After the little girl stopped crying, Allen knelt beside her.
"What's your name?" he asked gently.
"Mimi," she replied.
"Well, Mimi, my name is Allen. What do you mean you were born in 1957? That would make you thirty years old. That's impossible."
Mimi wiped her eyes.
"I was walking to Springville Elementary School this morning," she said. "Then I heard someone chanting, 'Grass Man, Grass Man, come, come, come.' I got scared and ran in the opposite direction through the tall grass."
She pointed behind her.
"I came out here and saw you."
Allen looked around.
"What tall grass?"
Mimi turned.
The field was gone.
There was nothing there except the road stretching into the distance.
Her eyes filled with tears again.
"I know what I saw," she whispered.
Before Allen could answer, flashing lights appeared down the road.
A police car drove past them toward the gas station.
Allen pointed.
"Look. Maybe they can help."
Mimi nodded.
Together they started walking toward the gas station, unaware that somewhere else another lost child was searching for answers.
Kyler stood frozen.
His home should have been there.
His neighborhood should have been there.
Instead, all he saw was a gas station.
The building looked old, but it definitely wasn't supposed to be there.
A man was working inside.
Kyler rushed through the door.
"Sir!" he shouted. "Where did my neighborhood go?"
The man looked up in confusion.
"What neighborhood?"
"Nate's Vill. My house is supposed to be right here."
The man frowned.
"Son, this place has been here since the 1960s."
Kyler's stomach dropped.
"What are you talking about? It's 1967."
The man's expression changed.
"1967?"
"Yeah."
The man stared at him for a moment.
"Well… there used to be a place called Nate's Vill around here."
Kyler's eyes widened.
"There was?"
"Sure. A long time ago."
"How long?"
The man leaned against the counter.
"Back in the 1960s."
Kyler felt his heart pounding.
"That's impossible."
The man shrugged.
"After a young boy disappeared, most of the families moved away. The houses sat empty for years before they were torn down. This gas station was built in 1969."
Kyler swallowed hard.
"Who disappeared?"
The man looked directly at him.
"A boy named Kyler Smith."
The color drained from Kyler's face.
The man continued speaking, but Kyler barely heard him.
Because the name he had just spoken…
…was his own.