Nora moved in front of him, nudging Benny aside. The man made a noise of non-compliance, but allowed her act.

“Listen to me, Gary,” she told him, gazing into his eyes again as her hands cupped his cheeks. “You’re afraid, and that’s understandable. Coming here was traumatic. The whole journey here was traumatic. We understand. But you weren’t the only one this has happened to. And this time it went wrong. There wasn’t a trade. There isn’t another Amy coming here like our Amy went there.  That means she’s lost in light, in that place.  And we won’t be able to figure out when or where the hole will open again I you don’t help us.”

No one came back.  She’s lost in there.

“Who do you see when you look in the mirror, Gary,” she asked. “Is it you all the time, or is it sometimes him?”

Him. The other him. The other Gary. He shook his head. Not anymore, not for a long time.

“He can’t do it,” Frank advised. “He’s too scared. It’ll bugger up everything. What now?”

Nora turned her head saying, “you’re not helping Frank,” then she turned back.

“You have to go in there,” she started again, voice gentle, kind. “There’s a girl, Gary. And the only one who can make sure she comes back home, is you. We need you to help us find her. Do you understand? Do you remember what you did? Do you remember how it happened?”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

Looking into her eyes calmed him. Gary couldn’t help but nod. He remembered now. Remembered some of it, maybe most of it. He stopped flinching.

“It wasn’t the trip,” he confessed. “It was there, it was them. My parents. Pete. I can’t go back there. They’ll be there. He’ll-”

“You’re all grown up now,” Nora reminded him. “You have nothing to fear from them now, you’re too big, you’re a man. But the girl, Amy, she’s only seven years old, and she’s all alone. There isn’t another her. We have to bring her back because you need two to make the crossing. Remember? You weren’t alone in there. You had help. A friend. A brother. Another Gary. Another you.”

Gary could feel tears coming to his eyes. No, he hadn’t been alone. He had met himself. He had passed himself. Two of him, one leaving one coming. The solution. He had promised himself everything would be all right. That the Pete he was coming back to wouldn’t hurt him. Wouldn’t dare.

Gary felt himself begin to nod. He understood. He let out a breath, allowed some of the tension, the terror to ease.

“There’s a girl in there?” he asked. “She’s lost? We’re here to find her?”

“It’s what we do,” Benny told him. “We need your help to find her or she will be lost between, with the kind of things you saw there. Sorry to force this on you at the last moment. We needed it to work this time.”

“What if I don’t come back?” Gary said. “If I’m the only one of me in there.”

“There’s already been two of you.” Frank told him. “There always are. You’ll be fine. You’ll go in, and you’ll come back out.”

Gary nodded. No child should ever get trapped inside that world of the lights.  Not without another him or her to make the exchange.  That’s what he’d been told.

“Okay,” he told them, getting back up to his feet. “Do I go alone, then?”

“Hell no,” Frank stated, loosening his grip. “You’re our way in. And you’re our way out. So please, don’t let go. This time, you’ll have a whole team to help make things right.”