William as an infant, was confused and acted on any impulse that came his way. He had screamed through his parents talk of future options. His ears could barely take in the whispers his mother said to him, right after his birth. Yet he had a feeling that something ill was waiting for him.

William was getting used to the appeasing image of his new mother. She kind of reminded him of his… Old… The baby trembled and began to cry again. Vanessa hushed the child and rocked it slowly in her arms. “Now, now… Be a good girl”.

William widened his round cute eyes and screamed inside his head: GIRL!?

He had understood that he was reborn but he didn’t know exactly when or where... He was a baby with memories of its former life and personality. The most shocking element about this, was that he thought he was reborn as a boy! Was he really a girl now? No! I don’t wanna! He lamented inside his head.

The baby kept on crying and the mother continued to hush. Then a door slammed open and a angry voice interrupted them “Vanessa, if we’re going to keep the child you have to make it quiet down! It’s 4 am!”.

Not much later another voice said “Mom… I can’t sleep… I want you to sleep with me”.

Right now the mother had been relocated to the young boys room, while the father and son slept in the master bedroom. They were middle class and so had the money to build two rooms for sleeping and winter chores. Vanessa looked at her little son and said “Just a moment Joss…”.

William understood that his new mother was rather abused in this home. Her status was low and was often ordered around by both father and son. Yet it seemed like normal behavior in this world, since the servants and friends that came to visit lately didn’t seem to mind. William controlled his emotions and stopped sobbing. Then Vanessa left him.

The day William was born, Vanessa had taken up the topic on the girl doing service to their lord. The father seemed reluctant at first. It wasn’t that he didn’t like the little baby. Survival just came first. But if their child could serve the lord well, their family ties and friendship could improve. What if one of the lord’s sons should want to marry their daughter? This would be a great honor.

But if the girl was ugly or not favored they would have to sell her to get back some of the riches they used to make her grow. The profit would be minimal and the work a waste. Besides selling ones child to a future of misery was a parent’s worst nightmare. Even for this pair of primitive parents.

Heck, children were by some of the crueler lords, fed to their dinosaurs as snacks. Such a fate was unbearable to think of!

William was at the moment on probation. If he could prove useful to his parents they would keep and foster him. If not they would most likely let the raven take him into the night, never to be seen again. This William did not know. If he did he wouldn’t have made a sound!

****

A week passed since William’s birth and he was for the first time visited by his older brother. Joss as he was called. Joss came over and gave the baby an evil eye. Then he said “So? Who are you anyway?”. William stared at Joss. What was this kid getting at? Did he expect the baby to talk?

Then the kid reached out his hand and held the baby’s. He was surprised at how small this baby hand was. Seeing the kids stupid face, not understanding what on earth a baby was, William couldn’t help but laugh. Joss got startled by the baby’s giggling. It seemed happy that he touched it? Then he asked “Why are you so small?” with all seriousness.

This made William laugh even more. This kid who looks like an little adult is actually really stupid! Hahaha. Joss decided he wanted to hold the baby. When the baby was halfway up in the air, his mother came in.

Vanessa was stunned by the sight. Her oldest child was holding the little up in the air. Looking like he was going to drop it! She ran over and reassured Joss by saying “Mother is sorry for not paying more attention to you! Mother will give you more love, I promise! So please put her down!”. While Joss stood confused, Vanessa went in and embraced the baby.

She held her out of the boy’s reach and smiled at him. Joss asked his mother “Who is that? Why is mom always with her?”.

Vanessa sat down on the bed and patted Joss on the head while explaining “She is your little sister… She doesn’t have a name yet, so you can just call her little sister”. Joss scrunched his brows and said “Why can’t she also be called Joss? I don’t mind sharing my name”. Vanessa was caught of guard. She didn’t think that her son would be so interested in this baby…

She chuckled and said exhausted “No, she can’t have your name…”. The boy quickly said “Then how about Tecker? Or Fang?”. The mother shook her head and said “No, those are names for dinosaurs and pets… I was thinking about naming her… Mirabelle. Do you like this name?”.

Joss didn’t seem impressed and continued with other names “She could be called Hunter, Dragross, Pyron, Clawtor or maybe Zaynmack!?”. The boy got more and more excited with each fantasy of a dinosaur befitting of those names.

Vanessa shook her head over how silly her son was and said “Those names you can keep for the day you get the dinosaur you're gonna bond with for life”. Hearing this sentence both Joss and William got excited. But other than excitement, William also felt dread. Dinosaurs and this medieval looking family… They both pointed his thoughts into one direction.

This world wasn’t just any random old world… He had been reincarnated into that book’s universe, hadn’t he!? If this was true… His little body began to shiver from fright…

It was fun reading about the wars and turmoil but experiencing it for oneself was a whole different story! Especially if he was born as a girl! It was truly the worst!

Then he thought back to the day the fire engulfed his precious family and former life… He remember cursing and ripping apart the book. What if… Just what if, this was the book paying him back tenfold for his actions!? Just what you would expect from a book with such bloody tales. It had no chill…

The mother was getting impatient and told the boy “Try calling her Mirabelle”. The boy stared at her. This request was kind of… He didn’t know why but he felt flustered and shy. The baby was looking at him rather uninterested. So he tried calling out “... Mirabelle”. William reacted to this girly name and glared at Joss for calling him that! Joss saw the baby’s cute eyes give him all its attention. This made him strangely happy.

Then he called out again, this time more assured “Mirabelle!”. William opened his tiny mouth and spat out a ‘No!’, but it came out as a “Ba!”. Both Joss and Vanessa smiled at this and giggled.

William began struggling in his mother’s arms. Let me down! I don’t want to be in the spotlight like this! Stop calling me that name!.. The mother held William tighter and said with a warm low voice “My little Mirabelle…”.

Joss grinned like an idiot and said “I think she really likes that name! What a shame… If she wants, I can also call her Zaynmack!”.

William gave up. He would rather be called Mirabelle than that insane name…