funny?”
Clara pressed her lips together.
“No.”
“Then why are you shaking?”
“I’m cold.”
Theo instinctively glanced toward the window, as though actually assessing the temperature in the room.
“At this temperature—”
“Stop.”
Clara immediately raised a hand.
“Don’t start copying Lucas.”
Lucas frowned.
“What does this have to do with me?”
“You’re both equally annoying now.”
“I’m only analyzing the situation.”
“See?”
Clara turned toward their parents.
“There he goes again.”
Arthur had been trying to take the situation seriously.
Watching the three of them now, he suddenly had no idea what expression he was supposed to make.
They had somehow become children this small.
And yet, when the three of them were together, absolutely nothing had changed.
Theo had no interest in joining his siblings’ argument.
He looked down at his legs again, his expression growing increasingly complicated.
After a moment, he raised his head.
“Dad.”
Arthur stepped closer.
“Yeah?”
Theo pointed at himself.
“Yesterday, I could drive.”
Arthur was silent for a moment.
“I know.”
Theo pointed toward the floor beside the bed.
“Now I can’t even get off the bed.”
Arthur had no answer.
Clara finally lost the battle.
“Pfft.”
Theo slowly turned his head.
Clara immediately covered her mouth.
“Sorry.”
She said she was sorry, but her eyes had already curved with laughter.
Theo stared at her for several seconds before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
He seemed to be trying very hard to calm himself down.
Only after a moment did he open his eyes again.
“Are you two done?”
The soft, childish voice filled the room.
His tone was clearly impatient, but paired with the face of a three-year-old, it carried absolutely no weight.
If anything, it only made the whole thing funnier.
Arthur froze for a moment before quietly turning his face away.
Helena raised a hand to cover the corner of her mouth.
Lucas simply looked toward the window.
Clara collapsed onto the bed.
Theo stared at all of them.
“…”
He lowered his head and looked at his chubby little hands.
Then he looked at the pair of short legs that couldn’t even reach the floor.
After all his years as a doctor, this was the first time Theo had found that everything he knew about medicine was completely useless in the situation he was facing.
After all—
A man in his thirties going to sleep and waking up as a three-year-old child was clearly not a condition covered by anything he had ever learned in medical school.
And more importantly, the five of them still had far too many things left to figure out.