I shuddered, slowly following the man like a dog that had been beaten too much. Still hugging myself, I followed him through the dark corridors that were way smaller than I remembered.

"Shh, Hanuh. Wake up, darling."

"Gran-pa?"

"Hush. We don't want your parents to hear. We're going on an adventure."

Chills pulsated through me as I answered his question, despite him telling me not to. "I don't think my parents knew what happened... He told me not to wake them, because he was taking me on a secret adventure. A fun adventure..."

I felt chilled to the bone as I looked back on the veiled darkness of those words.

As we reached the entrance, I allowed the man to open the door as I stood back. I felt dizzy. Was all of this real? I had been down here in an instant and for ages all at the same time. I felt everything happen in both lightning speed and spanning ages in that tube. Had I even been awake most of the time? My last memories took place a moment ago, but I had been trapped for eons. It was too strange, too surreal, and too frightening. I was haunted by being down in this place, surrounded by these stone prison walls. I strangely felt like it was all I knew.

When the entrance was opened, I saw natural sunlight for the first time in so long - or was it yesterday? I was blinded, but I stood bathed in the light. Something inside stirred me to tears.

I bolted not only to the upstairs, but towards the door leading to outside. Sunlight... Oh! Sunlight!

Yet, I froze at the door of the shop. I froze, and turned to look around. The shop looked... Exactly the same, yet different. The same counter, same shelves, same rug. Yet the shelves were empty, and the counter was missing the usual cash register. It was strangely unfamiliar. I stood there, looking upon the outside world for the first time.

It destroyed me.

I had grown old in an instant, yet everything had still passed through time. My stolen childhood could never be reclaimed. For the first time, that sunk in. And I sunk into the floor, curling up and bawling. How could he have done this to me? Why?