When I Listened to Mom, I Got a New Brother

Summary

A basketball knocked me and my friend Aiden out cold. Waking up, I suddenly heard my late mother’s voice.

“Sweetheart, don’t trust Aiden. He’s faking amnesia to impress Jennifer.”

Stunned, I turned to Aiden as he mumbled, “Who… are you?”

My mother’s voice returned, heavy with sorrow. “In another life, he left you alone in a fire to be with her. You died.”

“Listen,” she urged. “Your father will ask you to pick a brother. Don’t choose Aiden. Pick Julian Shaw. He seems stern, but he’s the one who always carried your water bottle on hikes.”