What made it worse was that I had no idea why I felt the way I did, and it was my fear of the unknown that made the situation all the more terrifying. My throat constricted and with each breath I took, it became harder to take another.

“Bob he says!” the elderly thing chuckled, yellow eyes flashing.

This time, there was something different about his laugh. As if instead of laughing with me, as he had been over the course of the train journey, he was now laughing at me.

He continued laughing for several minutes until his laughs turned into choking coughs and he wiped mirthful tears from his face and the corners of his eyes.

“Dearie me!” he said, chuckling into his hand. “Well lad, you’ve entertained me well enough for the last few hours so I’ll do you a solid in return.”

He raised his hand and began to draw in his fingers until he stopped.

“In fact how about I…” he began to mutter, whispering to himself so quietly that not even I could hear him.

Suddenly, he drew into himself and the oppressive presence seemed to have… retracted.

Taking that as my sign to escape, I shot out of the chair and readied myself to bolt down the aisle. As my frightened gaze swept across the seats, it began to dawn on me that nobody could see me.

It wasn’t that I was invisible. Simply that the rest of the passengers were going on with their lives as if the old man and myself weren’t there at all.

“Ah, not so fast there, lad.” I stopped and turned around to the smirking old man. “I did say I’d reward you, didn’t I? Sit back down.”

I did so immediately because at this point, what other option did I have?

“Thank you!” he said, crossing his legs. “Now then. As thanks for the lovely company, despite the counterfeit cheese, I’ll throw you a once-in-a-lifetime gift.”

He cleared his throat, adjusted his skipper’s cap and snapped his fingers as I squeezed my eyes shut.

There was no flash of light. No expected explosion. Nothing. All was completely silent until the whir of a ceiling fan entered my ears.

My heart pounded in my chest and I took deep lungfuls of air in an attempt to calm myself. Slowly, I opened my eyes to a room that I could only describe as decrepit.

The plaster walls were peeling and odd smudges ran across the walls and around the thin pipes spanning the room. It was mostly bare of furniture besides a dilapidated bed that took up most of the space on the floor and a wardrobe that was tucked away in a corner of the room.

I would love to say that I calmly analysed the situation but I, in fact, did the opposite. Jumping back with a yelp, I slipped on a stray shirt that was strewn across the floor and fell against the mattress.

I was then overcome by the most peculiar of sensations. It was like I’d been submerged within water or something, as an odd but not uncomfortable pressure made its presence known in my head.

This wasn’t my room… but it felt so familiar.

With trembling feet, I wandered over to the wardrobe and blinked owlishly at the figure staring back at me.

The child’s eyes widened and raised a shaking hand to his face— or rather, I did.

Then, as if a spell had been broken, there was a knocking at the door as a worried voice filtered through.

“Cyrus, are you okay in there?” a distinctly female voice, I noted.

My older sister: Sadie’s. A sister that didn’t exist before today but she was the one who tucked me into bed just last night.

“Yeah, I’m fine Sadie!” I called out, the words escaping my lips on instinct.

Squeezing my hands into tight fists, I struggled to bring my breathing under control as I whispered harshly.

“What the actual fuck?!”