As you lay on your back, movement over your cradle distracts you, and you gurgle and kick your legs as you stare up at bright colors and shapes. Your mother comes in and smiles at you, and you waves your arms. There was something you wanted. Food? A diaper? The rattle? Your lion? Oh! You reach out and hug your lion. That's what you wanted!
Your life is a steady routine for a long time, though you get out of your crib more and more. You take some steps on your own, and are soon toddling around the house. Words form in your mind, oddly familiar even if they are hard to say. The grownups around you are very impressed with how quickly you are learning, and by the time you are three you can talk better than many kids twice your age. You can also read. Your crib gets replaced with a bed that has raisable sides, and your body starts to stretch out. It is easier to move as your legs lengthen, and you love to run. There is so much energy, but then you seem to shut down. And you have strange dreams. Dreams of being big, of being as big as daddy, and doing things all by yourself. Bright colors and lots of noise. Not a shopping mall or store. And looking different. You have near white-blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but sometimes you see reflections in your dreams where you are a grownup with dark hair and eyes.
More time passes, and you keep surprising your mommy and daddy by learning things fast. Another grownup starts coming a couple of days a week to show you new things, and bring you books to read. A tutor. They tell you that you are already reading books meant for kids in sixth grade, and when the tutor gets you to answer questions, she thinks you are learning better than even that. On your fifth birthday, your mom and dad take you to something new as a big surprise. it's a bunch of bright tents and displays and rides - a carnival!
Funny thing is, you know you have seen all this before. The rides, the tents, the...mirror maze? You blink and stare as memories suddenly come flooding back. The mirror maze! You saw yourself as a baby and stepped through, and became the baby! But that was years ago. You're now a five year-old boy considered to be a prodigy or genius. But what happens when you have to learn stuff more than what you knew as an adult? Still, you have a head start and nice parents, and it looks like you are healthy and nice-looking.
Your mom starts towards the mirror maze. "This will be fun! You can see yourself all twisted up!" You are being led back to the maze - are you going to risk going in? Maybe you can find your way back to your old life. But do you want it?