Pete’s heart skipped a beat. He froze, unable to process what he was seeing. The thought crossed his mind: had he stumbled into something far more complex—something that perhaps required more than just emotional resilience? Something that would have demanded psychological therapy, trauma-informed intervention, or even parapsychological evaluation?
He rushed back to the alleyway where he had found Liam, his mind racing. But when he arrived, it was empty—silent. There were no signs of the boy, his parents, or even the convenience store that once stood at the corner.
He searched the alley, but there was nothing.
Pete returned home that night, the weight of the mysterious encounter sinking in. What had just happened? Had Liam somehow traveled through time? Was the boy truly lost in some cosmic sense, not just physically but also across dimensions? Pete couldn’t shake the feeling that he had touched something that was never meant to be found. His thoughts turned to wellness recovery programs, wondering whether emotional experiences like this had measurable mental health impacts.
Days turned into weeks, and Pete never saw Liam or his parents again. But every time it rained, Pete would hear the faintest sound—a child’s laughter echoing from that alley, a reminder that some secrets may never be fully understood.
And though he tried to push the memory aside, he knew deep down that he would never forget Liam, the boy who had come into his life like a fleeting dream, only to vanish into the unknown.
