The locked door

 The old building was dry wood and brick. The sky was black above me and the nighttime air was thick and wet.

Cicadas begged for a mate.

 I thought then floor might give out as I walked to the swinging dual doors.

She was bussing a table when I walked in and i recognized her instantly.

Cassandra.

I could feel a tear form in the corner of my eye but it did not fall. She nodded to me, a simple, “hello” perhaps. I’m not sure. Something about it felt, off. Like she was acknowledging something. 

The room was mostly dark except for a stairwell so well lit next to the bar it almost flowed. 

I walked towards it, I wanted to run, but my feet were heavy and the wood of the saloon floor I might have thought was sand if my sneakers, out of place in alt-world werent making scuffing sounds as i paced across it.

The plodding paino and its happy tune rang loud through the building. The steam fans whirled and sans Cassandra, nobody else seemed to care I was there.

A man kissed a women in the corner, she slapped his hand away from her thigh.

A grouped played poker.

A fat man sat at the bar counting coins. He stopped and looked at me, then laughed chewing a cigar, but made no attempt to speak to me. He only bellowed. Not at a joke, or a scene, but at ME. 

I climbed the stairs. 

At the top the smell of stale beer and smoke was even more overwhelming than it had been down stairs. The stairwell conceded to a long hallway lined with drown doors on either side, but one, dead center of the hall, on the left, was a bright, glowing blue.

My feet now moved of their own accord. Where I was sinking in side before, I was now gliding down the hall fast as i could.

I reached for the knob and tried it. Locked.

I began at shake it first, then harder, violently. I wanted to scream, “MELA! I’m here to save you!” But nothing came out. The words echoed in my head, a drum pounding.

Then a hand fell to my shoulder.

Its jet black skin was soft and careful, but heavy. 

Words slipped into my ear with a single breath, “you’re not supposed to be here, Dear Friend. We both know you’re not in control.”

The hand pulled hard down, I braced to impact the floor only to find myself falling into a chair. Sunlight started me and assaulted my eyes.

A man slammed down a piece of paper. I was so jarred I didn’t catch everything…something about Elara?

With a flash of violence, as sudden as I found myself there, a dusty, time worn man started and finished the confrontation. 

He walked past me without a glance, and so it all began.