I didn’t know what to think of it when it arrived. It was a queer piece, bizarre. Nothing like anything I’d seen, and we get a lot of strange things in this curiosity shop. It’s not like we haven’t received messages in a bottle before, but this one felt different. It felt special.

He arrived just after midday and asked for the piece. I had no clue how he knew we had it, but something about him felt off… I didn’t want to sell it, but my job is to sell what we receive. So I did.

He pulled the scroll out of the jar and laughed.

I asked what was so funny, and he turned the paper around to show my birth certificate.

I’d lost it months ago. And now here it was staring right back at me. I’d sold it to this random man.

I demanded he give it back, I’d even buy it back, but he shook his head.

“Your soul is mine now!” He laughed as he pulled out a lighter and set alight to my birth certificate.