Vanished into Thin Air

PROLOGUE

Dear Reader,

As a child, I was once advised to be careful and not to allow myself to be led ‘up the garden path’, listen to tall tales and most importantly, to stop believing in make-believe worlds.

At the time, I still believed in magic, spells, and myths but naturally, over a time, these notions faded, and became a distant memory, much as childhood can.

Then, when I was fully grounded in the sober reality of life, all of these things returned one day.

Strangely, this time, it was not of my own making. By chance, a world full of magic found me again ...

I am an ordinary person, but as you will find out, I hold the key to an extraordinary secret. Literally, because it is my own key that unlocks the opening to the secret. You could describe me as a gatekeeper of sorts.

The key allows me to travel back and forth to the In-Between World, a strange, magical sort of place, one that is not too far from where I am sitting right now at St George’s Railway Station. To my knowledge, the key is the only one in existence.

Time is almost incalculable there, so instead of using ‘quasar time’, any referral of time in this book, is edited and translated into the more recognisable ‘human time’. Everything else is unabridged.

I am honoured (and a little nervous if truth were told) to write the introduction to ‘Vanished into Thin Air’: Lost & Found.

I should say straight away, that I am not the author, the book is ghost written, although I have provided much of the material, as I am one of the central characters in the story.

Aside from me (and two others), we are the only ones who know of this world’s existence. Most walk by without an earthly clue as to the mysterious goings-on that are so close to them.

How could they? It is impossible for them to travel there, well, almost, but nevertheless, it is unseen. Even if they could see it, people are far too busy rushing about with their hectic schedules and harried lives. The poor things.

To be honest, I cannot even remember what year I first discovered the ‘In-Between World’.

You see, my memory is failing me, and is not what it once was; I am very, very old. While once, my recollection was sharp and clear, now things are just fuzzy and foggy with not much in-between anymore I’m afraid.

However, I can tell you that a previous gatekeeper (a lovely, sweet woman of very many years of age) first showed me the key and amazingly, I passed the test ...

***

I have worked at St George’s Railway Station for as long as anyone can remember. No one has ever questioned how it is possible that I have been here so long, but maybe they have wondered.

Strictly speaking, my colleague, Miss Inge, and I are no longer employed anymore, not since the last days of British Rail. There were big changes then, but we decided to stay on as volunteers - not that it was agreed upon, or even discussed. We did not mention our situation and with all the changes, I think we were quite forgotten about.

I should add, that neither one of us is remunerated in any way. We simply received a letter stating that we had been ‘down-sized’ or some such expression. Our employer thanked us for our service, and paid our final wage. The Lost & Found office and service was meant to be concluded, except we did not ever leave.

Not that those earnings matter, you see, we had both earned enough money to retire many years earlier, but even being ‘a ripe old age’ we each decided that retirement wasn’t for us.

I suppose I could have gone fishing more often, and Miss Inge could have taken a few more bus tours to far and strange-sounding places, but we were not that enthused to be honest. We are both quite content here.

You may find this all a bit strange, but you might have heard of that expression whereby someone loves their work so much they would ‘do it for free.’

Well, that is Miss Inge and I to a tee. We love our work, we like to help people - and how else could we easily do that? Certainly not by going fishing or taking bus tours.

Right about now, you are probably wondering why I would share such a secret. As I’ve said, I am quite elderly, I am near ‘retiring’ out of necessity, and although I have my associate, Miss Inge, well, she’s no spring chicken either.

Without wishing to sound morbid, but from time to time, I do wonder, ‘what if I was to suddenly drop dead? Then what?’

That would leave Miss Inge in an awful predicament, and even she may not be able to carry on much longer.

I have given it a lot of thought, a lot of soul-searching I can tell you. If my secret were to die along with us, well, I would never forgive myself. I am a planner by nature, I like to have things organised - even after I am gone.

If I am unable to find the next gatekeeper, I can at least share my secret with you. I hope it will also provide you with some entertainment along the way.

Therefore, just as an athlete passes a baton to his or her teammate, I too, must pass along the key to another. In order to do this, I will have to find the right person, although the process is not at all like a job interview.

You see, I am not looking for ‘get-aheads’ with shiny shoes and pin-stripe suits. Nor owners of briefcases full of business papers with moneymaking schemes, or corporate-speaking clones. No, the world is full of those. You can keep them.

I could sit down with them and ask some of the more relevant questions about the role. I think I would enjoy the interview process very much.

In fact, I would have categories, sub-categories, and sub-sub categories. My categories and my questions might go something like this:

1/ Very important questions that would be useful in the In-Between World.

Do you have a sweet tooth?

Do you like gardening?

Have you any experience of flower arranging?

Are you adventurous?

Can you make pastry from scratch?

Are you any good at peeling potatoes?

Is winning at a game of cribbage or whist really that important to you?

Are you easily scared?

Do you love animals?

Do you like travelling to exotic places?

Do you prefer tea, coffee, or strawberry slurpees?

Are you worth your weight in gold?

If not, how much?

2/ Equally important questions about one’s character.

Are you trustworthy and honest?

Is your heart pure and sincere or filled with cynicism and hate?

Are you full of joy or envy for other people’s success?

Are you jealous of others?

Do you love others or just yourself?

Do you gossip and speak badly of others?

Are money and material things your biggest motivation in life?

Is having a better car or a bigger house more important to you than say, helping an impoverished child access to clean water or a meal?

Are you loyal to others?

Do you help the ‘have-nots’ in life?

Are you tolerant or intolerant?’

Do you show random acts of kindness to others?

Are you judgemental and scornful or respectful and nurturing?

3/ Fun, tricky questions.

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be - and why?

If you were a car, what sort of car would you be - and why?

If you were a vegetable, what sort of vegetable would you be - and why?

If you were an animal ...’ etc.

And so on and so forth. As a matter of fact, all the questions (and sub-categories) in the world still would not be enough.

I am sure you know how it is; people will say anything to get a good job or a sought after position. They will tell you how great and talented they will be, or how friendly and generous they are.

In an interview, and even in life, people’s own words (about themselves) sometimes mean nothing in reality. They may be true they may be false ... We do not know, at least until we get to know them. The second category may be the most important, but it can easily give up the least truthfulness.

However, I have to find the truth immediately, the core of the person’s being. That is what I am looking for. I suppose I could ask their work colleagues, their acquaintances, or I could set them a practical task, a challenge of some sort. A bit like that TV programme, I sometimes hear passengers chatting about.

Fortunately, there is another way: a better way, the same way as I was tested. It is a way that would weed out the bullies, the crooks, the egotistical, the greedy, the liars, the scammer’s, and the scoundrels.

Unfortunately, I think we have all known at least one or two people with some of those traits ... And if the key to the In-Between World fell into in the hands of people like that, well, it really could be quite detrimental and very dangerous. We cannot have that.

I should explain: the key is colour-coded if you like. There is even a chart (which I used to refer to once upon a time).

The actual key will turn a core ‘colour’ and effectively give the ‘characteristic’ of its holder. The outcome represents the person’s characteristics, the make-up, or honesty of that person. Simply put the goodness or purity of their heart.

The key’s colours can range from ‘red’ (the most despicable and vile of characteristics on the chart) to ‘aqua-blue’ (which would be the ideal candidate and the colour that represents all of the combined positive qualities). There are numerous hues of colours in-between.

Every negative human trait creates a colour hue; these include arrogance, cynicism, envy, greed, ignorance, jealousy, rudeness.

Equally, every positive human trait has colour tones, which include courage, discipline, determination, honesty, integrity, kindness, loyalty, and patience. Of course, there are more human traits and colours to match. Ten of each, in fact.

The person I am looking for, is the one who will turn the key the colour of ‘aqua-blue’ when they touch it.

This means the person will have all ten of the positive traits, and in turn, they will be the new gatekeeper to the In-Between World. Sounds simple doesn’t it? Well, it isn’t.

Well, just how many of these characteristics do you think you have? Ten? Really? Don’t forget honesty is one of the traits ...

Ha! Just as I thought!

Nevertheless, I have recently started looking for this special person. This involves an action that makes me a little nervous because I am so protective of the key. I have casually started dropping the key on the platform, and let passers-by pick it up for me. Sometimes, I can almost hear them thinking, ‘clumsy old fool.’

However, there is a reason as to why I have to do this. When they pick up the key and give it back, I closely monitor the key’s colour because I am looking for ‘the one’. (There is certainly more than one but I simply need to find ‘one’).

I have recorded hundreds of mixed results. I’ve had a few greens, some near misses with one or two blues, but no ‘aqua-blues’ as yet. Naturally enough, with some people, I do not even try; I already know the likely outcome.

Some of the virtues the Gatekeeper must possess

I am wary of dropping and losing the key, but this is the same way I was chosen to be the gatekeeper. I picked it up from off the ground all of those years ago, and when I looked up, a delightful woman confronted me by the name of Petra Keegeth, the then, current holder of the key.

She took me aside and explained everything I was to do. Once I accepted the position, and completed my training, I took over her duties.

There is one other issue, one very serious problem, which I should share with you. There is a cold, cunning sort of man who knows of my secret.

This brooding man is tall and thin. His hair and eyes are as dark as coffee, his skin is as pale as milk.

The man seems to live on the edge of society, always emerging from areas that most people do not dare visit: tumbledown buildings, deserted wasteland, and dank riverbanks.

One day, a while back now; he tried to grab the key from me. He shouted at me and vowed to steal it, however here’s the thing: when he touched it, the key immediately turned fully red, meaning he has all ten of the listed, negative human traits ...

To my knowledge, this has never happened before. He must be bad, maybe evil incarnate.

Worse still, in the last few weeks, he has hovered about outside the Lost & Found office, watching Miss Inge and me. He rarely speaks to anyone, aside from an odd argument, he is a complete loner, and just as quickly as he appears, he is gone.

I know little about him although I have heard rumours that he is a cruel and wicked man, bitter at everything in this world.

I can say with absolute certainty that he wants the key more than anything. What he will do to get it, is anyone’s guess. That is why I have to be very vigilant.

I will be honest, I am a little afraid of him. I have not as yet told Miss Inge that he tried to steal the key, although she is quite intuitive. Maybe she senses trouble on the horizon.

This man, the man who made the key turn red, was recently a railway employee, a track maintenance worker in this area until he was fired for attacking a co-worker. He has remained close to here, or hereabouts, for the past few weeks since his dismissal.

Then more recently, I realised three important things about this man:

He is not from St George’s.

He is not from England.

He is not from this earth.

Yes, temporarily, he looks like a human man, he played the role of a common railway employee and that of a human, but it is all a deception, a very clever trick to acquire the key.

You see, he was able to detect that the key was in the proximity of St George’s, maybe he didn’t know where exactly - until these past few days. I suppose the key emits some sort of signal that only a few can track. He has found my key and me.

At about the same time he discovered that I was the key holder, I bore witness to his sorcery. I watched as he levitated across a river ...

Disturbingly, it was then that I realised this man was an infamous sorcerer from the In-Between World. They still shudder at the mention of his name there.

He intends to return and no doubt, he has harmful intentions. His name is Brolin. The others who work here still call him, ‘Brolin the beast’.

Life at Lost & Found

For now, at least temporarily, forget about Brolin. Forget about dragons, and trolls and quarks and other dangers that you will learn about later. There will be plenty of time for that.

Let me tell you about more pleasant things, and a little about Miss Inge, myself, and our little world. That way you will get a clearer picture, a better understanding of how things operate here.

Miss Inge and I work in the Lost & Found office at St George’s Railway Station, at the very far end of platform one.

The station is a busy sort of place and a steady flow of lost objects end up at the rather archaic office of ours. As you might presume, some days are busier than others are.

Miss Flora Inge and