It was the weekend.

Time for doing homework then relaxing and recharging before school. Wash the uniform, touch some grass while it dries, and chill out with friends. But I couldn't do either, thinking about what Alex told me.

"He lives in my body, in another world..." She said that with a straight face and was talking about my brother. Just what on earth was her deal? Was she serious or sick in the head? I was so shocked I left her there and ran to the station.

No, I learned my lesson and looked both ways before crossing the streets. But I couldn't stop thinking about it on my way back, and ever since. The weekend flew by before I realized it.

"Can't believe she's like that," I mumbled, lying on my bed.

She was such a beauty though, it was a shame, she had a screw loose. Or did she? Other than digging up my brother's stuff in his room, I could not think of a way to prove what she said. It was still how he left it, untouched, other than his stuff from his apartment being piled on top of his bed. And on top of it all was his phone resting quietly. It was trivial for me, to turn it on and unlock it, but I felt terrible doing so.

I swore not to check his browser history. Every man should have that much privacy, even in their deaths. But looking for some kind of journal he may or may not have written seemed fine.

"Emi, come and take your clothes! The dryer finished." My mom shouted, and I almost dropped the phone. Phew, that scared me.

If Alexandra was sick in the head, I was probably too. And I was out of luck, Nathan did not write a diary. He did have a runner app installed, that was permanently turned on for some reason. I could follow his footsteps in his last days before he died, and I quickly realized, that he visited that park Alex had taken me, to just a day earlier.

Well, this didn't prove anything, she could have just guessed it. Or maybe she was stalking my brother. Yeah, right, a hot girl would follow him around. I couldn't imagine it the other way around either, Nate never seemed interested in girls, which was great, because I would have been jealous, knowing myself. I was already freaked out when he announced, that he won't go to the university from home.

"Emi!" My mother yelled again, and I had to run downstairs.

"What was so urgent?" I mumbled, rolling my eyes, but always the hero, I made sure she couldn't hear me. It was a few panties, socks, and my school uniform. I could have brought them upstairs later too. I was still holding onto my brother's phone without even realizing it. As I grabbed my clothes I accidentally tapped the browser's icon. The page he visited last automatically reopened, and as the music started I almost dropped everything. An old band was playing, dressed as hippies.

"Turn down the volume." My mom grumbled, not like I did that on purpose. I hit pause instead and quickly rushed out in the back. My heart was beating like crazy. What was that about? I grabbed my headphones, and plugged them into his phone, before restarting the song.

"Roll up! Roll up for the Mystery Tour!"

I was in our back garden, staring at a big hole in the fence. There was a rarely used alley between all the semi-detached houses. Sometimes we would run away from home, me and my brother, for whatever reason, like if we argued with our parents or were in a bad mood. We went on an adventure when we were smaller, or slipping out of the house during curfew. A large black cat was sitting in front of it now. I hadn't seen it around before, the way it looked, as if it was calling me.

"Roll up! That's an invitation! Roll up for the Mystery Tour!"

I wasn't exactly dressed to go outside, but I had my school uniform in my hands. Only thinking about it for a split second, I hastily put it on top of my casual indoor clothing. I only had my slippers on, but the cat decided to move when I considered stepping back inside for my shoes. I had to run through that opening, if I didn't want to miss them. I just dropped my freshly-dried socks and other clothes near the door.

My legs moved on their own, following that feline on a whim. I didn't even need to look where I was heading. Straight along the alley, out behind the old corner shop, I've been through these places hundreds of times. Right across the street, and alongside the park, it was always crowded on the weekends, and when the weather was nice.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

So we usually avoided it, me and my brother, and as it seemed, the cat did too. There was a small stream, flowing between the park and some local gardening areas, that's where it went instead. It was at the bottom of a narrow valley and was more or less secluded from its surroundings. The roads had to cross it on short, but tall bridges, that we used as our bases.

"Roll up! To make a reservation! Roll up for the Mystery Tour!"

There were three bridges, about half a mile between each. Depending on how pissed, sad, or adventurous we felt, we would pick one to camp underneath. We chose the first bridge if we didn't want to go far. It had been some time since I visited the place, now it was full of trash. The cat looked disgusted, navigating carefully between the junk thrown all over. No, it was not stopping here. Whatever got into me, I wanted to go much further than that too.

The second one was made of bricks, covered in ivy. It was kept much cleaner, but the little black creature was still not slowing down. Now I regretted not bringing my shoes instead, the grass was wet near the stream, and I had to be careful not to slip into the water.

"Roll up! They have everything you need! Roll up for the Mystery Tour!" The song kept blasting. I set it to repeat as I set out for my random journey, and the cat would not slow down like it was possessed or something. Once we left the second bridge, I ran at full speed to keep up with it. Did it finally have enough of me, and try to get away? But then if I stopped, I heard it meowing, almost as if it were urging me to hurry up, so I did. It reminded me of someone.

The third and last bridge in the area belonged to a busy road. It had four lanes, was relatively wide and noisy too, but it always helped us to calm down. Once it got quieter, we knew, we were out too long and should start heading back. Coming here alone now was strange, although I did come here with a cat. Someone was waiting for it under the bridge. It was hard to tell who or what, standing in the shadow.

"Roll up! Satisfaction Guaranteed! Roll up for the Mystery Tour!"

I wasn't about to stop now if I already come all this way. When the cat got near enough, the figure moved to greet it, and I could hear it purr even from this far. Once I got close enough, I could see the long black hair, and the cat ears on the headband. I walked right into her trap.

It seemed unlikely to be a coincidence, but there was no way a stranger would know about this place, or that a lunatic could lure me here using a cat as bait. If she said, she had magical powers and shared her shell with my brother in another world, now I was tempted to believe her. Either that or I was the crazy one for following a cat here.

"The Magical Mystery Tour is hoping to take you away!"

"I hope you don't mind, Emi." Alexandra greeted me with a wide smile. The cat was also meowing at me. "Tails says hi too. I hoped we could talk but I didn't want to freak you out again."

"This was probably the best way to do just that though." I shrugged, petting the cat. Tails were purring even louder now, but its behavior was a bit strange for a feline. "Sorry for running away last time, but it was a lot to take in. So what did you want to talk about?"

"No worries, I can't blame you." The girl noted, putting down her four-legged companion. It was not wasting time, starting to rub its furry sides against my legs. "In my world, I could easily demonstrate to you, that I'm telling the truth, but since this one doesn't have magic, there is only so much I can do. And I thought this way could be the most convincing. Simple, but effective, am I right?"

The cat answered with a meow, and I had to agree too. Walking along the old path we always took, I doubted my brother would ever share this secret place with anyone else. And if there was even a minuscule chance of seeing him again, I wanted to take it, even if that meant putting my trust into the hands of a potential lunatic.

"There are some rules in this world that limit my options to be honest," Alexandra stated. I just waited for her explanation. "For example, I can bring things into this place, like that homunculus."

She pointed at the cat lying on its back, and now I was sure, there was something wrong with it.

"But I can't take anything with me on my way back. Nothing, that once materialized in this world. So I can't take my phone, clothes, or even my body." She said, and I tried my best to make sense of it. "This means, that when I travel back, this body will remain here and be taken over by an artificial mind, a homunculus. Back home, my soul will inhabit a different shell, the same as it happened to your brother."

"His body broke here, and you took his soul," I concluded, what I gathered from the last time we spoke. "And over there, he moved into your original shell, am I getting this correctly?"

"Yes, exactly." She seemed happy, that I managed to put the pieces together. "So if I were to take someone else with me, who still has a functioning body, and would potentially want to come back later. I'd need someone to take over it in the meantime. Someone, like Tails."

"Riiiight, you want a cat to take over my body, got it." I nodded slowly, waiting for where this would go. She continued immediately.

"Apart from that, I would have to give you a body over there, and I won't make the same mistake as last time. I will do it properly." She claimed, whatever that was supposed to mean. "So if you don't mind me taking a good look at you, turn around slowly."

I did what I was told, trying not to freak out. But this was my chance. She nodded, looking satisfied, when I turned all the way around.

"So, I'm not saying you have to, but..." She started, but I didn't let her finish. My heart was about to burst out of my chest.

"Please, take me to my brother."