TBP - Emily

This story is part of the TBP series, read part 1 here.

He woke up again — but this time, with a jolt.

The room was different. Brighter. Tidier. More… youthful.

But it was the body that spoke first.

Matthew felt the energy coursing through him even before opening his eyes.

His breathing was lighter. Muscles responded quicker. And as he sat up, everything felt effortless.

No aches, no heaviness, no hesitation.

Youth.

A body buzzing with vitality. He walked to the mirror, both dreading and needing to confirm what he already suspected.

Emily.

There she was — the daughter he still thought of as “his little girl,” now staring back as the body he inhabited.

And what he saw was striking: a confident young woman, beautiful, with soft features and a spark in her eyes that didn’t come from him, but from the life Emily was shaping for herself.

Then the discomfort hit.

The question that pierced through everything:

“Where is my daughter now? And… who’s making her choices?”

Because it wasn’t just a body. It was a life, a story, relationships. And now he was inside it — unwillingly, yes — but intruding all the same.

Worse yet: he was starting to enjoy the feeling.

It was terrifying to admit, but there was something intoxicating about that youth.

The energy. The freshness. The freedom of being at the start of everything again.

Matthew’s mind started spinning with possibilities — studying something new, moving to a new city, living an entire life from a completely different perspective.

But then he remembered who he was. And what Emily meant in the world.

More than that, what she meant to him.

She was his daughter.

Thinking about the family dynamic now felt… distorted.

Dating, social media, friends, expectations he didn’t fully grasp.

Could he be her? What if he wanted to?

Matthew sat on the edge of the bed, trying to shake off the thoughts.

The experience was overwhelming. He had seen the world through Claire’s eyes, and now through Emily’s.

Both different. Both real.

Both possible.

“I still have a third chance. I haven’t decided yet.”

He stood up again and looked at himself in the mirror.

Stared into eyes that were no longer his own.

Took a deep breath.

“Or maybe… I already have.”