Afterwards, Mira flew back to my house and everything returned to normal. My parents were back, asleep in their bed. All the people that went missing turned back up and it seemed there were no memories of them ever going missing. And the stars were back in the skies.

“I have to run some diagnostics on the ship, don’t worry I’ll be back before you know it!” Those were the last words she told me before she took off back into space.

I waited patiently day after day hoping for the day she came back to pick me up. But that day never came. Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, and then months into years. The stupidest part of the whole thing was I actually believed her when she said that.

It’s now been 10 years since those events and a lot of things have changed.

Strangely no one ever remembered the period of time that there were no stars in the sky. All the history books, people, documentaries, and shows seemed to never mention the starless skies again. There were only a few that did seem to remember this strange phenomenon, but they were nonetheless, boiled down to crazy conspiracy theorists or insane.

I still remembered everything that happened. I tried to explain it to my parents and friends but no one ever believed me. It was always the same responses:

“That’s some imagination…”

“Don’t be silly, stars have always been around…”

“Aren’t you too old to still have imaginary friends?”

Eventually I gave up trying to tell others and just kept to myself. It was easy too, especially in middle school and high school when everyone in town knew me as “that one weird space kid.”

But I didn’t mind, actually ended up preferring that than having a whole bunch of fake friends that just talked behind my back. And as soon as I knew it, I graduated highschool and was in college now.

I moved from that town I was born in and moved to New Jersey, after getting accepted into Princeton. And now I’m 19, studying physics, and living on my own in a small apartment.

Life’s been pretty good, a bit boring, but good. Most importantly, it was peaceful though. No scary aliens, no weird alien spaceships, and most importantly no more putting my life in danger. I’ve grown accustomed to this life and I eventually accepted the fact that she was never going to come back for me.

That was up until…

It started out as just any other normal day. Had breakfast, got ready, went to class, avoided everyone, and went back home. Nice and simple. No hassle, no confrontations, just peace.

But that was when…

I found a mysterious box sitting in front of my front door. There was a letter on the box,I picked it up and read it.

“To Jae, I know I messed up in the past, so please accept my present.”

I opened the box but it was empty. On top of that there was no name from who it was from. My mind started to race with people that would have sent it to me, but I didn’t know that many people. I decided to ignore the letter, throwing the empty box in the corner of my room, and continued on with my day.

I was in the middle of my afternoon routine of watching the evening news on TV. The report was about missing person’s cases near my university. Apparently people have been going missing around Wescott Road. The news was going into deep details about each scene when I heard a sudden knock!

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

It startled me, I wasn’t expecting anyone to be in front of my apartment at this time. I didn’t invite anyone to my apartment, and I didn’t have any friends that would just come and check up on me randomly.Could it have been whoever sent me that box?

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KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

I didn’t know who it was, but whoever was outside was getting very annoying. They only had to knock once, as I had already gotten up to see who was at the door. They knocked again…

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

I was getting really annoyed by now. I was already at the door when they knocked again. I was about ready to burst open the door mid knock and hit whoever was on the other side, but I gained my composure at the last second.

Instead, I chose to look through the peephole. Leaning in closer, my right eye was able to see who was knocking on the other side. And to my surprise and horror it was-

“JAE!” It was Mira… and she hadn’t aged a single day. She banged on the door again as she yelled: “I know you’re in there! Open up!”

She put her eye to the peephole, and for a second our eyes met. I quickly withdrew and put my back against the door.

What was she doing here? And how did she find me? I didn’t want to see her again, especially not after last time. I was enjoying my peaceful life, so why did she have to show up again?

“If you don’t open the door, I’m going to blow it open!” She yelled. I didn’t respond, I guess I was just hoping she would assume no one was home but… “Alright! You’re giving me no choice!”

Mira pointed the device on her wrist towards the door. “One! Two! Thre-”

“Wait!” I opened the door slightly and peeked outside. “Wait-”

“Well see, that was easy enough!” She lowered her arm. “Well aren’t you going to let me in?”

“What are you doing here?” I stayed behind the cover of the door. “How’d you find me?”

“What am I doing here?” She replied looking a bit puzzled by my question. “Isn’t that obvious? I told you I was going to come back for you!”

“That was ten years ago!” I felt frustration starting to swell up.

“Yeah things got wonky- with a time distortion thing and-” She could tell I wasn’t interested in her excuses. “But anyways… I’m here now so let’s go!”

She tried giving me a smile but I wasn’t buying it. She stood there awkwardly for a minute before continuing: “Okay! I’m sorry I’m a little late!”

“A little?!” I exclaimed. “It’s been ten years!”

“You’re right…you’re right… and I’m sorry…” She looked sincere when she said that, but I was still on my toes. “Look, can we just go inside and I can explain and apologize for everything?”

I was still skeptical, but against my better judgment I let her in.

She ran straight down the hallway into my living room. She gave a couple spins before running around every corner of the room.

“Wow! So this is where you live!” She had a look of amazement on her face. “So cool!”

“I guess…” I didn’t understand why she was so amazed, it was just any other boring old apartment.

“Wait- do you live here by yourself?” She stared me deep in the eyes, as serious as you could get.

“Yeah?” I wondered why she would ask me a question like that. “Why?”

This is the first time I’m in a boy’s room! And I’m all alone with him! She must have thought as her face got bright red, like a tomato. She turned her head away and abruptly shouted: “Just wondering!”

I chuckled to myself a bit. This was the first time I saw Mira like this. I still had vivid memories of when I first met her and our adventure together. It all still seemed like it just happened yesterday-

Get a hold of yourself! I gave a light slap to my face to regain composure. Remember how she left you by yourself.

The years of waiting and torment of being called crazy, and she just shows up now? Like no time had passed for her!

“So why are you really here?” I asked her. I think she could tell I wasn’t happy with her presence as her expression grew blue.

“Okay look, I’ll be straight with you…” She started. “Like I said when we first met, my wristwatch has been acting wonky lately.”

“How does that relate to this?” I asked.

“Everything!” She pointed to the device. “This thing let’s me travel to any point in history! Any point you can think of!”

“And?” I responded coldly.

“Well it's kinda been glitchy, been taking me to the wrong parts of time…” She awkwardly laughed to herself. “Like I wasn’t even supposed to have met you till now…”

“So let me get this straight…” I was trying to comprehend everything she just said. “When I first met you, that was an accident too?”

“Yep! Basically!” She responded a bit too quickly and with a smile too. “Wait but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t glad to have met-”

“Forget it!” I interrupted her, upset. So it was just one giant mistake when I met her. If that was the case I didn’t want anything to do with her anymore. “Why did you send me that box then?!”

“The box?” I was already pushing her towards the door as she kept trying to resist. “What box are you talking about? I didn’t send you a-”

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

Her words were interrupted by another sudden knock at the door. We both froze still as she leaned in and whispered to me: “Were you expecting anybody?”

I shook my head no, and our attention both turned towards the door. And slowly but loudly with the same rhythm, we heard again:

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!