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the red door
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. ✧ ・゜. +・o ✧
Picturing Heather's face in her mind was different from picturing Billy, because Alina didn't know Heather that well. Instead of an animated face that Billy's had been beneath her closed eyelids, Heather's was stagnant, her mouth locked in the smile. It was that, even with El's hand securely in hers, and the background hiss of the showers, it took Alina a few minutes to have Heather's face blossom to life in her mind. When she finally managed to open her eyes in the dark void, it was a sort of fleeting relief before the weight of what she was doing settled over top her again. She didn't know what she was going to see. She didn't know what was happening to Heather, that cheerily smiling girl. She didn't even know if she was still alive.
The first thing Alina saw was El, her hair dried, floating down to her shoulders. After linking hands yet again with the girl, the second sight came into view. It was a white mailbox sitting on a pole, with an address dangling off of it, the water below slightly rippling as it reflected it. Alina squinted in confusion, reading the numbers out loud so that Max could hear. "One four three eight." Where was this?
A couple of questions from Max echoed around the expansive space, but Alina ignored them for now, knowing that she would have plenty of time to talk about it when she emerged. Forcing herself to be brave, Alina walked forward, tugging El along with her, heading up to the pristine white mailbox, which, she noticed now, was glazed with rainwater from the outside storm. El reached out, tracing her hand over it, and then came a whooshing noise that made Alina jump. Looking beyond the mailbox, she spotted a red door, which came into existence much in the way that Billy had disappeared—in wisps of smoke.
The door was average, cherry-red, and Alina assumed by the handle that it was the front door of a house. Even though it was apparently plain, a chill went down her spine at the sight of it. It seemed... menacing. Like it knew about whatever secrets it held on the other side. Alina almost didn't want to approach it, but she was here for a reason.
"Come on," El told her. Alina nodded resolutely, but just before she was about to take a step forward, Max's voice rang through the area.
