Lily grimaced as she caught sight of the clothes, cars and décor that completely went against her own time. 1959. She tried to breathe deeply. She needed to stay calm. She walked up to the front doors of the school. The area was swarming with parents sending off their children. The sight was a familiar one. Lily could recall hugging her Mom and Dad before waving goodbye as they drove out of sight. The memory made her eyes sting, just for a moment. She dodged past a mother and her son and then the mother reached out a hand to beckon her husband and the limb shot straight through Lily's stomach. She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fists. Lily couldn't panic now. She did her best to shake it off and continued on her way. She needed to find Neil. Was that even possible? The assembly had finished in the time that she had spent retching, or rather attempting to, at the front gates. Neil could be anywhere now. Would she endlessly just miss him and never find her way home? But then she saw him. Waiting with his father at the front entrance. Her foot was on the first step. She paused there. He didn't see her and then suddenly he did. Neil was nodding along to polite conversation with the headmaster and his father and then she was there staring up at him and he couldn't move his eyes away.

"Who are-?" The two words rolled off his tongue without even thinking about it and then he caught himself. His father and headmaster looked up at him confusedly, "I thought I saw someone." He mumbled, throwing in a small laugh for good measure. A simple mistake of course. But it wasn't a simple mistake. He knew that, Lily knew that.

Lily watched how the headmaster moved on to the next set of parents, how Neil walked down the steps with his father to the car. The pair shook hands. Then Neil's father gripped his son's shoulder and looked at him proudly, "Work hard this year."

"I will." Neil promised, "Have a safe journey."

"I might stick around for a little while longer Neil. There's one or two people I'd like to catch up with, but you go ahead, get settled in. I'll put your cases in the dining hall."

Neil nodded, waved a final goodbye and then walked up the stairs. Lily went to follow him but he disappeared out of sight into the crowd of students. She desperately tried to find him, standing on tip toes to catch a glimpse of the boy. Was he trying to avoid her? He probably felt insane. She felt insane.

Lily charged into the crowd, passing throwing body after body, shivering and twitching as she went. She gasped, falling to her hands and knees as she finally found an exit. She looked up and could just make out a boy that seemed familiar but upon closer inspection he wasn't Neil, just another tall dark haired boy. Lily dragged herself to her feet and decided her best chance was to go to the dorms. He'd have to show up eventually. So she walked out into the courtyard, into the other side of the school, down one hall and then up a flight of stairs, but the door wasn't there. She groaned. How could she be so stupid? The girls' dorms were still boys' dorms in the 1950s. She took the same route back and as she made her way to the actual dorms it became quite clear she was in the right place this time. Students were slowly filling the space. Lily made her way up to the Seniors' floor – that was if past Welton even followed the same formula as present Welton – and sure enough the oldest looking boys were there. Lily didn't spy Neil however. Perhaps he was younger? But that didn't make sense. He was in the Senior's year book for this year.

With no Neil in sight, Lily decided to wait in her own room, or at least the room that would become hers half a century later. So she filed through the boys, not wanting to experience the same as she did earlier. Her room was unoccupied for now and still looked just as alien as before. She could see all the decorations and details that made it home in her head. They all were gone now. Non-existent.

Lily shuffled over to the bed and sat cross legged on the empty mattress, the door open so she could spy for Neil.

"Here we are!"

Lily jumped.

Two boys hauled their cases into the room, eyeing up the number on the door. Lily darted out of the way before she could experience what it felt like to have a case slammed on top of her…or rather through her. She didn't recognise either of them. She eyed them up, sat on the pillow of her bed– well—one of their beds. They were intruders but they weren't. If anything she was the intruder. The one that so swiftly threw his bag onto his—Lily's—bed, flung open the case and began to unpack. Lily moved from the bed and stood just before he began piling up clothes on his pillow.

"So Charlie," The other boy began, "How was summer?"

"It was alright." Charlie shrugged as he began to hang up some smart shirts.

"I had a pretty great summer myself. We went—"

"Hey Cameron maybe save the reunion for when the others get here?"

Cameron pressed his lips together and cleared his throat, "Yeah I guess."

Lily eyed up Charlie, the darker haired of the two. She watched as he stowed adult magazines under his pillow and she rolled her eyes. Such a typical school boy. Observing it all brought back memories of Robbie Dennings having his playboy confiscated in the middle of biology with Ms Fisk: "I'm just revising anatomy!"

Lily chuckled. She looked up, eyes hopeful. Had they heard her? But the boys were unmoved by her presence. She sighed, fists clenching and hit them against her foreheard.

She didn't realise that Charlie had slipped away until Cameron started to quietly sing to a tune she didn't recognise. She observed the ginger haired boy. How he sang and then screwed his eyes together and groaned at how stupid he sounded earlier in front of Charlie. And then something caught his attention and Lily's gaze followed his all the way across the hall.

"Neil!" Cameron called out, leaving to greet his neighbour. "Study group tonight?"

"Yeah" Neil nodded.

"Business as usual, huh? Hey I heard you got the new kid! Looks like a stiff!" Cameron burst into laughter but it came to an abrupt end when a boy showed up, "Oops."

He was the 'new kid' no doubt.

Cameron backed away into his room, earning a laugh from Neil.

Lily was careful to be seen straight away by Neil—she knew how uneasy she made him feel—but as she leaned in from her position in Charlie and Cameron's room, her view was obscured by none other than Charlie who dumped another case on his bed and then sauntered back over to the door to meet to other boys, neither of which Lily recognised. She blocked off Neil's door way and so Lily huffed and left the comfortable of a room she would one day call her own and stood to the right of the door way next to a boy with a cute grin and floppy brown hair.

"—Chemistry! My father though I should get ahead." Lily couldn't see the boy—Charlie's head blocked most of the view—but she recognised the voice as Neil's, "How's your summer, slick?"

Neil drew closer to the trio at the door and Lily, through a small crack in the group, could see how Neil's face faltered when he realised she was stood with them. He shook off his discomfort immediately, settling for a smile in hopes of not attracting any suspicions.

"Meeks. Door. Closed." Charlie instructed to a ginger haired boy with glasses as the group followed Neil into the room. Lily darted inside and backed herself straight into the nearest corner and watched.

"Yes sir." Meeks mumbled.

Is that really his name? Lily thought to herself.

"Gentleman," Neil began as the others made themselves comfortable, "What are the four pillars?"

"Travesty, horror, decadence, excrement." They recited in hushed union. Well, all except the new boy. He was turned away from the group, fiddling with a photo frame, occasionally casting brief glances over his shoulder.

"Okay: Study group." Charlie announced, placing a cigarette between his lips at the same time, "Meeks aced Latin, I didn't quite flunk English, so if you want we've got our study group." He flipped the lighter in his hand.

"Sure Cameron asked me to. Anyone mind including him?" Neil replied, resting against the radiator. His eyes landed on Lily observing from corner but he looked down the moment she noticed.

"What's his specialty? Bootlicking?" Charlie snickered as he attempted to light his cigarette.

"Um, he's your roommate." Neil said

"That's not my fault!"

There was a moment of silence. Lily found herself playing with her nails.

"Oh I'm sorry, my name is Steven Meeks."

Okay that name makes a little more sense.

Meeks must have noticed how the new boy glanced as he now had his arm slender hand outstretched towards him. If only they could do the same for Lily; put her at ease in this alien world.

"Oh this is Todd Anderson." Neil piped up, guiding his roommate towards his friend.

Todd. Lily furrowed her eyebrows and squeezed her eyes tight. There was something familiar about Todd. It was tickling at the back of her mind but she couldn't recall. They only significant thing she could think of was Todd Myers, a boy that liked her in Elementary and left her drawing of his pet newt as a Valentine's day present. She was absolutely certain that memory was not relevant now. But then what was it? She pondered for a few moments longer, only half hearing names like Charlie Dalton and Knox something in the background. Was it Knox Street? It sounded right…but Lily could sworn there was another syllable or two.

There was a knock on the door. Lily shook her head and brought her attention back to the room. Charlie hurried to throw the smouldering cigarette to the ground and crushed it under his shoe.

"It's open!" Neil squeaked.

The door swung open, blocking Lily's view of the visitor.

"Father? I thought you'd gone?" said Neil.

"Mr Perry." The others greeted

"Keep your seats fellas, keep your seats." Mr Perry replied. He observed as the boys followed suit and then turned back towards his son, "Neil I've just spoken to Mr Nolan; I think you're taking too many extracurricular activities this semester and I've decided that you should drop the school annual."

"But I'm the assistant editor this year." Neil murmured.

"Well, I'm sorry."

"But Father I can't …it wouldn't be fair!—"

"Fellas!"

Neil stood in his room, with his friends, staring at his father, petrified and Lily stood behind his father, watching it all unfold. It all began to make more sense in her mind as she slowly remembered all that had occurred before she had entered this strange dream or world or something. Neil's eyes shifted from his father to Lily. She looked at his friends, and they didn't dare speak either. Why speak when Neil could barely speak to his own father? His father beckoned him outside and Lily rested at the door frame and listened. She could sense Neil's flustered reaction in her presence so she moved further into the room, into the company of people who didn't realise she existed. She was just a figment of Neil's imagination, supposedly. When she heard his father leave, she went back out to find Neil in the hall but Charlie and Knox had already moved to speak.

"Why doesn't he let you do what you want?" Charlie inquired, but the answer was obvious.

"Yeah Neil you should really tell him off" Knox added

"Oh yeah like you tell your parents off? Mr Future Lawyer and Mr Future Banker?"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry" Knox backed up

"Just," Neil began, "Don't tell me how to speak to my own father."

Lily observed the poor little boy. She felt pity deep in her stomach and signed, earning a moment of his attention, but only for a glimmer of a second. She knew what this led to. She knew what it all meant. First the annual, then the acting, then death and God knows what else came before all that. How many things Neil must have been refused in his childhood? And it all stacked up to create a broken person. He seemed ready to crumble there and then.

"Latin, 8 o'clock?" Meeks asked in hopes of moving on the conversation as he appeared in the doorway unaware that Lily was right next to him

"Yes" Neil nodded enthusiastically, moving away from the wall and improving his posture. The four boys escaped back into the dorm room and hesitantly allowed Cameron to join them. Lily took up her spot in the corner again and just continued to observe because she didn't have much else to do with her life. Unfortunately she'd forgotten to pack a spare pair of clothes or a DS.

The group soon separated and went off to their rooms, leaving Todd, Neil and Lily all in the same room. Todd excused himself, and Lily seized the moment to finally speak to the only person who knew she was even there.

"My name is Lily." Her voice cracked, "How do you do?" She stuck out a hand. She didn't know what else to say. Her mind had gone to mush.

"What are you?"

"A girl. Called Lily. As I said."

"What are you doing here? Why I can see you? Am I, Am I going insane? No that's a stupid question of course I'm going insane!" Neil clasped a hand over his mouth and hushed down, double checking the door was properly shut.

"I don't know why I'm here if I'm honest. I would say I'm dreaming but it's too real to be a dream, I guess. Too logical. I don't understand it any more than you. I was in a cave and then there was a statue but it wasn't really a statue and I touched it and I woke up here, well not here, but in the village, or the town or whatever it is called now, in a shop and it was dark and I came back to Welton and went to bed. I thought I was drunk or something and then the room was wrong it was completely wrong! And the curtains, we don't have curtains and my friend has a mood board and it was gone and I didn't get it!

Neil breathed deeply, ran fingers through his hair, sat down, rubbed his palms and fidgeted and fidgeted. He didn't speak for a long while. He was thinking. Then he buried his head in his hands and uttered the words she dreaded the very thought of.

"Leave me alone."

She felt a pang of hurt in her chest.

"You're just something in my mind. I can feel it. Stress. I've been stressed for weeks and this is just the icing on the cake isn't it? So just go. I don't know what I'm supposed to do with imaginary people, okay. Just walk away. Surely it's that easy?"

"Neil, you don't understand you're all I have-"

"Of course, you're in my mind. Of course you need me. Just go."

"But-"

"Go! Okay! Get out!" He pulled at his hair and breathed even more deeply. He sighed, "Just please go. Go? Get out!"

The door handle turned and the door cracked open. Todd peered inside with a quizzical gaze, "Everything alright?"

"Yeah" Neil shrugged, he really proved himself as an actor. He glanced briefly at Lily as she appeared to have a panic attack, wheezing, eyes watering, heart pounding. She was trapped and he didn't want to help. Her lip quivered.

"I'll be off then." If she'd been visible they might have seemed like a couple of sorts. One half disappearing after the arrival of a friend. She balled her hands into fists and walked out of the room, through the door this time for good measure. From there she bolted. It felt like deja vu as she ran down the drive, but this time she didn't stop by the gates, she ran all the way to the village and sat down on a park bench and began to cry. When she emerged from her hands she spotted the Church and suddenly an idea sparked in her mind.

How silly of her. The shop, the statue. Why not try where she entered? It seemed so perfectly logical.

Lily got up and headed in the direction of the shops, but there seemed to be a number of different antique and junk shops. She dreaded the thought of searching every one, top to bottom in hopes of finding the statue. Antique shop and junk shops were not laid out like a standard Walmart.

Lily wandered along the sidewalk and stood in front of the first shop door and looked out to see the Church but the angle was wrong. She stepped over to the next one. Almost but not quite. Then at the next one she could see her memory lining up with her reality. She turned on her heel, a proud grin on her face, and stepped inside. Thankfully the search didn't take anywhere near as long as expected because there on the shelf, off the second aisle, on the right from the door was the omnipotent statue. She had to do a double take when she saw it as it was still a complete lamp in the junk shop. Lily felt a surge of excitement. Butterflies flourished in her stomach. She grabbed the statue with both hands and waited for the sensation to kick in. She knew it took a little while but after a minute she grew impatient. She tried caressing the wood carving the same as she had before. It made no difference. She shook the statue so much that the lamp shade flew off and collided with a display of egg cups.

To her surprise, Lily heard a curious voice. It grew louder. The owner or manager or staff member- whoever it was-had heard the commotion. Lily, realising she was still holding the statue, rushed to place it back where she got it before the person saw a floating lampstand. The person in question was a woman who looked to be in her late 40s. The woman bent down and picked up the lamp shade and placed it back on its stand. She then went about observing the egg cups. One had fallen over and chipped. She was certainly not pleased.

"What am I going to do with you?" She muttered to the lamp as she grabbed it and placed it closer to the counter, far away from the breakable egg cups and closer to the collection of old cuddly toys.

Lily sighed. Her ticket here was clearly not a return. She'd just have to turn back to Neil and hope he'd realise she wasn't a sign of his debilitating mental health.

She looked back at the chipped egg cup and smirked—she had a plan.

Hello again. It has certainly been a very long time since I updated this! Basically I have been very busy during my first year of Uni, among other things. I'm hoping to post more during the summer as I do genuinely like writing this story. We'll see if I can actually stick to that plan. Thank you for all the support that this story has received in my absence! x