You know, I originally thought of writing this story like a diary.
Something I could update every day.
But... life is pretty boring.
Most days, nothing notable happens. They just pass by. School, home, sleep, repeat. Even with reincarnation, most of childhood is still just childhood. You wake up, do little kid things, get told what to do, then go to bed.
But sometimes, something does happen.
The kind of thing that actually matters.
So I'm back.
Writing about one of those moments.
That said, it's spring now.
It's been about five months since we discovered the factory, and a lot has changed since then.
First off, it isn't a secret anymore.
If anything, the whole town knows we use it now. At first, the adults wanted to shut it down completely and stop us from going there. But after actually checking it out for themselves, they surprisingly let us keep it.
I still don't fully understand why.
Maybe because it was harmless enough at the time. Maybe because they were happy a bunch of kids had found somewhere to play that wasn't underfoot. Maybe because adults are weird and inconsistent.
Whatever the reason, it worked out in our favor.
Because of that, there are around fifteen of us now. My group were the ones who found the place first, so it became an unwritten rule that we got final say in major decisions. Every now and then, other kids come by to check it out, but most of them don't stick around. Some think it's cool for a day and then disappear. Others get scared of getting in trouble. A few just aren't interesting enough to be worth keeping around.
George decided early on that we should give the factory a proper name, but he only came up with things like "The Base" and "The Spot."
Not exactly genius-level material.
Leo eventually stepped in and named it "Base 24," since it's off 24th Street.
Still not very creative.
But definitely better.
Second, the factory itself has changed a lot.
Once our parents—and even a few real estate people—found out about it, we were finally able to bring in bigger things from home without feeling like we had to hide everything. A kid named Liam somehow figured out how to unlock the factory doors, so now we can actually use them. We still use the side entrance to get onto the property, though. We cut the lower part of the fence to make it easier to get in, so now all you really have to do is duck a little.
What started as a metal disc nailed to a wall is now an actual basketball hoop. We set up a little garden out in the field too, mostly fruits and flowers. Not my idea, obviously, but it turned out nice enough.
We even added furniture to the office.
The office is off-limits to anyone who wasn't part of the original group. We use it like a conference room whenever there's a decision to make.
So yes.
We were already pretending to be important at six years old.
Pretty embarrassing in hindsight.
———————————————————————
Now let's go back two months, when everything started to change.
At that point, the factory was still a secret base only we knew about.
At school, we started working on group projects. Each group got to choose something to make and present on Friday. My group decided to build a city out of cardboard.
George, Leo, and I were grouped with three other students. Mel was in a different class, so she couldn't join us.
The other three ended up being two girls and a boy.
Elaine was loud, stubborn, and the kind of person who acted like every idea she had was automatically the best one. She didn't like being told no, and when things didn't go her way, she got emotional fast.
Her friend, Sarah, was almost the complete opposite. She was quiet, calm, and almost too easygoing. She went along with whatever anyone else said without putting up a fight, which made her hard to read.
Then there was Liam.
We invited him because we needed one more person, and he was by himself.
I didn't know much about him at the time. Just that no one else seemed to want him. He had light hair that always looked a little messy and sharp eyes that made him seem more aware than he let on. He didn't really stand out the way George did, but he watched people closely. Even back then, I think he noticed more than he said.
Almost everyone in the group had their own idea for what the city should look like.
Elaine most of all.
"We need a zoo!"
"And a castle!"
George wasn't much different.
"No! We should build a huge city!"
"With a giant park!"
Leo was calmer about it.
"I think we should keep the neighborhood separate from the school. And add a town center."
Sarah and I mostly just listened.
Neither of us really cared what got added, as long as everyone ended up satisfied.
The problem was, no one was satisfied.
The argument kept looping in circles. Nobody was actually listening to anyone else. They were all just waiting for their turn to talk again.
So I stepped in.
"Why don't we just make a town where everyone gets their own part?"
Elaine frowned immediately.
She didn't like that.
So I explained it.
"Elaine can build the castle. George makes the park. Leo builds the town center. Liam builds the school. I'll do the neighborhood. Sarah can make the roads and decorate everything."
They all paused.
And once they realized they still got to make what they wanted, the argument started fading on its own.
Leo still looked unsure.
"That's a lot of work, though," he said. "Do you think we can finish by the end of the week?"
"That won't be a problem," I said.
I said that way too confidently.
———————————————————————
We only got an hour each day in class to work on the project.
The groups were made on Monday, and we started designing on Tuesday.
The design phase actually went well. We sketched out a map of what the town would look like, and by the time we were done, it looked bigger and more organized than the actual town we lived in.
On Wednesday, we started building.
At first, everything went smoothly enough. Most of the time was spent cutting out cardboard and figuring out which shapes went where.
Then we tried gluing it.
The glue didn't work.
It was that weak school glue. The kind that's probably safe to eat, but apparently too useless to hold anything together.
Every time we tried attaching roofs, they slid right off.
So we switched to tape.
That worked for a little while.
Until it didn't.
Some pieces were too big or too heavy no matter how much tape we used.
Elaine's castle was the biggest problem by far.
She wanted it big.
Really big.
Since we didn't build a hill for it, she made it almost as large as the whole neighborhood section. And to make it worse, she tried bending the cardboard into a circle because she wanted the castle to be round.
That made everything harder to tape together.
By the time we realized how bad it had gotten, we were out of time.
Ms. Sharpe called out to the class:
"Time's up, everyone! Remember, you're presenting these on Friday!"
After she said that, we all went quiet.
We had one day left.
And we had barely made any progress.
Imagine that.
A reincarnated person...
Struggling with a first-grade project.
Pretty humbling.
———————————————————————
In a last-minute effort, we decided to keep working after school.
We asked Ms. Sharpe if we could take the project home, and she agreed.
As we were heading out to figure out where to go, she called me back.
"■■■■■, could you come here for a second? The rest of you can go."
I thought I was in trouble.
Did I do something weird?
Did I seem too smart?
Too calm?
Too adult?
Nope.
"How are you feeling about the project?" she asked.
"It's a little stressful, but I think we can handle it."
"You seem very calm about it," she said. "Like you're sure it'll work out."
I laughed.
"We just need more time."
"Well, I'm glad you're helping your group."
Turns out adults are really perceptive.
If she was singling me out like that, it meant she knew something about me felt different.
I needed to be more careful.
When I got back to the others, I noticed my sister, Melanie, was with them.
They had already told her about the problem, and she'd decided she wanted to help.
We originally planned to go to my house, but Melanie said Dad was on an important business call and couldn't be disturbed.
George's parents weren't very friendly, so we wanted to avoid his place too.
Elaine said her parents didn't like boys coming over.
Sarah wouldn't say why she didn't want us going to her house. That was the first time I'd seen her flat-out refuse something.
So we went to Leo's house.
When we got there, his parents were welcoming. They gave us snacks, toys, and acted like we were all adorable little guests.
We weren't there for any of that.
We started working on the project immediately.
Then Leo's dad walked in.
He looked around once and was instantly unhappy.
"This is a mess!"
"S-sorry, Dad... we'll clean it up when we're done..."
"No. This is unacceptable. Find somewhere else to do this!"
Great.
Now there really was no way to finish the project.
"Okay... now what?" Leo asked.
Mostly to me.
Which made sense.
I was the one who said it wouldn't be a problem.
And now it almost was.
Almost.
Then Elaine snapped.
"We're doomed!"
"It's impossible to finish now!"
"This is all your fault!"
After blaming all of us one by one, she started crying.
Leo and Sarah both looked pale but stayed quiet. They were probably trying to think of something useful.
George, meanwhile, didn't seem too bothered.
"Oh, it's not the end of the world if we don't finish it."
"I just wanna have some fun!"
How helpful.
At that point, I knew I had to fix it.
"Okay, guys, I have an idea."
"There's a pla—"
"Guys, I think I know a place we can work."
I stopped.
"Liam?"
Everyone else said it at the same time too.
"How?" I asked.
"I remember an abandoned factory off 24th," he said. "I think there's a chance we can get in and do it there."
The factory.
Our base.
George, Leo, and I all exchanged looks, but none of us said anything.
Elaine was instantly on board.
"Wait—that could work!"
"Is there a way in?"
"I don't know," Liam said, "but it's probably our best shot."
I stepped in before anybody else could say something stupid.
"Let's try it."
Nice one, Liam.