The room was quiet for a long moment.
Arthur and Helena stood beside the bed.
Their three children sat on it, looking from one face to another.
No one spoke first.
What had happened was too absurd to take in.
One moment, they had been in the car with rain pouring down outside.
The next, they had woken up somewhere none of them recognized, in bodies that weren’t their own.
For the three children, the change was impossible to ignore.
Lucas had been staring at his hands for some time.
They were small, with short fingers and unevenly trimmed nails.
There was even a little dirt caught between them.
He turned one hand over, then made a fist.
There was hardly any strength in it.
Certainly nothing like the strength he was used to.
He had already tried getting out of bed.
When he reached the edge, he discovered that his legs dangled in the air, his toes still well above the floor.
Lucas looked at his legs, then at the floor.
He still couldn’t quite believe it.
He was a man in his thirties.
Somehow, he had gone to sleep and woken up three years old.
Even with the evidence right in front of him, it was hard to understand what had happened.
Clara wasn’t doing much better.
Since waking, she had touched her face several times and repeatedly looked down at her clothes.
She wore an old dress that had faded from too many washes.
Its hem fell just past her knees, and a pair of worn little shoes covered her feet.
Her hair had grown longer too, soft strands hanging around her shoulders.
“So…”
Clara stopped as soon as she heard herself.
Her voice was so young.
With everyone talking over one another earlier, she hadn’t paid much attention to it.
Now that the room was quiet, there was no mistaking how much she sounded like a little girl.
Her expression turned complicated.
“Am I really only three?”
Helena looked at her, unsure how to answer.
“It looks that way.”
“What do you mean, looks that way?”
Helena studied her more closely.
“Three, I’d say.
Maybe a little older.”
Clara looked at her arms, then down at her short legs.
She drew a slow breath.
“Fine.”
Arthur glanced at her.
“You’re accepting it that quickly?”
“What else am I supposed to do?” Clara looked up at him.
“Will crying turn me back?”
Arthur had no answer for that.
Probably not.
Theo, meanwhile, had stayed out of the conversation.
He sat with one hand pressed to his opposite wrist, concentrating.
Helena watched him for a while before asking, “What are you doing?”
“Checking my pulse,” Theo said.
Everyone turned toward him.
A three-year-old boy sitting on a bed with a serious little face, taking his own pulse—it was an odd sight.
Arthur walked over.
“And?”
“Normal.”
Theo felt the side of his neck, then checked his arms and legs.
“No obvious injuries.
I’m alert, and I can move my hands and feet.”
Lucas looked at him.
“Apart from being three years old?”
Theo raised his head.
“That’s outside my field.”
Clara burst out laughing.
“There’s something even you can’t diagnose?”
Theo gave her a look.
“Is this an illness?”
Clara thought about it.
“I guess not.”
Theo ignored her after that.
Arthur’s smile didn’t last long.
The three of them seemed all right, at least physically.
Once he was sure they weren’t hurt, he finally took a proper look at the room.
It was small.
The walls were rough, with the gaps between the stones clearly visible.
Old wooden beams crossed the ceiling, one of them darkened over a large patch.
He couldn’t begin to guess how old it was.
The wooden bed held a thick straw mattress and a single worn blanket.
A low cabinet stood against the wall, its door crooked and its corners rubbed pale.
The window looked no better.
Its wooden frame was old, and a draft slipped through the gaps around it.
Arthur looked around again.
No lights.
No outlets.
Certainly no phones or television.
He went to the window and looked through the glass before opening it.
Outside lay a patch of overgrown grass, a few trees farther away, and beyond them a crooked wooden fence.
There was no road in sight.
No power lines either.
Arthur frowned.
Helena joined him.
“What’s outside?”
“I don’t see anyone.”
He watched for another moment, then pushed the window open a crack.
Cold air rushed in.
All three children huddled in on themselves.
“Close it,” Theo said at once.
Arthur turned.
“Cold?”
“Yes.”
Arthur shut the window.
Then he paused.
Until yesterday, all three of his children had been adults.
He hadn’t needed to worry about whether they were cold or hungry in years.
Now, at the first hint of a draft, he had closed the window without a second thought.
He glanced back at them.
The three little figures were still sitting in a row on the bed.
Lucas caught the look on his face.
“Dad.”
“What?”
“Stop looking at us like that.”
“Like what?”
Lucas considered it.
“Like we’re three preschoolers.”
Arthur looked at his face, then at his feet dangling above the floor.
“You’re not far off.”
Lucas fell silent.
Clara turned away, her shoulders shaking.
Theo lowered his head and straightened his sleeves as if he hadn’t heard a word.
Helena wanted to laugh too, but there were more pressing things to think about.
“Let’s put your ages aside for now,” she said.
“We don’t even know where we are.”
The smiles faded.
They remembered the accident.
The truck losing control in the rain, their car going over the bridge, the river water flooding in.
All of it.
None of them knew what had happened after that.
They had opened their eyes here.
Arthur didn’t know who the man whose body he now occupied had been.
Helena was in the same position, and so were the children.
They knew nothing about this place, what time it was, or the people whose lives they had apparently stepped into.
Arthur thought for a moment.
“Do any of you have memories that weren’t there before?”
Lucas shook his head.
“No.”
Clara thought carefully.
“No.
Just my own.”
Theo closed his eyes for a moment, then shook his head, too.
Helena looked at Arthur.
He had nothing either.
The room went quiet again.
They had thought that waking up in someone else’s body might at least come with some knowledge of that person’s life.
Apparently, it didn’t.
Clara frowned.
“We don’t even know what we’re called here?”
“Apparently not,” Helena said.
Clara’s frown deepened.
“What if someone comes in and calls us by name?”
No one had an answer.
They couldn’t very well stand there exchanging glances while someone called for them.
“Then we shouldn’t go outside yet,” Lucas said after a moment.
“If we run into someone who knows these people, we’ll only make things harder.
We should at least see what’s here first.”
Arthur nodded.
“That’s what I was thinking.”
He looked toward the door.
“Let’s check the house.
See if anyone else is here, where the doors and windows are, and whether there’s food and water.”
He was about to leave when he remembered the three children on the bed.
“You three stay here.”
Clara immediately looked up.
“Why?”
“Because you’re three years old.”
All three went quiet.
After a moment, Lucas said, “Only our bodies are three.”
Arthur glanced down at his legs.
“They’re still three.”
Lucas had nothing to say to that.
“I’m just not used to this body yet,” Clara protested.
“Which is another reason not to go running around.”
Arthur sounded so certain that Clara opened her mouth, then closed it again.
Theo, on the other hand, nodded.
“I think he’s right.
The two of them can move around more easily.
It makes sense for them to look first.”
Lucas gave him a sideways glance.
“Weren’t you trying to get off the bed by yourself a minute ago?”
Theo said nothing.
That was different.
Helena looked at the three of them and smiled.
Until yesterday, they had all been so busy that arranging a family dinner meant checking their schedules well in advance.
Now they were sitting together on one bed, and getting down from it was a problem they had to solve.
As she looked at them, something caught her attention.
“Wait.”
Arthur had reached the door.
He turned back.
“What is it?”
Helena didn’t answer.
She was studying Lucas and Theo.
Clara was easy enough to recognize.
All three children clearly looked alike, but she was a girl, and her hair was longer.
The two boys were another matter.
They had been talking and making different faces, so Helena hadn’t noticed it at first.
Now that they were both quiet, she saw just how alike they were.
The same dark hair.
Almost identical eyes and brows.
Similar faces, and hardly any difference in height.
Lucas looked up at her.
“Mom?”
Once he spoke, of course she knew which one he was.
She turned to Theo.
While they were awake, she could probably tell them apart.
Lucas was more expressive and tended to frown when he was thinking.
Theo was quieter, usually wearing a serious expression.
But if neither of them spoke…
Helena fell silent.
Arthur came back to her side.
“What?”
“Look at the boys.”
Arthur looked down at them.
A few seconds later, he fell silent too.
Clara glanced between her parents and understood.
“You can’t tell them apart?”
“Of course I can.” Arthur pointed.
“That’s Lucas, and that’s Theo.”
Lucas looked at him.
“Because I just called Mom.”
Arthur had nothing to say.
Helena laughed.
Arthur studied his sons again.
There were differences if he looked closely.
It was just that, until yesterday, they had been two grown men who looked nothing alike.
He had never seen them at this age.
Having them suddenly turn into two nearly identical little boys would take some getting used to.
“Give me a couple of days,” he said.
“I’ll know.”
Clara couldn’t stop laughing.
Lucas and Theo glanced at each other, then made the same annoyed face at the same time.
Arthur rubbed his forehead.
“All right.
Enough of that.”
He headed back toward the door.
Helena started after him, then stopped and looked at the children.
“Can you get down?”
“Yes,” all three answered at once.
Lucas scooted to the edge of the bed, braced his hands on it, and slowly lowered himself.
After a few tries, his toes finally touched the floor.
Clara copied him.
She wobbled when she landed but quickly steadied herself.
That left Theo.
He sat at the edge of the bed, looking down.
Arthur waited.
“Need help?”
“No.”
Theo slid forward a little.
His toes couldn’t reach.
He tried again.
Still too far.
Arthur leaned against the doorway and watched.
After a few quiet seconds, Theo scooted back onto the bed.
Arthur was struggling to keep a straight face.
“Still don’t need help?”
Theo looked up.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“Pick me up.”
Arthur laughed.
He crossed the room, lifted his son down, and set him on the floor.
Theo immediately straightened his clothes, looking perfectly composed, as though nothing had happened.
Clara stood beside him, barely holding in her laughter.
Theo looked at her.
“You can laugh.”
“I’m not laughing.” Clara turned away.
Her shoulders shook even harder.
Arthur let her be.
Once all three children were steady on their feet, he pushed the bedroom door open.
The old hinges gave a soft creak.
A dim hallway lay beyond it.
Arthur checked both directions and, seeing no one, stepped out.
“Let’s find out where we are.”
Helena followed him.
The three children came after them on their short legs.
They were still getting used to their new bodies, and each step was smaller than the last.
After only a few paces, Theo noticed dust on the soles of his shoes and frowned.
Clara saw him.
This time, she was kind enough not to laugh.
Lucas was already looking around, taking in everything he could.
They knew nothing about this place yet.
But all five of them were here.
They would have to figure out the rest one thing at a time.