Zeds

'Doors'

In a split of a second, there I was. I was working at a printing office with my unknown yet familiar co-worker; a guy with an afro bigger than Cecut. The place wasn't full of people and we weren't exactly the best at our jobs, but it was okay. Little did our clients know that we also guarded something else. Heck, neither did I until that very moment. A secret so big that when it came out, the world literally changed. Literally.

My co-worker (let's call him Isaac) suddenly turned to me, gave me a worried look, and spoke.

-Kate, you have to go.

-Wait, what? Why? I'm just finishing this–

-If you return this to them, everything will go back to normal.

He handed me a small blurry key that I could barely distinguish in my hand.

-Why? What do you mean?

I didn't understand anything. Being such a rushed kick-off of a story, I didn't know what he was talking about. But for some reason, I did know it was very, very important.

-Take this, and I'll try and cover you. Go through the back door. Hurry!

His voice was charged with urgency, which made me run towards the back of the store. As soon as I did, some weird black-suited guys entered the printing office and started to yell, to which Isaac responded with a trembling voice: "Hey, fellas. What can I do for you?". Yet it was the outside what surprised me even more.

The city looked completely changed. Everything was made of state-of-the-art tech, with round highways, shiny skyscrapers, flying cars, and more. The strange thing was, if I looked downwards from that, the city seemed to be ruined, like the poorest version of Gotham City you could think of. Destroyed cars, broken windows in an old building, abandoned houses, and more. I turned around when I saw Isaac next to me again. How did he get away?

-They left, but you have to hurry.

-Why? What are we supposed to do?

-Shhh, wait.

3 police officers arrived with us, or that seemed to be the case. Instead, they passed by us towards another street.

-We can't talk here. But you have to get everything back to normal.

-Normal? What is going on?

-Everything's changed. The city, the people, us... you have to get to that building.

-Which one? And do what?

-That one.

He pointed towards a black, abandoned building that seemed to be the narrowest one you could ever imagine. It was just a few blocks away, where sunlight barely touched it, surrounded by nothing but scraps. The whole building looked like an abandoned stairwell on the inside.

-And do what?

-Choose.

The cops returned, yelled at us, and tried to arrest us. I demanded them to let us go, or to at least explain why they were doing that to us. The sky turned into a mixture of red and fuschia energy, and at that moment I couldn't think of anything but to release myself and go get my brother. I hadn't thought of him since the beginning, and I needed to tell him something was going on.

I kicked backwards and pushed my cop away, avoiding the handcuffs, to which Isaac yelled: "Run! I'll be fine!", right before they punched him.

I started running away towards the black building, but at the same time I knew I was going to find my brother at some other place along the way. I tried to understand but I couldn't; I only felt what was right and took action. Everything seemed blurry, I didn't feel like myself, and the worst part was that I couldn't recognize anyone, anything, or any place.