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chapter 1

Imagine if one perfectly normal day you got sucked into a completely different world. Everything is different. In just minutes, that perfectly normal day wasn't to normal anymore.

I woke up on that perfectly normal day, 5 years ago during the summer. I sat up and checked the time on my phone. 7:30 AM. Right on time. After I put my phone down, I got out of bed and made a light, normal breakfast. A perfect start to a perfect day.

Each morning I had a simple, normal morning routine. I took a shower and pondered life's real questions, like "do dogs understand you when you talk to them?" Then I got changed into a cute sundress, brushed my teeth, found my brown ankle boots and a hat, and walked out the door to work. Everything was perfectly normal. Or so it seemed.

I stepped out into the fresh summer air, and started my mile walk to work. I always hated cars. Pollution bothered me. Also multitasking.

It was such a great morning for a walk. The sun was shining, birds were singing, people were walking by me, and I was happy. It was precisely 9 AM and perfectly normal.

As I walked through the city streets, I saw myself in the reflection of the glass buildings. My wavy dirty blonde hair was flowing from my hat. My big eyes were the color of the ocean during a storm, sparkling in the sunlight of that summer day. The pale complexion and rosy cheeks of my skin were peeking through the shadows. My nose was freckled, and my smile was slightly lopsided. It was all perfectly normal.

My journey always included me overthinking. I overthought everything, pondered the questions no one seemed to ask, and made this whole imaginary world in the my head that I expected to come true.

Finally I made it to the door of the Sharon Newspaper. That's where I worked. I was a journalist for the newspaper of my town. I walked in, signed in, and sat down at my desk, typing away about some fundraiser the local elementary school held.

"Good-morning, Rose," said my boss, and the head of the newspaper, Mr. Wave.

"Good-morning. How's everything?" I was shaking inside of terror, afraid I might say something wrong. I think he could tell.

"Oh just fine." He chuckled. "Can you go get me some of the sample papers I printed?"

"I'm right on it, Mr. Wave." I stood up and walked to the printing room.

Everyone in the printing room was so nice to me. There was Bob with his chubby rosy cheeks, Linda with her flaming red hair, and Sherrie with her purple-rimmed glasses and short black hair. Each smiled brightly when the saw me walk in.

"Hey Sherrie, can I have some of the sample papers Wave printed?"

Sherrie smiled and handed me a stack of papers.

"Thanks, Sherrie!"

"No problem, sweetie."

I said goodbye to Sherrie, Bob, and Linda, and walked to Mr. Wave's office. He wasn't there so I left them on his desk and made my way to the door. I wasn't paying attention as I was walking out and I ran into someone and fell. I looked up and there was Mr. Wave staring down at me. I turned bright red and avoided eye contact.

"I am sorry Ms. Gracie. Here, let me help you up," said Mr. Wave.

"Thank you," I muttered. I'm so clumsy. "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

He smiled nicely and said, "don't worry about it, Rose. Now get to work." And so I did. I went off sitting in my spinny chair at my desk. I loved writing. Writing was always an escape from my overthinking mind. It was calming and soothing, and i was so happy to be able to do that everyday as a job.

The minute the clock changed to 5:00, I packed up my papers and shut down my laptop. I waved goodbye to Sherrie, Linda, and Bob who were walking out of the printing room. Pushing open the door, i felt the breeze and smiled. I started walking down the street. Soon enough i was home doing normal afternoon things like blasting some strange Indie music and dancing along to it, eating some fruit, especially strawberries, or sitting down and just relaxing my brain. Afternoons were always my favorite time.

At 9:00 exactly, i hopped into bed and wished myself a good nights sleep. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep after that completely normal day.

The next day is when my perfectly normal day was flipped upside down. Just a normal day at work when I saw a purple door across from where I was. That door was never there before. I, being my self, was absolutely terrified. Usually, my over thinking mind would've told me not to go near the strange, hopefully apparition of a door, but for some reason something told me to go open it. Maybe it was the voices coming from the door, telling me to open it, but whatever.

So there I was. Walking towards this mysterious purple door that showed up out of no where. As I got closer I realized it wasn't an apparition as I hoped. The door was real. Solid. Actually there. I was confused about why I was not petrified by the whole thing. I went closer and closer every second, the voices from the door getting closer and closer. Then my hand touched the knob.