Chapter Two: An Interesting Door

The group looked around.

“Wow. That was weird,” said Mark.

“Indeed,” Carrie agreed. Then she spotted a girl with two boys sitting on her magic couch. “SARA SARA!” she shouted excitedly.

“Care Bear!” responded the tall curly-haired girl. She stood up and they hugged, and the boy sitting nearest Sara stood up as well. “Care--”

“No, Jay, you may not call me that,” Carrie reminded him.

“Hello Peter,” Matthew greeted the other boy, rather amused by the fact that he was greeting his brother.

Eager to get going on their next adventure through the next door, Kim began searching all the doors for the lack of a sign. However, all the doors had signs.

“Did we not explore the first door enough?” asked Charlyn curiously.

“I doubt that,” replied Cy.

“Yeah, we spent forever down there!” Katie agreed.

“Did not!” Kim retorted.

“This isn't helping us find the new door,” observed Abigail.

“True,” Sarah agreed.

“Cricket, help us find the door!” encouraged Tiffany.

“Chirp, chirp!” suggested Cricket, helpfully.

“You so smaht,” Carrie praised sarcastically.

“Here it is: http://www.geocities.com/hobbithugz/unopeneddoorschapter2.jpg,” announced Chris. Everyone looked at the door.

“Obviously Photoshopped,” commented Elisabeth.

“It's not supposed to look like a real door, get over it,” came the voice over the loudspeaker again.

Scarlett jumped. “Whoa! She needs to quit doing that.”

“But what is that supposed to mean?” asked Rainor, pointing at the sign on the door.

“'Open this door into that of the beginning'?” Klaus read aloud, seeming to question the statement. “Beginning? Beginning of what?”

“Maybe we'll go back to the Garden of Eden,” mused Ben.

“I sure hope I don't go back to infancy,” chuckled Michael.

“Don't say that! You'll jinx us!” ordered Sara.

“Well, there's only one way to find out,” said Carol. But no one seemed very eager to be the first one to pass through the door.

Finally Peter made an observation that set many of their minds at ease. “It's a very wide door.”

“That means more than one of us can go through at a time!” continued Jay, offering pie to Carrie, who wisely turned it down.

Much of the group crowded together, none wanting to be the first nor the only one to go through. The entire group of twenty-two people, plus Cricket who was hiding in Someone's pocket, passed through the doorway, apprehensive of what might come. No sooner had they gone between the door jambs, they stood against the wall, facing the exact same door.

Every single one of them thought to themselves that it was just a dream, but never said anything to their companions. So they moved toward the door again.

“'Open this door into that of the beginning,'” Sara whispered, and they stepped through the doorway again. Like before, they found themselves standing against the wall opposite that door.

“Wow. What an interesting door!” exclaimed Katie.

“That was a lot of fun!” said Jay. He and Matthew ran through it again.

“What on earth was the author thinking?” Mark pondered aloud.

“Probably don't want to know,” replied Charlyn.

“True, very true,” Abigail agreed.

What could possibly be crazier than this door? Curiously, they anticipated the opening of the next door.

Chapter One: Door the First

Chapter One: Door the First

Suddenly, a loud noise boomed over them all. Katie looked suspiciously at Klaus who shrugged and pointed at Michael. Two more girls, Sarah and Tiffany, walked up to the group.

“Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!” The intensity of the barks over the apparent loudspeaker caused everybody to cover their ears. (Can you believe the author almost wrote “eyes” instead of “ears”? Well, she did.)

“Shh! Oh... wait... where was I? Oh yes. You are here to complete a mission. Okay, come on now, I'd appreciate if you all moved into a tighter group. I like seeing who I'm talking to.”

Everybody moved into a tighter group, personal space still intact.

“See? There must be cameras!” deducted Chris. Abigail took a picture of him. He scowled at her.

“Thank you. Now. Each door will unlock in turn. You must open that door before you can open any of the others. Once you open it, you may go back to it. However, I'd advise you to explore the rooms in sequence. Your mission is to discover--” A fanfare played triumphantly. “--me! The author!”

Carol opened her mouth.

“'Why?' you ask?”

“How does she do that?” Carol mumbled.

“Read on. You'll find out why.” Here, the speaker attempted an evil laugh, which cut short because she realized how incredibly stupid it sounded. “Anyway. Any more questions?”

Ben spoke up. “Shall I slay Santa?”

A pause filled the air. Finally, the speaker gave her answer.

“...” She coughed. “No. Santa shall remain alive and breathing for the time being.”

Klaus beamed. Carrie whispered something in his ear. “Thank you, o merciful one,” Klaus said. Carrie nodded proudly.

“Wow.”

Then the loudspeaker whistled and another voice could be heard. “Well, then what are you doing here?”

The first voice came back. “I know, I know. So, the first door is unlocked. Open, and explore.”

Low-volume music began to play again. It had been playing before but nobody had noticed it. And honestly, nobody paid much attention to it now. But it was playing nonetheless.

They stood around looking at each other for a while before curiosity got the best of Carrie and she strode determinedly to the only door without a sign. The others followed her eagerly. What would be through this first door?

When Carrie's hand hesitated over the doorknob, Matthew rushed toward it and opened the door without any hint of hesitation. Mark looked over Carrie's shoulder. Abigail took a picture. Unfortunately, the flash did not last long enough to show them what was in the room.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I don't know,” responded Scarlett who somehow had managed to sneak a peek through the doorway.

“Maybe it'll get brighter?” Matthew suggested, shrugging. Losing interest, he moved toward the back of the group.

“I doubt it,” said Mark sensibly.

“Well, is anybody going to actually walk through the door?” asked Elisabeth impatiently.

“You might get splinters from that,” Chris replied, straight-faced.

“Oh, shut up!” she retorted.

Chris shrugged as if to say, “Well, you asked.” Just at that moment, a cricket sprang from his pocket.

“Cricket!” several girls from the group called at once.

“Chirp, chirp,” the cricket replied.

Ben kicked the cricket. Being a wise little cricket, he reminded Ben about “peace on earth”. Then without waiting for any of the girls to defend him, he leaped around wearing his red, pointed hat and landed near the door.

“Cricket, no!” shouted Carrie, making a dive for him.

But the cricket gave a saucy chirp and leaped through the doorway. Sarah threw herself behind him in an attempt to catch him.

Seeing his opportunity, a silent fellow no one had noticed before jumped to rescue Sarah.

“It's sulliedknight!” A fanfare played and a pre-recorded gasp sounded in the hallway.

Katie looked at Charlyn suspiciously. “I knew you liked him.”

“What?” Charlyn asked, confused. But before Katie could answer her, two “oof”s and a “chirp” came from the room.

Bekah peered into the room. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Sarah and the knight, who liked to be called “Sully”, called back. Suddenly, the room's lights came on to reveal the cricket perched on a lightswitch, looking as smug as a cricket can possibly look. Abigail snapped a few pictures for which the cricket, pleased with himself, smiled widely.

“Oh, you smart cricket, you,” said Tiffany.

“Chirp, chirp!”

“Oh, please, don't encourage him,” Cy moaned.

Since the light was on then, they could see a way down to the floor, which happened to be about 10 feet below the bottom of the doorway. The way down was by means of stairs. Klaus bravely led the way down. The others followed cautiously. Once they reached the floor, the lights went out, leaving them all to stand in the dark with no sense of direction.

“Cricket!” shouted Chris.

“Chirp, chirp!” Suddenly the lights flickered back on and the cricket leaped away from the lightswitch before Chris could catch him.

“Pesky bug,” Katie grumbled. “I'm the real bug.” The thought brightened her mood.

They began to explore the room. It had many white boxes of many shapes and sizes scattered about. Mark commented that it might be a fun area to play paintball in. (*chirp?*) They had all grouped together again to go around a particularly large box that no one wanted to go around by themselves. With much curiosity and suspicion, they crept around the corner.

“Hola,” said a girl.

“Kkim!” yelled Carrie, attacking the girl with a huge hug. Kim hugged her back, and then joined the group exploring the room.

“Wait.” Charlyn stopped in her tracks, and not in anyone else's tracks either. The entire group paused. “Why are we exploring these rooms when our goal is to find the author?” An unexpected fanfare played.

“Whoa, that's cool,” commented Kim. “The author.” The fanfare played again. “The author!” And again. “The au--”

“Kim...” said Carol, flatly.

“Oh, fine.” Kim fell silent. (Here the author contemplated making a joke about Kim skinning her knees, but decided against it.)

“But Charlyn's question is still not answered,” Abigail reminded them.

“Right,” replied Bekah.

“Look!” cried Scarlett. She pointed at one of the boxes. It bore words concerning their mission.

“THE REASON YOU MUST EXPLORE ALL THESE POINTLESS ROOMS IS THAT YOU MUST LEARN PATIENCE. YOU MUST LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER. AND MOST OF ALL, YOU MUST PROVIDE THE AUTHOR ENTERTAINMENT. YOU MAY ALSO FIND MANY VALUABLE ITEMS OF INTEREST IN THESE ROOMS AS WELL. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT YOU TAKE YOUR TIME AND ENJOY THESE ROOMS. NO WORRIES, THIS IS THE MOST BORING OF THEM ALL.”

“Ah! That explains a lot,” commented Michael.

“That is does,” Bekah agreed.

“So let's finish exploring it!” Tiffany suggested.

They turned to continue their exploration of the room to see more words on a different box.

“SORRY, NO MORE EXPLORATION,” Ben read aloud.

“That's unfair!” protested Chris.

“LIFE'S NOT FAIR.”

“You made that up!”

“No, I didn't! Look for yourself!”

“DON'T BELIEVE HIM. HE MADE THAT UP.”

“But... that's not fair!”

“LIFE'S NOT FAIR.”

“I give up.”

“Okay, well let's get going. I wonder what's through those other doors...” said Sarah.

The group trudged back to the stairs and climbed up them. (Yes, they had grown.) Just as they reached the top, the lights went out and the cricket leaped through the doorway behind them, alighting softly on Carol's shoulder. Rainor pulled the door shut behind them.

They all heaved sighs of relief.

Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this on much sugar, little sleep, and without meeting ANY of these people in real life. So I drew from some characteristics that I can see, and other things are just plain random. Don't ask where they came from because I probably can't remember now.

Prologue

They all looked at each other in confusion.

“How did we get here?” asked Carrie, straightening the towel pinned around her shoulders.

Chris shrugged, shifting the laptop case from one hand to the other and adjusting his sunglasses. “I don't know. We just...poofed.”

“Here” was a long corridor, both sides plastered in doors that presumably opened into various different rooms. All of them bore signs expressing instructions that the doors were not to be opened. They knew because Chris had made sure by looking at each one in turn, inspecting them for any signs of patterns or their maker. Of course, there weren't any because the author is too smart for that.

Abigail took a picture of Carol and Matthew.

“Hey! What was that for?” asked Matthew indignantly. Carol promptly rolled her eyes.

“I must take pictures of everything. You never know when they might come in handy,” Abigail replied, shifting her position to take a picture of another group of people. The group, a group of girls doing as girls do and huddling together to discuss their current plight, introduced themselves to each other out of turn.

“Hi, my name is--”

“I live in Alabam--”

“Chocolate is my fav---”

“Katie, and I like to--”

“--a, but I go by Scar--”

“--orite thing to eat, and--”

“--help my mom and--”

“--lett, but my name is really--”

“--Bekah! Wait for me!”

Disgusted with the female way of chattering, Ben meandered about, asking vague questions and insisting that he was always right...well, most of the time. He stumbled across Michael who was sitting on the couch. Where the couch came from and how Ben stumbled across him is a mystery to all involved, but it ended in Ben landing on the opposite end of the couch and sitting up quickly. Michael smiled happily.

Charlyn walked arm-in-arm with Bekah, looking for her next opportune moment to whack Chris, despite his keeping track. Bekah smiled warmly at all who came near her. She offered chocolate chip cookies, which Charlyn usually took advantage of. After all, chocolate was her favorite thing to eat.

Calmly, Mark watched, occasionally interjecting his own comments as well as Klaus, who usually had something sweet to say.

All discussions revolved around two questions: “How did they get there?” and “Do pink and purple armadillos exist?” Several theories regarding the two questions were being discussed and defended apathetically, with monotone voices and heavy eyelids.

Elisabeth, on the other hand, argued her case in a heated tone, ready to refute anybody who came close to ruining her perfect theory. The one who usually pestered her with the thought that another theory just might be right was Cy. Well, his name was Eric but for the sake of the author's sometimes confused fingers, his name will be Cy. (Not to mention, that is also the name he sometimes goes by: Cy Guy. Very fun to say, yes, very fun, preciousss.) Elisabeth's brother, Rainor, stuck close by, ready at any moment to defend his sister, unless of course a snake was involved.

But as all of this has nothing to do with the story or plot at hand, we will get back to that presently, in Chapter One.