After years of living with regret and unanswered questions, fate grants her an impossible opportunity—a chance to return to the past. But instead of reliving her own life, she awakens in the body of her mother's high school rival, standing at the very crossroads where everything began.
Determined to uncover hidden truths and prevent the heartbreak that shaped her family's future, she finds herself navigating friendships, betrayals, and secrets buried deep within the past. Every decision she makes threatens to alter the lives of everyone around her.
As she learns that the story she believed for years may not be the whole truth, she must decide whether changing history is worth the risk of losing everything she knows.
Watch Cutting the Cord: Reborn as My Mom's High School Frenemy Full Episode and experience an emotional journey filled with time-travel twists, family secrets, redemption, self-discovery, and unforgettable drama.
#CuttingTheCord #RebornAsMyMomsHighSchoolFrenemy #RebirthDrama #TimeTravelDrama #ShortDrama #DramaSeries #FullEpisode #FullEP #DramaUrbano #ShortFilm #FamilySecrets #SecondChance #EmotionalDrama #RedemptionStory #Drama
Determined to uncover hidden truths and prevent the heartbreak that shaped her family's future, she finds herself navigating friendships, betrayals, and secrets buried deep within the past. Every decision she makes threatens to alter the lives of everyone around her.
As she learns that the story she believed for years may not be the whole truth, she must decide whether changing history is worth the risk of losing everything she knows.
Watch Cutting the Cord: Reborn as My Mom's High School Frenemy Full Episode and experience an emotional journey filled with time-travel twists, family secrets, redemption, self-discovery, and unforgettable drama.
#CuttingTheCord #RebornAsMyMomsHighSchoolFrenemy #RebirthDrama #TimeTravelDrama #ShortDrama #DramaSeries #FullEpisode #FullEP #DramaUrbano #ShortFilm #FamilySecrets #SecondChance #EmotionalDrama #RedemptionStory #Drama
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00:001996, Texas. I suddenly jerk up from the sink, gasping for air. Water drips from my thick blonde hair. I
00:00:06stare at the mirror in shock.
00:00:08The face staring back at me is vibrant, beautiful, full of life. Vintage smoky eye makeup framing a chalky teenage
00:00:13face.
00:00:1318. You young, healthy, cancer-free.
00:00:16I've been thrown back into the dead-end Texas high school years my mom spent her entire life clawing her
00:00:22way out of.
00:00:22Suddenly, the bathroom door swings open. A familiar grapefruit perfume hits me instantly.
00:00:27It's Valerie, my 18-year-old mother. Her hair is pulled into a high-tony tail, high-waisted jeans hugging
00:00:33her hips, a white tamtop straight out of a 90s teen magazine.
00:00:36Come on, the pep lolly's about to start. She yanks me forward hard enough to make me stumble.
00:00:40But instead of following her, I freeze. Stare at the young face in front of me, untouched by wealth, untouched
00:00:45by surgery, untouched by the years that twisted her into a monster.
00:00:49Valerie, we're... friends?
00:00:51Uh, duh, we're best friends. Why are you being so weird today? Come on!
00:00:55She turns and keeps pulling me towards the door. Half a step behind her, I stare at her back.
00:00:59The confusion in my eyes vanishes instantly, replaced by something cold, something vicious.
00:01:04The school's public address system drones on from the loudspeaker's overhead, buzzing with the daily lunch menu.
00:01:09Pizza slices, tater tots, and chocolate milk.
00:01:12Valerie pulls me through the crowded hallway, her hand warm and dry in mine.
00:01:17And then it hits me again. That sharp grapefruit perfume.
00:01:21The scent wraps around me so suddenly, my breath catches.
00:01:24It was the smell I knew best as a child.
00:01:26Before I turned five, she used to hold me in her arms, humming old country songs and asking if I
00:01:32loved her.
00:01:32But after she ditched me to chase her high school sweetheart to the big city, that scent only ever showed
00:01:38up in my nightmares.
00:01:39Scarlet, you've been acting weird all day.
00:01:42Scarlet?
00:01:43God, even this body's name sucks.
00:01:45Carefully, I slip my hand out of hers.
00:01:47My eyes swamp across the hallway.
00:01:49The dented locker numbers, the faded football team pictures, the bulletin board plastered with fall semester 1996.
00:01:55Cheerleaders rush past us, ponytails flying, while some varsity asshole has a scrawny kid pinned against a logger, shaking him
00:02:02down for lunch money.
00:02:03This isn't a dream. I'm really back in the 90s.
00:02:06That's when a tall, lanky guy with glasses started walking toward us.
00:02:10Hector, my mother's first love.
00:02:12The man who ruined all our lives.
00:02:14Hey, this is my Scarlet. She just transferred it in.
00:02:16Scarlet, meet Hector.
00:02:17Straight A student, total teacher's pet, basically tutoring half the school.
00:02:21Hey, I'm Hector. Welcome to East Ridge.
00:02:24The second I hear his name, my stomach turns.
00:02:28I ignore his hand completely and scan the noisy hallway for the one person who should have been here.
00:02:33Where's my dad?
00:02:35Austin should be at this school too.
00:02:37Wait! Austin's not in your class?
00:02:39Austin? There's no Austin in this entire school.
00:02:44Austin Walker. My dad. He's not here?
00:02:49Your dad?
00:02:51Just as I'm scrambling for an excuse, a roar erupts from the end of the hallway and saves me.
00:02:56The pep rally's starting.
00:02:57You coming or what?
00:02:59Sunlight spills across her shoulders.
00:03:01For a second, she looks nothing like the woman who would one day watch me die without blinking.
00:03:04The gym is loud, humilded, packed wall to wall.
00:03:09Football players in red jerseys charge onto the court while cheerleaders shake palm balls under the flashing lights.
00:03:14The bleachers thunder with stomping feet and screaming students.
00:03:18This Friday, let's show East Ridge who really runs this town.
00:03:22The crowd explodes.
00:03:24She's radiant up there.
00:03:26Beside me, Hector adjusts his glasses, eyes fixed on her.
00:03:29She's gonna get out of this town someday.
00:03:31He says it like he already knows the future.
00:03:34I don't answer.
00:03:35I just stare at Valerie beneath the spotlight.
00:03:38After the rally, students pour out of the gym.
00:03:41The halls fill with slamming lockers and overlapping conversations again.
00:03:46People argue about Friday's game.
00:03:48Girls debate who's gonna win prom queen.
00:03:50Last period is study hall.
00:03:52Valerie sits one row ahead of me by the window.
00:03:55Her notes neat enough to look typed.
00:03:57As she flips a page, something slips out from between her books.
00:04:01A pale green application packet.
00:04:03Harvard University.
00:04:05My breathing catches.
00:04:06She actually got an application.
00:04:08But later in life, she always says Harvard was never an option for someone like her.
00:04:12So that was a lie too.
00:04:13Valerie, your future turns out cheap and pathetic anyway.
00:04:16So why are you out here pretend to be some gifted golden girl right now?
00:04:19It makes me sick.
00:04:20I rise from my seat.
00:04:21Then, with one sharp shove of my elbow, I knock over the black coffee on her desk.
00:04:26The dark liquid spills perfectly across the application packet,
00:04:29soaking through the giant Harvard crest until the ink begins to bleed.
00:04:32I stare at her coldly, waiting for her to snap.
00:04:36Waiting for the mask to fall off.
00:04:37Waiting to finally see the real Valerie underneath all that fake sweetness.
00:04:41But her reaction throws me completely off.
00:04:46Oh God, Scarlet, are you okay?
00:04:49She grabs a stack of napkins and immediately starts swiping coffee off my hand.
00:04:52There's real concern in her eyes.
00:04:53No anger.
00:04:54No blame.
00:04:55Not even irritation.
00:04:56It's wrong.
00:04:57She's too nice.
00:04:58So nice it scares me.
00:05:00Nice enough to make me wonder if the woman I remember was ever the real Valerie at all.
00:05:04Just then, the classroom door swings open.
00:05:07A Latino teacher steps inside and walks over to Valerie's desk.
00:05:10Hey Valerie, something came up with Scarlet's family.
00:05:14Kind of an emergency.
00:05:15Your parents called and asked if you could bring her home with you after school.
00:05:18An emergency?
00:05:20What the hell happened?
00:05:22By the time school lets out, the Texas sunset looks like the whole sky's on fire.
00:05:26Stadium lights flicker on one by one around the football field.
00:05:29The cheer squad is still practicing while snippets of 90s pop songs crack through the loudspears.
00:05:34Valerie walks a few steps ahead of me, her ponytail swaying softly behind her.
00:05:37She suddenly stops and turns to me gently.
00:05:39I heard about your parents.
00:05:41Scarlet, don't be scared, okay?
00:05:42You've still got me.
00:05:43We're best friends.
00:05:44Then she pulls me into a hug.
00:05:45I'm sorry for what happened.
00:05:46If you need a shoulder to cry on, I'll always be here.
00:05:48That faint grapefruit scent wraps around me again.
00:05:51And just like that, I break.
00:05:53In my last life, there were countless nights when I would have given anything for this exact embrace.
00:05:57As I sob into her shoulder, I deliberately smears and snot all over her pretty shirt.
00:06:01Petty revenge.
00:06:02Pathetic, tiny revenge.
00:06:04But her arms are warm exactly the way I remember from childhood.
00:06:07So how the hell did someone like this become the woman who wouldn't even save my life?
00:06:12A bicycle bell rings behind us.
00:06:14Hector catches up, pushing an old bike with a paper box of cupcakes sitting in the basket.
00:06:18He adjusts his glasses awkwardly.
00:06:20Sugar helps.
00:06:21A little, anyway.
00:06:22I watch the two of them walking side by side beneath the football field lights, and something bitter twists in
00:06:26my chest.
00:06:27What, Hector?
00:06:28You gonna pick her up like this every day?
00:06:30Keep her stuck in this town and make her your wife someday?
00:06:32Hector stops walking, but when he looks at me, his expression is completely open and sincere.
00:06:38Valerie's meant for bigger things than this place.
00:06:39She's too talented to spend her life shrinking herself for some guy.
00:06:44That'd be... wrong.
00:06:46I freeze, because I never imagined Hector would say something like that.
00:06:52I'm not getting stuck married with kids at 18.
00:06:55I want to see what's out there first.
00:06:57But you did have me at 18.
00:06:58You ended up trapped in a rotting trailer park full of violence and screaming and broken walls.
00:07:03Valerie, did your dreams betray you?
00:07:05The whole walk there, something about this timeline feels off in a way I can't explain.
00:07:11And then Valerie opens the front door.
00:07:14The smell of home-cooked food hits me instantly.
00:07:18So you're Scarlet, huh?
00:07:21Hi, Mr. Wyatt.
00:07:22Thanks for letting me stay over.
00:07:25He bursts out laughing and pulls me inside before I can even finish.
00:07:29The house is warm, spotless, lived in.
00:07:32There's a brand new pair of slippers waiting for me by the entryway,
00:07:35along with folded pajamas set out they'd been expecting me for days.
00:07:38The living room walls are lined with plaques, commendations, and framed Federal Service Award.
00:07:42On the TV, a local news station is covering a major drug trafficking case near the Texas border.
00:07:46A photo flashes on screen of two fallen narcotics agents.
00:07:49Your parents were good people, kiddo.
00:07:52Best partners I ever had.
00:07:54Real heroes.
00:07:55And from now on, this house is yours, too.
00:07:57You hear me?
00:07:57That's when it finally hits me.
00:07:59The parents belonging to this body are already dead.
00:08:02Dinner is loud and warm and painfully alive.
00:08:05Grandpa keeps piling food onto plates.
00:08:07Grandma laughs at everything.
00:08:08A dog nudges against my legs beneath the table.
00:08:10The kitchen light glows so warmly it almost hurts to look at.
00:08:13And across from me sits Valerie, laughing freely while her parents dole on her like she's the center of their
00:08:17universe.
00:08:18My chest tightens so hard it feels unbearable.
00:08:21This is insane.
00:08:22Like some cruel cosmic joke.
00:08:24She grew up surrounded by this much love.
00:08:26So how the hell did she become someone who could watch me die without a single shred of kindness?
00:08:31Late that night, Valerie and I lay side by side in the dark.
00:08:35There's been this huge cartel case near the border lately.
00:08:39I keep having nightmares something's gonna happen to my parents.
00:08:42At 18, she looks so young.
00:08:44So fragile.
00:08:45Before sunrise, I wake to the sound of movement in the living room.
00:08:49Grandpa is sitting by the door, pulling on his police boots.
00:08:51I run out barefoot and grab onto his sleeve before he can leave.
00:08:54Mr. Wyatt, please be careful out there.
00:08:57He smiles and ruffles my hair.
00:08:58I will, kiddo.
00:08:59Promise I'll come home safe.
00:09:00Then he and grandma disappear together into the pale border fog of early morning.
00:09:05And the dread in my chest only grows heavier.
00:09:10Valerie stumbles out of bed half asleep the next morning and stands in front of the mirror,
00:09:15completely lost trying to fix her ponytail.
00:09:18God, she's hopeless.
00:09:19I walk over and quietly redo her hair for her.
00:09:22It's the first time in both my lives that I've ever been this close to her.
00:09:26Scarlett, how are you so good at this?
00:09:27And suddenly I remember how, when I was little, she always hacked my hair off into awful tomboy
00:09:33cuts.
00:09:33Maybe it wasn't coldness after all.
00:09:35Maybe 18-year-old Valerie just barely knew how to take care of herself.
00:09:38A bicycle bell rings outside the yard.
00:09:40Hector, right on schedule.
00:09:42He hands me an ice-cold soda, then stares at my face for a little too long.
00:09:47Scarlett, is it just me or are you starting to look more and more like Valerie?
00:09:51A chill shoots straight through me.
00:09:52Right before I died in my last life, I was barely recognizable, skin and bones from the
00:09:56cancer. But the last time I looked in a mirror, I realized something horrifying.
00:10:00I hadn't taken over someone else's body.
00:10:02I came back wearing my own 18-year-old face.
00:10:04Pretty girls always kind of look alike, right?
00:10:06Surrounded by all this warmth, I start wavering.
00:10:09It gets harder and harder to connect this version of Valini to the woman from my last life.
00:10:14This girl is kind, bright, alive.
00:10:16I finally begin to understand why my dad, Austin, spent his whole life loving her even
00:10:20when she never truly loved him back.
00:10:22Part of me even starts thinking that when I finally meet him in this timeline, maybe I
00:10:26should tell him to fall for somebody else.
00:10:28But I never imagined that just as I started letting my guard down, hell was already opening
00:10:32its doors.
00:10:33School lets out early that day.
00:10:35Hector and I stop by a taco truck on the corner.
00:10:38Valerie says she's tired and asks us to grab her a baked potato before heading home ahead of us.
00:10:43We're almost at her house when an old pickup truck with no plates suddenly comes flying
00:10:48backward out of the driveway.
00:10:50Several tattooed men in masks jump into the bed of the truck.
00:10:54Then a scream tears through the air.
00:10:57It's Valerie.
00:11:01Hector and I sprint toward the house so fast my lungs feel like they're tearing apart.
00:11:06The front door hangs crooked on its hinges, creaking heavily as it swings loosely against
00:11:11the broken frame.
00:11:12The second we step inside, the smell hits me.
00:11:14Blood, sweat, whiskey.
00:11:16The living room looks like a battlefield.
00:11:17Furniture overturned.
00:11:18Glass shattered everywhere.
00:11:19Family photos ripped from the walls.
00:11:21Blood smeared across the wooden floorboards in long streaks like someone had been dragged.
00:11:25Grandpa and Grandma lie motionless on the ground.
00:11:27And in the middle of the room, Valerie, covered in blood, curled up on the floor.
00:11:32A tattooed man stands nearby, calmly fixing his belt like nothing happened.
00:11:38Hector roars and charges at him, only to get kicked hard across the room.
00:11:42The stranger turns toward me slowly.
00:11:44Then he grabs my collar and jerks me forward so violently my feet leave the ground.
00:11:49Hector!
00:11:50The stench of blood and cigarettes floods my nose so hard I nearly gag.
00:11:55Well, damn.
00:11:56If it isn't Officer Miller's kid.
00:11:58Lucky day for you, sweetheart.
00:12:00Boss already told us to pull out.
00:12:02Otherwise, you'd have been a lot of fun, too.
00:12:04He spits onto the floor beside me and turns to leave.
00:12:08Behind him, Valerie curls tighter into herself, desperately clutching the ripped fabric over
00:12:13her chest.
00:12:14A broken sound escapes her throat.
00:12:16Something inside me snaps.
00:12:18I throw myself forward and grab the man's pant leg with both hands.
00:12:21Moonlight spills through the shattered window, sliding across the side of his face.
00:12:25That jawline.
00:12:26That scar near his mouth.
00:12:27That voice.
00:12:28My entire body freezes.
00:12:30The world goes completely silent around me, because he isn't some random cartel thug.
00:12:35He's Austin.
00:12:37My father.
00:12:41Hector scrambles to the wall and grabs the landline.
00:12:44But the phone cord has already been cut.
00:12:49You brought this on yourself, you little bitch!
00:12:52He lunges at me and starts ripping at my clothes, yanking violently at my collar.
00:12:57Trying to save me, Hector throws himself at Austin again, without a second thought.
00:13:01In the chaos, I catch a flash of murder in Austin's eyes.
00:13:05He suddenly pulls a hunting knife from the back of his waist hand.
00:13:08And in that instant, I completely lose it.
00:13:11Without thinking, I grab the blade with my bare hand.
00:13:14My dad?
00:13:15How could this be my dad?
00:13:17Tears crash into the growing pool of blood beneath me.
00:13:20The man I loved most growing up.
00:13:21The father who raised me in that trailer park with nothing.
00:13:25How could it be you?
00:13:26You're a rapist now.
00:13:27A murderer.
00:13:28I can't take it.
00:13:29I feel like I'm losing my mind.
00:13:31But the sharp pain slicing through my palm and Valier's desperate sobbing remind me this is real.
00:13:37I clamp down on the knife with everything I have and scream hysterically at Hector.
00:13:42Hector, run!
00:13:44Go get help!
00:13:45Go!
00:13:46Now!
00:13:46Blood streams down Hector's face as he staggers toward the door and bolts outside.
00:13:51And the second he's gone, Austin completely snaps.
00:13:55With a vicious twist of his wrist, he jerks the knife free and points the blade straight at my throat.
00:14:04But just then, my grandmother, who had been lying motionless in a pool of blood,
00:14:09somehow forces herself back up with the last bit of strength she has left.
00:14:14Austin turns, ready to stab her next.
00:14:18No!
00:14:18I slam into him with everything I have.
00:14:21The blade plunges straight into my stomach.
00:14:24Warmth explodes through my body.
00:14:26Then comes the pain.
00:14:27Endless, crushing pain.
00:14:29I press both hands against the wound,
00:14:31holding onto the knife with everything I've got so Austin can't pull it back out.
00:14:35You can't kill them.
00:14:39You can't.
00:14:40I'm crying, choking as blood pours from my mouth in heavy bursts.
00:14:44But Austin just twists the knife cruelly inside me.
00:14:48The agony sends me collapsing to my knees in the blood.
00:14:52That's when Grandma suddenly wraps both arms around Austin's neck from behind
00:14:55and drags him to the floor with every ounce of strength she has left.
00:14:58My grandfather, already covered in blood, grabs onto Austin's leg and refuses to let go.
00:15:04Realizing he's about to get caught, Austin curses violently, kicks himself free from them,
00:15:09and climbs out the window, disappearing into the darkness near the border.
00:15:12Scarlet!
00:15:14Scarlet, stay with me!
00:15:16Please don't close your eyes!
00:15:18Through my fading vision, I feel Valerie pulling me into her arms.
00:15:23My consciousness is already slipping away, sobbing controllably.
00:15:27With tears and blood all over my face, I still try to take off my jacket and cover her with
00:15:30it.
00:15:31But I'm too weak.
00:15:32My arm barely lifts halfway before it drops limply into the blood.
00:15:35In the distance, sirens scream through the night.
00:15:38I hear Hector crying as he rushes back inside with the police.
00:15:41Then everything goes dark.
00:15:43Somewhere far away, voices echo around me as I'm lifted onto a stretcher.
00:15:48She's flatlining! Move! Get the defibrillator! Now!
00:15:53When I finally open my eyes again, all I see is the pale white ceiling of a hospital room.
00:15:57Sitting beside my bed is Hector.
00:15:58When he ran for help, Austin's men caught him and beat him half to death.
00:16:01The second he sees me awake, arrogant genius completely falls apart.
00:16:04He wipes his eyes while gripping to entail Sotanli.
00:16:06You were the last one to wake up!
00:16:08Do you have any idea how close you came to dying? You scared the hell out of us!
00:16:12He's crying so hard, it's a complete mess. Tears, snot, everything.
00:16:15At one point, he even spits on my face while talking.
00:16:17I let out a weak laugh. The anesthesia still hasn't fully worn over.
00:16:20I can't really feel pain yet, just heavy numbness all over my body.
00:16:22I look at him anxiously.
00:16:23Valerie's parents? And Valerie, are they okay?
00:16:27Her folks made it to the hospital just in time. If that knife had hit either of them, any worse.
00:16:33I struggle to sit up, desperate to see her, but before I can move, the hospital room door slowly opens.
00:16:38Valerie is standing there. Her eyes look hollow.
00:16:40And when she looks at me, there's something shattered in them I can't even begin to explain.
00:16:45I say her name softly. She nods faintly and walks over.
00:16:47Her cold fingers are easily on my shoulder.
00:16:49Does it hurt?
00:16:50I shake my head. Looking at her red-rimmed eyes, I force a small smile.
00:16:55Have you been crying?
00:16:56She doesn't answer. She just holds my hand tighter and gently squeezes my cheek like she's afraid I'll disappear.
00:17:01Then suddenly, she lowers her head and tears drip onto the back of my hand.
00:17:05Thank you, Scarlet.
00:17:06If it weren't for you, I would have lost my parents.
00:17:10I look at the 18-year-old version of my mother standing in front of me, her fate already completely
00:17:14changed because of me.
00:17:16I sniff hard, holding back tears.
00:17:18I don't say a single word.
00:17:19I just let her tears soak into my skin, before slowly lifting my free hand and placing it softly over
00:17:24the trembling hand resting on my shoulder.
00:17:28Valerie looks down at my hand covering hers, as if she understands the comfort in my eyes.
00:17:34She takes a deep breath.
00:17:37Tears still cling to her lashes, but for the first time in forever, her voice carries a little relief.
00:17:43I've got good news. The case is over. The cartel operation finally got busted.
00:17:48Every single person involved in the attack was caught near the border.
00:17:51My parents can finally rest for a while.
00:17:53The moment I hear Austin and the traffickers were all arrested, my entire mind goes blank.
00:17:58Relief crashes over me so hard, I almost shoot upright in the hospital bed.
00:18:02Wait, seriously? They caught all of them?
00:18:06Yes, seriously, now stop moving before you rip your stitches open.
00:18:10The crushing weight that haunted me through both lifetimes finally disappears at that moment.
00:18:13Meanwhile, Hector, who has been sitting nearby this entire time, calmly peels a banana like nothing's happening.
00:18:19Doctor said you should eat this. You've already woken up a few times these past couple days.
00:18:22You've managed to pass gas, so now they're just waiting to see if you can finally have a bowel movement.
00:18:27Coming from someone usually this serious, it's so absurd I completely lose it.
00:18:31Unfortunately, the second I laugh, pain rips through the stitches in my abdomen.
00:18:34I immediately hiss in pain, clutching my stomach.
00:18:36Valerie starts laughing too, but after a few seconds her laughter fades.
00:18:39Tears suddenly begin falling again without warning.
00:18:41She tries to cry quietly. She doesn't want either of us to notice.
00:18:45Hector's smile slowly disappears too.
00:18:47I wrap both arms tightly around this 18-year-old girl.
00:18:50At that moment, through my chest is no longer the hatred I carried in my previous life.
00:18:55Mom, if I had known my biologed father was the monster who destroyed your entire family,
00:19:00how could I ever have hated you?
00:19:01I would have only hated myself for ever being born, since fate gave me another chance.
00:19:07Then this time, I'll set you free.
00:19:11After surviving the nightmare, the little Texas town slowly comes back to life.
00:19:15Once I'm discharged from the hospital, my grandparents take me home.
00:19:18Grandpa proudly hands me a limited edition Barbie doll he brought back from New York.
00:19:21In my previous life, it was the only toy my mother had ever given me,
00:19:24but this time, somehow, it heals me first.
00:19:26Then Grandma completely hijacks what was supposed to be an emotional family dinner
00:19:30with giant sizzling Texas steaks, oversized cowboy hats and boots
00:19:33that look straight out of a Hollywood audition,
00:19:35and enough chaos to turn the whole night upside down.
00:19:37Even Hector, who normally acts way too composed for his age,
00:19:40finally laughs without holding back.
00:19:43But beneath the warm yellow glow of the dinner lights,
00:19:46the conversation eventually turns to goodbye.
00:19:48Hector's mother lifts her wine glass, eyes red and swollen,
00:19:50and quietly announces that they're moving back to Boston before Thanksgiving.
00:19:54She can't handle the danger near the border anymore.
00:19:56And in that moment, a misunderstanding from both my lifetimes finally unravels.
00:20:00In my previous life, Hector never left because he looked down on my mother's reputation.
00:20:05His mother had simply watched her son nearly die.
00:20:08Any parent would have wanted to run from this place after that.
00:20:10As an old country song crackles through the radio in the background,
00:20:14we start talking about the future.
00:20:16Valerie asks where I want to go to school someday.
00:20:18I look at her, the girl whose entire future was crushed fate in my previous life,
00:20:23an answer without hesitation.
00:20:25Harvard.
00:20:26Under the endless Texas night sky, with the Milky Way stretched above her like a dream,
00:20:29I finally understand the suffocating pain she carried in her previous life.
00:20:32I turn my head slightly and whisper so softly that only I can hear it.
00:20:35Mom, this time go live your life.
00:20:37Chase your dreams.
00:20:38Be yourself again.
00:20:38As for me, I'll stay behind in the darkness at this timeline.
00:20:41The day Hector leaves, the boy who has always been calm and restrained
00:20:44completely breaks down the moment he steps onto the bus.
00:20:47Clinging to the window, he cries so hard he can barely breathe.
00:20:50And then the bus slowly pulls away, kicking up clouds of Texas dust
00:20:53before disappearing at the end of the highway.
00:20:55Watching the bus vanish into the distance,
00:20:57I think life might finally return to normal.
00:21:00But fate still isn't done with me yet.
00:21:01Something happened to Valerie.
00:21:05After seeing Hector off, we head home through the bitter Texas winter wind.
00:21:09I cling tightly to Valerie's arm,
00:21:10trying my best to keep the mood light while talking excitedly about Christmas dinner plans.
00:21:13Mr. Wyatt's brisket has to be there.
00:21:14And Mr. Wyatt's smoked pulled pork too.
00:21:16No argument.
00:21:16This year, we are eating like royalty.
00:21:18I'm still rambling happily when Valerie's expression suddenly changes.
00:21:21Without warning, she jerks her arm out of my grasp.
00:21:24Like a frightened deer, she stumbles towards a trash can on the side of the road,
00:21:27bends over, and starts violently throwing up.
00:21:29She vomits so hard, there's eventually nothing left except bitter dry humps.
00:21:33By the end, she can barely stay standing.
00:21:35She grips a freezing telephone pole for support,
00:21:38her whole body trembling violently,
00:21:40her face drained completely white.
00:21:42My mind goes blank.
00:21:43The smile freezes on my face.
00:21:46Watching her clutch her stomach and reek in pain,
00:21:49a terrifying cold realization crawls slowly up my spine like ice water.
00:21:55No symptoms.
00:21:58No.
00:21:59No way.
00:22:04You-you're pregnant?
00:22:08Valerie instinctively places a hand over her stomach.
00:22:11Her eyes are filled with the kind of panic and confusion
00:22:14no 18-year-old girl should ever have to carry.
00:22:17What happened that night may have been stopped halfway through,
00:22:20but some nightmares had already rerouted themselves deep in the dark.
00:22:25She looks at me helplessly, tears trembling in her eyes.
00:22:29I-I don't know, Scarlet.
00:22:32I thought maybe it was just stress lately.
00:22:35I haven't had much appetite,
00:22:37and I kept feeling nauseous.
00:22:39Come on.
00:22:40We're going to the clinic.
00:22:41Now.
00:22:42I don't even let her finish speaking.
00:22:44I grab her hand and practically drag her down the street
00:22:47toward the town's small community clinic.
00:22:51The doctor on duty is an elderly Cuban-American woman with silver hair,
00:22:55Dr. Ramirez.
00:22:56She isn't just the only general practitioner in town.
00:22:58She's also one of Grandma Wyatt's oldest friends,
00:23:01and her chelps alongside her years ago.
00:23:03The second Dr. Romero sees Valerie's face and the sheer panic in my eyes,
00:23:07her sharp, battle-wurned gaze immediately narrow.
00:23:10Wasting another second,
00:23:11she starts ushering every remaining patient out of the clinic.
00:23:15The entire room falls into suffocating silence.
00:23:20Tell me what's going on.
00:23:22My scalp precles with dread as I quickly explain Valerie's nausea and vomiting.
00:23:26The old doctor says nothing after hearing me out,
00:23:29but a deep, piercing sorrow flashes through her eyes.
00:23:32She quietly takes Valerie into the examination room in the back.
00:23:36The moment the door closes,
00:23:37all the strength drains out of me.
00:23:39I collapse into the cold metal chair outside the office,
00:23:42shoving both hands deep into my hair.
00:23:44More than anyone else, I know exactly where I came from.
00:23:47And because of that,
00:23:48a horrifying truth finally pieces itself together in my mind.
00:23:51In my previous life,
00:23:52Austin, the man who raised me after destroying Valerie's life,
00:23:54was actually released from prison early.
00:23:56After committing crimes like that,
00:23:57he still got out in less than 20 years.
00:23:59Back then, when the case went to court,
00:24:01Valerie must have stayed silent.
00:24:03Maybe to hide the shame of being pregnant as a teenager.
00:24:06Maybe to protect the Wyatt family's reputation.
00:24:08Whatever the reason,
00:24:09her silence helped set a monster free.
00:24:11The guilt of my own existence tears through me like a dull blade.
00:24:14This nightmare destroyed a brilliant girl who was supposed to go to Harvard.
00:24:17And the one thing it gave back to the world was a demon.
00:24:21Half an hour later,
00:24:22the exam room door slowly creaks open.
00:24:25Dr. Ramirez steps outside, looking exhausted.
00:24:28She gently pats my shoulder.
00:24:30Scarlet,
00:24:32go get Mr. and Mrs. Wyatt for me.
00:24:36The moment the truth comes out,
00:24:38the house,
00:24:39which had barely survived one nightmare already,
00:24:42falls into dead silence all over again.
00:24:53Grandpa sits heavily on the couch.
00:24:56This massive,
00:24:58hard-nosed cop
00:24:59who once stared down cartel gunfires
00:25:01now looks hollowed out,
00:25:02like a man aging 10 years in a single night.
00:25:08He buries his rough,
00:25:09califafed hands over his face
00:25:11and says nothing.
00:25:14Meanwhile,
00:25:16Grandma holds 18-year-old Valerie
00:25:17tightly in her arms,
00:25:19sobbing so hard she can barely breathe.
00:25:22We're packing tonight.
00:25:25We'll go straight to Boston
00:25:26and stay with Hector and his mother.
00:25:30I won't let that monster's family
00:25:32lay a finger on you ever again.
00:25:36Valerie stays curled up
00:25:38in the corner of the bed the entire time,
00:25:40silent as a porcelain doll.
00:25:42She doesn't say a word.
00:25:43She just keeps staring at me
00:25:45with those shattered, empty eyes.
00:25:47But somewhere inside them
00:25:48is still this helpless instinct
00:25:50begging for someone to save her.
00:25:51The sight tears me apart inside.
00:25:55I lower my head immediately,
00:25:58too ashamed to even look
00:25:59my own mother in the eye.
00:26:01And then things somehow get even worse.
00:26:05Austin's trashy parents,
00:26:06the grandparents I had in my previous life,
00:26:09somehow hear about Valerie's pregnancy.
00:26:11Right after the attack,
00:26:12those two cowards vanished completely
00:26:14to avoid being dragged
00:26:15into the police investigation.
00:26:16But the second they hear
00:26:17Valerie is carrying Austin's child,
00:26:19they swoop in like vultures
00:26:20smelling blood.
00:26:21To them, this pregnancy is leverage,
00:26:23the perfect weapon
00:26:24to destroy the Wyatt family.
00:26:26We barely made it back home
00:26:27before the two of them
00:26:28show up outside the house
00:26:29with some sleazy lawyer they hired.
00:26:33The smell of cheap cigarettes
00:26:35and stale alcohol
00:26:36hits before they even
00:26:38step into the yard.
00:26:41My former grandfather,
00:26:43Silas Walker,
00:26:44doesn't show even a trace of shame.
00:26:47No guilt.
00:26:48No apology.
00:26:50Just this disgusting,
00:26:52smug arrogance.
00:26:56Standing in the yard,
00:26:57he bellows toward the house
00:26:58like he owns the place.
00:27:00Officer Wyatt,
00:27:01don't hide in there.
00:27:03My son Austin may be in prison,
00:27:05but he still has parental rights.
00:27:06That baby is part of our family
00:27:08and you're not taking
00:27:09our grandchild anywhere.
00:27:11The sleazy lawyer beside him
00:27:13adjusts his glasses
00:27:14and smirks coldly.
00:27:19If Miss Yight refuses
00:27:20to drop the charges,
00:27:21we're fully prepared
00:27:21to drag this
00:27:22through the family court
00:27:23for years.
00:27:24And trust me,
00:27:25once the media gets involved,
00:27:26everybody in Texas
00:27:27is going to know
00:27:28exactly what happened
00:27:29to your daughter.
00:27:33Then Mayabelle Walker,
00:27:34my former grandmother,
00:27:36blows out a stream
00:27:37of cigarette smoke
00:27:38and starts screeching
00:27:39in the house.
00:27:40You go testify
00:27:41in federal court
00:27:43and we'll swear
00:27:44Valerie wanted it.
00:27:45We'll tell everyone
00:27:46you cops framed our son.
00:27:51We'll make damn sure
00:27:52every police department
00:27:53in Texas
00:27:54knows what kind of girl
00:27:56your daughter really is.
00:27:57You think those badges
00:27:59are going to survive this?
00:28:02We'll ruin your whole family!
00:28:07The police had kept
00:28:08the details of that night
00:28:10sealed tightly.
00:28:11Nobody in town knew
00:28:12what Valerie had actually
00:28:14suffered in the dark.
00:28:15But now,
00:28:15these two shameless monsters
00:28:17are ripping open
00:28:17her deepest traumata
00:28:18in public
00:28:19just to save their worthless son
00:28:20from federal prison.
00:28:21They stand outside
00:28:22with a damn megaphone,
00:28:24turning a survivor's
00:28:25private nightmare
00:28:26into some sick
00:28:27public spectacle
00:28:27about protecting
00:28:28the family bloodline.
00:28:29Before long,
00:28:30the whole town knows.
00:28:32But they don't actually
00:28:33want the baby.
00:28:34That's never been the point.
00:28:35What they want is pressure.
00:28:38They want to weaponize
00:28:39this conservative little town.
00:28:41The gossip,
00:28:42the judgment,
00:28:43the victim blaming
00:28:44until the Wyatts
00:28:45have nowhere left to run.
00:28:46And their terms
00:28:47are crystal clear.
00:28:48They want Valerie
00:28:49to change her testimony
00:28:50in federal court.
00:28:52They want her to claim
00:28:53Austin was just the driver
00:28:55and knew nothing
00:28:56about the attack.
00:28:57In exchange,
00:28:58the walkers will stop
00:28:59harassing the family
00:29:00and leave them alone.
00:29:01Hearing the whispers
00:29:03rising outside the fence,
00:29:04seeing neighbors stare
00:29:06with that fake sympathy
00:29:07hiding disgust underneath.
00:29:11Everything suddenly clicks
00:29:12into place inside my head.
00:29:15Now I understand
00:29:16exactly how Austin
00:29:17got that early release
00:29:18in my previous life.
00:29:20There had been a deal.
00:29:22And Valerie had been
00:29:23crushed into accepting it.
00:29:24Looking at those
00:29:25two smug bastards
00:29:26standing outside our home
00:29:27acting righteous.
00:29:28Every ounce of humiliation
00:29:29from my previous life
00:29:30and every drop of rage
00:29:31from this one
00:29:32finally explodes inside me.
00:29:34To hell with staying calm.
00:29:35I grab grandpa's
00:29:36Louisville slugger
00:29:37from behind the front door
00:29:38and storm outside,
00:29:39gripping the bat so hard
00:29:40my knuckles go white.
00:29:41By then,
00:29:41all I can see is red.
00:29:58Right in front of everyone,
00:29:59I swing the bat.
00:30:00Crack, crack.
00:30:01The heavy end
00:30:02of the Louisville slugger
00:30:03smashes straight into Silas
00:30:04and Maybien's faces
00:30:05without a shred of hesitation.
00:30:07The sound of teeth breaking
00:30:08mixes with their screams
00:30:09as both of them stumble backward,
00:30:11clutching their bloody mouths
00:30:12before collapsing
00:30:12into the dirt.
00:30:13Your son is a convicted rapist!
00:30:15I point the bat
00:30:16directly at the two of them,
00:30:17shaking with rage.
00:30:19Where the hell
00:30:19was all talk about the law
00:30:20when your psycho son
00:30:22was pointing a gun
00:30:23at federal officers?
00:30:24And now you want to come here
00:30:25and black rail cops?
00:30:28Gripping the bat
00:30:29with both hands,
00:30:30I swing as hard as I can
00:30:31into the lawyer's sedan
00:30:32parked by the curb.
00:30:33The windshield explodes
00:30:34instantly into a spider web
00:30:35of shattered glass.
00:30:36Then I whip around
00:30:37towards the neighbors
00:30:38gathering outside the fence,
00:30:40all of them whispering
00:30:40and staring.
00:30:41What are you all looking at?
00:30:43Anybody else wants to stand here
00:30:45screaming at a victim
00:30:46with these two pieces of trash?
00:30:47I raise the broken bat,
00:30:49splintered wood
00:30:50jouting from the barrel.
00:30:51I swear to God
00:30:52the next swing
00:30:53straight goes through your skull!
00:30:54Get the hell away
00:30:55from the Wyatt House!
00:30:56All of you!
00:30:57Move!
00:30:58The hot border wind
00:30:59tears through the street.
00:31:01One look at the shattered bat
00:31:02in my hands is enough.
00:31:03The neighbors pale instantly
00:31:04and start backing away
00:31:05in fear.
00:31:06And then suddenly,
00:31:07Silas runges at me
00:31:09with a rusty switchblade
00:31:10in his hand.
00:31:10Drop the charges
00:31:11or I'll kill
00:31:12every last one of you!
00:31:16The gunshot
00:31:17detonates
00:31:18like thunder.
00:31:19The bullet slices
00:31:20past Silas's ear
00:31:21and blasts apart
00:31:22one of the wooden fence posts
00:31:23behind him.
00:31:24Everyone freezes.
00:31:25Grandpa Rick
00:31:26stands there
00:31:26gripping a cord
00:31:27with a revolver.
00:31:28The barrel pressed
00:31:29directly against Silas's forehead.
00:31:31His voice is low
00:31:31and deadly.
00:31:32Officer Miller's daughter
00:31:33took a knife
00:31:34from my family.
00:31:35You touch her again
00:31:36and see what happens.
00:31:38The ringing echo
00:31:39from the gunshot
00:31:40leaves everyone stunned.
00:31:42Silas drops the knife
00:31:43immediately.
00:31:44It clatters onto the dirt
00:31:45beside him
00:31:46as he collapses
00:31:46in terror.
00:31:50He's gonna kill us!
00:31:52The cops are trying
00:31:53to murder us!
00:31:54But before she can
00:31:55say another word,
00:31:56another figure comes
00:31:57flying down the porch
00:31:57steps, Grandma.
00:32:00She moves like lightning.
00:32:01Grabbing a fistful
00:32:03of Maybella's
00:32:03brittle yellow hair,
00:32:04she yanks her sideways
00:32:05so hard the old woman
00:32:06nearly falls.
00:32:07Slap!
00:32:09Grandma backhands her
00:32:10across the face
00:32:10hard enough to send her
00:32:11crashing into the dirt,
00:32:13then plants a boot
00:32:14against her chest.
00:32:15Her eyes are pure steel.
00:32:17You think you can
00:32:17threaten my daughter's name?
00:32:19I'll go to prison
00:32:20smiling before I let
00:32:21your family destroy
00:32:22her life.
00:32:22Now get the hell
00:32:23off my property
00:32:24before I bury
00:32:25all of you out
00:32:26in the desert myself.
00:32:27Rick cocks
00:32:28the revolver once,
00:32:29never taking his eyes
00:32:30off Silas.
00:32:31You assaulted my family.
00:32:33As a police officer,
00:32:34I have every right
00:32:35to arrest you right now.
00:32:36Next time,
00:32:37you won't walk away
00:32:38this lucky.
00:32:39Now get out.
00:32:40The sheer violence
00:32:41radiating off the two
00:32:42retired narcotics officers
00:32:44terrifies everyone
00:32:45into silence.
00:32:46The gossiping neighbors
00:32:47scatter immediately.
00:32:48Silas and Maybella
00:32:49scramble to their feet
00:32:50and flee down the road
00:32:52like stray dogs.
00:32:53But then suddenly,
00:32:54Grandpa Rick
00:32:55doubles over
00:32:56coughing violently.
00:32:57Fresh blood
00:32:58begins soaking
00:32:59through the white bandages
00:33:00wrapped around his torso.
00:33:07Grandpa's stitches
00:33:07tear open again,
00:33:08so Grandma rushes him
00:33:09back to the hospital.
00:33:10I stay behind
00:33:10to take care of Valerie.
00:33:11Standing outside
00:33:12her bedroom door,
00:33:12I force myself to breathe
00:33:13through the panic
00:33:14crushing my chest.
00:33:15I wipe the tears
00:33:15and blood off my face
00:33:16over and over
00:33:16with my sleeve
00:33:17until my skin burns raw.
00:33:18I can't let Valerie
00:33:19see me falling apart.
00:33:20Right now,
00:33:20I have to be strong for her.
00:33:22I shove the bedroom door open
00:33:23and lock it tightly behind me,
00:33:25shutting out the chaos outside.
00:33:26Then I walk straight
00:33:27towards her bed.
00:33:29The second I see her
00:33:30sitting there,
00:33:31pale,
00:33:32hollow,
00:33:33motionless,
00:33:34something inside me
00:33:35finally breaks completely.
00:33:37Valerie,
00:33:39let's leave.
00:33:40We can start over
00:33:41somewhere else.
00:33:42New York,
00:33:43California,
00:33:44anywhere.
00:33:45Please,
00:33:46just pack a bag
00:33:47and come with me,
00:33:47okay?
00:33:48I almost sound desperate.
00:33:50I grab her shoulders gently,
00:33:52trying to pull strength
00:33:53from the girl who,
00:33:54in another lifetime,
00:33:55would become my mother
00:33:56nineteen years later.
00:33:58But Valerie never says a word.
00:34:00She just stays curled
00:34:01in the corner of the bed.
00:34:03The fading sunset
00:34:04filters through the blinds,
00:34:05strip by strip,
00:34:06dying slowly across her face.
00:34:08Then she finally lifts her head.
00:34:10And once again,
00:34:11she looks at me
00:34:12with those same shattered eyes.
00:34:14Empty,
00:34:15helpless,
00:34:15but still quietly begging
00:34:17someone to save her.
00:34:18Sight crushes my chest.
00:34:19For my entire previous life,
00:34:21I thought I had been born unwanted.
00:34:22But now I finally understand the truth.
00:34:24My birth was never love.
00:34:25It was a chain,
00:34:27a weapon crafted by a monster
00:34:28to trap my mother
00:34:29and destroy her family forever.
00:34:30I have never hated myself
00:34:32more than I do right now.
00:34:35Valerie,
00:34:36listen to me.
00:34:38This baby!
00:34:39Before I can finish,
00:34:40Valerie suddenly covers my mouth
00:34:41with her hand.
00:34:44I look up at her
00:34:46and suddenly the dam inside me
00:34:49completely breaks.
00:34:51Tears pour down my face
00:34:52as I collapse to my knees
00:34:54beside the bed.
00:34:55I pull her hand away
00:34:56from my mouth
00:34:57and finally scream out
00:34:58the truth
00:34:59that destroyed me
00:35:00for an entire lifetime.
00:35:02This baby
00:35:03is a stain
00:35:04that monster
00:35:05left on your life.
00:35:07You'll hate it forever!
00:35:09Every time you look at it,
00:35:11you'll remember him!
00:35:13You'll wish
00:35:14it had never been born!
00:35:16My voice cracks apart completely.
00:35:19It's better to end this now
00:35:20than let that child
00:35:22grow up trapped
00:35:22in pain and misery.
00:35:25I can barely breathe
00:35:26through the sobbing.
00:35:28No one can calmly beg
00:35:29their own mother
00:35:30to erase them from existence.
00:35:31But at that exact moment,
00:35:33Valerie,
00:35:34who has been sitting there
00:35:35lifeless and hollow
00:35:36this whole,
00:35:36whole time,
00:35:37suddenly trembles violently.
00:35:39It's like something
00:35:40inside her
00:35:41finally snaps awake.
00:35:42She bolts upright
00:35:43from the bed
00:35:44and throws her arms
00:35:45around me without warning,
00:35:46crushing me
00:35:47against her chest.
00:35:48She holds me so tightly
00:35:49her fingers dig painfully
00:35:51into my back.
00:35:52Hot tears spill
00:35:53onto my neck,
00:35:54burning against my skin.
00:35:55And then she completely
00:35:56breaks down.
00:35:57I never wanted you dead.
00:36:00Nora!
00:36:02Her voice is raw
00:36:04and shattered from crying.
00:36:06Not once!
00:36:08Not for a single second
00:36:10did I ever wish
00:36:11you were dead!
00:36:15That single sentence
00:36:17crashes through the room
00:36:18with the weight
00:36:18of two lifetimes behind it.
00:36:20Every ounce of pain,
00:36:22resentment,
00:36:23anger,
00:36:24and loneliness
00:36:24I carried inside me
00:36:26shatters instantly
00:36:27into dust.
00:36:28Because she called me Nora,
00:36:30not Scarlet,
00:36:32Nora.
00:36:33In this timeline,
00:36:34nobody knows that name.
00:36:36Nobody except my mother
00:36:38from my previous life.
00:36:39I freeze in her arms,
00:36:41my mind going
00:36:42completely blank.
00:36:43She isn't just
00:36:44the 18-year-old Valerie
00:36:46who knows nothing
00:36:46about the future.
00:36:48She remembers too.
00:36:50In this broken,
00:36:52twisted timeline,
00:36:53a near my find,
00:36:55my mother was reborn
00:36:56alongside me.
00:36:58I know.
00:37:00My entire body shakes
00:37:02as I cling to
00:37:03her shoulder-her-shoulder
00:37:04like a lost child.
00:37:07I know I was never
00:37:09supposed to be born.
00:37:10You had every reason
00:37:12to hate me
00:37:13because of that monster.
00:37:15Valerie suddenly
00:37:16grabs my face
00:37:16with both hands
00:37:17and forces me
00:37:18to look at her
00:37:18through her tears.
00:37:19How could a mother
00:37:20ever hate her child?
00:37:22After two lifetimes,
00:37:24inside this old Texas house
00:37:25in 1996,
00:37:26she finally tears open
00:37:28the truth she buried
00:37:29for decades.
00:37:29And through uncontrollable
00:37:31sobbing,
00:37:32my mother finally tells me
00:37:33why she stood beside
00:37:34my hospital bed
00:37:35and watched me die
00:37:36in my previous life.
00:37:40The reason I couldn't
00:37:41donate bone marrow
00:37:42was because I had
00:37:44terminal cancer too.
00:37:46I wasn't eligible
00:37:47to donate.
00:37:48I wasn't abandoning you,
00:37:50Nora.
00:37:51How could I ever
00:37:52abandon my own daughter?
00:37:54Outside,
00:37:55the winter wind screams
00:37:57across the Texas borderlands.
00:37:59But inside this
00:38:00cold little room,
00:38:02a mother and daughter
00:38:03separated by two lifetimes
00:38:04finally find each other again
00:38:06in the ruins
00:38:07of everything they lost.
00:38:09Valerie clutches me
00:38:10so tightly
00:38:11she's shaking.
00:38:12I never gave on you,
00:38:14Nora.
00:38:14I begged everyone
00:38:16I could for help.
00:38:17I borrowed money
00:38:18from anybody
00:38:18willing to listen
00:38:19because I wanted
00:38:20to save you.
00:38:21Every word tears
00:38:22out of her throat
00:38:23like it physically
00:38:23hurts to say it.
00:38:24Your bastard father
00:38:25wouldn't pay
00:38:26a single dime.
00:38:27The ICU bills
00:38:28kept piling up
00:38:29every single day.
00:38:30The hospital kept
00:38:30mailing notices
00:38:31until my bowel box
00:38:32was overflowing.
00:38:33In the end,
00:38:34I sold every apartment
00:38:35and every piece of property
00:38:36I owned in Boston
00:38:37just to barely cover
00:38:38your medical bills.
00:38:39Then her breathing
00:38:40completely falls apart.
00:38:41And Austin,
00:38:42that monster wanted
00:38:43to pull your ventilator
00:38:44out himself
00:38:45back at the trailer park.
00:38:46He lied to you.
00:38:47He actually convinced you
00:38:48that I was the one
00:38:49who abandoned you.
00:38:50She cries so hard
00:38:51she can barely breathe anymore.
00:38:52Decades of humiliation
00:38:53and buried motherhood
00:38:54finally exploding out
00:38:55all at once.
00:38:56Back then,
00:38:57I left with Hector's mother
00:38:58to work in the city
00:38:59because I needed money.
00:39:00I was trying to build
00:39:01enough of a life
00:39:01to come back
00:39:02and take you away
00:39:03from that rotting border town.
00:39:04But the second I left,
00:39:06Austin cut off
00:39:07every possible way
00:39:07for me to contact you.
00:39:09He guarded the trailer park
00:39:10with a gun
00:39:10and wouldn't even
00:39:11let me get near you.
00:39:12The only thing
00:39:13I could do...
00:39:16Her voice breaks
00:39:17completely.
00:39:19Would stand outside
00:39:20your school
00:39:21at the beginning
00:39:21of every semester
00:39:22and watch you
00:39:23from across the street.
00:39:28I bite down so hard
00:39:29on my little lip
00:39:30I taste blood.
00:39:32My vision is
00:39:33completely blurred
00:39:34by tears.
00:39:35And finally,
00:39:37I understand everything.
00:39:39Back then,
00:39:41she was only 18.
00:39:42A girl who had
00:39:43survived something horrific
00:39:44whose mind was already
00:39:45hanging by a thread.
00:39:47There was no way
00:39:48she could go back
00:39:48to that monster.
00:39:50For her,
00:39:51every step towards
00:39:52that trailer cramp
00:39:53was like walking back
00:39:54into hell itself.
00:39:55But fate has always
00:39:56been cruel.
00:39:57By the time Mom
00:39:57finally saved enough money
00:39:59and came back
00:40:00to fight for custody of me,
00:40:01Austin had already
00:40:02sensed something was coming.
00:40:04He grabbed me
00:40:04in the middle of the night
00:40:05and disappeared.
00:40:06And in the 1990s,
00:40:07before cell phones,
00:40:09databases,
00:40:10and internet tracking
00:40:11connected the world,
00:40:12we vanished
00:40:13into countless
00:40:13forgotten trailer parks
00:40:15scattered across America.
00:40:16She never found us again.
00:40:19Valerie cups my face
00:40:21with trembling hands.
00:40:25When you turned 18,
00:40:27you finally tracked down
00:40:28my private number.
00:40:29Her voice cracks a heart.
00:40:32But by then,
00:40:34I'd already been diagnosed
00:40:35with terminal cancer.
00:40:38I didn't have much time
00:40:40left, Nora.
00:40:43Her tears mixed with mine
00:40:45as they streamed down
00:40:46our faces together.
00:40:47My body was falling apart
00:40:48day by day.
00:40:49I didn't want to drag you
00:40:50into that.
00:40:51I couldn't bear the thought
00:40:52of you watching me die
00:40:53in a hospital bed
00:40:54or inheriting all my debt
00:40:56after I was gone.
00:40:58That's why I acted cold
00:40:59on the phone.
00:41:00That's why I pretended
00:41:01I didn't know you.
00:41:02Everything inside my head
00:41:03goes completely blank.
00:41:08The mother I spent
00:41:09my whole life hating
00:41:09never abandoned me.
00:41:12Not once.
00:41:13With a body and soul
00:41:14shattered by a monster,
00:41:16she still fought
00:41:16through the filled
00:41:17and hopelessness
00:41:18of the 1990s
00:41:19with everything she had left
00:41:20just to keep loving me.
00:41:22We cling to each other
00:41:23in that dark little room
00:41:24and cry until there
00:41:25are no tears left.
00:41:27Finally, I wipe my face hard
00:41:29and force myself
00:41:30to look straight
00:41:31into her eyes.
00:41:33Mom, if we've really
00:41:34both been given
00:41:35another chance,
00:41:37then don't let me
00:41:38become your chains
00:41:38all over again.
00:41:40We can still fix this.
00:41:41We'll go to the hospital.
00:41:43Without me,
00:41:43you can finally
00:41:44live your own life.
00:41:45Valerie instantly
00:41:46shakes her head
00:41:47in pain.
00:41:47Stop!
00:41:48Don't say that!
00:41:49I can't do it!
00:41:50Nora!
00:41:51You are part of me!
00:41:52I will never let you go!
00:41:55She covers her face,
00:41:56crying uncontrollably.
00:41:58And seeing the pain
00:41:59and determination
00:41:59in her eyes,
00:42:00I can't force her anymore.
00:42:02The sunset
00:42:03over the Texas border
00:42:04paints the entire sky
00:42:05blood red.
00:42:06Hot wind rolls
00:42:07through the yard
00:42:08carrying dust
00:42:09and dry heat
00:42:10that makes my chest
00:42:11tighten with unease.
00:42:12Grandpa fires up
00:42:13the smoker in the backyard
00:42:14using a stash of oak wood
00:42:16he's been saving for years.
00:42:17Before long,
00:42:18the air fills with the smell
00:42:19of smoked brisket and ribs.
00:42:20Grandma and I spend
00:42:21the entire afternoon
00:42:22preparing dinner,
00:42:23wanting to give Mom,
00:42:24the girl who suffered
00:42:24so much in this timeline,
00:42:26the happiest 18th birthday possible.
00:42:27But just as Grandma
00:42:28wipes her hands clean
00:42:29and starts heading inside
00:42:30to call Valerie at a dinner...
00:42:39Officer Wyatt,
00:42:40we've got a problem.
00:42:42Austin escaped
00:42:43during transport
00:42:43to federal prison.
00:42:44He killed two federal marshals
00:42:46and stole a shotgun.
00:42:47Dispatch intercepted
00:42:48a report ten minutes ago.
00:42:50He's heading straight for town
00:42:50in a stolen pickup truck.
00:42:52The second I hear
00:42:53Austin's name,
00:42:54rage destinates
00:42:55inside my body.
00:42:56Every ounce of blood
00:42:57in my veins
00:42:57feels like it catches fire.
00:42:59He's coming here
00:43:00for revenge!
00:43:06That monster ruined
00:43:08my mother once already.
00:43:09Why the hell
00:43:10should he get another chance
00:43:12to destroy her life?
00:43:18While Grandpa and Grandma
00:43:20rush back inside
00:43:21in Scotch
00:43:22to grab their
00:43:23Remingston shoe duns,
00:43:24I move first.
00:43:31Without hesitation,
00:43:33I snatch up the heavy cleaver
00:43:34sitting beside the cutting board
00:43:36in the kitchen.
00:43:46I don't even look back
00:43:47at the house.
00:43:48Eyes burning red
00:43:49with hatred,
00:43:50I run straight
00:43:51into the blood-colored
00:43:52Texas dusk.
00:43:53Austin,
00:43:54even if this drags my soul
00:43:56straight into hell,
00:43:57this time,
00:43:58I'm going to kill you myself.
00:44:03Night falls fast
00:44:05near the border.
00:44:06Freezing wind
00:44:07filled with sand
00:44:08cuts across my face
00:44:09like blades.
00:44:12I crouch silently
00:44:13in the shadows
00:44:14near the edge
00:44:15of the neighborhood,
00:44:15my palms slick
00:44:16with sweat
00:44:17around the handle
00:44:18of the clemver.
00:44:20But no matter
00:44:21how long I wait,
00:44:23Austin never appears.
00:44:24Then around midnight,
00:44:26a horrible instinct
00:44:27suddenly clenches
00:44:28around my heart.
00:44:29Valerie should have
00:44:30returned from the clinic
00:44:31hours ago,
00:44:32but she still isn't home.
00:44:34Headlights suddenly
00:44:35tear through the darkness.
00:44:36Grandpa's old
00:44:37wake-up truck
00:44:38skids to a stop
00:44:39beside me.
00:44:46Grandma and Grandpa
00:44:47both look pale with fear,
00:44:49gripping loaded
00:44:50Remington shoot guns
00:44:51tightly in their hands.
00:44:52We immediately
00:44:53start tracking tire marks
00:44:54and crushed brush
00:44:55along the bide side.
00:44:59Following every sign
00:45:00we can find,
00:45:01the search leads us
00:45:02all the way
00:45:03to the edge of town.
00:45:04Then the pickup engine
00:45:05dies.
00:45:06Silence.
00:45:06Nothing but cold
00:45:07desert wind
00:45:08and darkness.
00:45:09In front of us
00:45:10sits an abandoned
00:45:11trailer park
00:45:11that's been empty
00:45:12for years.
00:45:12We split up
00:45:13to search for Valerie.
00:45:14Let go of me!
00:45:15You're insane!
00:45:16Let me go!
00:45:19Let go of me!
00:45:20You're insane!
00:45:21Let me go!
00:45:23My mind goes blank.
00:45:26I know instantly
00:45:27there's no time
00:45:28to turn back
00:45:28for Grandpa.
00:45:31So I run toward
00:45:32Valerie's screams
00:45:33alone.
00:45:35But somewhere
00:45:36during those few
00:45:37desperate seconds.
00:45:38hearing my mother
00:45:39crying inside
00:45:40that trailer.
00:45:43Something strange
00:45:44happens.
00:45:45The panic
00:45:46inside my head
00:45:47suddenly disappears.
00:45:48Something strange
00:45:49happens.
00:45:50The panic
00:45:51inside my head
00:45:51suddenly disappears.
00:45:53Completely.
00:45:54As I sprint
00:45:55through the freezing
00:45:55dark,
00:45:56I grip the heavy
00:45:57meat cleaver
00:45:57hidden beneath my
00:45:58coat so tightly
00:45:59my hand aches.
00:46:00My palm is
00:46:00slipped with sweat.
00:46:02But my eyes
00:46:02hold no fear
00:46:03anymore.
00:46:04Only calm.
00:46:05And certainty.
00:46:07In that moment
00:46:08I finally understand
00:46:09why I came back
00:46:10to this world.
00:46:10I wasn't reborn
00:46:11to keep living
00:46:12as that monster's
00:46:13unwanted child.
00:46:14I crossed 28 years
00:46:15of time
00:46:16for one reason only.
00:46:17To set my mother
00:46:18free,
00:46:19even if it cost
00:46:20the life I was
00:46:20never supposed to
00:46:21have in the first
00:46:22place.
00:46:23I stare at the
00:46:24battered trailer
00:46:25door glowing faintly
00:46:26under the moonlight.
00:46:27and I never slow
00:46:28down for even
00:46:29a second.
00:46:30You sick
00:46:31bastard!
00:46:33Die!
00:46:37Without hesitation,
00:46:38I slam my foot
00:46:40into the flimsy
00:46:40aluminum trailer
00:46:41door.
00:46:42Using the momentum,
00:46:44I throw myself
00:46:45straight at Austin
00:46:46from behind.
00:46:47Under the pale
00:46:48moonlight,
00:46:49I raise the heavy
00:46:49cleaver high over
00:46:50my head and bring
00:46:51it down with every
00:46:52ounce of hatred
00:46:53from both lifetimes
00:46:55behind it.
00:46:57Austin lets out
00:46:58an animalistic scream,
00:46:59but I underestimated
00:47:01what kind of monster
00:47:02he really is.
00:47:05I'm gonna rip you apart!
00:47:07A man who survived
00:47:08years of cartel
00:47:09violence along the
00:47:10border doesn't go
00:47:11down easily.
00:47:13The pain only
00:47:14drives me insane.
00:47:16But before I can
00:47:17swing again,
00:47:17agony shoots through
00:47:18my arm like the
00:47:19bone is about to
00:47:20snap.
00:47:21I'm gonna kill you!
00:47:24The cleaver is ripped
00:47:25out of my hands
00:47:26instantly.
00:47:27Clang!
00:47:28The weapon crashes
00:47:29to the floor as
00:47:30Austin slams me hard
00:47:31against the ground
00:47:32inside the trailer.
00:47:36Under the dim
00:47:37moonlight leaking
00:47:37through the broken
00:47:38trailer walls,
00:47:39Austin finally sees
00:47:40my face clearly.
00:47:44You little bitch
00:47:46again.
00:47:47You just keep
00:47:48ruining everything!
00:47:50He roars hysterically
00:47:51and raises the
00:47:52clember over his head.
00:47:53Then it comes down.
00:47:55Again.
00:47:56And again.
00:47:57The blade flashes
00:47:59silver through the
00:47:59cramped trailer.
00:48:00Each strike tears
00:48:02violently into my
00:48:03stomach and chest
00:48:04without mercy.
00:48:10warm blood
00:48:11immediately floods
00:48:11from my mouth,
00:48:12soaking my clothes.
00:48:16Strangely,
00:48:18I can't feel pain
00:48:19anymore.
00:48:23My mind is
00:48:24terrifyingly clear.
00:48:26Only one thought
00:48:27keeps screaming
00:48:27inside my head.
00:48:29Don't let him go.
00:48:30Don't let him get
00:48:31to Valerie.
00:48:32No!
00:48:32Please stop!
00:48:34Let her go!
00:48:37No!
00:48:40Please stop!
00:48:49And the second I see
00:48:50him turning toward
00:48:51my mother again,
00:48:52something inside me
00:48:54snaps, using every
00:48:55last ounce of strength
00:48:57from both my lives.
00:48:58I throw myself onto
00:49:00him from behind
00:49:00and lock my arms
00:49:02around his body
00:49:02like a steel trap.
00:49:13No matter how
00:49:14violently he punches
00:49:15me,
00:49:16no matter how many
00:49:17times the blade
00:49:18carves into my flesh,
00:49:20I grit my teeth so
00:49:21hard I taste blood
00:49:22and hold on anyway.
00:49:25Even as blood
00:49:26pours from my mouth,
00:49:27I use my dying
00:49:28body weight to keep
00:49:29him pinned in place.
00:49:30You want to hurt
00:49:32her?
00:49:33Then you'll have
00:49:34to cut me into
00:49:35pieces first.
00:49:37Then you'll have
00:49:38to cut me into
00:49:39pieces first!
00:49:41A deafening
00:49:42shotgun blast erupts
00:49:43through the trailer.
00:49:45Austin!
00:49:46Blinding police
00:49:47spotlights flood
00:49:48the darkness as
00:49:48Grandpa storms
00:49:49inside, roaring.
00:49:51The blast tears
00:49:52straight through
00:49:53Austin's skull.
00:49:54The impact stops
00:49:56the monster cold.
00:49:57His body jerks
00:49:58violently before
00:49:59collapsing to the
00:50:00floor like dead
00:50:01weight.
00:50:01Scarlet!
00:50:02Finally, the demon
00:50:04falls silent, and with
00:50:05the last bit of life
00:50:06draining from my body,
00:50:07I collapse into the
00:50:09blood beside him.
00:50:14Scarlet!
00:50:15Scarlet!
00:50:19Scarlet, wake up!
00:50:22Please!
00:50:23Mom's begging you,
00:50:24please wake up!
00:50:27My mother's screams
00:50:28tear through the
00:50:29freezing Texas night.
00:50:30Raw, desperate,
00:50:32sharp enough to rip
00:50:33the sky apart.
00:50:34I want to lift my
00:50:36hand, wipe the blood
00:50:38off her face, like I
00:50:39always do, pull her
00:50:40into my arms one last
00:50:41time.
00:50:42But my arm feels
00:50:43filled with concrete.
00:50:44My body is getting
00:50:45colder by the second,
00:50:46and the voices around
00:50:47me sound farther and
00:50:48farther away, like
00:50:49they're trapped beneath
00:50:49deep water.
00:50:50The whole world is
00:50:51slowly drifting out of
00:50:52reach.
00:50:52I lie there helplessly
00:50:54in the cold, moldy
00:50:54blood pooling across
00:50:55the floor of the
00:50:56abandoned trailer.
00:50:57I see Grandpa and
00:50:58Grandma rushing
00:50:59toward me.
00:51:01Grandpa's hands, the
00:51:02same steady hands
00:51:03that held a gun his
00:51:04entire life without
00:51:05trembling once.
00:51:07He presses so hard
00:51:08his knuckles turn
00:51:09white, but the blood
00:51:10still keeps pouring
00:51:11through his fingers.
00:51:13Grandma collapses
00:51:14beside me,
00:51:15covering her mouth
00:51:16as sobs wreck her
00:51:17body.
00:51:19The whole world is
00:51:21slowly drifting
00:51:22out of reach.
00:51:23I know then, I'm
00:51:26never going to wake
00:51:26up again.
00:51:30That monster who
00:51:31haunts both of my
00:51:32lives, like a curse
00:51:33carved into my bones.
00:51:36Austin Walker is
00:51:37finally killed that
00:51:38night by Grandpa's
00:51:39shotgun.
00:51:40The blast tears
00:51:41straight through his
00:51:42head.
00:51:42his blood, his
00:51:44violence, his
00:51:45evil.
00:51:46All of it splatter
00:51:47across the rusted
00:51:47trailer walls and
00:51:48sinks into the mud of
00:51:50the Texas borderlands.
00:51:51Justice comes late.
00:51:52The law never even
00:51:53gets the chance to put
00:51:54him on death row.
00:51:55Fate beats it to the
00:51:56punch.
00:51:57Brutal, bloody, and
00:51:58absolute.
00:51:59After two lifetimes of
00:52:00suffering, the debt is
00:52:02finally paid.
00:52:03But the devil's death
00:52:04doesn't bring life back
00:52:05to our family.
00:52:06A few days later, an
00:52:07unusual storm rolls
00:52:08across the border.
00:52:09Cold rain mixes with
00:52:10sand and dirt, turning
00:52:11the whole town gray,
00:52:12muddy, and bitterly
00:52:13cold as if the sky
00:52:14itself is mourning
00:52:15everything we've lost.
00:52:16The Wyatt house falls
00:52:17silent.
00:52:18The kitchen that once
00:52:18smells of barbecue and
00:52:19fresh coffee never
00:52:20lights up again.
00:52:21Valerie becomes a
00:52:23ghost.
00:52:23She barely speaks.
00:52:25Barely moves.
00:52:26Like someone winds her
00:52:28up once and then
00:52:28forgets to do it again.
00:52:30Late one night, after the
00:52:32rain finally stops, she
00:52:34stumbles into my room
00:52:35alone. Dust has
00:52:36already settled across
00:52:37everything I leave
00:52:37behind. With trembling
00:52:39hands, she folds my
00:52:40faded jeans, picks up
00:52:42my unfinished notebooks,
00:52:43smooths out the wrinkles
00:52:44in the blanket on my
00:52:45bed. And the moment her
00:52:47fingers touch those cold
00:52:48sheets, the ones that
00:52:49will never hold my
00:52:50warmth again, something
00:52:51inside her finally breaks.
00:52:53Tears hit the hardwood
00:52:54floor one after another,
00:52:56soft, heavy.
00:52:58Nora, can mom come
00:53:00find you in heaven?
00:53:04Valerie drops to her
00:53:05knees beside the bed.
00:53:07She buries her pale face
00:53:08deep into my old pillow,
00:53:10the one I never get
00:53:11around to washing.
00:53:13There's still the faint
00:53:14smell of cheap shampoo
00:53:15lingering in the fabric,
00:53:16the last trace of her
00:53:17daughter left in this
00:53:18world.
00:53:20She clutches the sheets so
00:53:21tightly her fingers cramp,
00:53:23crying like a child who
00:53:24loses everything in the
00:53:25middle of the desert.
00:53:28The news of the border
00:53:30shooting reaches Boston
00:53:31overnight.
00:53:32Hector and his mother
00:53:34immediately cancel everything
00:53:36and drive back to Texas.
00:53:39Neither of them asks
00:53:40questions.
00:53:41They simply stay beside my
00:53:43grandparents and help them
00:53:45hold themselves together
00:53:46long enough to bury me.
00:53:49The funeral is held in the
00:53:50little cemetery outside town.
00:53:53For once, there is no
00:53:55sandstorm.
00:53:57White roses cover my grave.
00:53:59Hector stands at the very
00:54:00back of the crowd.
00:54:02The boy who once looked so
00:54:04calm and untouchable now has
00:54:06eyes darkened with grief and
00:54:08rage.
00:54:09He stares at the photo on my
00:54:11headstone, my 18-year-old
00:54:13smile frozen forever in time,
00:54:15and clenches his fists so hard
00:54:17his knuckles turn pale.
00:54:21After the funeral, the
00:54:23atmosphere inside the Wyatt
00:54:24house feels suffocating.
00:54:26Grandpa and grandma sit
00:54:28silently at the dinner table,
00:54:30exhaustion and grief etched
00:54:32into every line on their
00:54:33faces.
00:54:34Hector sits alone on the old
00:54:35bench near the living room
00:54:36window, staring out at the
00:54:38empty Texas highway.
00:54:39He struggles with himself for a
00:54:41long time before finally
00:54:42standing and walking over to
00:54:43Valerie.
00:54:44He crouches down in front of her
00:54:46carefully, like he's afraid she
00:54:47might shitter if he moves too
00:54:48fast.
00:54:54Valerie, come with us.
00:54:56Leave this place behind.
00:54:57We can start over somewhere
00:54:59else.
00:55:00Okay?
00:55:01His voice is barely above a
00:55:03whisper.
00:55:03He doesn't even dare touch her.
00:55:05He just looks at her with
00:55:06quiet heartbreak in his eyes.
00:55:08Valerie doesn't answer.
00:55:10She sits there in the shadows,
00:55:12clutching my faded denim jacket
00:55:13against her chest like it's the
00:55:15last oxygen left in the world.
00:55:19That night, after everyone
00:55:20finally falls asleep from sheer
00:55:22exhaustion, the old house
00:55:24sinks into silence.
00:55:31And Valerie wanders back into
00:55:33my room again.
00:55:49She doesn't turn on the lights.
00:55:51In a room without me, even the
00:55:53light feels like a mockery.
00:56:00She kneels alone on the cold floor,
00:56:02organizing my belongings one piece
00:56:04at a time under the pale moonlight
00:56:06coming through the window.
00:56:15My textbook's full of notes.
00:56:20My erasers worn down to almost nothing.
00:56:23Then finally,
00:56:25my old backpack,
00:56:27the cheap one with frayed edges
00:56:29and fading fabric.
00:56:30She pulls it into her arms and
00:56:32buries her face against it,
00:56:34breathing in what little
00:56:35remains of my scent.
00:56:40Then her hand brushes against
00:56:42something hidden deep inside the
00:56:44torn inner lining.
00:56:54Paper.
00:56:55A folded envelope slips loose and
00:56:57falls softly into her lap.
00:56:58On the front is only one word.
00:57:02Those are the words I want to say
00:57:04across two lifetimes.
00:57:06The words I never managed to say
00:57:08out loud before I die.
00:57:17Valerie freezes.
00:57:19Her whole body stiffens as her
00:57:20trembling fingers slowly tear the
00:57:22envelope open.
00:57:24She's shaking so badly,
00:57:26her fingernail slices the edge of the
00:57:28paper and draws blood,
00:57:30but she doesn't even notice.
00:57:32Then she sees the first line.
00:57:35And the moment she reads the name
00:57:37buried deepest inside her heart,
00:57:43her breathing stops.
00:57:51Mom.
00:57:53If you're reading this,
00:57:55I'm probably already gone.
00:58:03Don't cry for me.
00:58:06From the first day I came back to this timeline,
00:58:09I already make up my mind.
00:58:13I'm going to trade my life for your freedom.
00:58:18Under the moonlight,
00:58:20Valerie's eyes instantly turn red.
00:58:23She covers her mouth tightly
00:58:24to stop herself from sobbing out loud
00:58:27and keeps reading.
00:58:31During those 28 filthy years
00:58:33in my first life,
00:58:36I hated you so much sometimes.
00:58:38Living in that moldy trailer park,
00:58:40I wonder every day why everyone else
00:58:42has a loving mom except me.
00:58:44Why you left me alone in hell.
00:58:46But in this life,
00:58:47I finally learned the truth.
00:58:49My mother loves me more than anyone ever could.
00:58:52You burn your whole life away
00:58:54trying to protect me.
00:58:55And honestly, mom,
00:58:57being loved by you like that
00:58:58is already enough.
00:58:59You're brilliant.
00:59:01Beautiful.
00:59:03Grandpa and grandma love you so much.
00:59:06Hector's mom once says
00:59:07you're meant to soar high above the clouds.
00:59:10Not rot away in border town dirt
00:59:11because some rapist destroys your life.
00:59:14Please let me go, mom.
00:59:16Don't give birth to me again.
00:59:17As long as the name Nora exists,
00:59:19Austin Walker's shadow will always haunt you.
00:59:22This time don't look back.
00:59:23Promise me.
00:59:24Go somewhere cleaner.
00:59:26Higher.
00:59:26Better.
00:59:27Go live the life you're supposed to have.
00:59:29Be free.
00:59:31By the end of the letter,
00:59:32Valerie has completely collapsed onto the floor.
00:59:35She presses those pages against her chest
00:59:37like they're the last pieces of my heartbeat
00:59:39left in the world
00:59:40and cries so hard she can barely breathe.
00:59:42Curled up beside the bed in the darkness,
00:59:44she breaks apart completely.
00:59:47And in that winter night of 1996,
00:59:50in a world without her daughter,
00:59:53my mother lets out the most shattered,
00:59:55guilt-ratened,
00:59:56heartbroken sobs of both our lifetimes.
01:00:02That night,
01:00:03the Texas winter wind howls so hard
01:00:05it nearly tears the old wooden house apart.
01:00:09Valerie clutches my letter against her chest
01:00:12and cries until her voice gives up.
01:00:17In that letter,
01:00:18I beg her to let me go,
01:00:20beg her not to look back,
01:00:22beg her to chase her dreams
01:00:23and finally become the free person she deserves to be.
01:00:27But staring into my empty room,
01:00:29something reignites in her hollow,
01:00:32lifeless eyes.
01:00:35A fire.
01:00:37A stubbornness stronger than grief itself.
01:00:41Valerie whispers hoskily into the darkness.
01:00:46You silly girl.
01:00:48How could a mother ever stop loving her child?
01:00:51She can't do what I ask.
01:00:55Because she had already told me once before.
01:00:59I will never let you go.
01:01:03You are part of my body.
01:01:06Part of my life.
01:01:10A few days later,
01:01:11Hector and his mother
01:01:13help my exhausted grandparents
01:01:16finish arranging everything.
01:01:25Then carrying unbearable grief with them,
01:01:29the entire family leaves Texas for Boston.
01:01:38The day the bus pulls away,
01:01:40kicking up yellow dust behind it,
01:01:45Valerie stands by the window
01:01:46and takes a deep breath of cold New England air.
01:01:52This time,
01:01:53she isn't running as a victim buried under shame.
01:01:57This time,
01:01:59she's a mother determined to rewrite fate itself
01:02:01and bring her daughter back into the world
01:02:04with every ounce of love she has.
01:02:09Time moves quickly beneath Boston's blue skies.
01:02:15Valerie throws every ounce of grief and pain into studying.
01:02:21Fueled by the determination of two lifetimes,
01:02:24she works through endless nights
01:02:26until she's accepted into Harvard
01:02:29with near-perfect scores.
01:02:33And Hector,
01:02:34the boy who once cries for me
01:02:36at that Texas bus station,
01:02:38finally achieved his own dream too,
01:02:42earning a place
01:02:43at one of the country's top medical schools.
01:02:48Textbooks become Valerie's shelter
01:02:50and the child growing inside her.
01:02:52The child once used by monsters as blackmail
01:02:55is finally being nurtured in warmth and love.
01:03:00The following autumn,
01:03:01beneath golden maple leaves
01:03:03and the bright lights of a Boston maternity room,
01:03:06a baby girl enters the world
01:03:09with a loud, healthy cry.
01:03:12Valerie lies exhausted against the hospital bed,
01:03:15tears blurring her vision
01:03:16as she smiles wider than she ever has before.
01:03:18With trembling arms,
01:03:20she holds the tiny newborn against her chest
01:03:23and kisses her forehead gently.
01:03:25Noma,
01:03:27welcome to the world, baby.
01:03:28This time,
01:03:30there's no moldy trailer park,
01:03:32no violence,
01:03:33no shadow left behind by monsters.
01:03:36Sunlight pours through the hospital windows
01:03:37onto a warm nursery crib.
01:03:39Grandpa and Grandma show up crying
01:03:41and carrying brand new Barbie dolls.
01:03:44Hector adjusts his glasses
01:03:45and smiles softly beside him.
01:03:48And this version of Nora
01:03:49is finally born into life.
01:03:53After that,
01:03:55life slowly finds its way
01:03:56onto the right path.
01:03:57Without the suffering
01:03:59and burdens of the first timeline,
01:04:01Valerie and Hector
01:04:02both reach the futures
01:04:03they are always meant to have.
01:04:05Hector becomes one of the country's
01:04:07leading surgeons,
01:04:08saving countless lives.
01:04:10Valorair becomes a legendary attorney
01:04:13known across America,
01:04:15dedicating her career
01:04:16to protecting women and children
01:04:18through civil rights law.
01:04:20And the new Nora
01:04:21grows up in Harvard's golden autumn trees,
01:04:24surrounded by love instead of fear.
01:04:27she is bright,
01:04:28confident,
01:04:30happy.
01:04:32The cancer that once destroys my body
01:04:36never appears in hers.
01:04:42As little Nora grows up,
01:04:44she watches Valerie and Hector
01:04:46eventually fall in love
01:04:47and build a quiet,
01:04:48beautiful family together.
01:04:50Their life isn't glamorous,
01:04:53but the love they give her
01:04:54overflows far beyond
01:04:56what most families could ever offer.
01:04:58And somewhere inside the golden evening light,
01:05:01the version of me that crosses time itself.
01:05:04The wandering soul,
01:05:05carried away by the wind,
01:05:07finally smiles.
01:05:09At the end of her autobiography,
01:05:11my mother writes one final dedication.
01:05:14Every achievement and honor in my life
01:05:16belongs to a girl named Nora.
01:05:18My daughter once tears open
01:05:20the darkness with her own light,
01:05:22and I spend the rest of mine
01:05:23bringing her back into the light.
01:05:25I lean quietly against my mother's knee
01:05:28in that final memory
01:05:29and whisper softly in her heart,
01:05:31dear tears.
01:05:33Mom,
01:05:34this time,
01:05:35you get everything right.
01:05:36And at last,
01:05:37those two wounded souls
01:05:39walk hand in hand
01:05:40towards the endless stars
01:05:41waiting beyond the clouds.
01:05:42Thank you so much for watching.
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