Ok so I have never told anyone this story but honestly it needs to be told. So back in 2010 I was teaching at the middle school in my town. I truly enjoyed teaching and it was a wonderful time in my life. But whenever I think about that time in my life this one kids always pops into my head. I’ll call him Timmy for this post. Timmy was a pretty average looking 6th grade American kid. But his looks were the only thing average about him. He was top of his class and every teacher he had thought he was years ahead of his peers. On top of being crazy smart he was a genuinely kind hearted kid and got along with just about everyone. Even the staff. But honestly I always found it kinda weird to talk to him. Everything about the kid just screamed I’m an adult. The way he carried himself and resolved conflict to the way he spoke to you made you feel like he was 30. He never really played with the other kids. He would just sit on his own and read or come talk with the teachers from time to time. And again he would sit in my class from time to time to eat lunch and study (mostly when it was raining) and we would always start up a conversation. By the end of it you’d feel like you just sat and chatted with a buddy from college not a 6th grader doing his math homework. Not to mention every now and then he would just stare off into space. No movement, no sound, he wouldn’t acknowledge anything around him while he was like that unless someone poked him or something. The weird part was it was like he wasn’t really looking at anything. One day during lunch I finally caved and asked him where he learned to be so mature? He looked me square in the eye for a solid ten seconds and said “you wouldn’t believe me if I told you so let’s just stick with my parents raised me right.” I kinda laughed and said “try me, I’m pretty open minded.” He said “alright but I warned you.” He went on to tell me he was 32 years old and had been a soldier. One night he went to sleep and woke up in his childhood bed and he was a kid again. He said he remembered everything and was still himself just in his younger body. To this day I know he was just a smart kid with a lot of wit who had a shot to play a joke and took it. But every now and then it will keep me up at night thinking what if he really was telling the truth? Shit fucks with me.