My Time-Traveling Savior

During my senior year of high school, I moved into an old house just to save money.

Something about the place felt off.

At first, it was just things I casually put down disappearing without a trace.

Then, random objects that didn't belong to me started appearing around the house.

One night, I finished my homework and was about to go to sleep when a girl's tank top suddenly fell from the ceiling.

I froze for several seconds.

Just as I was about to throw it away, I heard someone cursing out of nowhere.

"Who's there? Darn it! What kind of creep steals a tank top?"

I swore I would never move into an old house nobody wanted to live in again just to save 20 dollars on rent.

I stared at the fragrant tank top in my hand while listening to the girl's angry voice coming from thin air. For a moment, I had no idea how to react.

I casually tossed the tank top upward. It was an attempt to see if I could send it back. To my surprise, the tank top actually disappeared.

But the girl's yelling didn't stop.

"Hey! Who threw this tank top at me? You thief! You pervert! I should be the one getting mad, not you!"

She kept complaining for a while before suddenly going silent. After a long pause, she spoke again. Her voice trembled slightly this time.

"Wait a second. There's nowhere to hide in my house!

"A-Are you a person or a ghost? Come out! I'm an athlete, and I'm not afraid of you!"

I felt a little helpless because I could hear the sound of her bumping into furniture and hissing in pain.

"I'm not a thief. Your tank top fell into my room on its own."

The moment I spoke, the girl went silent again. After a while, she cautiously asked, "Am I hallucinating?"

"No, I–"

Before I could finish, she suddenly screamed.

"A-Are you a ghost? Where are you? Don't tell me you're stuck inside my ceiling! Do you have some unfinished business you want me to help with?"

She wouldn't stop talking. I took a deep breath, picked up an eraser, and threw it into the empty space in front of me.

Three seconds later, I heard her yelp in pain.

I immediately grabbed the opportunity to speak.

"Quiet down for a second. Listen to me. I'm human, and you're human too.

"We're probably experiencing something like a time-space distortion.

"Not only can our belongings be transferred to each other, but our voices can pass through too."

The girl slapped her thigh after the sudden realization.

"That explains why I've lost a bunch of things lately and gained a bunch of random things too."

I smiled.

This girl seemed clueless. How did she only realize something was wrong now?

She suddenly thought of something and continued speaking.

"Oh, is my lipstick with you? Can you throw it back? My parents gave it to me for my birthday. I haven't even used it yet."

"I'll try."

I looked at the lipstick in the corner, walked over, picked it up, and tossed it into the empty space.

Oddly, it stayed right where it was. It didn't disappear like the tank top had.

I refused to believe it and tried from different angles, but the lipstick still wouldn't disappear.

"Why doesn't it work? It worked earlier.

"Could this time-space distortion change randomly? Or does it only appear during certain time periods?"

I couldn't figure it out.

The girl seemed to think about it for a while too, but she couldn't come up with an answer either. In the end, she laughed.

"Whatever. Just keep it for me for now."

Before she even finished speaking, she suddenly slapped her thigh again.

"If objects and sounds can transfer, what about people? Wait here, let me try!"

Like she had discovered a new world, she excitedly started moving things around.

I sat on my bed and listened to the clattering sounds.

"The chances of a person transferring over seem pretty low.

"Otherwise, after all these days, we would've already–"

I had just yawned when an arm suddenly dropped from the ceiling. I felt goosebumps all over my body.

"I did it, but I think I'm stuck. Pull me out, will you? Let's see if my whole body can go through!"

For some reason, I reached out and grabbed her hand. Following her instructions, I pulled with all my strength.