It stood alone in the city, without warning, without reason. A bright red door, stark against the gray of the concrete and steel. No walls, no frame. Nothing but that door. And once you saw it, you couldn’t unsee it.
This is how it ends. With a whisper. With a tug on your soul. The door beckons, pulls at you, drags you in. You think you can resist, but you can’t. You never could.
A Portal to Nowhere?
Days earlier, the door had appeared. Right in the middle of Market Street. A bizarre sight, even in a city known for its oddities. At first, people thought it was an art installation. Something meant to shock, to provoke thought. But no one could explain it. The door wasn’t bolted down. It wasn’t secured by any visible means. It simply existed, defying logic, defying reality.
“I’ll bet you $20 it’s some weird viral campaign,” Jake had said, smirking at his friends as they gathered around it one afternoon. The crowd wasn’t huge, but it was growing. People murmured, speculated, and a few even knocked on the door. Hollow, yet solid. The kind of door you’d expect to find in an old house. Painted a deep, crimson red. The handle, brass and slightly worn, gleamed in the sunlight.
“No way,” Sarah replied, shaking her head. She was always the cautious one, the skeptic. “There’s no branding, no logos. It’s creepy, if you ask me.”
“Come on, it’s probably nothing,” Jake insisted, already reaching for the handle. But before he could grab it, a voice cut through the air.
“Don’t.”
They turned. An old man, eyes wide with fear, stood a few feet away, trembling. His face was pale, his hands shaking as he pointed at the door. “Don’t touch it. Don’t go near it.”
Jake raised an eyebrow. “What’s your deal, old man? It’s just a door.”
The old man shook his head violently. “No, it’s not. I’ve seen it before. Years ago. In another city. It’s a trap. You go through that door, and you’re gone. Gone forever.”
A Deadly Dare
The group exchanged glances, half-amused, half-unsettled. “You’re saying it’s…what? A magic door?” Sarah asked, her tone dripping with skepticism.
The old man’s eyes bore into hers. “It’s not magic. It’s something worse. It takes you…somewhere else. And you never come back.”
“Where does it take you?” Jake asked, his smirk fading. Something about the man’s intensity was unsettling.
“To a place where your worst fears are real,” the old man whispered, his voice barely audible. “You think you’re strong, that you can face anything, but you’re wrong. The door knows. It knows what scares you most, and it uses it against you.”
“Come on,” Sarah said, pulling Jake’s arm. “Let’s get out of here. This guy’s nuts.”
But Jake hesitated, his hand still hovering near the door. The old man’s words had planted a seed of doubt, of fear. Yet, curiosity gnawed at him. What if the old man was right? What if he was wrong? Jake’s pulse quickened as he debated with himself. He had always been the brave one, the one who laughed in the face of danger. But this was different.
“Don’t do it, Jake,” Sarah warned, noticing the flicker of uncertainty in his eyes.
But the old man’s words were too strong, the pull of the door too enticing. “I have to know,” Jake muttered, almost to himself. Before Sarah could stop him, he grabbed the handle and pulled.
Vanished into Darkness
The door swung open silently, revealing…nothing. A void. An inky blackness that seemed to stretch on forever. The crowd gasped, stepping back, but Jake leaned forward, peering into the darkness.
“Jake, stop!” Sarah screamed, reaching for him, but it was too late.
Jake took a step forward, into the blackness. And then, he was gone. The door slammed shut behind him, leaving only silence and the echo of Sarah’s scream hanging in the air.
Hours passed. The crowd dispersed, the police were called. But there was no sign of Jake. No trace that he had ever been there. The door, however, remained. Standing alone in the street, silent, waiting.
Days turned into weeks, and Jake’s disappearance became the stuff of local legend. But those who had been there that day, they knew the truth. The door was no ordinary door. And Jake was no longer in this world.
Sarah’s Descent
Sarah couldn’t sleep. She couldn’t eat. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Jake’s face, his look of terror as he stepped into the void. She had to know what had happened to him. Where he had gone.
One night, she returned to the door. The street was deserted, the city asleep. The red paint of the door seemed to pulse in the moonlight, as if it were alive, as if it were waiting for her.
She approached it slowly, her heart pounding in her chest. “Jake?” she whispered, her voice trembling. She reached out, touching the door. It was cold, unnaturally so. She knew she shouldn’t, but she couldn’t stop herself. She grabbed the handle and pulled.
The door swung open, revealing the same black void. But this time, she didn’t hesitate. She stepped forward, into the darkness.
And then, nothing.
Where Did Jake and Sarah Go?
When they found her, she was standing in the middle of the street, staring blankly at the closed door. Her eyes were wide, unseeing, her skin as cold as the door itself. They tried to speak to her, to pull her away, but she didn’t respond. It was as if she was trapped in her own mind, lost in whatever nightmare the door had shown her.
Weeks later, strange things began to happen. People reported seeing shadows that didn’t belong, flickering across walls, moving when there was no one there. The shadows seemed to watch, to wait. And always, they seemed to be drawn to the red door.
Then, the disappearances began. One by one, people vanished. Those who had seen the door, who had touched it, who had stood too close. Their shadows lingered, but they were gone, lost to whatever world the door led to.
The city grew quiet, the streets deserted. No one dared approach the door anymore, but it didn’t matter. The door was patient. It would wait. Sooner or later, someone would come too close, and the door would claim them, too.
And the shadows? They would flicker, desperate and hungry, until the door found its next victim.
In the end, the red door remained. Always there, always waiting. And those who knew of it, who had heard the stories, they warned others: never go near the red door. Because once it saw you, once it knew your fear, there was no escape.
The door would always find you. And when it did, you would never come back.
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Meanwhile, don’t miss The Forever House: In the heart of the forever house, the walls know your darkest secrets, and once you enter, they will never let you leave…
