The owner of the stall was dressed much like the person I’d seen earlier- and shared the same Southeast Asian features I’d noticed earlier. No doubt he was a bit startled by my strange appearance, but like any experienced merchant, did not let it show on his face before a potential customer.

He was selling fruit which sort of looked like pears from back home but had a slightly bluish hue to them. “I uh, have come from somewhere far away, does this money work here?” I took out my wallet. I didn’t have much cash in it, given that you can do so much with credit cards and online banking. However, from what I had seen of this place, there wasn’t even any electricity, let alone anything that could resemble a credit card payment terminal.

The man took the five dollar bill I handed him and examined it with some interest, though he handed it back to me. “I can’t read what’s on it, but that won’t pass for money here. Three-tenths of a Denarius for a quarter kilogram is the going rate, if you’re wondering.”

I then noticed something I hadn’t earlier - the man’s lip movements were not matching what he said. I was hearing English, but he was almost definitely not speaking English. For whatever reason this handy translation feature didn’t apply to anything written down, as I couldn’t read what the sign over his stall said. I didn’t think that the man I had spoken to earlier near the alleyway was speaking English either.

“How about these?” I asked him. I had some loose change which I handed over. He looked at them closely before shaking his head and handing them back to me. No dice there.

I spent the next few hours walking up and down the road, looking at the stalls, and asking anyone whose attention I could get if they knew a way back home. I didn’t see rows of doors leading to other dimensions anywhere, and while most people were vaguely interested enough in what I had to say by the time I started rambling about a different world and cars and whatnot, at that point, if they were nice they would suddenly remember they had to go somewhere and walk off. If they were rude, they would just call me a lunatic, and if they were especially unpleasant or just having a bad day, threaten to punch me.

I saw several things that you couldn’t find on Earth. I saw a person lighting up a stove with his bare hands - so magic seemed to be a thing here. When I asked around where I was, I managed to figure out that I was in a city called Arconia, which was a city in a kingdom called Chipker. I had never heard of those names before, and likewise, no one here had heard of my address before either.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Everyone I saw was a human who had the same Southeastern Asian features, or a lizardman.

After looking around, I also saw what looked like a different script from the odd hieroglyphic-like writing that I had seen earlier. I couldn’t read it either though as I didn’t even recognize any of the letters.

The day dragged on with no progress having been made to find a way back home. My stomach growled, but none of the stalls would take the money that I had. By sundown, the market had closed, and I was left wandering the streets, feeling tired and defeated.

I found a quiet corner under a tree somewhere, and then nearly passed out as I slumped onto the ground. My legs ached as I had walked far more than I was used to. I couldn’t even remember the last time I’d had to walk around this much.

Despite everything else that was going on, I couldn’t help but think of home - and not just because a warm room and a meal would be waiting for me there; things that I could normally take for granted. No, I was wondering about how much time had passed since I had left. Were my parents worried about me? Perhaps they would call the police when they realized I hadn’t shown up, and they would find my car parked near the library. Then they would look for me in the library, and if that door still worked, more people would find their way here to this world.

Was that a good thing? I mean, all that would accomplish would be that there were more people like me in this world. But perhaps we could find a way to survive together even if there wasn’t a way back. I would at the very least appreciate a friendly face, if nothing else.

Would the door even work now? I hadn’t seen it earlier despite having been to that library multiple times, but I really hoped that it hadn’t just appeared only for me.

Yeah, I just needed to take a quick nap, and help would be arriving soon.

My last thoughts drifted to Cheddar before I dozed off. “Sorry buddy couldn’t make it for your birthday…” Sure, he was a dog and didn’t really understand the fact that it was his birthday or what that meant, but the main thing was that he would’ve been so happy to see me again.

We had only been apart a few months, though to a dog; that must’ve felt like a lifetime. Heck, even to me, it felt like a lifetime.

I was jolted awake as someone splashed water on my face. “Get up!”

I got up, groggy and not sure of where I was. Had it all been a dream? I hoped so, but as I came to I saw that I was still under that very same tree, and a very angry-looking lizardman was glaring at me. He was the source of the water that had me soaked and feeling cold.

He sounded quite angry. It was hard to tell facial expressions with the lizardman, but I thought I could see his eyes narrow and nostrils flare up.

“Who said you could sleep here? Get out!” Apparently he owned the place including this garden with the tree in it, and I had fallen asleep on his property. I muttered a hasty apology as I walked as far away from him as quickly as I could, while I could hear him muttering about how he should’ve built a fence to keep people out a long time ago.