Chapter 1

My parents went to visit some friends for an extended fourth of July weekend and left my younger siblings and I at home. They asked us to clean up around the house a bit to earn our pizza money, and my brother made a weird discovery about the closet next to our front door (the one people usually shove jackets and rain boots into). By the time he called for me to come check it out, both he and my sister had made their way into this newish space through one of the walls. Sounds weird, but it was pretty dark in there and I can't be sure how we even got where we ended up. It sure looked like a part of our house, seemed familiar enough with the same paint colors and doors. So we all went exploring a bit to check things out and well, we got lost.

Thankfully we had only sort of moved in one direction, and the sunlight coming through the windows was reassuring, though it was late late afternoon and any natural light was sure to fade fast if we didn't start heading back now. I could already hear some pops and shrieks outside as our next door neighbors started setting off some fireworks in their driveway. By the time I realized this, Carter had parked herself on a nearby couch and nodded off. I tried waking her up, but she crankily shoved me away. I wasn't going to try convincing her to wake up just to have her hands smack me in the face, so I told Joseph we should get going. We could come back for Carter later. This was a part of our house after all.

As soon as we turned around, it was like the place knew we were looking to leave and didn't like the thought one bit. The light was cold and a lot dimmer than it was a moment before. There was stuff in our path that we definitely hadn't passed on our way up to this point. I simultaneously couldn't believe my eyes and also was in denial (I must've just not noticed some things earlier), so Joseph and I started our journey back.

The floor was scattered with rusty wires, maybe some leftover tomato cages from mom's last gardening project, to carefully step through. It didn't help that we were barefoot. A metal door at some point after that had a clanky lock for me to pry open (with the key thankfully already in it!) and swung wide with a loud squeal. Beyond the door, a new hallway stretched further than we had possibly walked during our original exploration, but we somehow made it to the end of that too.

By the time we made it to a room that looked more like a part of the house we knew, I could see through a window that the sun was taking its last glance from behind the mountain. Things felt friendly again. Joseph headed straight for a nearby door (one of several) when I heard a printer chugging ink out onto some paper. I looked around, and there it was in the corner with a two-sided sheet laying in the tray. While Joseph bravely went around digging through whatever the doors had behind them, I read through the sheet, which crazily enough detailed every single thing we went through on our way back like they were video game achievements. The hairs on my neck stood up. Something wasn't right about this place. Were we being watched? Joseph was calling for me, so I folded up the paper and stuck it in my pocket before heading to see where he went. I could hear his muffled voice shouting with glee from inside one of the doors he had opened, and HIS ARM WAS STICKING OUT FROM THE RIGHT WALL OF A CLOSET.

It didn't look right. Mentally screaming, I grabbed his hand and was pulled through the wall and out the shoe closet in our "real" home.

We definitely have to go back for Carter.