When Corg opened his eyes, the dull, stones of the castle were mysteriously gone, replaced with a sky-blue wall with white stars painted on it. Corg shot up in bed like a dart and started looking around. The dresser, the wardrobe, the bed covers—all were those that he had used in his home before his strange journey across the boundaries of reality. He was back at his house.
He looked over and saw that he was not alone in his bed. There, next to him, lay his beloved Christy, her body turned to face his. Without opening her eyes, she stretched forth one her hands and felt his pillow. Not feeling anything there, she moved her hand across the mattress until it met with Corg's back. She opened her eyes and smiled.
"Hi my love," she said groggily. "I didn't even here you com'in."
"Yeah," he said, gazing upon her face. "I didn't walk to wake the two of you."
He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead and ran his fingers through her hair. He then rubbed her belly lightly.
"Go to sleep, my love," Cristy whispered.
"Okay. I love you, my beautiful wife."
"I love you too."
Corg knew not how, but he had returned on the exact night that he had left the Earth. He lay in bed for a while pondering the things he had been through and the circumstances that brought him back. He wondered if Piotr and Jack would be in their respective homes the next morning. He knew it hadn't been all a dream; his body was still pretty sore. He wondered what would become of his new friends and family. Many things had gone through his head. He considered immortalizing the experience as a story or in a journal entry, but decided to leave those details to the morning.
The next morning, while Corg was sitting at the kitchen table sipping on some hot chocolate and listening to his wife talk about people from church, the phone rang. Christy answered it.
"Hello?...huh?...Oh…You mean my husband, Corg…one moment."
Christy handed the phone to Corg.
"Hello?...Yeah, that's me…Yes…Hey, how did you--?...Oh really?...Did you talk to both of them?...So, how are they?...And Sari and Laya--…Oh, really?...Man, I wish I could be there…So, how long did you stay--…Oh yeah?...Why sure you can…What do you need…Hmm…that'd be a bit lengthy to do over the phone…okay, I can give you my e-mail that's right…I'll have to send it to you in parts, it's a bit long…okay, no problem…if you go back, say 'hi' to them for me…okay…it was a pleasure, thanks…bye bye."
Corg hung up the phone.
"Who was that?" Christy asked, completely befuddled.
"Oh, that was video game developer from Japan. He had—" Corg thought quickly to avoid any pauses that might give away the fact that he was going to lie. "—read some of the stories I had written about video games for one of the websites I regularly visit. He said that he wanted to use some of my ideas on a novel based on the game the three of us were playing."
Christy threw her arms around him, "Why honey, that's great!"
"Thanks, my love."