Chapter 1

"I'm not who you think I am"

My name is Caroline Forbes, but that has not always been my name. However, my old name doesn't really matter and where I am from doesn't really matter either. What matters is that my name is Caroline Forbes. Which is a pretty common name in any baby book honestly.

Despite this common name, though, you might've heard of me.

I heard of me, before I became me.

The last thing I remember is running. It was a cool night with bright stars in the sky, and the trees along side me vibrant by the street lamps. Music played in my ears, loud strong beats to keep me motivated as I jogged. It was a perfect night, something I felt I should commit to memory and savor sometime later.

And then there came that shuddering impact. That screech of tires on asphalt. A quick flash of headlights blinding me, the barest glimpse of silver dancing beneath me as burning heat began to course throughout my body as if I was on fire, the world turning over and over again than—

Darkness followed by a blinding light.

Then warm arms and soothing words overlapping my senses.

Took me a long time to figure out what exactly happened. Might seem obvious to you that I'd somehow been reincarnated into a new body with memories of my old life intact, but when you're caught in that situation yourself, reality takes a while to sink in. Not just because the situation is so utterly impossible as to be unbelievable—though of course that does play a part in it.

It took me a while to figure out what was happening simply because the brain of an infant doesn't possess the same processing power as an adult brain.

Infant brains do not hold things to memory all that well. They don't know how to interpret patterns or analyze events. Connections between neurons haven't formed, I guess. And infant eyes don't learn to see very well for a long while, either. Shapes are hazy, colors muted. It's like seeing underwater, and the water is brackish with unaccustomed life.

Point is, for the first few months I struggled with remembering what had happened just mere minutes prior, let alone analyze the accident that killed me or my rebirth. When my brain finally reached a point of development where critical thinking became possible, said thoughts weren't without errors. I couldn't hold my train of thought for very long. I acted impulsively, like a child, even while my 25-year-old consciousness told me I was acting like a (literal) baby and needed to cut that shit out.

I was a well-behaved child though, once I moved past infancy and finished mourning the loss of my old life. My parents liked to joke they picked my name well seeing as I was conceived beyond all odds.

'Caroline,' they called me.

A normal name for a normal girl.

It meant 'strong.'

That was a meaning I only understood when I got a bit older, and by becoming older I started to hold on desperately to some small semblance of my past. I replayed all my memories one by one, a constant movie reel of personal recollection, ensuring that my forgetful, infant brain could not forget my old life.

Despite these efforts, though… somehow, in the confusion of my rebirth, I forgot my old name and what I looked like.

I remembered other things. I remembered the face of my past best friend. My past grandfather who raised me. My past education. My past job. Even my boyfriend. It was just what made me, well me, that escaped me— like a wisp of fog fading in the light of the hot sun that was this new existence. I don't know why I forgot them, and not the other things. I guess I took my name and my appearance for granted. Thinking it immortal, I didn't take the time to painstakingly safeguard its permanence it the way I safeguarded everything else.

That said, as soon as I learned that Caroline was mine, I clung to my new name with ferocity. I always looked when my new mother or father called. I smiled on reflex. Mother called me the happiest baby in the world, not knowing that when I cried at night, it wasn't because I wanted to be held. It was because I missed some small facet of my old life, or remembered I'd forgotten my old self.

I took comfort in being called 'Caroline.' That name gave me the identity I longed for. Common as 'Caroline' was, it was mine.

In some ways, I took comfort in its commonality. What had happened to me was not normal, after all. But here I was, born into a family normal in every way—a strong child pulled from death and into something different.

Different, but normal.

I had no explanation for what happened to me.

Perhaps this was just a quirk of fate.

Perhaps I just got lucky.

Perhaps I was destined for normalcy, just like my name suggested.

I'm sorry to say that perception only lasted until I entered kindergarten. That was the day I learned my last name. My family name. The name that put 'Caroline' into context.

That was the day I learned my normal name had been given to a not-so-normal girl, after all.

My surname, I learned that day, is Forbes.

If you are one of the ones who knows my name—

If you are one of the ones who think they know me—

I need you to remember one important thing:

I am not who you think I really am.

A/N: This is inspired by other's work along with the common trope of a self insert being placed into a fictional world with the twist factor of reincarnation. Yes, it'll follow the shows plotline to some degree, but I hope to bring more depth into it and definitely differences to make it new in it's own way. If you enjoyed this chapter please feel free to leave a review!