“Father, those two children sleeping in the trash look just like me,” said Pedro, pointing to the little ones sleeping huddled together on an old mattress on the sidewalk. Eduardo Fernández stopped and followed his 5-year-old son’s finger with his eyes. Two children, seemingly the same age, slept curled up among garbage bags with dirty, torn clothes, their feet bare and injured.
Before we begin this touching story, comment below with the city you’re watching from and leave a like to continue following us. The businessman felt a lump in his throat at the sight, but he tried to pull Pedro by the hand so they could continue walking to the car. He had just picked him up from the private school where he studied, and like every Friday afternoon, they were returning home through the city center.
It was a route Eduardo usually avoided, preferring to go through the wealthier neighborhoods. But heavy traffic and an accident on the main avenue had forced them to cross this poorer, more run-down area. The narrow streets were filled with homeless people, street vendors, and children playing among the garbage piled up on the sidewalks. However, the boy broke free with surprising strength and ran toward the children, completely ignoring his father’s protests.
Eduardo followed him, worried not only about how he might react to seeing so much misery up close, but also about the dangers that region represented. There were constant reports of robberies, drug trafficking, and violence. Their expensive clothes and the gold watch on their wrists made them easy targets.
Pedro knelt beside the filthy mattress and gazed at the faces of the two boys who slept soundly, exhausted from life on the streets. One had light brown hair, wavy and shiny despite the dust, just like his own, and the other was dark-haired with slightly darker skin.
But both of them had facial features very similar to his: the same arched, expressive eyebrows, the same delicate, oval face, even the same dimple in his chin that Pedro had inherited from his deceased mother. Eduardo approached slowly, his unease growing and soon turning into something close to panic.
There was something deeply disturbing about that resemblance, something that went far beyond mere coincidence. It was as if he were seeing three versions of the same creature at different points in its life. “Pedro, let’s go right now. We can’t stay here,” Eduardo said, trying to firmly lift his son, though without taking his eyes off the sleeping children, unable to tear his gaze away from that impossible vision. “They look just like me, Dad.”
“Look at his eyes,” Pedro insisted when one of the little ones stirred slowly and opened his eyes with difficulty. Sleepily, he revealed two green eyes identical to Pedro’s, not only in color, but also in their almond shape, the intensity of their gaze, and that natural sparkle that Eduardo knew so well.
The boy was startled to see strangers nearby and quickly woke his brother with gentle, though urgent, touches on the shoulder. Both jumped up, clutching each other, visibly trembling, not just from the cold, but from pure, instinctive fear. Eduardo noticed that they both had the exact same curls as Pedro, only in different shades, and the same body posture, the same way of moving, even the same way of breathing when they were nervous. “Please don’t hurt us,” said the brown-haired one.
Instinctively stepping in front of his younger brother, in a protective gesture that Eduardo immediately recognized with a shudder. It was exactly the same way Pedro protected younger classmates at school when a bully tried to intimidate them. The same defensive movement, the same courageous stance despite his obvious fear.
The businessman felt his legs tremble violently and had to lean against a brick wall to keep from falling. The resemblance between the three children was striking, terrifying, impossible to attribute to chance. Every gesture, every expression, every body movement was identical.
The dark-haired boy opened his eyes fully, and Eduardo nearly fainted on the spot. They were the same piercing green eyes as Pedro’s, but there was something even more unsettling about them. The expression of curiosity mixed with caution, the particular way he frowned when he was confused or scared, even the way he shrank slightly when he felt afraid.
Everything was exactly like what he saw in his son every day. The three of them were the same height, had the same slender build, and together they looked like perfect reflections in a shattered mirror. Eduardo pressed himself tighter against the wall, feeling like the world was spinning around him.
“What are your names?” Pedro asked with the innocence of his five years, sitting down on the dirty sidewalk, not caring about soiling his expensive school uniform. “I’m Lucas,” replied the brown-haired boy, relaxing as he realized that this child his own age posed no threat, unlike the adults who usually chased them away from public spaces.
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