After holding each other for about 30 seconds longer, Ace was the first one to speak.

“Mom, dad, can we go to the kitchen, I need to explain now.”

His dad was the first to remove his arms from around Ace.

“Your mom looks like she needs a little longer... I’ll be waiting in the kitchen.”

His mom still had a firm grip around Ace, not wanting to let go of her only son.

“Mom...”

“Just 10 more seconds... you can’t leave me for a whole day and expect me not to be relieved when you finally show up... I’m your mother.”

“Ok... 10 more seconds.”

Ace thought this may be one of the last times he would be able to hold his mom like this.

He wrapped his arms around her just as hard she was wrapped around him and gave her a hug of a lifetime.

His mom was shorter than him so you would expect her to be buried into his chest but...

She was Ace’s mother.

She could tell he was hurting just as much as she and her husband were when Ace went missing.

She grabbed the back of his head with her hand and buried it into her shoulder.

“I love you Ace... never forget that. If anything is bothering you, I want you to talk to me about it. Your father feels the same way... we’ll be there for you whenever you need us.”

“Mm...”

Ace nodded into her shoulder, holding back tears.

“Ok, let’s head into the kitchen and talk.”

Ace nodded once again and took himself off his mom, rubbing his eyes with his arms.

They headed into the kitchen where his dad was.

Once they entered, his dad looked back at them from the kitchen table, where he was pouring tea into cups.

Ace and his mom sat at opposite sides of the table so they would be facing each other when they spoke.

His dad sat next to his mom so he could also be facing Ace when they were talking.

Ace looked down and clutched his shorts, not knowing where to start.

How could he just drop all of this on them?

It was hard enough dropped on Ace, but... he was forced to believe his situation.

He was actually sent to that world.

—Will they really believe me?

He wasn’t sure.

—

“Ace... take your time... there’s no rush.”

He looked up at his mom who had a warm smile on her face.

—It doesn’t matter if they don’t believe me.

—This is my last day... I can’t leave without saying anything.

He looked directly at his parents, saying something that needed to be said with full seriousness.

“Before I start, please... believe everything I’m going to say. I want to say I’m joking and that this is all a dream but... it’s not.”

He kept his gaze on them, expecting a response.

His parents looked at each other and looked back at Ace.

They nodded to their son, who was completely serious.

Once he got confirmation, he brought his head back down, unable to face them while he explained his extremely bizarre situation.

“I’ll start two days ago, when I was still home.

“I went to school, came home, played games, played basketball with dad, and watched movies with mom.”

“It was a completely normal day until... midnight.”

He raised his head once again before he got into the main part of the story to look at his parents once again.

“Again... please believe what I have to say.”

He reconfirmed what he said earlier just because of how insane the next few things he was going to say were.

His parents nodded once again to show that they would believe everything he had to say.

“When I fell asleep...”

He hesitated before saying the next part, but... he had to get it over with, so he let it all out at once, trying not to hesitate.

“When I fell asleep...”

“I was surrounded by nothing.”

“You can think of it as a dream.”

“All around me was white. It felt like I was standing in heaven.”

“I’m not saying heaven as in a good place, I’m saying heaven more literally.”

“Just a place where you see nothing but white.”

“I was only here for a few seconds but, in those few seconds, someone apologized to me.”

“I couldn’t see the person or tell where it was coming from, all I knew was that he said sorry.”

“Right after this guy apologized...”

Ace hesitated once more and took a deep breath before saying...

“I was in the middle of a forest.”