Another World ( Travsten )

Another World

I watched Awsten's gorgeous hair bounce as he giddily ran down the stairs to the basement. It was comforting to focus on it while I mentally prepared for what we were about to do. Once downstairs, we walked over to the laundry room and back into the farthest corner where there was a small door. It was about three feet tall and the wood was painted black and peeling off in strips. Awsten inserted a key from his pocket into its lock, turned it, and the door popped open. We crouched down and crept into the dark hallway that lay behind it. Awsten was in the lead, as always. It was pitch black inside so I turned my phones flashlight on and shone it down the hall. The concrete floor turned to dirt as we made our way through the winding tunnel. A musky smell soon surrounded us and the walls turned greener and slimier as we walked. We tried our best to avoid touching them. After a few minutes, we reached a small room. The ceiling was only a little higher than it was in the tunnels so we continued to crouch. On the back wall, there was a glowing purple sphere. Bright lavender tendrils floated in circles around it. Awsten turned his head to look back at me and asked with a grin, "you ready to go back, Travis?" I nodded my head and grimly smiling back at him I replied, "yeah, I guess I am." He slowly stepped in and disappeared. I followed.

                                                                                                      ...

We found the portal a few months ago when picking out items to sell at a garage sale Awsten's parents were organizing. There was a dresser in the laundry room that, according to his parents, had been there since they moved in twenty years ago. They decided they wanted to sell it since they didn't care much for it anyway. When we picked it up to move it we discovered a tiny door behind it. Awsten's parents lost interest in it when they discovered that the door was locked but me and Awsten only became more intrigued. After some searching around the laundry room and in the dresser, we found the key in one of its drawers, buried beneath a bunch of Awsten's childhood toys. We were expecting to find a nice little hangout spot that we could renovate and make our own. After discovering that instead there was just a creepy tunnel with no visible end, I thought we should lock the door up, barricade it with another piece of furniture and never think about it again, but of course Awsten always different ideas. He wanted to venture into the tunnel and discover what was at the end. So we went in and found the portal. Again, I wanted to turn back and forget about the whole ordeal but Awsten went up to it almost immediately and touched it. To our surprise his fingers went right through it as if there was no wall behind it. Awsten's face lit up.

"Travis, we have to go through this thing!" Sticking his arm further in.

"Um, no. No way." was my reply as I started backing up and preparing to retreat. "There is no way. We have no idea what the hell that is"

"C'mon there's no way we can't go through it. Have you ever seen anything like this in your life? This could lead to a completely different world! This could lead to some huge adventure like from a fantasy book or movie or something!"

I had never seen him look more excited in my life. His eyes were wide and his smile practically filled up his entire face. I always had a hard time saying no to him; he was so beautiful and I loved him so much. Eventually I gave in, and through the portal we went.

...

Now this trip was around our tenth time going into the portal. Going through it always made my whole body tingle and feel like thousands of needles were pricking my skin. The pain was quickly over though and on the other side we stepped into a dark room like the one we just left. After crouching through the dark tunnels again, we made our way to the small door leading to Awsten's laundry room. We stopped to hear if there was anyone in there. After a few minutes of not hearing a sound Awsten turned the knob and we pushed open the door.  Awsten peeked over the dresser.