Our story begins in the present day where I am currently still dating Megan. She spends most nights at my house particularly when I have worked the night before. I have officially become a paid movie critic though I do not write my movie blogs anymore and instead just watch different movies and verbally give my opinion on them. I still get paid upwards of $3000.00 per review. It had changed due to me being too tired to write as it is very late when my shift ends. My hours for work are from 12:00 midnight to 6:00 a.m.

Anyway by this point, mom has told me not to walk without using my walker as it could lead to a fall with devastating consequences. She has warned that I could die from the impact of the fall or be placed in the hospital from the resulting injuries if I did survive it. Now the biggest problem I have had over the years is my constant need to disregard my own safety by rushing to the phone when it rings, especially when mom is the one calling. This is because at this point a lot of other people have disregarded her and no longer want anything to do with her due to present ongoing feuds. As I do not want to be regarded as one of those people, I make it my mission to answer every call she makes to me even if I’m not in a position to do so or if doing so would put me in immediate danger of falling. Well one day it happened.

One morning, I was in the washroom when my phone rang. I neglected pulling up my pants with fear of missing the call. This proved to be a costly mistake as I tripped over my pant leg and fell missing the call in the process. Unfortunately that call was indeed from mom.

As i laid there, everything went black. Megan had not arrived yet. She arrived moments later to find me on my back next to my bed with my pants down to my ankles. I was unresponsive to the call of my name and she could not revive me. Naturally she thought I was deceased and knew she had to let mom know somehow.

It was this that helped me realize something. Would mom have preferred receiving the call from me where I was initially fine or would she have preferred to receive the call from Megan or somebody else saying that I fell and I’m presumed dead thanks to my need to answer the call when I wasn’t ready for it? Well unfortunately, mom got the call from Megan.

She began to cry profusely as she rushed over to find me unconscious. She is able to put two and two together to come to a conclusion that the fall resulted from me running to the phone to answer is when she sees my pants around my ankles. Paramedics are called to my house but they are unable to revive me. They suggest sending me to hospital to see if there’s anything doctors can do but nothing is certain at this point.

After hours of waiting as doctors try to revive me, there is a glimmer of hope when the doctor says I will survive. They do say however that I have a severe concussion which would impair my cognitive thinking where I will regress to my childhood state of mind. Doctors say that it’s not advisable for me to live alone under these circumstances and that I need to feel as if I’m in that time period. They also advise mom not to try and challenge my state by trying to steer me back to my current frame of mind but rather allow it to happen on it’s own. Despite this, the odds of me returning to my normal self are slim and mom is made aware of the fact that I may be like this forever. They also tell her that it’s important for them to act as if I’m as young as my behaviour would indicate by treating me as if I’m that young and watching shows on tv that were relevant to my childhood. Also, it is suggested that people I met in my later life not be present as I would not have known them in my childhood. This was a lot to take in but it was something mom had no choice but to handle.

We end up getting out old house from when I was a kid back. From this point on, everything was the way it was when I was younger. My brothers lived with us and we had cable tv. Mom had a job at the hospital where she occasionally worked the night shift. Anytime she was gone, I would cry when the babysitter used to come over.

Christmas time came and mom had to get ready for my Christmas concert like she attended every year. I was so nervous as I looked out in the crowd of parents and would give the bottom lip if mom wasn’t front and center. I remember all the criticism I received from my teacher where she indicated I was not good enough compared to the other kids and I would cry as this hurt my feelings since I felt like I worked just as hard as anyone else. To show her gratitude, mom joined the other parents in a standing ovation when the performance ended and she ran up and told me what a great job I did. It was a really feel good moment but something was missing.

While I was forever grateful at mom’s presence, my father was noticeably absent and as I looked around at all the other kids being praised by their own fathers, it made me feel bad that my father was who he was. He was never there for me and it showed.

Suddenly, my uncle showed up as I returned to my classroom and this shocked all of the other kids in my class. Up until that point, I had been asked questions from all the other kids pertaining to my father’s whereabouts, none of which I felt comfortable answering. For this reason, my uncle saved the day and I managed to go from zero to hero in the eyes of everyone in my class. In the weeks that followed, they wanted him to return.

I also obtained a fondness for being home when my favorite tv shows were to play. To my dismay, none of the shows played in their original timeslot. However, somehow mom managed to make those shows appear despite them not being shown on tv.

At one point, I saw a trailer for “Toy Story 2” and told mom I wanted to see it. She told me we could not because she could not afford it and had to work the day it came out. She told me that she would rent the movie “Stuart Little” instead as she did not feel like going to the movies that night due to being too tired.

Though I was happy being a kid again, I could tell that something was off with mom. In her solitude, she laid in her bed crying while claiming that she wished I could be myself again. Not understanding what that meant, I asked her if it was because I needed a haircut. This provided temporary relief from her tears and she smiled while claiming I would understand when I was older. This lead me to wish I would grow up soon so I understood better of what adults went through.

With that, I managed to regain consciousness in the present day with Megan and mom by my side. I had been placed in a medically induced coma while the doctor operated on my concussion. Breathing a sigh of relief for the first time since receiving the call from Megan, mom claimed I was still her baby no matter how old I got while thanking the doctor for the emergency treatment I received and driving me home with Megan taking the ride with us.

The End