4
For the life of me, I couldn't ease myself into sleep that night. My thoughts were all over the place, and the overbearing sense of anxiety simply would not allow me to rest. The few times I managed to doze, my dreams presented a tiring replay of the evening's events.

In an effort to calm my nerves, I made my way to the kitchen for a cup of chamomile tea, and it was there that it hit me. Buried beneath years of memories, something that my late father had told me surfaced with clarity in my mind.

A few months before his passing, Father and I had been restoring an antique trunk in the very shed where Elias first appeared. My hands trembled now, remembering a somewhat spiritual and, what I had thought, weird conversation that we shared as we worked. Father had eased into a discussion of past and parallel lives, touching on something I still couldn't wrap my brain around..... alternate dimensions.

The trunk!! Most of them had secret compartments or linings that pulled away for the purpose of hiding valuables or private matters. Daybreak was still a few hours away, and I didn't want to wake my mother, for surely she would think I was insane. Moving quietly towards the back door, and trying my best to turn the knob without making a sound, I made my way outside into the dark, only to find Elias there at the bottom of the steps.

I almost detected a sparkle in those strange eyes of his....