She was supposed to be dead. That's all Min could think about — she was meant to be dead. She had felt the car ram into her body and her body launched into the air and felt her body fall broken onto the asphalt.

Min was not dead. This was the opposite of dead. This was living.

She didn't care if she had potentially killed someone to be living, breathing, thinking in the body she was now. Min had died, but this girl still lived, even if she had a life before Min was in her consciousness.

And it seemed like the universe had given her a blessing. This girl (twelve years old, also Chinese, shoulder-length hair and eyes so dark her pupils nearly blended in) had parents who hardly glanced at her twice, gave the sudden change in personality a raised brow and a, Well, what's gotten into you? And a liking for the sudden maturity their pre-teen had gained.

Because their pre-teen had lived twenty-three years before. They didn't need to know that one. No one needed to know that.

There was one hiccup to the whole change.

"You're not Yue." Min stared down at the face of the seven-year-old, whose equally dark eyes stared up at her with hidden, burning anger. "You're not my sister. Yue never talked to me."

Yuehad apparently been nothing but miserable. Judging by the clothing in the girl's closet, she was discovering the highs and lows of the late 2000's early 2010's emo subculture (it was also 2009. No clue how she got to be thirteen years in the past) and her brother had responded weirdly when Min attempted to be siblingly.

Of course, her softness for children would rat her out. She expected nothing else. So, Min (in the body of a once emotionally distant Yue) got onto her knees before Chen and told him the truth.

"No, I'm not your sister."

Chen took it better than expected.

Exactly 24-hours later, when Min (or Yue, as Chen still called her) was making the two of them pancakes for breakfast, having no clue where Mr. and Mrs. Zhou (meaning dragon, according to the name plaque in the living room) were.

"What's 2021 like?" Chen had gotten out whipped cream and sprinkles, which Min figured a responsible person would scold him and make him pick out something healthier, like syrup, but instead she grinned and figured she wouldn't mind some too.

"Shitty." Chen's eyes got wide, and she winced. "Don't repeat that. Anyway, not all of it sucks. But there's a pandemic and you gotta go to school wearing masks, and if you get a cough everyone side-eyes you. Plus the planet is even more destroyed."

Chen nodded, though she figured he understood very little. "What's a pandemic?"

"A major illness." Another nod. Min finished the pancakes and served them to him on a plate, watching as he covered all of the surface areas with a large helping of whipped excellence. He then dumped at least half of the blue sprinkles on top.

Min added a smaller, though not by a lot, amount on hers as well. Then they sat down in front of the TV, which Chen said he was never allowed to do, and ate their pancakes to the sound of reruns of Codename: Kids Next Door.

"Do you know the future? Like Destiny?"

Min didn't know who Destiny was, or if he meant like, destiny as a concept. But she doubted that a seven-year-old who didn't know what a pandemic meant would understand that. So she shrugged, grabbing his empty plate and looking over at him. He had a blue stain around his lips."Maybe it's not verbatim?"

Chen nodded, again.. He rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand, which now had blue stickiness on it too. "What's that mean?"

"Like, exactly the same as before. No changes and stuff." She got that from a song that she could just barely recall. She had the feeling the song wasn't Chen-appropriate, though, so she figured that was best left unspoken.

"Oh." Chen, once again, nodded. There was a serious look on his face. "That make's sense."

Min washed the dishes and turned on the news, which made him complain to no end. She heard none of it, interested in the current political climate of 2009.

It was boring. She learned nothing except for the fact that someone got stabbed at the local Walmart, but hey, what else was new? Walmart was a battleground even in her old life.

Life continued like that for months. Mind-numbingly boring, actually. Min had never gone to college; she graduated college and fucked right off to make the big banks (read: working as a waitress) and the most she used her brain for was taking orders, carrying several plates of food, being overly sweet for more tips, and counting said tips at the end of the day.

That wasn't to say she wasn't smart. She got okay grades in school, but college was never on the plate for her. She was debating community college before the whole dead thing, but had no clue what she'd go for.

However, sixth grade really sucked, man. Like, hardcore. It was easier this time around, since she had already been through sixth grade, but little kids are mean. Min respected Yue's emo look and kept with it, deciding to have some fun (and she didn't have the resources to completely update a wardrobe), and yeesh… between that and the thinly veiled racism, she was considering walking out of the school and never returning.

But, alas, she had to walk Chen home. He was in second grade and some stupid, dick-faced fourth-grader was trying to take his lunch money every afternoon. When Chen would tearfully answer that he had already spent his lunch money at lunch (and later that Min, the loving older sister she was, started packing lunch for him), he would stomp on his foot.

Min tried to threaten him out of it, but he just called her a depressed freak, and stepped on her foot too. So she whacked him in the stomach with a stick, and the fourth-grader ran away crying. So she started walking Chen home with a stick in hand, and the kid hadn't shown his face yet.

(Bonus point: he was too embarrassed to tell anyone the emo kid whacked him, so she got off scot-free.)

By the time Halloween rolled around, Min was pretty content in life. She dressed up as a vampire, fake fangs and homemade fake blood (corn syrup, red food coloring, and blue food coloring) pouring down from the corners of her mouth, and white face paint and dark undereye bags to finish the look.

Chen was Casper, but specifically Casper from Casper's Scare School, which she briefly remembered watching during her own childhood. She was a little bit older than the targeted audience, but sometimes it was all that was on. Plus, the Casper movies were good. Haun hadn't watched them yet, but she planned to change that.

The Casper costume was easy. The classic white sheet, two eyes cut out, and she got him a ghost trick or treat basket (after borrowing some money out of Mrs. Zhang's wallet.) She had a bat.

And yeah, trick or treating was fun. Who didn't love free candy? Even if she was technically twenty-three and spending her days with a seven-year-old, because talking to kids her own physical age felt weird. But Chen was easy, because he understood that she wasn't really twelve.

They were walking through a King's County suburb, which was in Georgia, where she lived now. It sounded familiar, but geography was never her strong point.

"Yue!" Chen pulled on her hand, which she made him hold. No kidnapping on her watch. He was pointing across the street, where stood another boy his age. Blond, blue-eyed, tanned skin. He was wearing a Batman costume. Cute. "Yue, that's Connor. Can we go say hi? Can we?"

Min wanted to say no, not because she thought the kid was dangerous or anything, but because Connor was walking with his mom, and in general she tried to avoid adults. She glanced back down at her brother, who's wide eyes were so excited, and it was obvious the two were friends. Slowly, she nodded.

They had to go to the other side of the road, and she made sure Chen looked both ways before allowing him to drag her. As soon as he was in hearing distance, the boy let go of her hand and practically screeched, "CONNOR! CONNOR!"

The blond turned around, expression lighting up. "Chen!" He at least yelled quieter.

Min followed behind Chen, looking up at Connor's mother. She was blonde, the same hair color as her son, but with brown eyes. They had the same nose, but pretty much everything else was different.

"Connor," the mom said, "who are your friends?"

"This is Chen!" Connor was missing one of his front teeth, and the beginnings of a new one was just starting to poke out. "And this is… I dunno."

"Yue." Min answered, her voice a little muffled from the fangs, and offered the mother a weak smile. "I'm Chen's older sister."

Connor's mom made an 'ah' noise, "Mrs. Masen." No first name offered, but Min decided she looked like a Sharon. Sharon Masen, and her son Connor. Her husband was probably named John or Eric.

The two boys had already tuned them out, off into their own world. Attempting to listen to two seven-year-olds talk is like attempting to understand aliens speaking in a never-before heard language. Pointless. It had been not even a minute and they already didn't make sense.

Sharon didn't complain about the two being there, so they continued to trick or treat with Connor. An old lady at one of the doors recognized Min, who offered her an awkward smile, but that was about it.

After Halloween came cold weather. Thanksgiving break went by quickly, with the family sharing an awkward Thanksgiving meal. Snow started to fall during the beginning of December, and Chen had taken to loudly belting Christmas songs he heard on the radio. The Zhang parents were home more often, though still made little effort to talk with their children.

Mrs. Zhang, on the first day of Christmas break, practically cornered Min in her room. This was new. She had never seen her apparent mother in her bedroom, let alone have her interested in a conversation.

"You and Chen are close." Mrs. Zhang noted. Min nodded in agreement. "Do you know what he wants for Christmas?"

"Yes." And it was true, not that Chen tried to keep it a secret. Anytime he saw something he wanted, he'd inform Min as soon as he saw her. She had a notebook dedicated to his many wants.

Mrs. Zhang studied her. Min knew that she had no idea that the girl before her wasn't her daughter anymore, wasn't moody, twelve-year-old Yue who blared My Chemical Romance and told people to fuck off. She was Min, a waitress from Pittsburgh who failed her drivers test three times.

"I will give you fifty dollars, buy him what he wants."

And so Min did. She got him Crayola markers, crayons, and a pack of paper to draw on. The new action figure he'd seen on commercials and became obsessed with, the cheapest Nerf gun and some darts. A Fairly Odd Parents coloring book (which, by the one, is still one of the best TV shows ever), and several other items, until she was left with ten cents in change.

All Min got for Christmas was a card Chen wrote for her, saying she was the best sister ever and he loved her. It was all she needed.

Chen got invited to spend New Years at Connor's house, since the first of January was the boy's birthday. Mr. and Mrs. Zhang had also left for a party, one for one of their offices, so Min was home alone.

She had the card Chen wrote, tracing over the messy handwriting and misspelled words. In her past life, she had no siblings, no kids, no one she needed to look out for. Now, she had Chen, who felt more like her kid than her brother. And she loved him too.

Nothing else of note happened. Chen celebrated his eighth birthday in February, and Min her twenty-fourth (mentally) in March, and her thirteenth (physically) in May. Her and Chen celebrated them both, any excuse to make a cake.

Then, on August 25th, 2010, Min realizes just what the fuck she got herself into. School started two days ago, and Chen was playing in their backyard with Connor. She turned on the news, not expecting much.

The Sheriff Deputy has been shot. Rick Grimes has been shot.

She knows how this is going to end.


so, hi

as you can tell by the year min is from, i've been writing this since 2021. the very first time i wrote this story, it was november 21st, 2021, so we're approaching on a year.

1.) every single character mentioned has had a name changed, even min's old and new name. chen's whole gender got changed, originally being a girl named huan. if you notice chen's pronouns are wrong or any of the names don't fit, please let me know

2.) i'm aware that min going by both min and yue could be confusing, but i think it makes sense. if yue, who has gone by that name for 12 years, suddenly decided to go by min, it would get people's attention. also, min wouldn't want to deal with trying to get chen to use a new name, and risk him telling people the real reason why she's different.

3.) a lot of si/oc or reincarnated fanfics i read (and i am also guilty of this) seem to gloss over the fact that is an adult or older teenager in the body of a child. they have no problem making friends, talking to kids their age, or coming across as mature as they should be. min is struggling to relate to other twelve-year-olds as someone who is actually twenty-three, and this will come very much in handy for her in the future.