The trip back to Luke's house was a bumpy, nerve-wracking ordeal. Sitting high in the driver's seat of the small truck, unfamiliar with the feel and size of it, I felt every jolt and vibration amplified. The heavy load in the back shifted with each turn, making the truck handle differently than anything I was used to.

On several occasions, my heart leapt into my throat as I took a roundabout a little too fast, the truck wobbling dangerously to one side. Each time, a scream escaped my lips, a spontaneous reaction to the fear of tipping over. And then there was the incident with the cyclist. I shuddered at the memory, grateful that it had been a near miss. That was one story I definitely wasn't going to share with anyone.

The intensity of driving the loaded truck thankfully kept my mind occupied, a welcome distraction from the whirlpool of thoughts about Luke's mysterious activities. Despite this, a part of me had already resolved to demand a more reasonable explanation from him once I arrived. Jamie hadn't responded to the text message I had sent earlier, and my patience was wearing thin. It was time for him to wake up and shed some light on this situation.

Turning into Luke's driveway, the truck ran over the lip with a firm bump, jolting me slightly. Gripping the steering wheel tightly, I carefully manoeuvred the truck into position. I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves and prepare myself for the confrontation ahead.

As soon as I opened the door of the truck, Luke's voice rang out from the front doorstep. "You didn't reverse in," he called out, an unmistakable note of amusement in his voice.

"Shut it, you!" I retorted sharply, my patience already fraying at the edges. "Where's Jamie?" I demanded, my glare fixed on Luke as I took hurried strides toward him. "I want to see him, right now!"

"How'd you go? You got everything then?" Luke asked, seemingly oblivious to the seriousness of my mood. His wide grin only fuelled my irritation further.

In a moment of frustration, I thumped him on the shoulder as I pushed past him to enter the house. "It was bloody horrific," I yelled out, my voice echoing my turmoil. Duke, ever the faithful but unfortunate bystander, got brushed aside as I stormed through the living room. My march up the hallway was purposeful and determined, not waiting for Luke to catch up or respond.

"Jamie," I called out as I approached the master bedroom. My voice was firm. "Wake up. I want an explanation, right now." The words rang out, a clear declaration of my intent. I was no longer willing to be kept in the dark.

But Jamie did not answer.

"Jamie?" I called again, stepping into the bedroom, a growing sense of unease taking hold. The room felt oddly still, almost suspended in time. "Jamie? You in here?" My voice softened, edged with a mix of confusion and concern. The late afternoon sun streamed through the open curtains, casting long shadows across the room and highlighting its emptiness.

My eyes were drawn to the king-sized bed, stark and uninviting without its usual coverings. It looked abandoned, a stark contrast to the warmth and comfort it usually represented. I then noticed one side of the built-in robes was open, revealing a collection of empty coat hangers where Jamie's clothes should have been.

"What the…?" The words escaped my lips in a whisper, more to myself than anyone else. My head began to spin, a whirlpool of questions flooding my mind. Where was Jamie? The possibility that they might have split up loomed over me, a scenario I hadn't even considered. Why would he leave like this without telling me? Where could he have gone?

A moment of anger began to seep into my confusion. The thought of Jamie leaving Luke and not even considering asking to stay with me stung. We've been friends for over twenty years! The sense of betrayal, of being left out and uninformed, was overwhelming. Our friendship, which I had always valued and believed to be reciprocated, suddenly felt fragile and unsteady.

Standing there in the doorway of the empty bedroom, I felt a mixture of shock, hurt, and disbelief. Jamie's apparent disappearance, the void in the room, and the unanswered questions swirling around it all created a sense of abandonment. I felt adrift, grappling with the realisation that someone I had considered my closest friend might have left without a word, leaving me to piece together the fragments of a situation I didn't fully understand. The room, once a place of comfort and friendship, now felt like a cold reminder of how little I knew about what was really going on.

Luke's voice broke the silence. "Gladys, I can explain," he said softly, his approach cautious.

I spun around to face him, my emotions bubbling to the surface. "Where the hell is Jamie?" I demanded, my voice sharp and insistent. "And come to think of it, where is Paul?" The questions poured out, fuelled by my frustration and the mounting suspense of the situation.

"Gladys, it's not…" Luke began, trying to interject, but I was too far gone in my anger to let him speak.

"What the fuck have you done, Luke?" I shrieked, unable to contain my agitation any longer. My hands flew up in the air in a gesture of exasperation and disbelief.

"Please, just calm down. I can explain!" Luke pleaded, his hands moving frantically in front of my face in an attempt to placate me.

"Calm down!" I echoed back at him, my voice reaching a higher pitch. "Don't tell me to calm the fuck down." The irony of his request in the face of my turmoil was almost laughable if it weren't so infuriating.

"It's not what you think, Gladys. Trust me," Luke implored, his eyes searching mine for some semblance of understanding.

In a fit of fury, I reached into my handbag and pulled out my purse, my movements so aggressive that the bag clunked heavily on the floor. "Here. You can have your brother's credit card back," I snapped, shoving the card at Luke's chest with a force that matched my anger. "I don't want any more part of this."

"But you don't even know what this is," Luke exclaimed, his frustration mirroring mine.

Standing there, face-to-face with Luke, I felt a maelstrom of emotions. Anger, confusion, betrayal – they all swirled within me, creating a storm of frustration. His pleas for calm and understanding fell on deaf ears, drowned out by the sound of my racing heart and frantic thoughts.

Grabbing my handbag from the floor with a mixture of anger and determination, I pushed past Luke, intent on leaving the overwhelming confusion of the bedroom behind. My strides were quick and purposeful as I stormed back down the hallway towards the kitchen. I needed space, a moment to breathe and collect my thoughts away from Luke and his inexplicable actions.

However, as I moved, something unexpected happened. The light above me flickered erratically, casting strange shadows on the walls. A chill ran down my spine, and the hairs on my arms stood on end as though charged with static electricity. This sudden eeriness halted me in my tracks, a stark contrast to the fury that had propelled me moments before.

"Gladys," Luke's voice came again, this time soft and imploring. "Come and take a look."

His words, gentle and coaxing, contrasted sharply with the storm of emotions raging inside me. I hesitated, torn between the urge to flee and the need to understand. Slowly, I turned around to face him. Luke stood at the end of the hallway, his expression one of earnest appeal. He beckoned for me to follow him back into the master bedroom.

With a deep, steadying breath, I considered his request. The flickering light and the strange sensation of static had given me pause, adding to the surreal nature of the day's events.

With each hesitant step back towards Luke, the hallway seemed to stretch out before me, elongating with my rising apprehension. The air felt thick with unspoken questions and the weight of unknown revelations. My heart pounded in my chest, a discordant rhythm of dread mixed with a strange, inexplicable anticipation of what Luke might reveal.

As I neared the bedroom, Luke stepped back inside, his movement almost inviting yet unnervingly calm. For a brief, heart-stopping moment, a wave of fear washed over me. I couldn't help but wonder if stepping into that bedroom might lead me down a path similar to whatever had befallen Jamie and Paul. Is this the same fate that Jamie and Paul met? The question echoed in my mind, chilling in its implications. Am I about to become Luke's next victim? The thought sent a shiver down my spine.

Despite these fears, a part of me knew I had to face whatever lay ahead. Wishing desperately for the comforting presence of a glass of wine in my hand, a small token of normalcy, I followed Luke into the bedroom. My feet felt like they were made of lead, each step heavier than the last.

As I entered the room, what I saw made me gasp audibly, my handbag slipping from my grasp and thudding to the floor again. "What the hell did you… Holy Mary mother!" The words burst from me before I could even process them, my astonishment rendering me inarticulate. My eyes blinked rapidly, trying desperately to make sense of the surreal scene before me. The wall beside me wasn't just a wall; it was a swirling, vibrant mass of colours. Mesmerised, I watched as various shades of green, blue, yellow, and purple danced together, colliding and sending sparks of colourful energy shooting into the air like a living kaleidoscope.

Compelled by the beauty and mystery of it, I raised my hand, reaching out to touch the spectacular display that seemed to have materialised out of thin air.

"Gladys! Don’t!" Luke's voice, sharp and urgent, cut through my trance. He pushed my hand aside forcefully, a warning in his action that jolted me back to reality.

"Luke!" I cried out, startled by his sudden intervention.

But then, in a twist of fate, Luke stumbled toward me, his foot getting entangled in the strap of my handbag. My eyes widened in shock and disbelief as the scene unfolded before me. In one swift, chaotic moment, Luke and the handbag fell into the wall, as if it had swallowed them whole, and they vanished completely.

"Luke!" My voice was a desperate cry, filled with panic and disbelief. "What the hell have I done? I've killed Luke!" The words tumbled out in a frantic, horrified realisation as I spun around the room, my eyes darting frantically in search of any trace of Luke or my handbag. "Shit. Shit. Shit," I mumbled, the words barely audible in the eerily silent air. The reality of what had just happened was too much to grasp – it felt like a nightmare, yet I was wide awake.

After spinning in circles for the third time, my gaze landed back on the wall of vibrant, swirling colours. "Luke?" I whispered, my voice quivering with a mix of fear and hope. Tentatively, I reached my hand toward the mesmerising energy, drawn to it despite the fear that gripped me. "Are you there?" I asked, almost pleading. My eyes narrowed, trying to focus, to make sense of the surreal spectacle before me.

As my hand neared the wall, I could feel a gentle vibration pulsing along my arm, a strange and unfamiliar sensation that was both terrifying and intriguing. My heart pounded in my chest, a chaotic rhythm of fear and curiosity. "Just one more inch," I said softly to myself, a whisper of encouragement.

I was terrified of what might happen, yet the odd curiosity and the need to know if Luke was somehow within this bizarre anomaly propelled me forward. The boundary between fear and fascination blurred as I inched closer, my hand almost touching the vibrant wall. My mind raced with possibilities, each more unbelievable than the last. Was this some sort of portal? An illusion? Or something else entirely unbelievable?

With a deep breath, I prepared to make contact, ready to face whatever lay beyond the swirling colours.

Luke's face suddenly materialised in front of me, emerging through the swirling wall of colours like an apparition. "No! Gladys! You mustn't touch it!" he shouted, his voice laced with urgency and fear.

His sudden appearance took me by complete surprise. I screamed, the shock flinging me backwards in a reflexive motion. In my haste to distance myself from this startling vision of Luke's floating face, I lost my balance. Stumbling backwards awkwardly, I found myself crashing onto the bed, my heart pounding wildly in my chest. "Shit, Luke!" I cried out.

Then, Luke's full body re-emerged from the wall of buzzing colour, stepping out as if from another world. "I'm sorry I scared you," he said, a tone of apology in his voice. He swayed my handbag in my direction, an attempt to return some semblance of normalcy to the bizarre situation. "But you mustn't touch it."

I nodded slowly, still trying to process the extraordinary events unfolding before me. "Okay," I softly agreed, reaching out to carefully take my handbag from Luke. I clutched it tightly against my bosom, a grounding anchor in the midst of the surreal and unexplainable. The familiar feel of the handbag provided a small comfort, a touchstone to reality in a situation that defied all logic.

Luke's gesture towards the pulsating wall of electrical colours was both surreal and definitive. "That is where Jamie and Paul are," he declared in a tone that was almost too casual for the gravity of the situation.

I shook my head, unable to fully grasp the enormity of his statement. "I don't understand," I admitted, my voice tinged with disbelief and confusion. "Where is… what is that?"

"It's a Portal," Luke said, as if the explanation was the most natural thing in the world.

"A what?" I asked, my bewilderment growing. The concept was so far outside the realm of anything I had ever encountered.

"A Portal," Luke repeated, emphasising the word as though it would help me comprehend the incomprehensible.

I exhaled deeply, my eyes narrowing as I focused intently on the wall. The swirling colours seemed to dance with an energy that was both calming and intimidating. I tried to wrap my mind around the idea of a portal – a gateway to somewhere or something else – but it was a struggle to accept such a fantastical notion.

"But once Jamie and Paul entered, they couldn't get back out," Luke continued, his words adding another layer of complexity to the already baffling scenario.

His explanation did little to alleviate my confusion. The more he spoke, the less I felt I understood. I eyed Luke warily, a mix of skepticism and a desperate need for clarity clouding my thoughts. The pounding in my head began to intensify, each beat echoing my growing frustration and the sheer absurdity of the situation.

How could a portal, something out of science fiction and fantasy, exist in Luke's bedroom? And what did it mean that Jamie and Paul were supposedly trapped inside it? The questions swirled in my head, each one a puzzle piece that refused to fit into any logical frame of understanding. Sitting there, in front of this so-called portal, I felt as though I had stepped into a surreal world, where the boundaries of reality were blurred and the impossible suddenly seemed frighteningly real.

"Your skepticism is fair enough, so was I. Here, let me prove it's real," Luke said, his voice steady, betraying no hint of the absurdity of the situation. "Just whatever you do, don't follow me!" he cautioned with a seriousness that sent a shiver down my spine.

Before I could react or even attempt to stop him, Luke stepped into the swirling wall of colour. I watched, my eyes wide with disbelief, as he vanished instantly, absorbed by the vibrant hues. Another audible gasp escaped my lips, a mixture of shock and a dawning realisation that this might not be a trick or an illusion.

Slowly, almost mechanically, I moved to the edge of the bed, my gaze never leaving the spot where Luke had disappeared. My mind was a whirlwind of questions. I reached out tentatively toward the wall, drawn by a mix of fear and curiosity. But as my hand neared the colours, a rare moment of caution overtook me, and I withdrew it suddenly.

"Luke?" I called out, my voice trembling slightly, hoping for a response, a sign that this was indeed some elaborate trick. "Are you down there?" The words echoed off the walls of the empty hallway, the silence that followed amplifying my growing unease.

"This has to be a trick," I muttered to myself, trying to rationalise the bizarre scene I had just witnessed. With a sense of determination, I began to search the next room, convinced that Luke must be hiding somewhere, that there must be a logical explanation for what I had seen.

"Luke?" My voice echoed through the kitchen as I entered, my tone laced with a mix of hope and desperation. The room looked just as I had left it, everything undisturbed, no sign of Luke or any clue to the mystery unfolding.

Suddenly, the sound of pattering footsteps clambering up the stairs from the lounge room to the large room below pierced the silence, sending a jolt of panic through me. My heart raced as I turned towards the sound, a flicker of hope igniting within me. Could it be Luke?

"Duke! Henri!" I called out, recognising the familiar sounds of the dogs. Relief washed over me as I saw the small dogs come bounding toward me. "Have you two been outside?" I asked, crouching down to their level. As I let Duke and Henri jump against my knee, a momentary sense of normalcy returned. I scratched Duke behind his ear, receiving their usual display of affection and excitement. Both of their tails were wagging eagerly, a simple joy in contrast to the complexity of the day's events.

"You're a good boy," I told Duke, a smile tugging at my lips despite the swirling emotions inside me. His affectionate tongue reached out and licked my cheek before I could pull away. "You cheeky boy," I responded, the familiar interaction momentarily distracting me from my earlier panic. But as the moment passed, reality set back in. "Now, where's your father gone?" I wondered aloud.

The sudden touch of a firm hand on my shoulder made me jump in surprise. "Gladys," a familiar voice spoke, instantly recognisable despite my startled state.

My thighs gave way from where I was crouched, and I felt my feet sliding uncontrollably across the smooth kitchen tiles. In a desperate attempt to prevent a fall, I reached out, but the only thing within my grasp was Luke.

"Luke!" I cried out in a mix of surprise and relief, even as my balance failed me.

Luke reached to grab my arm, attempting to steady me. However, the unexpected weight of my fall caused him to lean in too, throwing off his balance. I grimaced as my fingers inadvertently brushed against Luke's inner thigh, and my bum hit the tiled floor with an uncomfortable smack. "Ouch!" I exclaimed, the pain shooting through me.

I looked up at Luke, my face contorted with a mix of pain and anger. "Don't touch me!" I warned sharply, reacting instinctively as he tugged at my arm, trying to help me up. But as he let go, I fell back the short distance to the floor, the impact jarring me once again.

"Sorry," Luke said, his voice tinged with remorse.

Duke, sensing the heightened emotions, jumped onto my lap in a futile attempt to offer comfort. But in my current state of frustration and confusion, his presence was more of a nuisance. I promptly pushed him off and clambered to my feet, feeling the urgency to understand the bizarre happenings around me.

I hurried up the hallway, Duke and Henri excitedly jumping at my feet, their innocent playfulness a stark contrast to my turmoil. As I re-entered the bedroom, I immediately noticed the swirling wall of colourful energy was no longer there. "What happened to it?" I asked, curiously.

Luke, seemingly prepared for my question, held out his hand. Resting in the centre of his palm was a small, rectangular object. "I can open and close the portal with this. It's a Portal Key," he explained, his tone indicating a familiarity with something that was completely alien to me.

"Oh?" was all I could muster in response. My mind was reeling, trying to grasp the concept of a portal and a key that could control it. The reality I knew seemed to be unravelling, replaced by something far more fantastical and incomprehensible.

Then, Luke held out a plastic water bottle in his other hand. "Jamie wrote a message on the label for you," he said, offering me the empty bottle. I took it from him, turning the bottle in my hands to examine the label. The sight of Jamie's handwriting on something as mundane as a water bottle label, in the midst of such extraordinary circumstances, was surreal.

I carefully read Jamie's message. It was succinct, yet the words hit me with the force of a sledgehammer. My heart raced, threatening to break free from my chest. The message contained information that was deeply personal, a family secret that I knew Luke couldn't possibly be privy to. There was no way Luke could have written this message; it had to have come from Jamie. The realisation sent a wave of shock through me, coupled with an undeniable sense of reality.

"Believe me yet?" Luke's voice broke through my thoughts, a hint of desperation detectable in his tone.

I shrugged, a gesture of surrender to the unbelievable truth. I didn't really know what else to do. I had witnessed the inexplicable colours, seen Luke vanish and reappear twice, and now held a message revealing a family secret that only Jamie could have known. Despite the surreal nature of the events, I had no choice but to believe Luke, at least for the time being.

The two of us stood there, locked in a silent exchange, both seemingly at a loss for what to do next. The room felt charged with a mix of uncertainty, fear, and the weight of the revelation I had just received.

How could I return to my normal life when my best friend was trapped in a portal, presumably forever, and I had just discovered a shocking secret about my sister? The normalcy of my world had been shattered, replaced by a reality that was as confounding as it was frightening. I felt unmoored, adrift in a sea of questions with no land in sight.

The tension and surreal atmosphere in the room were abruptly interrupted by a solid knock at the front door. The sound was jarringly ordinary, a stark contrast to the extraordinary events that had just unfolded.

"Oh, I forgot I ordered pizza," Luke mentioned casually, as if our lives hadn't just been turned upside down.

"Pizza?" I repeated, my voice tinged with disbelief. The mundane reality of pizza delivery felt absurdly out of place in the midst of portals and family secrets.

As Duke began to stir, likely excited by the prospect of a visitor, Luke quickly scooped him up. "Hold him, please," Luke instructed, thrusting Duke into my arms before hurrying out of the room.

Returning to the kitchen while balancing the wriggling Duke and keeping an eye on Henri, I watched as Luke returned with three large pizza boxes, placing them on the kitchen bench. The normalcy of the act seemed almost comical now.

"You're going to eat three of them?" I asked, my voice laced with incredulity. The idea of consuming such a quantity of food seemed absurd, regardless of the circumstances.

Luke then opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Chardonnay, setting it alongside the pizzas. "Don't be silly," he said with a touch of his usual lightheartedness, reaching for a few wine glasses from the top cupboard. "Jamie and Paul are having some too."

"Of course they are," I muttered under my breath, my words laced with skepticism. Despite the uncertainty swirling within me, I found myself reaching for a wine glass. The familiar action provided a fleeting sense of normalcy.

Luke, with a nonchalance that seemed almost surreal under the circumstances, reached into his pocket and pulled out the strange device he had referred to as the Portal Key. Almost instantly, the far wall of the lounge room came to life, buzzing with the same vibrant electrical energy I had witnessed in the master bedroom. It was a sight that, despite its otherworldly beauty, now carried an undercurrent of apprehension for me.

"Remember, don't follow me," Luke reminded me, his tone serious yet calm as he collected the pizza boxes from the bench. "I'll be right back."

I watched, almost numbly, as Luke stepped through the mass of colours and vanished from sight. Left alone, I reached across the bench, unscrewed the wine bottle, and poured myself a glass. I held it to my nose, inhaling deeply. The scent was crisp and refreshing, a small comfort in a situation that defied belief. I took a gentle sip, savouring the taste, then allowed myself a larger gulp, a small act of necessity.

"Gladys!" Luke's voice suddenly rang out, breaking the brief solace I had found. I jumped slightly, startled by his abrupt return. "That wine was supposed to be for Jamie and Paul."

"There's still plenty left," I replied sourly, a tinge of annoyance in my voice as I screwed the lid back on the bottle and pushed it towards Luke's outstretched hand.

Luke grabbed the wine glasses with his other hand and disappeared into the portal once more. This time, I watched with a detached resignation as the wall returned to darkness behind him.

Feeling a twinge of disappointment that Luke had taken the wine, I turned my attention to the fridge. A small sigh of relief escaped me as I found a second bottle of Chardonnay. My glass was still mostly full, but I topped it up anyway, a slight indulgence that seemed more than warranted. It never hurts, I thought, trying to find some comfort in the familiar ritual of pouring a glass of wine.

"So much for being right back," I mumbled sarcastically to my empty glass, picking it up for another inspection. I watched the last drop of wine linger at the rim before shaking it over my open mouth, eager to savour every bit. Without hesitation, I poured myself a second glass, finding some solace in the crisp taste of the Chardonnay amidst the surreal events unfolding around me.

As I was making my way through the second glass, the lounge room wall suddenly buzzed to life again with its vibrant, colourful display. Luke reappeared from the portal, stepping back into the room as if returning from a casual errand.

"Well, it's lights out in Clivilius," he announced nonchalantly.

"Clivilius?" I echoed, the name sounding foreign and strange as it rolled off my tongue. I squinted at Luke, trying to make sense of his casual demeanour and the odd name he had just mentioned.

"That's the name of the place where Paul and Jamie are," Luke explained, gesturing towards the technicolour display on the wall behind him. Then, as abruptly as it had appeared, the array of colours vanished, leaving the wall in its usual plain charcoal colour.

Sitting on the stool at the island bench, glass in hand, I tried to process Luke’s news. Clivilius – a name as mysterious as the situation I found myself in. The reality of Paul and Jamie being in another place, possibly another world, called Clivilius, was hard to grasp. It felt like something out of a science fiction novel, yet here was Luke, speaking of it as if it were just another town.

"And what about the truck?" I inquired, swaying my wine glass towards the driveway where the truck, now a symbol of my unwitting involvement in this extraordinary situation, was parked.

"Nah, not tonight. It's getting far too dark to take the goods through the Portal. There's very little light on the other side. I've never seen nighttime like it," Luke explained with a hint of weariness in his voice. "I'll order you an Uber."

"Sure," I replied, trying to hide the mix of relief and lingering disbelief behind a veneer of nonchalance. The prospect of leaving the truck and its mysterious cargo for another day was a small comfort.

"Oh, and Gladys," Luke added, his expression turning serious. "You mustn't tell a soul about any of this. No one, okay?"

"Okay," I answered with a shrug, the absurdity of the situation rendering me somewhat speechless.

"Gladys, I mean it. Promise me, you won't tell anyone." Luke's insistence was almost palpable, his gaze locked onto mine, seeking confirmation.

"Not a soul," I repeated, rolling my eyes slightly as I took a final sip of my wine. The promise felt almost redundant. The whole episode, with portals, a place called Clivilius, and messages on water bottles, was so far-fetched that keeping it a secret seemed like the only plausible course of action. Who would believe such a tale?

The Uber ride home was short but felt like an eternity, the empty water bottle from Luke twirling idly in my hands. A creeping sense of terror began to wash over me, an inexplicable feeling that something was fundamentally wrong. The world as I knew it seemed to be tilting on its axis, leaving me with a sense of impending doom.

As the Uber pulled into my driveway, the dark, quiet house loomed before me. The absence of light from the windows confirmed what I had already suspected - Cody hadn't waited around for me. A pang of disappointment mixed with relief hit me; relief that I didn't have to explain my current state of mind.

Stumbling up the front steps, I fumbled with the keys and managed to open the door. The entry light flicked on, casting a harsh glow that did little to dispel the growing unease within me. My eyes felt heavy, burdened by the weight of the day's revelations, and my mind spun in circles, trying to make sense of it all. I knew the disorientation couldn't be attributed to the wine alone; I had only had a few glasses.

Then, without any warning, my legs gave out beneath me. I collapsed onto the floor, the water bottle escaping my grasp and spinning across the floor, startling one of the cats into a frenzied dash. I lay there, my back against the cold floor, legs awkwardly bent behind me. My eyes, wide open and unblinking, stared up at the spinning white ceiling above. It felt as if the room, the house, my entire world was spinning out of control.

And then, as suddenly as the vertigo had hit me, the world around me, already teetering on the edge of reality, slipped into darkness, enveloping me in its silent embrace.