Taylor closed the apartment door behind her and slowly sank to the floor of her home. Finally, she was home.

"Worst. Day. Ever!" she yelled in frustration, burying her head in her crossed arms.

And yet, the day had started so well. A sunny day, and for a change, she hadn't overslept. She usually always did. For Taylor, getting up in the morning or even just staying awake was terribly difficult. Why should she leave her warm bed when only her awful job in a dreary life awaited her? But today had been different. The sun had cheerfully smiled at her face – she must have forgotten to close the curtains – and suddenly she was wide awake. It felt like today would be a special day. Well, not really. The possibility of a pretty good day quickly turned into one of the worst days of her entire life. She didn't want to think about it anymore. She was home, it was over. Thankfully.

Taylor fought her way back to her feet and headed to the bathroom. If there was something halfway nice in her life, it was her apartment. It had been completely renovated just ten years ago, and it was a gift from her uncle. Her rich uncle. As cool as that might sound, she had never received much more from her uncle. Most of the time, she didn't hear from him at all, except for a few vacation photos from exotic countries. However, when he found out that his niece was going to college, he quickly bought an apartment near the campus. Completely paid off. She didn't have to worry about anything. Her uncle also knew that Taylor had dropped out of college two years ago. Nevertheless, she was allowed to keep the apartment.

The apartment consisted of five rooms. Living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, guest room (whatever she might need that for), and a small additional room that Taylor mostly used for studying during her college days. But now, it stands empty. As spacious as the apartment was, sometimes the 22-year-old felt quite cramped. Basically, she just went to work, hated it there, and then crawled back into her cave, which was called an apartment. Vacations or shopping sprees simply didn't exist in Taylor's life. Why should they? Why mingle with people when there was online shopping?

It wasn't that Taylor was afraid of people. She was a very introverted person, stressed by being anywhere or with anyone. She simply preferred to hide away in her apartment. Even if it sometimes felt like a prison. After all, she didn't have many friends either. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she hadn't really noticed a difference, except for the fact that she couldn't go to work. So Taylor spent all her time in her apartment.

No sooner had she removed her makeup than she suddenly heard a strange noise. Confused, Taylor opened the bathroom door and looked into her apartment. There was nothing. Had she imagined it? Just as she was about to close the door again, she heard another dull noise. Did that come from the empty room? Could it be a burglar? This place wasn't a dump, after all. It could be possible, right? She quietly darted into the kitchen and grabbed the first thing she could reach. A dirty plate she had left in the sink. Better than nothing.

Armed with the plate, she tiptoed towards the door to the supposedly empty room.

"Hello? Is someone there? Hello?" a male voice suddenly asked.

Great. Now she had lost the element of surprise. Nervously, she approached the door. What kind of burglar yells "Hello?" Anyway, at least she wasn't dealing with a very smart burglar.

"Where am I? Hello? What is this place?" came through the door again, this time sounding more panicked.

Taylor gathered all her courage, swung the door wide open, and pointed the plate into the room. In front of her stood a screaming young man. Taylor screamed back in fear. Both of them were screaming.

"Who are you?!" the man yelled, panicked.

"Wh-who I am?! Who are you?!" she retorted fearfully.

He probably wasn't a burglar. Or was he? He was wearing a college jacket. What kind of burglar wore a college jacket that could identify him? But then, what was he doing here?

"Why am I suddenly here?!" The man looked around the room, overwhelmed.

"What are you doing in my apartment?!" Taylor shouted, taking a step back.

"Your apartment?" he asked, confused. "No, no. I don't know why I'm suddenly here, but this is definitely not your apartment. It belongs to Brad! Even though it looks completely different now?!"

"Who the hell is Brad supposed to be?!"

"Who are you anyway?!" he retorted, equally confused.

"I want to know what you're doing here! How the hell did you get in?!" Taylor's fear was slowly turning into pure rage.

"Apart from the fact that I could ask you the same thing, I have no idea. I was suddenly here! Well, not suddenly... I was just hanging out at Brad's. Then suddenly everything went dark, Brad was gone. It was reeeeally dark for a long time. And suddenly I'm back here. But his stuff isn't here?! And what are you doing here?!"

"It's my apartment! I live here! Get out!"

"And Brad?!"

"I have no idea who Brad is supposed to be! I said, get out of here!" Taylor went behind the boy and tried to push him out, but he didn't budge an inch.

"Are you his secret girlfriend or something?"

"Secret girlfriend of whom?!" Taylor screamed incredulously. Ha, that would be nice.

"Well... Brad."

"For the last time, I have no idea who this Brad is supposed to be! And now get out!"

He was simply too strong to be pushed by the slender Taylor. He barely noticed. Confused, he stared out the window.

"So this is definitely Brad's apartment," he said, puzzled. "This is exactly the view of the university that Brad has from his apartment. Somehow... this is really creepy."

"Oh really?! Would you please just piss off already? Or I'll call the police!"

"Now wait a minute. What's your name anyway?" He went to the window, without even giving her a glance. "This is really weird."

Taylor had had enough. She pulled out her phone and dialed the police number.

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"Whoa, what's that?" her intruder exclaimed, impressed, as he examined her phone more closely.

"Back off!" she said frantically, holding her palm in front of his face.

As if he didn't understand what that was supposed to achieve, he stared at her hand perplexed. Then he gave Taylor a high-five, while smiling expectantly, as if to confirm if he did it right.

Shocked, she withdrew her hand as she held the phone to her ear. "What kind of... oh! Yes! There's a man in my apartment! 4329 Marison Drive, Unit 17! Please come quickly!"

"That's definitely Brad's address," he muttered.

"They're on their way!" she shouted triumphantly. "Don't you dare come any closer!"

It didn't even take two minutes before there was a thundering at the apartment door. Immediately, Taylor ran over and pointed to the room where she had just been holding her intruder at bay with the plate. "He's in there!"

The two policemen rushed in, but stopped abruptly. They looked at each other in confusion and then checked the other rooms. Had he escaped? He couldn't be far, since he couldn't get past the apartment door and it's too high for an escape through the window. Even she looked into the room again, and from there on it got really strange. He was still standing there, right? And looked just as confused as the policemen and Taylor.

"No, he's here! Still here!"

The policemen rushed back in, but they really didn't seem to see him.

"Madam, have you taken any substances?" one officer asked.

"What?! No! He's right there! Right in front of you!"

"And what should your imaginary friend's name be, please?" the other one said, now annoyed.

"Imaginary?" the boy asked, even more confused now.

"Why don't you arrest him then?! I don't know who he is, but he definitely doesn't belong in my apartment! He's clearly a burglar!"

"I'm Colby...?" the boy muttered towards the policemen. He was starting to get really scared now. Especially since they didn't react at all. Or even look at him.

"And? Does he have a name now?" one of them asked again.

"He just said, Colby, it seems!" Taylor shouted frantically.

"Oh, Colby. And then?" the other officer asked.

"Vance," Colby replied, taking a step closer to the policemen. "Colby Vance," he said louder, hoping to get a reaction, but to no avail. "They're just looking at you," he muttered to Taylor.

"Colby Vance?!" she repeated.

Suddenly, both policemen burst into laughter, their demeanor becoming much more relaxed. What kind of game was this?

"Colby Vance. The Colby Vance. Yes, of course. Colby Vance is in your apartment. Absolutely. I'm always up for a joke, but you'd better not try this with cops again. For today, we'll just give you a warning," one officer explained, wiping tears of laughter from his face. His partner apparently didn't agree but chose not to say anything. Then they headed towards the door. "Enjoy your time with Colby Vance," the laughing policeman said goodbye, waving, and the other followed him.

"What was that all about?" Colby asked.

"You're asking me?! Obviously, they know you! Nevertheless, get out!"

"But I don't know them."

"Shut up and get out! Even a friend of the police can't just break into other people's apartments!"

"I've already explained it to you. I didn't break in. I was at Brad's and then everything-"

"If I hear that name one more time, I might as well call the police again. Because then I'll be committing murder on you!"

"Slowly, I'm really getting scared. Why couldn't they see me? I mean, what were they on? And where do I get that stuff?" Colby said, bewildered.

"Are you serious? Aren't you in the middle of exams right now?" Taylor said disgustedly, staring at his college jacket.

"No, those were last month. In April."

"It's April."

Colby stepped back in disbelief and thought. "You're really scaring me, you know? It's May."

"No, here. Look." She held out her phone to him.

"Oh, this thing again. Is that the date up there?"

"Are you Amish or something?"

"The fuck, no? Not everyone has such high-tech stuff, you know? I'm not a nerd."

"But you're not exactly in our time either. Everyone has a phone, of course."

"That's supposed to be a phone?! This thin thing there?!"

"Yeah? What does yours look like, if not like that?"

He reached into his jacket pocket. "Well, like... this. Where's my phone?"

"Please just leave." Taylor was no longer afraid by now. She was just annoyed. What was wrong with him? Doesn't know about regular phones and thinks it's May? Wait. No, that couldn't be, could it? "Colby, right? That was the name."

"Yeah," he mumbled as he continued to search his jacket pocket for his phone. "They're all empty? Where's my..."

He looked at Taylor. "My chewing gum. Uh, yeah. Chewing gum. Where's my chewing gum?" Definitely no weed.

Taylor could hardly believe she was about to ask this question. "Colby, what year is it?"

Colby looked disgusted and confused at the same time. "What's this all about now?"

"Just answer."

"2003. Are you going crazy too, or what?"

Taylor took a deep breath. "Colby. It's not 2003. It's 2023."

"Nonsense! Geez, you're really off your rocker. I'll just gather my stuff and get out of here, okay? Agreed? This is getting too weird for me."

Then Taylor had an idea. "What if... the police officers really didn't know you personally. But that doesn't mean they don't know you. Well, know of you. Like celebrities." It was all impossible, but she couldn't think of any other possibility. Because honestly, this Colby didn't seem like a lunatic either. Maybe a bit dim-witted, but not insane.

"Celebrity? Me? Yeah, right," he said incredulously, pushing past Taylor.

What she saw then made her scream in shock. As Colby passed through the door frame, he collided with it shoulder-first. Only, he didn't bounce off the door frame. His shoulder went straight through. Any normal person would have gotten stuck there. But his shoulder went through the wall and came out on the other side of the door frame, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

His quick turn due to her scream made him scream too. In shock, because she was screaming. He was actually easily startled. Both of them screamed.

"What is it?!" he squeaked in panic.

"Y-your shoulder!"

He jumped straight up in the air in fright and quickly shook his shoulders. "What?! What's there?!"

"Y-your shoulder went through the door! Well... not through the door! Through the frame!"

Colby relaxed. So it wasn't a spider. At least that was something. But then it clicked in his brain, and he gave Taylor a glare.

"So, you smoked my weed. Is that it?" he asked, offended.

"Y-your what?! No! Y-you can go through walls!"

"I've told Brad so many times," he muttered irritably. "He shouldn't give any to his chicks, they go completely crazy."

Taylor stood there with her mouth open. He didn't just say that. Forget about the wall thing. Now it was getting ugly. "Excuse me, did you just seriously call me a chick? Do you want to get punched?" Her eyes grew sharper. He wasn't getting away with that.

"Well... under normal circumstances, yeah." His eyes traveled down to her shoes and then back up to Taylor's eyes. "But not when you're on such a trip. But call me when you're not high."

"Did you just check me out?! Are you okay?!"

"At least I am." He turned around again and looked on the kitchen counter to see if his phone was there.

"Me?! Who can go through walls?! You or me?!" Taylor exclaimed.

"Neither of us. And please don't try it. I know you're thinking in your stoned brain that you have some kind of superpowers, but please don't try it. I've been through all this before. Multiple times. Don't worry, it'll pass." He stood against the kitchen wall. "Here, let me prove it to you." He tried to lean his hand against the wall, but to his shock, he fell straight through the wall into the bathroom.

Taylor stood there with wide eyes. Again. There. He did it again.

After a few seconds, Taylor heard his panicked scream from the bathroom, before he walked back through the wall.

"What the hell?!"

"I told you so!" she screamed. She remembered her theory from earlier and stressed out, grabbing her head. She turned pale. But of course. "Oh, shit! You're a damn ghost!" How was that possible?

"The fuck?! No?! Or?! I think I'm going crazy!" Colby put his hand against the wall again. It went right through it, but it only made him more panicked.

Taylor sank back to the floor, just like before when she came home. She pulled out her phone again and googled his name. Colby Vance. It didn't take long before she dropped her phone.

"What. What?! What did you read on your fancy device?!" Colby walked over to the phone and picked it up, not really sure how to hold it properly. "W-what the..."

"Oh, a-and how you're a ghost," Taylor whispered tensely, remembering the first search result. This couldn't all be true. How could this be true? There was a picture of Colby. He looked just like he did now. But how? The title of the article was:

The COLBY VANCE Case, Presumed Murdered and Buried: All Clues and Insights, 20 Years Later