2 Reborn

Adam had been floating around in god knows where for what seemed like minutes?... or had it been hours? he didn't know. The last thing he remembered seeing was darkness, and having witnessed such a thing, he knew wherever he was, it was not it...not "darkness". It paled in comparison to the "true darkness" that he had seen earlier, but it did not make it any less scary. The longer he stayed there, the more he felt he was losing himself. He was losing his sense of direction, if there was any, to begin with, he was losing his sense of time, and more importantly, he was losing his sense of .....self. His memories were slowly getting blurry, starting from his oldest ones. He was slowly starting to forget his childhood memories.

A bone-chilling fear gripped his consciousness, he felt, if it continued any longer, he would really lose himself and will become something else.....someone else.

'Ah... is this what happens when someone dies and gets reborn?'

He realized that it was the natural course of action and it was meant to happen.

'At this rate, "I" am going to cease to exist. So It will truly be "my" end'

Having come to terms with his "end", he started going through his life, what he had done and accomplished.

'Now, come to think of it, I at least pursued my passion and had a normal, enjoyable childhood, well, I think I did, it's all blurry now anyway. I grew up normally and led a happy fulfilling life, yeah, I had a good life. If only I got to live a little bit longer, I wanted to do so much more, experience so many things. I guess my only regret is dying so early, so young, but I can't do anything about that now, can I?'

........................Just after thinking so, something happened, space around him started growing dark. It was a weird experience, how can a space that didn't have light, to begin with, grow dark. But he didn't have time to ponder upon it any further. For the first time in ages...... or minutes, he felt something.

'Huh?'

That's when he realized he "felt" something. That meant his senses were coming back! it first started with his sense of touch, then his hearing.....his smell.....his taste, and lastly his sight, he got them all back!

The first thing he felt after regaining his senses was........pain.

the pain of being squished from all sides. By the way he felt, he realized that he was in a sort of cramped tunnel and the walls of the tunnel were increasingly closing in on him. Getting claustrophobic, he started thrashing around, but he couldn't exert enough force and soon got tired. The pain was ever-increasing and he was on the verge of passing out several times, but his experienced mind pulled him through and he continued to endure.

At last, when he felt the pain was getting unbearable, all the bindings that were on him were suddenly removed, and a swift, gentle breeze embraced his body. It was comfortable and cozy.

But that was for a mere few seconds. Soon, the comfortable feelings turned into stinging pain. The blowing wind was like thousands of needles pricking him on his skin, and that made his already tired body even more miserable.

He wanted to curse out loud, expressing his frustrations and complaints, but all that came out was a shrill cry, the cry of a baby.

....................................

"Congratulations Sir! Madam! he is a healthy baby boy!" The nurse cried out in delight. It was a difficult labor, and the baby's health was uncertain. So it was a relief when the baby came out healthy, and he was really cute too!

"Dear! did you hear that! he is a boy! our son! he is here!" The father was in cloud nine, knowing that his first child was here and healthy too.

"Yes dear, I heard, you don't have to shout like that, I am tired...and have a headache. Please keep it low."The mother had a difficult labor and was panting heavily, but pure happiness and love could be seen in her eyes, she wanted to hold her child and shower him with all the love in the world.

"Oh, yeah, you must be tired, sorry about that" the father, realizing his error, apologized to his wife.

She just smiled back, accepting his apology.

"Sir, madam, I have cleaned him, but he just won't stop crying, maybe he is tired and wants to sleep?" The nurse walked back into the room after cleaning the baby.

"Give him to me" the mother demanded and the nurse complied.

As if noticing that he was in safe hands, the baby magically stopped crying when he was given to his mother.

She gazed down at him with motherly eyes that exuded unending love, a lovely smile gracing her lips.

The father came closer, wanting to see his son, his eyes growing softer by the second.

"What should we name him, dear?" she asked, not taking her eyes away from her child.

"hmm.... let's see, he struggled a lot to see the world, it was a difficult situation for him but he managed to pull through, he is very strong and has great determination. So, um, how about....Reynolds?"

"Reynolds Hamsworth...... yes, that is a wonderful name"