I Returned, and Now I See Strange Things Novel

A massive stranger stands in the middle of the street, crying like the world has shattered. Times have shifted while I was away in that other place, so I've learned to accept change. People grieve differently now. But this man—his arms wrapped around my leg, sobbing, sniffling—and we've never exchanged a single word? Even by modern standards, that's deeply unhinged.

I shook him off immediately. His desperation was suffocating, and his proximity was unbearable.

"What's wrong with you? Bawling because you spotted a ghost?"

"N-no! Please believe me! It was real! It's right there—you have to see it!!"

I almost dismissed him entirely. Here he was, pleading for help while looking down on me simply because I appear young. Typical. I'm not the one who fell apart. He is.

Yet when I glanced toward where he pointed...

Something was undeniably there.

I pulled out coarse salt from my jacket and scattered it across the ground. I looked again. The man stared at me like I'd completely lost my mind. I ignored his judgment.

...Yeah. Something was absolutely there.

It turned its head in my direction.

And then—eye contact.