I kept walking. Kicking miserable pebbles under my feet as the scenery passed me by, I wondered about the identity of the man who had appeared before me that night at the hospital.

Had it been dream or reality, was he magic, or had I used my own power to create him?

I had to know.

But how?

How could I without a name, and only a face to dwell on, with a few exchanged words.

He had mentioned a next time.

Would this signify we’d be seeing each other again?

And should I be afraid?

Was this man, be what others would like to call, a bad man?

Was he a patient? A thief? A stalker? A doctor? A nurse? A friend? A stranger? A monster like me?

And, if I put all the titles away, was he human?

I sighed and rubbed my tired eyes.

The day had been long, yet, it didn’t feel close to over.

The sun was almost down by now, and I was almost at destination; home. At least, that’s what it currently was. Who knows what the future holds. Who knows, what this place will mean to me in three years time.

For now, I thought it was peaceful. An enjoyable walk from school where one could take time to observe the scenery, to feel the fresh breeze brush against your skin and invade your space. Mornings weren’t the same however. Mornings were always stressful. Because you want to know the time every ten seconds by fear of being late, and yet somehow, you are late anyway. As you check your pockets, your bag three hundred times under the dread of having forgotten something of importance, before running down the stairs. And, you trip over your own two feet at least twice without ever really falling over as you dash towards the door you slam violently, accidentally.

But it’s silly, because you’re a ball of nerves for nothing, as you race against time and time races against you. You carry too many extra books just from the agony of imagining that you’ll miss out on something even though mondays will always be maths and never history, and that very fact has been ingrained in your skin since the beginning of the year, but the stress is just too much and you cannot think anymore as you yell that you’ll be back to whoever it is that’s awake at this hour; you realise you are already running as if your life depended on it. You choke on air. You hate yourself. There is a blue car. There is a white house and a girl with long hair that could maybe, possibly, be the most beautiful girl you’ve ever seen. But you’ll never know. You’re late. You don’t have time to smell the flowers. You don’t have time for details.

You’re late.

I had always wondered why we needed to signal our departures. I asked Alec once, if it was so that they could call the police, and send a search party, if you never happened to return. He said they would probably just send a text. And then he laughed, and he told me that maybe it was also because people didn’t want a scare when you were either back or gone, and I felt really dumb because even though I knew he didn’t mind my stupid questions; it suddenly occurred to me that it was probably something I should know.

Anyway, I’d like to talk more about how I think this society is twisted, and weird, but I’m just rambling at this point. I should really get back to the event that actually happened after this and leave my other words, like most things in life, unsaid.

So, yes, I walked up the few stone steps that led to the house I was currently staying in and opened the door that had been brutally mistreated during today’s early hours. Immediately, my aunt’s happy footsteps advance towards me. She wore a worried look across her features that seemed to be appeased as soon as she spotted me down the hallway. “Erika, dear? Are you all right?”

My aunt was hesitant in her speech.

I wondered why.

It wasn’t as if I had jumped off another roof. I was home, and in one piece at that.

I lifted a brow. “Do I not look alright?” I said.

“Oh,” she threw her hands in the air and shook her head. “No, not at all. It’s just that Alec called home and asked if you had made it here safely. So…” She said, “I was simply wondering if things were okay, it’s rare to see you come back alone.”

“I forgot to tell him I was leaving early, that’s probably why he called,” I said as I shrugged and tried my best to pass this off as something minor.

My aunt didn’t seem entirely convinced. I could tell by the way she eyed me with haste, yet kept her distance and only nodded, before suggesting that I should let him know of my whereabouts.

“Will do, auntie!” I chimed as I took another set of stairs that led to my room and glanced at the phone I'd forgotten on my desk this morning. A phone that greeted me with a few rings and some flashing lights. “Crap,” I muttered, rushing to my chair and landing on it with a thud, as I grabbed the device’s edges.

My eyes went wide.

“Crap,” I said again.

It was just as I had feared.