Jake gave his last lesson and was now standing over them, watching them sleep. On one hand, he had a big wad of cash and on the other hand, he had a bar of half-eaten chocolate. Before continuing his search he wanted to finish his chocolate first. Instead of putting the money down, he did something else entirely.

He moved his money hand forward in front of him and a second later a dark blip appeared in front of his hand which then grew to the size of a small sphere. Not too big, just wide enough that you could put your hand inside. From the side, it only appeared as a thin black line, from the front a small circle of darkness.

Jake moved his hand with the money forward until it entered the sphere and disappeared. It did not come out from the other side, just disappeared inside the darkness. When he pulled his hand back out, it was empty, the money had disappeared from his hand. The sphere then shrank back to its initial blip size and then fizzled out of existence, leaving nothing behind. Jake sat back down on the swing with the chocolate in hand and a frown on his face.

'Why is my empty?'

While putting the money inside the sphere Jake noticed that it was completely empty, well almost empty. It still had the old gift that Jake had put inside of it, other than that all of his assets in the pocket were gone.

Jake had brought a lot of stuff from the other world with him. There were a lot of weapons that he had brought with him, his personal weapons as well as others that he had collected. A lot of gold, jewels, jewelry, and clothes that he had bought for Sylvia and Ellen as well. There were also a lot of potions and a whole lot of other stuff that he had collected over the years, now lost forever.

As he licked the wrapper of the chocolate, the only conclusion he reached was that the reason could only be the spell that brought him back. He had to cross time and space to come back to Earth. He was affected by time as he was well aware now, this meant that he was also affected by space.

was a magic spell that Jake and Jaffer had created together in the other world. It was mostly done by Jaffer and Jake only helped a little as he was a total noob in space magic. Jake provided all that he knew and could remember from his study days about physics and the laws of physics. It was not only Physics but other subjects as well. Jake taught him whatever he could remember from anything that he had read over the course of his life.

After studying such laws and being enlightened by them Jaffer created this pocket dimension of space that can only be accessed by the user. It is used to store inanimate objects inside. It might not have been the primary reason that Jaffer was going for but it made for a pretty awesome storage space that was private.

Jake thought that his pocket was affected by the travel and lost everything that he had brought from that place, other than this old gift that belonged to Earth.

Jake finished his chocolate and stood up, ready to continue his search. He was not really worried about it at this point, no use crying over lost riches. The weapons, money, and clothes can be bought again although they won't be the same, he can make the potions as well so it was not really a loss as far as he was concerned. With his frustration and anger vented and the chocolate eaten, it was time to move on.

...…

You are going about your day-to-day and then something really bizarre happens to you, what would you do? Try to forget about it right? Well, Lina tried to do the same thing. It had happened only a few hours ago but she tried her best to forget about it but how could she? It is not something that happens every day. She had planned to unwind that day not knowing that today would be the day she would be the most wound up she has ever been.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Lina had planned the whole evening for herself from food to entertainment. Fried chicken and beer, a combo that would one day be the death of her, paired with this new drama that had just been released. That plan went down the drain because now she was a bit too depressed to eat her favorite meal. She just made some instant ramen and watched tv.

She then took a long and relaxing bath to put this all behind her, to wake up the next day as fresh as possible. She lay in bed trying her best to fall asleep but all she got was tossing and turning in bed unable to sleep. She was still thinking about the stranger who cried on her doorstep. The feeling that she might have done something that pushed someone over the edge was keeping her awake.

She got up from bed, grabbed a notebook, and wrote down the names that the stranger was speaking of, Sylvia and Ellen. Tomorrow she will call the realtor and confirm the names from him and be rid of these self-inflicted feelings of guilt. She made a note and went to bed to catch the ever elusive sleep.

She went to bed again but never found sleep, what she got was more tossing and turning with the blanket. She looked at the clock and it was past midnight and she could not sleep. She wanted to sleep but the curiosity was keeping her awake and there was no other way now.

She got up and opened her mobile. It was pretty late in the night but there was still a chance that the realtor might be up and about. She dialed the number of her realtor, preparing herself to hear an angry realtor tell her off.

"Hello? Miss Lina? Is everything okay? Why are you calling me in the middle of the night? Is something wrong?"

"Uh yes hello Mr. Ben, I am very sorry for disturbing you so late in the night. I am fine and there is no problem with me. I just wanted to ask you something if you don't mind, could you tell me a little bit about the tenants that were living in this house before me? You told me about them before but I kind of forgot their names."

"What! Previous tenants? Are kidding me miss Lina? Is this a joke? If it is then it is not a funny one."

"No Mr. Ben I am not trying to mess with you, I really want to know their names."

"Let me put it this way Ms. Lina, one of my tenants calls me in the middle of the night and my first thought is obviously that there might be some problem. Maybe their house was broken into or maybe they got robbed or attacked. I am worried about your safety and well-being as I pick up this phone and you are asking me about the people that lived in your house before? May I ask why the sudden interest in the previous tenants, in the middle of the night?"

The realtor was obviously angry at Lina for pulling a stunt like this. He was right to get angry at her for doing this, after all, it was an odd thing for anyone to do. She should have waited till the morning but she was just too curious and sleepless to wait till morning.

"I am so sorry Mr. Ben, I know it is very late and everything but what happened was really bugging me…."

She told him the whole story about what happened to her today. The strange man that came to her house looking for his family and what followed. Especially how she told him that his family might be dead. After listening to the story he calmed down and finally understood why she did, what she did.

"I guess that was quite unusual for someone to go through. Let me check my records for a sec and I will tell you their names. As far as I remember after their death some family members came forward and handled their belongings from the house. I am not sure if he really is a family member because I have met them all.

Although I am giving you their names if the man comes again don't tell him immediately and call me or better yet call the police. A relative or not we don't know what his reaction might be to whatever you tell him."

"Thank you for all your help. I just want to make sure that I get the names right in case he comes back."

"It's fine really, no problem at all. Ah yes found them. Two years ago there was a mother living there with her daughter. They were in a horrible accident on the freeway and died. The mother's name was Jill and the daughter was Katy."

"Jill and Katy got it. Thank you very much for your help Mr. Ben and I am sorry for disturbing you this late."

"It's fine, it was no problem. Just take care of yourself and tell me if he comes back."

"Got it, bye."

Lina ended the call and put her phone down and heaved a sigh of relief. She took a look at the notebook and was relieved that the names were different. Now she was almost sure that the stranger's family was alive or rather not the dead tenants before her at least.

'Sylvia and Ellen. Thank god they are not dead. Well, whoever you are and wherever you are, I hope that you are alive and well. Someone is frantically searching for you.'

"I hope you find them soon, Mister!"