Arthur's breathing was ragged as he tried to make sense of everything that had just happened. One moment he was in some bizarre, otherworldly realm with a homeless man who had transformed into a blazing celestial figure, and the next, he found himself standing back in the convenience store he'd first walked into. The fluorescent lights buzzed overhead, and the cool air from the store's ventilation system brushed against his skin, but everything felt different.
His mind was spinning. The sensation in his right chest, where the hobo—no, the celestial being—had thrown something at him, was strange. It wasn't painful, but it was like a persistent itch just beneath the surface of his skin. He clutched at his chest, feeling his heart thumping wildly beneath his palm.
