I felt my knees weaken. “What?”
Daniel turned to her sharply. “What do you mean, ‘found’?”
“You had an accident,” she said quickly. “You were confused. You couldn’t tell us who you were. We took you in. We gave you a home.”
“You told me I was your son,” he said, his voice tightening.
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “We became your family.”
The silence that followed was heavy.
I stepped closer, my voice barely a whisper now. “You don’t remember anything? Not even… before that?”
He looked at me again, longer this time. His eyes softened, just slightly, like something inside him was trying to reach the surface.
“I don’t know you,” he said slowly, “but… when you talk, it feels like I should.”
He rubbed his temple again, his face tightening in discomfort. “There are… flashes sometimes,” he admitted. “Things I can’t explain. Places I’ve never been. A voice I can’t place.”
Tears slid down my face. “That’s me,” I whispered. “That’s your life before.”
The woman shook her head. “You’re confusing him. He’s been fine all these years.”
“All these years?” I turned to her, my voice trembling with disbelief. “You let him believe he was someone else.”
“I gave him a life when he had nothing,” she snapped.
“And you took his real one away,” I said.
Daniel looked between us, his breathing uneven now. “Stop,” he said, his voice strained. “Just… stop.”
He looked at me again, his eyes searching mine with something close to desperation. “I don’t know who I am anymore,” he said quietly. “But something about you… feels like the truth.”
I don’t remember how long we stood there. Cars came and went. Engines hummed and people passed by without noticing that my entire world had just cracked open. He was right in front of me — alive, breathing, and still just out of reach.
“Daniel,” the woman called softly, her voice careful now. “Come inside.”
He didn’t move.
“I need a minute,” he said, his eyes still locked on mine.
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