The next few days after his so-called reincarnation was…hectic was one way to say it, but also not really hectic in the sense of his family.
His mother, who he had still to learn the name of, was a beautiful brown-haired woman with crystal blue eyes, and she had taken it as a personal mission to show her new son around the house, allowing Kieran to see where he lived, and draw some conclusions.
Based on the house, Kieran had concluded that his family was decently well off, but not rich by any means.
Furthermore, based on the various technology in the house, he would assume he was somewhere in the 1980s.
Bit weird to be reincarnated into the past, but then again, maybe reincarnation was weird like that.
Location wise he seemed to be in Great Britain based on his mother and fathers’ accents; he was just happy his parents spoke a language he could understand; it was making his first days significantly easier to comprehend.
All the new impressions and battling with the realization that this wasn’t a fever dream or hallucination, but an actual reincarnation, was why he felt the last few days had been hectic.
Kieran however, in a twist of fate, had discovered his new name was also Kieran, which was a funny little coincidence.
He always liked his name, so he was happy about it.
When it came to his mum and dad, he felt a strong connection to each of them, he felt safe when near them.
He discovered that he had fully accepted them as his parents, and he found it easy to love them and care for them.
He didn’t remember the early years of the orphanage in his last life, but he doubted they were as happy as these last few days had been.
His vocal cords had yet to be fully developed, but he enjoyed making coos and sounds and watching his parents faces light up whenever he did.
Regarding life as a baby, he had used the meditation he learned in his past life to find centre in himself.
When something felt uncomfortable he escaped into his mind and focused entirely on his breathing and the calmness of his mind.
This meditation had made it easier for him to have his mind reflect his age; he found it easier to be playful and embrace life as the child of a loving family, something he never had in his former life.
His older instincts and memories took a step back, allowing the new instincts and memories to take control.
Currently, Kieran was watching his mother write some letters.
Based on the few words he could catch, they seemed to be letters to family members, informing them about his birth being a success.
One letter to a woman named Abigail seemed to be asking if she was interested in visiting.
Maybe I can finally discover how big my family is, would be fun to see how big my new family is.
The creaking, followed by a small slam, signalled that his dad was home from work.
Which was confirmed when he entered the room, beelining to Kieran and picking him up and hugging him, asking how his day had been.
Kieran responded with a giggle and waved his arms up and down, enjoying the big smile that his dad revealed.
Kieran looked up to the black-haired man with blue eyes and a small, but well-trimmed stubble.
That was his dad.
While holding Kieran, his dad leaned down to kiss his wife.
“Only Abi left I see, I hope she can manage to get time off. Honestly, out of all our relatives, Abi was the one most worried about us regarding the birth. It will calm her a lot to meet her new nephew. Anyway, as promised I brought home dinner,” his dad spoke briefly.
Kieran’s mum smiled faintly and kissed his dad, thanking him, expressing still being tired following the pregnancy and birth of their son.
Weeks passed, and Kieran finally learned the names of his parents, his mother was a stay-at-home mum, named Victoria Gray, while his dad was some big shot in a firm that dealt with large scale construction, his name being Hector Gray.
Which meant, finally Kieran knew his full name, his name in this new life was Kieran Gray.
Over the time he managed to get glimpses of the letters from his Aunt Abigail.
Looks she is struggling to get time off of work, considering how dad mentioned she works with very picky clients as a designer of clothes, I guess it makes sense.
He wondered if she would show up in some super smart and fancy designer clothes once he met her.
Kieran’s life passed peacefully, not much happening as a baby, and for the uncomfortable areas, he escaped mentally with meditation.
Meditation was doing wonders for his mental health.
He sometimes practiced his vocal cords, wanting to speak, but only managing sounds, but even sounds was a delight to his parents.
Once he started crawling, he truly tested his parents.
He started exploring the house on his own, often managing to crawl away from his parents notice, causing some impromptu hide and seek every time he did so.
Their expressions of relief when they found him in the corners of the house, always made him giggle, said giggling always leading his parents to have half exasperated and half amused faces.
It is when Kieran reached his first birthday, a year old, on the 20th of February, that his aunt Abigail finally got time to meet the family of three.
Being carried in his mothers’ arms, he watched as his dad went to open the door.
The greeting between the two adults followed and Kieran watched as his aunt entered the living room, with his dad commenting on her outfit.
“You clothing choices never ceases to amaze me, Abi,” his dad said.
Aunt Abigail laughed and playfully pushed his dad as she looked toward Kieran.
Kieran was taken aback at Aunt Abigail’s outfit.
From the purple hat with green trims, to the pink shirt with yellow patterns, to the light blue and dark blue pants and red shoes.
It was a rainbow explosion, and unconsciously, Kieran spoke his first word with a sound of wonder and awe.
“Pretty!”
The jaws of his mum and dad dropped as their sons first word wasn’t mama or dada, but pretty, and was entirely based on Aunt Abigail.
Meanwhile, Aunt Abigail widened her eyes in fluster but immediately made a twirl for Kieran while giggling.
Then, with her sister in laws permission, held Kieran and started gushing and complimenting him, seeming utterly excited about his first word being calling her and her outfit pretty, while Kieran giggled and said “pretty” more times.
His dad, after sharing a short glance with his mum, recovered from the shock, and immediately approached his giggling son and patiently asked him, “Kieran, can you say dada, da-da-“.
Mum not wanting to be left out, approached too and cheerfully said, “Honey, say mum, mummy…”
When Kieran noticed the smug smirk Aunt Abigail was sending his dad, he started saying dada and mama while giggling, making all the adults smile.
Later, they were all sitting in front of the chimney in the couch, Kieran being held by Aunt Abigail, with Aunt Abigail trying to make him pronounce her name, but Kieran only managed to say “Abi!” Which as it turned out, was more than enough to make Aunt Abi give a huge smile.
As Kieran relaxed against his aunt, his dad and mum start asking how things were going in Aunt Abi’s life.
“Well…things are busy… I guess. There has been precious little time for me to truly relax, so coming here to visit is honestly massive for me,” Aunt Abi said with a hesitant and shy smile that dad picked up on and assured her.
“Hey, you are like my little sister, never forget that you are always welcome in our house, Abi,” dad said with a smile.
Aunt Abi gave a genuine smile to her cousin, while hugging Kieran closer.
His parents continued to talk about some of Aunt Abi’s new designs and if she would ever aim for less explosive colours, where Aunt Abi heavily insisted it was the most preferred option for most of her clients, to his dad and mums’ bafflement.
Kieran could relate to her clients; he always loved some solid explosions of colours.
Following the first visit from Aunt Abi, the months continued as usual.
Kieran got better and better at speaking words.
He even overheard his dad say very specific words accidentally, creating some drama when they were watching the news.
When the newscast said it was going to rain, Kieran giggled and shouted, “BOLLOCKS!” Making his mum gasp and glare at her husband, whose face turned red and raised his hands in surrender and apologized for letting certain words slip around their son that seems to be absorbing words like a sponge.
During Halloween, his mum and dad said they were going trick and treating and he could pick what kind of costume he wanted.
Kieran thought to himself before his eyes lit up and looked up towards his dad who was holding him, “I want to dress like Aunt Abi!”
His mum and dad had great fun trying to make his outfit an explosion of colours, and whenever people commented on his outfit during trick and treating, Kieran smiled happily.
It was the day after Halloween something unusual happened.
His dad, who usually took pride in dressing fine and well for his work, came home from work, covered in glitter, which made both his wife and son stare at him.
And to his dad’s chagrin, Kieran giggled and said, “Pretty!” Which flooded the questions from his mum, why he was covered in glitter of all things.
His dad tried explaining that on his way home from work, he ran into a sort of gathering of people partying while wearing strange robes, clothes that reminded him a lot of Aunt Abi’s latest clothing choices… and before he knew it, he was hugged and given some weird, sweet beverages that they heavily insisted he drank.
Not wanting to be a party pooper, he drank it and the next thing he knew, he was covered in glitter, and he didn’t remember when it happened.
Kieran unsteadily walked up to his dad, having barely learned to walk, and removed some glitter from his dad’s pants, enjoying the colourful glitter and spreading it on his hands and arms, before his dad stopped him and picked him up, just covering his son in more glitter accidentally, while his mum shook her head exasperated at their antics.
…
After they got dinner, and put Kieran to bed, Hector and Victoria watched the news.
“And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation’s owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern.” The newscaster allowed himself a grin.
“Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?”
“Well, Ted,” said the weatherman, “I don’t know about that, but it’s not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they’ve had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early – it’s not until next week, folks! But I can promise a wet night tonight.”
Hector raised his eyebrow and shared a glance with his wife.
“Well, that sounds weird, maybe it is related to the glitter people.”
Victoria snuggled up with her husband while mumbling, “I am sure the news will do some follow ups, I just hope no one gets arrested for partying too much in the streets.”
As Hector and Victoria relaxed on the couch to some movies, with their son sleeping soundly in his room, none of them were aware of the true underlying reason for thousands of people gathering and celebrating throughout the night, mentioning a very specific name again and again as they raised their glasses in celebration.