After a few seconds of sitting in a box that resembled heaven itself, he woke up in his bed.

He still had his eyes closed but he couldn’t see the words visualized in his head anymore, now that he was back on Earth.

—What’s this?

He felt something heavy on top of him and before opening his eyes, he grabbed at what was in front of him, trying to get it off.

“EEEKKK! What’re you doing?!”

Ace opened his eyes to see his hand gripped around something soft.

“What is thi--”

*SLAP*

“OW! What was that for?!”

He looked up from the ground to see who had just smacked him.

It was a girl standing with her arms around her chest, her face beet red with a face of anger and embarrassment attached to it.

Before he could get a good look at her face, he noticed...

A blue gem underneath her chin.

“ALIZA?!”

“WHY’RE YOU HERE?!”

“Who cares about that right now?! Apologize!”

Ace realized what he grabbed after looking in the direction of her arms.

“AHH! I’m sorry!”

He bowed down on the ground with his face red in reaction to his realization.

“Good! You better be! Pervert!”

Ace stood up after apologizing a few more times.

“No, but for real, why’re you here!?”

“I don’t know either, it must have been because I touched your hand as you left.”

She said with her arms still around her chest and her face still covered in red. Her tone was still on the angry side.

“Oh, ok... makes sense.”

He turned away from her, feeling embarrassed, but also apologetic.

“—!”

He was distracted from the sudden reunion but...

He was back.

He was back in his room.

There were basketball posters on the wall.

His phone was on his night table.

His clothes in his closet.

His game console set up in front of his monitor.

This was the room that he’s missed for what’s felt like an eternity but in reality, it’s only been 24 hours.

“I’m really back...”

He knew he could only stay here for a day, but it was still an amazing feeling, seeing all his stuff again.

He felt like breaking down in tears once again to the reunion with his world but, before he could...

“What is this place?! It looks like a room, but I’ve never seen this stuff before!”

This was the first time Aliza has seen stuff like this.

For a traveler, this was a once in a lifetime opportunity.

She couldn’t contain her excitement and looked over to Ace, expecting a response to her question.

“This is my room... We’re on the planet called Earth I told you about...”

He didn’t respond with the same amount of excitement that Aliza had, which was to be expected.

This was an important time for him, but she completely forgot because of her curiosity taking over.

“Oh.. I’m sorry... you were having a moment... I shouldn’t have stepped in.”

“No, it’s fine, I probably would’ve started crying if you didn’t talk.”

“There’s nothing wrong with crying sometimes. It shows how close you were with the thing your crying is directed at.”

“Haha, I guess, but... I’m still a man so I can’t just cry at everything.”

“Gender has nothing to do with crying. Cry whenever you feel like letting it out.”

Ace smiled back at her honesty and kindness.

He looked around once again...

He was really back.

It’s only for 24 hours but...

At least he can give a proper goodbye before leaving.

“I’m going to wake up my parents... I’ve gotta explain everything right away.”

Aliza nodded back in response.

Ace exited his room and walked towards his parents’ room.

Once he reached their door, he hesitated before grabbing the handle.

—365 days without them...

Once he opened this door, he would have to explain everything to them.

They probably wouldn’t believe him because of how crazy it is but...

He had to.

He’s going to be gone for a whole year and he can’t talk to them for even one minute in that time.

This was his only chance.

One last day with them...

24 hours.

He had to.

He grabbed the handle and burst the door open.

He looked inside the dark filled room and looked in the direction of the bed.

“—?!”

“There’s no one here... Why isn’t anyone here...”

The room was filled with the usual bed, dresser, and night tables, but...

There were no people.

His memories of being transported to Felona filled his mind and he thought that if it could happen to him... it could happen to them.

He started to panic, and his mind was going crazy.

He wasn’t talking out loud, but the voice in his head sounded desperate.

—Something must’ve happened to them!

—Why?! Why?! Why my family?! Why does it only happen to my family?!

—Take someone else... anyone else! Just leave my family alone! Please!

He dropped to the ground and put his hand to his face.

Tears were starting to well up again.

His mind couldn’t keep up with his thoughts.

He was imagining all the different things that could’ve happened to them.

First him, and now his parents were pulled into some crazy situation.

—Why?!

—Just leave them alone, please!

—Just take me! Why do you have to take them too!

—They never asked for thi--

Before he could finish that thought...

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down... they probably just went looking for you.”

“You said you were gone for one day, any parent would be worried.”

Aliza was the one who was reassuring him, trying to get him to think positively, instead of the worst-case scenario.

But Ace’s mind couldn’t accept that right now.

“No way! Something definitely happened to them...!”

How could he believe her when he was pulled into some crazy situation yesterday morning? There’s no way something didn’t happen to them. They had to be in some other world right now. One of his parents could be dead right now. One of his parents could be crying, holding the other in their arms.

No, it wasn’t “could be happening:”, it’s definitely happening to them.

If it happened to him, it’s guaranteed to have happened to his parents also.

He started to cry even more, kneeled down on the ground.

“They’re gone.”

“I’ll never see them again.”

His voice was pleading, asking to see them again.

“That god? Why? Does he find enjoyment in making me and my family suffer...?”

His voice still sounding depressed, he now pointed his sadness towards this “god” of his.

“All I want is to see them again... and I would’ve went along with his plans… why did he have to take them too?”.

“Just one more time...”

“I wanted to see them again...”

Tears streaming from his face, he felt like it was over.

He was never going to see them again.

He was going to leave this world in 24 hours and die in the other one just as fast.

His life was over.

All because of some god who decided to sen--

*SLAP*

“CALM DOWN!”

“You haven’t confirmed that they’ve disappeared, and crying won’t solve your problems so get up!”

“Look around for them!”

“If you don’t find them, then start crying!”

“But now is not the time!”

“You only have 24 hours so use it properly.”

She couldn’t bear to see him waste his only day back like this.

She knew his situation so you would expect her to feel bad for him, but it’s exactly because she knew about the predicament he was in, that she could get angry.

He couldn’t waste his time when it was so limited, so what was he doing sitting around doing nothing.

“Get up!”

Still shocked from her anger, Ace followed her orders with a shocked, still depressed look on his face.

“Now that you’ve started to listen…”

“Do you have any way to contact your parents in this world?”

“This place looks much more advanced than Felona, so you must have some sort of communication.”

Ace continued to follow her orders and answer her questions, still shocked from the sudden anger.

“I do but... the other side has to respond to speak.”

He was talking about his cell phone and the ability to make calls on Earth.

“It’s fine, that’s the first place we should start. Show me how you do it.”

Ace brought her over to his room, wiping tears along the way.

Once he got into his room, he grabbed his phone from his night table and showed it to Aliza.

“I just press the person’s name on this and... if they also have one of these... they can pick up and talk with me.”

Talking slow from his still depressed state, he explained how to use the cell phone.

“Good... Now... contact your parents.”

“If they pick up, you can talk to them.”

Ace finally started to fully calm down.

He realized how dumb he was for not doing this first.

He unlocked his phone, went to the phone app and looked for his mom’s name.

Before pressing on it, he hesitated just like he did with the door handle...

But this wasn’t the time.

Aliza made him realize he didn’t have the time to be worrying right now.

Ace pressed on his mom’s name and the phone began to ring as he brought it up to his ear.

*RING*

“…”

*RING*

“…”

*RING*

“…”

“…”

“…”

“This is Selena Bracker! Sorry I couldn’t get to the phone right now! Leave a message at the beep!”

Her voicemail was the one to respond...

“She didn’t respond...”

“I knew it...”

“She’s gone...”

“I’m never going to see them again.”

One missed phone call was all it took to bring his mind back to its ruined state.

His drained eyes started to fill up once again.

He dropped to his hands and knees and just let it flow.

Aliza saw that if she let this go on, he wouldn’t get back up another time.

“Hey! Get u--”

“ALIZA!”

He didn’t want to hear it right now.

That voicemail confirmed it.

They were gone.

“Stop!”

“Please!”

“Leave me alone for a litt--”

—

——

———

*RING*

———

——

—

*RING*

They both went silent for a little, Ace shocked by the noise coming from his phone and Aliza shocked by the unfamiliar sound.

That was the loudest ringtone he’s ever heard.

The sound wasn’t turned up or anything but... it caught his attention so fast that his ears just wouldn’t listen to anything else.

“A...”

“Ac...!”

“Ace!”

He couldn’t notice her yelling at him because of the sound of the ringtone overpowering every other sound.

“Ace! What does the sound mean?”

Now snapped back from trance, he properly responded to Aliza.

“Someone is trying to contact me...”

“So, what are you just sitting there for?! Answer it!”

Ace knew he had to, but he was so in shock that he forgot to.

Ace grabbed the phone and pointed the screen towards his face to see the word “Mom”, illuminated at the top of the screen.

He brought his unused hand towards the screen and pressed the green accept button.

Before he could bring the phone to the side of his ear...

“ACE! IS THAT YOU! WHERE ARE YOU? ARE YOU HURT?”

“Mom!”

His dried-up tears welled up once again, this time as tears of joy in reaction to the voice he wanted to hear so badly.

“Is it really you... you’re okay?!”

Relieved to hear the extremely familiar voice next to his ear, he spoke slowly as to calm himself down from the panicked state he was in just a few seconds before.

“What are you talking about! Stop stealing my lines! I’ve been worried sick looking for you. What happened?! Where have you been for the past day?!”

“Who cares about that right now! You’re okay!”

His happiness took over every other emotion he was feeling.

The tears kept flowing in unison with every word that came out of his mother’s mouth.

“Who cares about me?! Thank god you’re okay! Are you sure you’re not hurt anywhere...”

“I’ll explain everything once you and dad get home. But before that...”

“Mom, quick question... did you already call the police?”

“Yes, of course! You were gone for a whole day!”

“Could you tell them I just stayed at a friend’s house? I don’t want to get them involved.”

“Ok... but, please explain properly. You can’t just run off on your own for a whole day without saying anything. I’m your mom... talk to me before doing something like this.”

“Haha... I’ll make sure to, next time... just come home please.”

He couldn’t blame her for thinking he ran away. He disappeared without saying anything, who wouldn’t come to that conclusion?

“Ok, I’ll be home in 15 minutes, I have to get your dad and we’ll be home. You better not go anywhere!”

“I won’t... I promise... not yet... at least...”

He whispered the last part under his breath, but his mom caught a little bit of what he said.

“What does that mea--”

And he hung up the phone.

His happiness took a plunge after recalling that he would only be seeing them for one day.

“*sigh* One year, huh?”

He stared up to the ceiling as he started to think of the year ahead of him.

Before he could get too lost in thought, he felt a hand grab his shoulder.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there to help you out...”

It was reassuring to hear Aliza’s voice right now.

She really was reliable... too reliable.

Ace felt like he didn’t deserve her, but he received her help, so he made sure to thank her.

“Thank you... and sorry, because I’ll probably keep relying on you for a while.”

Aliza gave a smile back to Ace.

“Don’t worry about it, one boy my age isn’t too much work. You’re also fun to be around so the work pays off.”

“But really... this world looks so much different from mine.”

“Humans have made a lot of progress over the centuries. I wish I could’ve shown you more but... I’m sorry, I can’t focus on you today.”

“It’s okay... I wouldn’t make you waste your time doing something like that when you can only be with your parents and friends for one more day.”

“We do have about 15 minutes so I can show you some stuff while we wait. Here, look at this...”

He turned on his game console and turned on a gun game.

“You use these devices to control the person in the game and kill the other players.”

He handed the controller to Aliza...

Only to get it swatted out of his hands, her face a shred of scared and disappointed in Ace.

“That’s horrible! Don’t give me that! Using other people to kill others just for enjoyment! You’re horrible!”

“Calm down, calm down, the people aren’t real, just think of them as illusions.”

“Tell me that from the start... I thought you were going to make me into a mass-murderer.”

“Sorry, I’ve never explained it to someone, people usually know it’s fake. Here, try it.”

He picked up the controller and handed it over to Aliza once more.

“The weapon you’re holding is similar to a bow but, much faster and much more deadly. You use this button to aim and this one to shoot.”

Aliza started to play the game.

“This is amazing! Who would’ve thought a killing game would be so fun!”

“Told you!”

“This technology is amazing! The most we have in the other world is magic items but those aren’t nearly as good as this!”

“Haha... my world is pretty advanced.”

Just as they finished the game...

The front door to Ace’s house was opened.

“Ace! Are you here?!”

Ace felt a rush of relief come over him now that he actually heard the voice of his parent in person.

But before he could bask in that relief...

He spoke to Aliza quietly.

“My parents are here... I want to explain everything to them so stay here for a little. I’ll bring you out later to show them I’m not lying about the whole situation.”

Aliza nodded her head in response and sat on Ace’s bed, obeying Ace’s orders.

Ace quickly stepped out his room and closed the door, nodding back at Aliza before shutting it fully.

He ran down the stairs to confirm his parents were really there.

And he saw them.

The woman a little shorter than him who usually had her hair into a ponytail over her shoulder and the athletic man with messy, black hair who always had a calm, relaxed attitude.

These were his parents.

They were nothing like they usually were, both having an extremely worried expression on their faces.

His mom’s hair was not tied into a ponytail, it was laid out across her back and her face looked extremely worried, natural for a mom who hasn’t seen her son in a whole day, not knowing where he was.

His dad’s hair was also messier than usual, and his face expression was identical to his wife’s. Ace never would’ve thought he would see the day when his dad made a face like this, but here it was.

Before he could analyze anything else...

*Hug*

2 sets of arms wrapped around his body. On his right side was his mother’s and on the left was his father’s.

“Where were you? Don’t ever make us worry like that again.”

His mom also looked she was going to say something, but she was crying too hard to get anything out.

Ace also had a few teardrops dripping from his face.

He wrapped his arms around his parents, embracing the parental warmth they shared with him.

“…”

“Mom... Dad... I’m home...”

And his dad hugged him even tighter than before, giving him no room to breathe.

A relieved smile came on Ace’s face as his dad squeezed his body.

“Dad... I can’t breathe..”

“Who cares about that right now! You’re safe! You’re okay!”

His mom slowed her tears down and removed herself from Ace.

She gave a small, relieved smile directly towards Ace’s face.

“Welcome home... Ace...”