Jake was positive that he was back on Earth, as confirmed by the unique architecture of the roads and buildings and the cars that were passing by from time to time. He had to locate his family now and the best place to start would be to go back to his home. Hopefully, he will find them there if not then that would be the place to start from.

Jake was now trying to find his way back home. He had picked a direction where he thought his house was and started walking. The plan was quite simple, find a marker that he recognized and then remember the path along with that marker. He thought about asking about it to the two or three people walking about but he couldn’t remember the name of his town.

It was a small town outside of the city where he used to live and that was all he remembered. He was sure that he would be able to recognize the name if he saw it. After all, it had been more than 20 years since the last time he was here so his memories were a little rusty when it came to directions. There was a good chance that the areas around here would have changed over this long period of time.

He walked in one direction for about twenty minutes but he did not recognize anything. The path was now leading towards the city and he had not seen anything that would point towards his home so he changed his direction and started walking again.

He thought about running here and there or even flying above the streets and houses but that would serve no purpose. He needed to remember his way back to his house and running around would not help him. Anything that would help jog his memory. He had been patient for years and now he needed to be even more patient.

It had been an hour and he had still not recalled the way back home. He was getting pretty frustrated by now and started losing his cool. In his frustrated mood, he finally walked past a sign that was familiar. He came back to the sign and saw it. The rusty old signboard had lost its color. Even the name on it had started to fade but it was readable enough that it helped Jake recall something.

‘Alloway?'

He finally remembered the name of his old town. A small community outside of the city where he commuted from every day of his life before he went away, Alloway. This was the one big thing that was missing from his memories and like a puzzle that starts solving itself as you put pieces together, he started remembering things. He followed the direction of the sign and entered the town.

As he was walking in the streets he started remembering things. He started recognizing the streets and some shops. A supermarket that he used to frequent with Sylvia. They did all their shopping from this market. A few streets over he saw a park and playground which was very familiar to him. This was the park that he used to bring Ellen to play with. He had taken many walks here with his wife before.

He finally saw a small tuck shop which was closed at the moment. This shop was run by an old lady. She used to sell some snacks, veggies, drinks, and cigarettes. Jake remembered this shop and the old lady because he used to sneak out here to smoke sometimes. Jake used to smoke at one time but after his accident, he gave up. He was in too much pain already which helped him quit smoking. From time to time when he was a little stressed he would come out here alone and smoke.

All of these places that he had visited before were nostalgic and filled him with hope and joy. On the other hand, worry and curiosity had formed in his mind.

‘Things have not really changed at all have they? I mean I was away for more than twenty years and I can remember almost everything. There are very few small changes that have taken place but other than that it is pretty much the same.’

He had seen a few minor changes around the neighborhood but nothing else which was not that much compared to the time that had elapsed.

Moments later he finally found his neighborhood. This was the area that they had lived in for five years since they had bought the house. Then he came upon his street and started looking for his house. It took him a moment to spot his own house from the rows of houses in the street. Then his sight fell on his own house in the middle of the street.

A one-story house that they had bought after saving money over a long period of time. The color of the house was still green but had significantly faded now. The color of the gate used to be blue but now was a dark brown color. He stood in front of the house, exhilarated that he was finally here. He was back. He was back for his family.

Jake stood in front of the house for a moment or two gathering his courage. He was scared a little bit, he had no idea what to expect. It had been a long time since he was here. He was not sure if he would find them here. The chances of his family still living there were very low.

How have they been in the time he was not there. They must have had to face a lot of problems. How is Sylvia? Would she be well? Ellen must have grown up by now. She might even be married. Would they forgive him for not being there for them? Would they forgive him for abandoning them?

He put all his worries at the back of his mind for now and pushed the doorbell. When the bell rang out a smile crept up his face. It had been so long that even the doorbell was nostalgic to him. He waited anxiously for someone to open the door.

Moments later Jake could hear someone’s footsteps approaching the front gate. Which got Jake all excited.

“Just a sec, coming! Ouch! …. Shit!”

The voice that came from behind the door belonged to a woman. He did become a little hopeful that the owner of the voice might be his daughter or his wife. He was not sure if he could recognize their voices after all this time because he could not recognize this voice. Looked like the owner of the voice was a little clumsy as they had just tripped over something.

With a loud click of the door lock the door finally opened. A beam of light from inside the house broke through and fell on Jake’s cold and nervous face, warming him up a little. His emotions were a complete mess as the door opened and the person came into full view.

“Yes? …. Who are you mister?” The lady waited for a second but Jake gave no reply and kept staring at her.

“Who are you looking for? ….. Wait why are you crying?”

Maybe it was the warmth of the light or a gust of warm air coming from inside the house that Jake did not realize that his tears were running wild on his face. Jake had been looking forward to this moment for a long time. How he would ring the doorbell to his house and his daughter would come running for him. How she would embrace him and tell him that she missed her daddy. That’s why he could not hold his emotion in control and started crying.

Which shocked the lady a little. She did not know what to do or how to feel. Was this man that came to her door at this time of the night and is crying a crazy lunatic? Before she could think of what to do or say the man in front of her quickly wiped his face and spoke out.

“Um hello! Sorry about this but I was not really crying. It’s just that something got into my eye just as you opened the door. Are you Ellen? Ellen Ingram?”

Jake observed the woman when she opened the door. Jake did not recognize this woman at all. She was obviously not Sylvia and she did not look anything like Ellen. Even if Ellen grew up there must still be some resemblance to her face but there was none. Still, he wanted to make sure of it. He did not want to be a father who could not recognize his own daughter.

“No, I am not Ellen. My name is Lina and I live here. You must have the wrong house, I am sorry.”

At first, Lina thought that the man must have come to the wrong address. But there was something strange about him. Why did he look so nervous? His face was flushed and he was sweating bullets in this cold weather. She was also pretty sure that this man had been crying at her front door. Something got in his eye and now he was crying rivers from both eyes?

Lina took another good look at his face to see if she recognized him. Maybe he is someone she knew once at some point but no matter how much she observed him she did not recognize him. A man in his late thirties with a good physique. Black hair and sharp facial features with a rough beard. Light brown eyes with a face that right now looked like a hurt puppy. Normally she was sure that he would be quite handsome. About 5 foot 6 in height but now because of his drooping shoulders, he was nowhere near his original height.

“What about Sylvia? Sylvia Ingram? She might be using her maiden name now, Sylvia Steele? Do you maybe live with her or know her as a friend, a colleague?”

At this point, Jake knew that the chances of them still living here were low but he still wanted to make sure.

“No I live here alone and I do not know either Ellen or Sylvia, I am sorry. You must have the wrong address with you. Why are you looking for them? Are you family or something? "

There was no reason for Lina to be interested in their relationship but now she was curious. Curious as to who this man was. Was he someone who meant these women any harm or was he genuinely looking for them because they were family?

“Yeah, I am something like their family. We have been separated for a long time and I am trying to find them now. I just hope I am not too late in doing so.”

Jake paused and thought for a moment and then asked Lina the most bizarre question possible. She never thought there would come a day when someone will ask her a question like this.

“This might sound a little crazy to you but can you tell me what year it is?”

When Lina looked at the man as he was talking about his separation from his family. There was a certain unexplainable expression on his face. A look of longing and sadness. Not a guise one would have if they meant any harm to others. Now she could guess why he was crying before. He was hoping to find his family here but then his question threw her off.

“What year? What do you mean? You don’t know what year it is right now? Where have you been living for all this time if you don’t know what the year is? Under a rock?”

Now Lina was a little alarmed before he just looked like a man burdened with guilt and sadness but now an alarm was going off in the back of her mind. She closed the door of the house a little bit and was on guard when Jake stopped her.

“Haha, You misunderstand me, Lina. I mean you no harm OK? No need to hide I won’t hurt you or anything. I just want to know the year so I can think about how long it has been since I last saw them here. I am pretty bad at remembering things you know and especially dates and stuff. If I can give you the timeline of when they lived here you would know or remember them right.”

Lina was still a little skeptical but she told him the date.

“The year is 2055 right now but it wouldn’t matter even if you can tell me the timeline of their residence. First I did not buy this place from a family but rather a Realtor. Second I have only been living here for the last six months.”

‘What!? 2055? It has only been five years? I was in the other world for at least twenty-two to twenty-three years, maybe even twenty-five but it was definitely more than twenty years. Then how come only five years have passed over here?’

Jake was rattling his mind trying to come up with a reason to explain it all. Why was there a time difference on both ends? The only reason that he could think of for this time dilation was the spell.

While performing that spell, they had torn open a hole in space itself. Jafer had warned Jake about the repercussions of doing so. His warning included possible time dilation because of the spell. Time distortion caused by the spell which turned twenty years spent there to five years elapsed here on Earth.

Whatever the reason of this being, this was still a piece of good, no great news for Jake. Instead of having missed twenty years with his family, he had missed only five. The fact remained of his absence but now it was vastly better than twenty years.

Jake was quiet all this time while contemplating the reason and effects of the time dilation. Lina on the other hand saw the confusion and puzzled look on his face and was amused.

‘Man he really sucks at remembering things if he has to calculate like that.’

“If the year is 2055 then the last time I saw them would be 2050, five years ago. At the time they had no reason or wish to sell this house. Based on that timeline there is a strong chance that they were living here recently. They might even have been the tenants before you. Do you remember anything about them? You might have met them when you came to see the property.”

Lina thought about it for a second, thinking about the previous tenants. She had never met them before as everything was handled by a Realtor. All she remembered about them was that they were a pair of mother and daughter. At first, she thought that they might be his family but then she remembered what happened to them which brought a grim look to her face.

“As I said before I acquired this property through a Realtor. So I have not met the owners of the house before. All I know about them is that they were a pair of mother and daughter that were living here at the time. I don’t know their names.”

“Yes! That could be them. I am looking for a pair of mother and daughter. They are my wife and daughter. What do you know about them? Do you know how to contact them?”

Lina looked a little awkwardly at Jake. She did not think that they might have been his wife and daughter. She was hesitating in answering him because she was not sure of the information that she had. She had only heard this from the Realtor and did not know their names.

The man had already been crying before. She was not sure what his reaction would be when she told her what she knew. Jake could see that Lina was hesitating but he wanted to know badly.

“What’s wrong? Tell me whatever you know it doesn’t matter.”

“Look I don’t know if they really are the ones that you are looking for. I never knew their names only what happened to them so I can’t tell you if they really are the ones you are looking for. Just keep calm when you hear this as it might not be the truth.

The previous tenants of the house, the mother and daughter, did not leave this place by themselves or sell it. They were in a horrible car accident last year and they died.”

Lina talked some more but those words never reached Jake. The moment she said dead, for Jake the world had lost its color. Everything became black and white and the sound from the surroundings and Lina went away. Life became dull and useless, worth not even a single penny if that penny was the universe itself.

Jake’s face lost all color and life drained from his body. A light flashed through his eyes leaving them dead and blind. He had been hoping in his heart that no matter what they would be alive. He would come back home and find them here, reuniting with them.

All the hope, prayers, and wishes that he had accumulated over time just now burst like a bubble. He felt something break inside of him when he heard Lina.

'They are Dead!?'