 Every time we talk, he has something new to report. All the UFO sightings last year made him go bonkers. Once he told me he was close to decrypting something called the Voynich manuscript. I'm a little skeptical, but whatever. He thinks there may be advanced civilizations living at the bottom of the sea that we haven't discovered yet. When he talks about this stuff, I usually just nod. It's not really my thing. But a few weeks ago, he suggested we go for a hike in a nearby nature preserve. Okay, was all I said to that. We drove for about 45 minutes. I probably don't spend as much time in nature as I should. Thiago loves nature. He's always talking about how nature is so much stronger and smarter than humans. I find that intimidating, but it's probably true. He stopped the car at a little spot off road that didn't even have a parking lot. A dirt path led into the trees. He grabbed the picnic basket and asked me to grab the cooler. How far are we going? I asked. Not far. He said and started down the path. I followed him, looking around constantly. I trust Thiago, but if I got lost out here, I wanted to be able to find my way back. These woods are full of cedar trees. I heard somewhere that each leaf of a cedar tree has the vitamin C of four oranges. That's a lot of vitamin C. We stopped by a large rock overlooking a slope through the trees. I could see a narrow river with no footbridge. People must not have come out there very often. Though it was beautiful, I knew Thiago had another reason for bringing me here. So he said, how's the sandwich? It's fine. I said, can we talk? We are talking. You know what I mean. I took a long drink of my iced tea and then looked him in the eye. What's this about? Well, do you notice anything weird about this place? He replied, other than the fact that we're miles from anywhere with no one in sight. No, I... There's a trail a mile back. He interrupted. We drove past it. There's plenty of people on it. There's another trail a mile up the road. But it doesn't cross with this one. Doesn't that seem weird? I don't know. Maybe people just don't like this trail as much. I replied, do you like it? Well, I've barely seen it. We've only done like half a mile. You know how some trails have those little things at the start that say what animals and how far the trail is. Like they give you the history of the park and stuff. He asked, yes, I said, why? Do you see any of that here? Maybe there's nothing interesting about this spot. Oh, yes, there is. I'll show you. We finished eating. He told me to follow him down the slope. It was steep. I almost lost my balance several times and would have turned back, except that something about this spot did seem strange to me. For one thing, it was cooler out here than it should have been. It was the height of summer, but I still needed my jagged. When I listened closely, I swore I could hear a metallic clicking as if there was a huge clock nearby. There was no machinery in sight. We reached the bottom of the slope. I thought Viago would lead me to the river, but instead he showed me to a small cave running into the side of the rock that we just sat on top of. A trickle of water from the river ran into its mouth. I couldn't see anything inside. The light only penetrated about five or ten feet, but there was no mistaking it that the clicking came from inside the cave. What's that sound? I said, I don't know, said Viago. He pulled a flashlight out of his pocket. I want to find out, though. Viago, I said, this is crazy. If there's something in there, I'm sure somebody else knows about it. Aliens wouldn't just land in a cave and try not to cover it up or anything. Viago picked up a rock and threw it into the cave. I heard it hit a wall. I stepped into the cave using my phone for light. The cave reached a dead end after about thirty feet. The whirring and clicking was louder than ever. I looked around. The sound must have been coming through a crack in the rocks, except I couldn't find one. Viago followed me into the cave. He kept setting his feet down louder than he needed to. Eventually he stopped. He tapped his foot on the rock just to be sure. It sounded hollow. Is something down there? I asked, Viago stared down at the hollow rock. I didn't really know the guy. He said, we met at a con. He said he was from around here. When I asked him if he knew about any good hiking spots, he told me about this little girl who went missing at a campsite. She went camping with her family and just wandered off. Her sister woke up in the middle of the night and saw her leaving the tent. Thought she was going to the bathroom. But they wake up in the morning and she hasn't come back. The tent was still open, but she didn't even take her shoes. He said, did she come here? I don't know. This guy from the con, he was on the search party. They never found her. But he found this cave. He told me about the sound in here, said you can only hear it at a certain time of the day and not every day. Maybe they just come to visit sometimes. Who? I asked. He picked up a rock the size of a basketball and knelt over the hollow spot in the rock. He raised the rock over his head. It's time to find out. Stop. Said a little girl's voice. Thiago and I looked at the entrance. A girl stood there watching us. She came closer. I noticed that she wasn't wearing shoes. I guessed her to be about 12. Are you the girl? Asked Thiago. I saw your picture, your family. The girl shook her head. She stepped to the left wall of the cave and started tapping on it with her knuckles. If you want to get down there, you don't go through the floor. She said, I mean you can, but the fall will kill you. So how do we get in? I asked. You don't get in. Said the girl. More like it gets you. What? I said. She picked up a small rock and threw it at the ceiling. The sound it made as it hit was like a knock on a door. The ceiling was empty too. After the rock hit, a rumbling sounded above us. That's where they are. She said, you have to be careful. If you try to get in before they let you, you can die. The rumbling was getting louder. The whole cave started shaking. I was thinking we should get out pebbles and dirt were falling from the ceiling. I started towards the mouth, but Thiago grabbed my shoulder. We've come this far. He said, I want to find out where it goes. The little girl came towards us as the rumbling grew louder. I was sure we'd get crushed by something falling on us. Instead, the ceiling split open and fell away from us as if gravity had reversed itself. My mouth fell open. The three of us were sucked into the chasm. We were falling up. I didn't know how many of this was possible. As we flew upwards into the opening that should have taken us through the top of the rock we just sat on, I felt Thiago's grip on my shoulder. I'd heard stories of people who'd wandered off into the woods and been found miles away with no dirt on them or footprints showing how they got there. This little girl had survived for a year in the woods without shoes or even dirtying her clothes. Well, we were going to find out where this rabbit hole led together. We didn't fall for very long. After a few seconds, we emerged into a larger cavern and slowed just before we hit the ground. We landed with the force of someone setting a plate down on a table. I stood up and looked around. Above me was a rocky ceiling. For a second it rippled like the surface of a lake and then it solidified. Thiago stood up. There's light. Where's it coming from? Somewhere in the center. I said the floor was uneven, but we climbed over the jagged rock formations. Though we moved at the same speed, Thiago got to the center a few seconds before I did. I couldn't figure that out. When I caught up with him, I saw a pool in the floor with something glowing under the surface. Whatever it was, it was bright enough to fairly illuminate the whole space. It's very peaceful, said Thiago. Almost like we're dead. Where's the girl? I said, I'm right here, said a voice above and to the side. We looked and saw her walking down the wall of the cavern, like gravity was pulling her in a different direction. She stepped from the wall to the floor and stood level with us. What happened? How'd you get here? I said, I walked. She replied, are we in another dimension? Asked Thiago, is that why gravity works different here? Well, it works differently for me. She said, I don't think you should try walking on the walls. Who are you? I asked, Marita. She said, pleased to meet you. How do you know about this place? Asked Thiago, Marita didn't answer. She just walked past us and over to the pool. I thought she'd dip a toe into the water, but instead she just looked into the glowing orb under the surface. I couldn't look at it directly. It was like the sun. But she didn't seem to mind the intensity of the light. It's weird. She said, when I was little, my mom would read me picture books. I always wished I could take the characters out of the books and make them real so I could play with them. But my mom said I couldn't do that because they were just pictures. What a weird thing to say to a little kid. Is this place like one of those books? I asked, you're missing the point. She said, you can't take the cat in the hat out of the book because he's two-dimensional. We're three-dimensional. He's not meant for this space. What are you saying? She said, that we're in a four-dimensional space. Is that why you can walk on walls? The guys who built the machine, she said, they're in four dimensions. That's why you couldn't see what was making that sound. It's above you. Well, not above, but like above you in a way that you don't have a word for. Could you see it? I said, she nodded. Can you describe it to me? Well, it looks kind of like a typewriter crossed with a grandfather clock. She said, with a big pendulum that swings. Well, not below it, but below it in a way that we don't have a word for. Thiago interrupted. You're getting it. She said, what's the point of all this? I asked, did they bring us here on purpose, or are we just in their way? I was about to ask another question, but then the ground underneath me shifted. There wasn't any rumbling or anything. The rocks just slid underneath my feet as if I were moonwalking over them. Thiago was now directly above me. The walls, ceiling, and floor of the cave had mixed together like different paint colors and became indistinguishable. The pool in the center was now a stream branching off in all directions with a glow emanating from every branch. Maria had not moved at all. I felt as if we were on the inside of a globe with me standing on top, Thiago standing on the bottom, and Merida standing in the center. They're shifting it, said Merida. It's like how if you try to map out the world on a flat surface, you can't do it without distorting the size and shape of everything. The only way to show it accurately is to put it on a globe. Well, I hope they don't do it again. I said, this is a little too weird. I can hear the clicking again, said Thiago. I must be close to it. You're never far away. said Merida. What's so special about that cave? I asked, is it the only place in the world like that? It's not, said Thiago. I did some research. There's other places like it. There's one in the Philippines, also two in Russia. It's just like this. There's a clicking sometimes and people go missing near there, but not very often. So nobody notices anything's wrong. It's so weird. I said, I mean, realities like this for them? They can just move stuff around. Are you intimidated? asked Merida. A little. I said, do you like it? Is that why you stay with them? I stay here because it's the only place I belong. She replied. But I like to visit your dimensions too sometimes. Well, I said, this is interesting, but I think it's time to go. And then my surroundings changed again. This time I was sitting in a tree 50 feet off the ground. I looked around. The forest did not look like the one I just been in. It was very cold. I guess that I was somewhere far north of my home. I tried to move gingerly, but the branch underneath me broke. I was falling. And when I was about 10 feet from the ground, I plunged into a body of water, knocking the wind out of me light blinded me. I shut my eyes. I tried to swim towards the surface, but I had no idea where it was. Somebody grabbed me and pulled me with them. We broke the surface of the water. My rescuer pulled me out of the ground and asked if I was okay. I recognized Thiago's voice, my leg. I said once I'd regained my breath. I was back in the cavern. It had its original layout with the pool with the orb in the center. I'd not felt any heat while underwater. The orb gave off light, but not warmth. I pulled up the right leg of my jeans, Thiago leaned forward. It's not broken. He said, can you walk? In a minute, I said, what happened? They don't like it when you say the word, said Merida. You were about to say it. It starts with H. Well, that's bullshit. I said, if they think don't, said Merida. Her voice barely more than a whisper. You know what's crazy, said Thiago. A lot of unsolved mysteries have really obvious explanations. Do you remember Malaysian Flight 370? Vaguely. I said, did they ever figure out what happened? Well, probably the pilot crashed it on purpose. He said he was sick. He just wanted to die. But this, this isn't obvious, said Thiago. If you told me it was four-dimensional beings that took the girl and live in this cavern, I don't know what I would have said. I thought you liked that stuff. I said, I did. I mean, I do. But you're right. We don't belong here. I don't know if they'll let you, said Merida. Why not? I asked, are they afraid we'll tell everyone? Do you want us to stay? Thiago suddenly asked Merida. Her posture stiffened. I mean, I don't care, but you're lonely. I said, you don't want to go back to your family, but you hate not having any people here to talk to. Nobody brought you here, said Merida. You found the cave. But you brought us here, said Thiago, gesturing at his surroundings. Merida put her hands on her forehead. It was the most vulnerable I'd ever seen her look. I can't go back, she said. It's not just my family. I live in four dimensions. I can't go back to three. It's just not right. Will you stay here? Please. Thiago and I shook our heads. We have to go back. I said, I stopped myself before using the H word. Well, then you have to talk to them. She said, because I can't open the ceiling. I'm sorry. Where are they? I asked. She pointed into the water. I looked at the glowing orb. The light didn't hurt my eyes as much. But that didn't mean I wanted to swim down there with some difficulty. I stood up. Thiago was right. This would feel a little like dying. Merida looked disappointed. I think she was expecting us to stay with her forever. Maybe being in four dimensions also stunts your emotions. I approached the water. The orb was essentially a perfectly spherical light bulb. No visible cracks or dents anywhere. I wondered how many other people had found their way here. Did the orb let anyone go back? I stepped into the water. It was lukewarm. Just before my head went underwater, I stopped. What do I tell them? I said, tell them they can't just hold us prisoner. I said, Thiago, it's not right. I dove under the surface and swam down towards the orb. The water didn't bother my eyes. Although it was now very hard to tell which way was up. It looked like the surface was in every direction. Somehow I didn't feel the need to come back up for air. The orb was right in front of me. I came closer. I'm not sure if I touched the orb or if it reached out to me. All I knew is that I was now sitting at the table in my living room. I was fully dressed and able to breathe. The refrigerator door closed and my fifth grade teacher, Mr. Ford, came into the room carrying two glasses of iced tea. How you been? He asked me as he sat across from me and set one glass in front of me. Bubbles came from my mouth as I spoke. This was too weird. I was still underwater, but experiencing all of this. What were Thiago and Merida seeing right now? It's peach tea, said Mr. Ford as he took a sip. Your favorite? I took a sip. It was good. He even knew that I liked it without sweetener. Are you them? I asked. He looked confused. The four dimensional people. Is this how you talk to us? This place looks like my home. This is your home, said Mr. Ford. He was a stocky redheaded man with a beard. If you walk out your front door, you can say hi to your neighbors. I think they're just getting home. Will they see that I'm making bubbles? They'll probably just think you have the hiccups. What do you want? I asked. I mean, why any of this? Why come to Earth? You're asking me. He said, I'm just your old teacher. Okay, okay. He said with a half smile. He did not smile like my old teacher. Truth is, we don't know what to make of you guys. Of what? Humans? Yeah, I mean, some of us think we should just leave you alone. And some of us think maybe you've got something to teach us. What about Marita? She's a special case. He said, I don't know how, but she found her way to us. It's not the first time actually. Maybe that's why we keep coming here. What's that ticking sound? You mean, what's the machine do? It's how we get around. We travel through different dimensions. The machine helps us figure out where we're going, when we're going. I finished my iced tea. See, most of the time, if aliens are coming to Earth, people think it's either to study us or invade. You sound like you can't make up your mind. Well, we're not really aliens. He sipped his iced tea. I looked out the window. The side of the house on the right was visible, but not the front. I couldn't hear anything from where I sat, but that didn't mean the neighbors weren't home. The old man didn't have conversations on his porch as often as he used to. What are you thinking? Asked Mr. Ford. I'm thinking about what I'm going to do now that I know you guys are out there. I said, I don't know who will believe me. I mean, I've had some pretty crazy shit happen to me, but now I know that there's, well, whatever you say you are, you're not from Earth. I guess you don't want us to know about you. Mr. Ford sipped his iced tea again. Sometimes he acted like my teacher and sometimes not. The way he steepled his fingers as I spoke was a perfect imitation. You got to send us back. I said, Marita can stay with you. It'll be fine. But Thiago and me, we have families and stuff. Mr. Ford stood up suddenly. He knocked over his glass, causing the remainder of the iced tea to spill over the tabletop. I could hear my neighbor's door open. It would be getting dark soon. See, that's the thing I don't get, said Mr. Ford. All traces of my fifth grade teacher were gone now. He was acting alien. When he put his hand to his forehead, his wrist bent in a strange way that was different than a human's would have. We can take you to the edge of the universe, hundreds of billions of galaxies. It would take you longer than your planet has existed to go to all of them, even if you could travel at the speed of light, which you can't. But you and Thiago have families. Well, yeah, I said, I mean, no kids, I'm not married, but I want kids someday. You people live what, 80 years if you're lucky? What if I told you I was so old I don't even know what a year is? Don't you want that? Can you do that? I asked. Make me immortal. Marita is, he replied. I don't know. She's not aging. He said she's maturing but not getting older. I've never seen a human do that. Maybe we can do that with you. Your grandparents didn't get to see 90. I can show you 900. My grandmother lived a good life. I said that's all she needed. All I need, I think. Mr. Ford sighed, fine, he said, but first I want to see something. I was standing right in front of him. A second ago I'd been standing across the table from him. Now we were inches apart. He wrapped one hand around my neck and raised the other hand with the index finger out. He plunged the finger into my forehead. It hurt, but maybe that was a good sign. If it had killed me, I wouldn't feel anything. I flashed back to my grandmother's death. She was 88. Her health had been failing for a long time. By the time we made it to her bedside, she was on life support. I held her hand for a moment. She was still warm. I didn't say anything. I hoped she could feel me there somehow. Mr. Ford withdrew his finger, and I was back underwater. My lungs were about to burst, and I couldn't tell which way was up. I felt someone grab me by the arm. Thiago, we broke the surface, and I gasped. Once again, Thiago pulled me to the shore. Marita stood there watching us. You okay? Asked Thiago. Yeah, I said. They said we could go. Marita pointed to the wall. I realized she was telling us to walk up it in the same way she'd walk down it. Are you going to be okay? I asked her. I'll manage, she said. What did you see while I was down there? I asked. The water turned into a kaleidoscope. She said, we couldn't see you until you came back. Just a bunch of crystals. I looked at Thiago. He nodded. Walking up the walls proved as simple as placing one foot against the stone and leaning into it. Somehow gravity shifted with us. We were still wet by the time we reached the car. Are you going to tell anyone about this? I asked. I'll post about it. He replied, no one will believe if we tell the full story, but we should tell it. Let the truth get out there. I arrived home to find two empty glasses on my dining room table. One was on its side and some liquid had stained the finish. I heard through social media that Mr. Ford had died in a car accident. As I was going through some old knickknacks, I found the last birthday card my grandmother sent me before she died. I could have sworn that I threw it out. I know we're the only words on the inside. It was definitely her handwriting. I'm not sure what to make of the knowledge that there are four-dimensional beings out there that are baffled by us. If I ever see my grandmother again though, maybe I'll ask her what she thinks.