You (Part IV)

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4) Paradigm
Time: 11 years

You will fall from the banister of the stairs when you are seven years old. There will be a cut underneath your chin, a wound that will require three stitches. You will be proud of that scar, showing it off as a war trophy in your kindergarten.

I was however, horrified by your fall. It was a prelude to what I knew would happen in the future, a perfect example of your fate on a smaller scale. Even at that age, you loved to climb. Stairs, trees, everything. I have tried to stop you, attempts as useless as budging a building with two bare hands.

Nonetheless, I tried. At every chance I could, I admonished you, warned you of the dangers of climbing, explained to you how ungainly it was for a girl to climb like a boy. Many times, you would be caught in the act, shimmying up the banister, then sliding down it. I would give you magnificent blistering on your ears when that happened, tugging on them so hard that they were both blood red. You would cry, breaking my heart but only strengthening my resolve.

I was simply petrified, trying to rid you of your hobby, your habit. It was the first time that something like this has happened. The first time where I will find myself trying my utmost to change the foreseeable future. It never struck me how useless it will be at that time, for despite the actions that I could have carried out to intervene with fate, never once have I glimpsed a different finale in the wings of this particular Butterfly effect.

It never struck me, until everything was over, that all rivers flow to the sea, no matter how they may meander. That every stream is, in a way, a perfect example of another, much like your banister incident and your fate at Time’s final stand.

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