There was a clatter. A smashing. Alabaster jars exploding into tiny fragments, covering everything with white sediment. The roof imploded into a dazzling display of red, white, and green. Tables and chairs splintering in a cacophony of sound.

What was happening? I’ll tell you what was happening.

At least, I’ll try.

You see, it was my dad. Well, not exactly. Yet it was. It is confusing if you didn’t grow up the way I did. I first found out when I was 5. We were at the playground having a blast, and then we were weren’t. I can’t explain it, but we weren’t anywhere. It was like we were inside everything. I still don’t get it. The next thing I knew, I was lying in a hospital bed.

The nurse let me know the next day that my dad was nowhere to be found. No one has seen him since. It wasn’t until I was 11 that I met him again.

I know what you’re saying, “didn’t you just tell me that no one heard from again?” That is true. No one has heard from him. But I see him all the time. Inside the wall of the local gym. Through the glass window of the coffee shop. I see his eyes glimmering in the leaves of the tree next door.

I can’t explain how or why, but he is there. And today he’s trying to break free. He told me.

Again, I didn’t hear him. But he told me. See, he’s found out how to manipulate the object he is in at any given moment, except that manipulation meant making it explode. Into tiny little fragments.

After a few mishaps - I still have a scar on my left arm here - he learned to control it in sequence. Last week, he moved into a tree and caused the leaves to explode in such rapid succession that he was able to write a message to me. It was upside down, but I wasn’t going to complain.

Which leads us to now. I’m watching from across the street as the decrepit warehouse in front of me disperses into a glorious display of sawdust, gypsum, and calcite. It is awe inspiring and beautiful, reminiscent of a warm hug.

Except that one thing.

He forgot to mention the part where the warehouse was full of historical artifacts, like an entire dig site’s discovery of alabaster.

And then there’s the sirens. I’m out of here. I hope to see you soon, dad!