"Billy, Honey, what's wrong?" My Mom asked.

I was speechless as I tried to wrap my head around what was happening. I'm a little kid again, and my Mom thinks I'm her son. Now I know I'm her son but after everything that has happened, shouldn't she want to call the police and tell them a strange child was in her house.

She picked me up and sat on the bed with me in her lap. She put her hand up to my forehead. "You don't have a fever."

I couldn't keep my eyes off her still trying to understand what the hell was going on.

She began to rub her hand up and down my back. This felt comforting and soothing. "Sweetheart, please talk to me."

"I'm fine," I squeaked. I put my hands up to my mouth, surprised at how high pitched my voice was.

She laughed when I did this, "Are you scared of your voice?"

"No," I retorted, throwing her a glare. She smirked and placed a kiss on my forehead, "Uh, huh."
I blushed when she did this and couldn't help but smile.

"Are you sure you're okay?"
I nodded. I was okay, and I felt good plus I'm sure I wasn't hurt or anything. I just needed to know how I got here in my Mom's apartment and how I'm now a little kid.
"Alright, I believe you." She said. She didn't believe me, I could tell. But she decided to let it go anyway.

She let me down and headed towards a wooden dresser in the corner. "So what do you want to wear today?" She asked as she began to go through the top drawer.
I didn't know what to wear, nor did I care. I was still trying to wrap my head around what was happening. Here I was in my Mom's apartment in what I assumed was my room as a little kid, and she was acting as if the last ten years never happened.

I was so deep in thought my Mom had to come and shake me to get my attention. "Hello, paging Billy Batson, you awake?" She joked.
"Sorry, Mom," I apologized blushing slightly.
"It's okay sweetie." She said softly, "Now how about we dress you in this?" She held up a red sweatshirt, a grey shirt and a pair of jeans. It looked just like the outfit I always wore except smaller. I thought it might be a bad joke that she wanted me to wear the outfit I got lost in all those years ago, but that's just my messed up foster kid brain talking. Right?

She had me stand up in front of the bed as she got on one knee and began to unzip my sleeper. I pushed her hands away. I was not about to be naked in front of my Mom, no matter how old I was.

She looked annoyed, but regardless, she moved her hands back to the zipper on the sleeper, and I stopped her again. "Billy," She said calmly. "This isn't funny. You know how Mommy feels when you play with Mommy when it isn't playtime."

"Um, no, I don't." I thought. I knew she couldn't undress me; I would feel too much like a child. "Can I do it?" I abruptly asked.

"Oh." She calmly said before standing up. "Do you want to do it by yourself?"

"Yeah," I said flatly.
"Okay, I'll let you try and be a big boy, but I don't know if you can handle being big all by yourself," She commented.

I rolled my eyes at this comment, how could kids deal with people talking to them like this?

I began to unzip the sleeper when I noticed she was still standing in the room watching me like a hawk. "Go ahead, sweetheart," She responded cheerfully. I mentally groaned. It's bad enough I'm dressed like a baby, but now have to ask my Mom to let me dress myself and for her to leave the room.

"Mom..." I stuttered. "I want privacy."

She looked hurt but gave a warm smile before agreeing to wait outside the door. She told me to call if I needed help.

I began to pull the zipper down and step out of the juvenile garment. I saw the Batman underoos I had on, and I felt the embarrassment flow through my body and up to my face. Thankfully Freddie can't see me because if he did I would have to die of embarrassment.
Once I was out of the sleeper, I began to put my new clothes on. I first grabbed the jeans and slipped them on, I had some trouble getting my legs in, and I almost tripped and fell on my face, but I managed nonetheless. Next, I pulled over the grey shirt with ease, and finally, I pulled on the red hoodie making sure to zip it up about half-way. When I was done, I walked back over to the mirror and took a look at myself. I looked just like fourteen-year-old me except I was shorter and a lot younger, but a red hoodie is a good look at any age.

As I looked in the mirror, I noticed I didn't have any socks on so I decided to look in the dresser and see if I could find some. There were four drawers, two of which I could reach and two I couldn't I just hoped the socks were where I could reach them.

I opened the bottom drawer and found all kinds of little boy underwear. Some had Batman on them, and others had Superman and others were decorated with random cartoon characters that I didn't recognize. I hoped I had some other underwear because wearing these would be extremely embarrassing if anyone saw me in them.

Suddenly I heard a knock on the door, "Billy, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine!" I yelled back.

I moved on to the next drawer and found the socks a lot of them were bright colors, but I found one simple black pair so I threw them on.

I quickly headed to the door and opened it seeing my Mom standing there with her back turned to me, "All done."

"Good Job, Billy, I'm so proud of you. Your turning into such a big boy!" She praised. I felt embarrassed at her comment, but I also felt pride. Putting clothes on was easy, but her congratulating me still felt satisfying.

She picked me up and kissed me on the cheek before putting me back down. She headed down the hall, so I followed. As we went down the hall, I saw some picture frames along the wall, and they were of me. Not me as a fourteen-year-old, but as I was now. Some pictures showed me when I was even younger. In the images my Mom and I looked happy, the way she was smiling, it reminded me how I thought of her for so long before I learned the truth.

When we got to the kitchen, she lifted me onto the counter and pulled out a bowl. "Alright, we need to have a quick breakfast. So how about some cereal?"

"Why does it have to be quick?" I questioned.

"The carnival, of course. You've been talking about it all week," She said as she pulled a bowl out of the cabinet.

Wait, the carnival? We can't go to the carnival not after what happened the first time.

"How about some Reese's Puffs?" She asked, pulling the cereal out of the cabinet. I didn't answer at first still in shock that we were going to the carnival.

She noticed my gaping expression, so she came back over to me and placed her hands on my knees, "Billy, what's wrong?"

"Uhh, " I said, unable to form words. Her expression was full of concern, which soon switched to expressionless as if she was thinking.
"Wait, is this about the carnival?" She asked with the lightbulb going off in her head. How did she know, I thought.

I slowly nodded.

"Billy don't worry, Mommy isn't going anywhere," She said softly. "You'll never be alone ever again." She gave me a big hug and a kiss on the head. I instantly felt the warmth go through me and thought this is what I've always dreamed about. I felt some tears begin to swell up in my eyes, but I forced them down, not wanting to cry in front of her or look like a little emotional baby. Once letting go, she gave me a warm smile "All better now?"
I quickly nodded and smiled at her, hoping this time would be different.

She made me a bowl of cereal and placed it down in front of me. While I ate the cereal, she went back to the kitchen and made a cup of coffee then came back and sat down. She didn't say much. Instead, she scrolled through her phone, looking up every few seconds, giving me a warm smile.

I should feel happy that I'm getting what I always wanted, but after what happened when we finally found each other, it made me want to go and find Freddie. But maybe she's different, or perhaps this is an alternate timeline like Freddie talked about in that one Flash comic he loves.

When I finished, she took my bowl to the sink and came back, "Okay, let's get your teeth brushed, and then we can get ready to leave."

We went back down the hall and went inside a door on the right. She grabbed a red stepstool and placed in front of the sink before lifting me onto it. Next, she grabbed a toothbrush and put a dab of toothpaste on the brush before handing it to me. I wasn't sure if she would let me do it by myself, so I looked up for a sign of approval.

"Go ahead, I'm right here," She said with a warm smile and a soft hand on my back. The hand on my back felt very soothing and comforting, allowing me to know she was right there.

Afterward, we put our coats on. She helped me put on my tan jacket along with a pair of black gloves and a black beanie. I found it weird that she had all the clothes that I wore as fourteen-year-old me because it was if she knew exactly how I dressed without ever knowing me. It creeped me out a bit, but considering how weird this morning has been, I shouldn't be spooked.

"There you go all bundled up and ready to have some fun," She said, bopping me on the nose. "And what do we say?"

"Uh... thank you?"

"Your welcome," she said.

We left the apartment and headed for the elevator. I got a look at the hallway and our room number. This was the same apartment building that I found my Mom in a few weeks ago, which meant we were still in Philadelphia. The building looked nicer but still looked cheap.
When we got to the elevator, the elevator doors were opening, so we headed inside where another Mother and Son were waiting.
The Mom had darkened skin and chocolate brown hair that came down to her shoulders. The son had similar features except for the dozens of freckles that littered his face.

"Are you going down?" The Mom asked.

"Yep," My Mom answered.

The other woman asked her son to push the button to go to the ground floor as that's where we all needed to go.
As the elevator started to go down, the boy turned to me, "Hi, I'm Wally. What's your name?"

I ignored him not interested in talking. I felt someone touch my shoulder, so I looked up. My Mom poked me on the shoulder and looked disappointed at me. "Billy, don't be rude. Introduce yourself."

"Do I have to? I pleaded. I'm not a rude person at heart, but I have more important things on my mind than a friend, and I wasn't much of a talker, to begin with.

"Yes," She insisted. I rolled my eyes before turning to the boy.

"Hi, I'm Billy."

"Nice to meet you, Billy."

"You too," I said grudgingly.

The doors opened, helping me escape from Wally. But unfortunately, he and his Mom happened to be going in the same direction as us.

"So do you have any friends?" Wally asked.

"Um, no." I didn't want to lie, but truthfully I'm not even sure if Freddie or the others also knew me if this was an alternate timeline.

"Me neither. My Mom and I just moved here." He said before his expression lit up with an idea. "Why don't we be friends?"

I wasn't sure how to react. Wally seemed nice and full of energy, just like Freddie, but then again, I had more important things to worry about. Before I could answer, my Mom stepped in. "Billy would love that. Why don't you come over tomorrow?"

"Okay, sounds like fun," Wally said, smiling before him, and his Mom walked away.

"Momm! Why'ed, you do that?" I whined as we got to her car.

"Because I think you'll like this boy, and you need a friend." She insisted.

"No, I don't!" I crossed my arms and stuck my bottom lip out.

She got down on her knees, so she was at eye level with me. "Billy, don't pout. Pouting is rude and naughty," She scolded. She stood up and opened the passenger door throwing in her purse. When she closed the door, I got a look at my face in the mirror and realized how childlike I looked. I instantly stopped because pouting was giving into being a child. When she came back to look at me, she seemed happier since I wasn't pouting.

She opened the door and showed me where I was sitting. It was a car seat. The car seat was black with red accents. I hoped maybe I wasn't sitting in it, but before I could even think about it, my Mom lifted me into it.

You have got to be kidding me? I thought.

With two clicks, she had me buckled in and ready to go. The seat was comfortable since there was soft padding all around me, but being confined still bothered me. "Are you comfortable?" She asked.
I quickly nodded. "Good," She said before reaching over me to a red blanket that sat in the car. "And, here's a blanket, so you stay warm," She said lovingly.
The blanket was soft and comfortable since it was made out of that fleece material.

She hopped into the driver's seat and turned the car on before turning back to me, "All ready to go?"
"Mmhm," I said nodding.

"Good, let's go have some fun," She said, smiling.
I hope she is right and the day will be fun, but I felt I was walking into a nightmare.