The first years were deceptively simple. I still
laughed with friends, scraped knees on the
playground, begged for candy, and fell asleep to
bedtime stories. Yet beneath it all, I was different.
I never got sick. I never aged. Every skill I tried to
learn stuck instantly. Reading, writing, drawing,
coding—I absorbed it all like a sponge.
I watched my friends grow, change, and move on.
Some left town, some grew taller, stronger, older—
while I stayed the same. At first, it was funny. I
joked with them about being "forever ten." But
sometimes, when they left and didn't come back, I
felt a strange pang of emptiness. Something was
already starting to separate me from the world.
