INWARD

There can be so much uncertainty in what we do not know, but we will never learn unless we go forward

The walk was deemed uneventful. No reason to expect anything otherwise. the trio continued down the quiet road as the bright sunlight shined overhead. 

"When are you going to start on that report, JaShae?" 

"No time soon," JaShae responded, continuing to look at the road before them. The third member of the group was in step with them, but kept a distance. He looked down the road a bit before them, and saw a figure step into the open. At that same moment, JaShae saw the person as well. 

"Donedra, look at this." 

Donedra looked at the person also, who was now coming toward them. the figure walked slowly, then picked up his pace a bit before he slowed back to a steady step. 

"Who is that?" JaShae asked. 

"I'm not sure," Donedra answered, but she had an idea. 

"That's Calvin Cooper," the third person responded. 

"Are you sure, Hintee?" Donedra asked, but she suspected that's who he was. 

"Yea," Hintee said. "That's him." 

"Hey," the young man said as he drew toward their presence. 

"What's up, Coop?" Hintee asked. 

"Look, uh," Calvin began, then finished quickly. "We need your help." 

JaShae stepped a distance away from him, while Donedra and Hintee spoke. 

"Who is we?" 

"Bunch of us," Coop replied. "Back in the woods." 

Jashae stepped further away, looking in the distance beyond Coop. 

"A bunch of you?" Donedra asked. 

Coop seemed flustered. 

"I know how this must look," he started, "but we found something." 

"What?" Donedra asked. 

"We found it a few days ago," he continued. "We've been trying to keep it quiet, tell as few people as possible, but that's gotten difficult." 

"Donedra, I'm going home," JaShae spoke. "I think you need to as well." She moved even further away from Coop. 

Donedra looked at Hintee, who likewise turned and looked at JaShae, then back to Coop. 

"What did you find?" Hintee asked. 

It'd be easier to show you," Coop said, motioning to the woods behind him. "It's not that far, and you can see the woods aren't thick or overgrown. We just need as many people as possible who can keep it secret until we know what we found." 

With that Coop exhaled, turned and walked back toward the woods. He stopped and looked at LaShae and Hintee. 

"I'm gonna see what it is," Donedra called to JaShae, then said, "if you don't hear from me this afternoon by four o'clock, tell your parents." 

"No problem," LaShae said. With that LaShae turned and left. 

Donedra and Hintee looked at Coop.

"Allright," she said, "let's see it." 

Coop walked his way back toward the brush. It wasn't thick, in fact, there was a bit of a worn path through the small saplings, no doubt made by animals over the many years. As Coop said, the location wasn't far from the road. There in a clearing were several other kids, nearly all of whom she recognized. And standing there in the middle of the group was a strange looking white wall of sorts, definitely out of place in its surroundings, as if it were ruins from a bygone moment in time, which Donedra knew had never existed in this remote area. 

"What is it?' Hintee asked. 

Another young fellow stepped forward. Hintee and Donedra recognized him. 

"It's a door," he replied. 

With that declaration, the pair looked to where a door handle would be and sure enough, there was a lever of some sorts. Hintee stepped near the door. 

"Can I touch it?" he asked. 

The other fellow nodded. 

Hintee ran his hand across the surface. It was rough like carved marble, striving to give a completely flat surface. Maybe it did. 

"Can he open it, Adraun?" Donedra asked. 

"Yea, you can open it," the fellow said. 

Hintee put his hand on the handle, but instead of pulling on it, he stepped and looked to the opposite side. He stepped on around, as far as he could, without releasing the door handle, to see what appeared to be a solid pane of glass, with what must have been the opposite side of the door to be seen through. The surface looked the same as the front. 

Before anyone could say anything else, Hintee moved back to the front and yanked on the handle, expecting to see the still foliage behind the structure, but as he pulled on the door, a gust of cool air was felt, literally carrying the door open and dragging Hintee along with it. 

Donedra looked in disbelief. Hintee likewise sought to step away from the door, striving to free his hand from the handle. 

Like staring into an outside setting, filled with dark clouds rolling overhead beyond the opening. Above them in the woods, clear, blue sky was still visible. They gazed upon the ground and saw not any earthen surface, but what appeared to be a precisely designed cobblestone walkway of sorts, stretching off into the distance, giving way to stairs that descended among variations of tall fir trees, swaying to and fro. And somewhat beyond the walkway of stone in the distance, was a grassy shelf of land and further on, a roiling, rolling sea. 

"Is that the Pacific?" Hintee asked. 

"Adraun, what is this?" Donedra whispered, not taking her eyes away from the scenery. 

"That's what we want to figure out," he replied. 

"Who found it?" she asked as Hintee stepped away from the opening and looked around the back once more to still see the smooth glass as before, with Donedra, Adraun and the others standing in frnt of the doorway, the view all but being nothing more than a window. Adraun watched as Hintee ran his hand from the outer frame of the door, somewhat resembling a small column, and ran his hand inside the door. Donedra turned and looked as well. Hintee continued on, becoming mystified when his hand should have appeared around the pole, never arrived. He reached as far as he could, then quickly pulled his hand back in amazement. He looked to Adraun. 

"That's pretty much what we have ended up deciding to do," Adraun said. 

Disregarding him, Donedra asked, "who found this?" 

"Kelmontre," Adraun answered. "He came and told us." 

"Have you ventured in there?" Donedra further pursued. 

"That's been the problem," continued Adraun. "Kelmontre said he entered the door when he first found it, and the door closed on him. He said it stayed closed for about five minutes."

"More like ten," the small person corrected. 

"then what happened?" Donedra asked. 

"It opened and I ran out," Kelmontre said, "and all the while I was in there and the door was closed, I heard all these sounds, like yelling voices." 

Kelmontre paused, then proceeded. 

"Then out in that water, I see a boat," he said, "and I heard a voice saying, someone is up there! Stop him! Stop him!" 

The two newest arrivals turned to look again through the door, watching the waves out on the body of water. Donedra turned back to Adraun. 

"So why don't you send the dog in there, make him chase a ball?" she asked, pointing at the pit bull resting nearby. 

"We did," Adraun answered. "Tossed the ball toward those stairs, see if it continued on. Tooth raced in after it, dug around in the brush, then proudly walked back out with it. We decided to do it again and threw the ball down the walkway, in this direction and once again, the dog ran after it." 

"What happened then?": 

Adraun looked at the dog on the ground, then to Donedra. 

"She didn't come back," he said. "We sent James' German Shepherd after the ball this time, sometime yesterday evening, and she never returned."

Donedra viewed Adraun with uncertainty, but she couldn't deny her own interest in the doorway. She looked around at the other kids gathered together. 

"Why not go in with a phone to maintain communication with somebody?" she asked, rather confidently. 

Adraun didn't blink. 

"Did that, too," he said. "Clezentro went in. We was watching him on the phone," Adraun said, holding up his own phone.

"What happened?" Donedra asked. 

Adraun held his head up. 

"Phone went dead," he revealed. "Picture went out, lost signal. We waited for it to return." 

"You mean Clezentro went in there and he hasn't returned?" Donedra asked frantically. "When was this?" 

No sooner had Donedra seemingly moved away from standing so close to the door, a canine figure suddenly came charging out of the doorway and raced about the kids, alive and frisky like a newborn pup. 

"Majestic!" Hintee called out. 

Another boy summoned the animal to him. 

"Here, Majestic! Come here!" 

The dog promptly ran to the teen. He began petting the dog, then felt something on her collar. 

"James, what is that?" Adraun asked as James removed the item and examined it. 

"A phone," James said, adding, "I'd be willing to guess it's Clezentro's." 

"What's on it?" Adraun asked. 

James tossed the phone to Adraun, who caught it. 

"You check it out, man. I'm just glad to have Majestic back," and rubbed the dog's head and neck. 

Adraun looked at the phone and began seeing if he could figure it out. 

"We was talking to Clezentro when his picture blanked out," Adraun stated. "Let's see if he has anything more to see." 

Donedra watched as Adraun brought up Clezentro's screen. While the recognizable scenery of where they stood, even the door glimpsed in the background, were seen, Adraun hurriedly brought out his own phone and found his recorded video as well and held the two phones to be seen at the same time. 

Hintee also moved in to observe the events. 

From the two perspectives, everything seemed to be the other side. Then both screens became the same as Clezentro sent the video to Adraun. 

"I was going to ask why didn't you tie a rope to somebody," Donedra began, but sure enough, in the video, there was the rope tied to Clezentro's waist. 

"What happened with the rope?" she asked. Adraun held up his hand to silence her.

"Just wait," he said, quietly. 

The images on both phones were of vast brickwork, tiled floors, windows with lit scenery. 

"He's . . . . he is circling the door frame, isn't he?" Donedra asked. "In essence, he's just going round in circles." 

"We kind of felt that would be the best idea, to see what it would do," Adraun explained, "rather than venture further out after what Kelmontre said happened. Don't know why we thought this would be better." 

Then, as noted, Adraun's phone ceased receiving a signal. As soon as the video stopped, Adraun shoved the phone into his pocket and now observed Clezentro's video. He came to an ascending staircase and began making his way up. 

"You still getting this, Adraun?" Clezentro inquired as he walked upward. 

Then he queried. 

"Adraun? You still there?" 

Donedra and Adraun watched the phone video as the screen turned back to see Clezentro. He seemed to be mimicking surprise to realize he wasn't connected anymore. 

"Well, if I'm in here by myself, I guess I'm going to have to start getting out of here!" he stated, almost comically and grasped the rope around his waist. Intending to follow the rope back on out, Clezentro pulled the rope toward him to get some slack and instead an unexpected end of the rope appeared. 

"Oh, no," Clezentro was heard to say. 

"that must have been when we tried pulling him back after the video ended and we got the other end of the rope," Adraun explained. 

From the video, they heard, "Adraun! Adraun! I'm following the column back out, as it rounded the door frame, like you said do!" 

Hintee had now moved over to pick up a nearby rope, deducing it to be the one used. 

"Adraun! Hey!" was heard from the video, then the screen went blank on this phone as well. 

"Adraun?" 

Adraun turned to look at Hintee with the rope. 

"This has been cut," Hintee said. 

Donedra stepped up to Adraun. 

"Allright, you only brought two of us here, with the rest of you already assembled, so what do you want to do now?" she asked. 

"We got to rescue Clezentro," Coop said, "try to find him." 

Donedra nodded. 

"Agreed," she said. "That is first priority over exploring in this doorway, this portal." 

She put her hands on her hips and looked around at a few of those present. 

"The door will close if you are here by yourself and go on," she stated, looking at Kelmontre. "You sent Tooth in and he eventually came back out, then you sent Majestic in and she eventually came back out, but neither of them is able to tell us what they saw."

"But Clezentro hasn't returned," Hintee stated. 

"So we can either wait for Clezentro to return," Donedra stated, "or we can go in after him and, like him, lose our connection to the door. Can't use a rope, it snapped or was cut." 

"Phone lost it's signal," Adraun said.

"So what does that leave us?" Hintee asked. 

Donedra walked toward the door again and gazed in. 

"I'm thinking we could find a chain and use that, but for some reason, I see a chain ending up the same way as the rope, with simple bolt cutters." 

"So that leaves us where?" Adraun asked. 

Donedra stood quietly, inhaled, then replied, "we make a human chain. We all link up, hold hands."

The group all looked to one another. Donedra turned to view all of them. 

"We've got to find Clezentro," she said. "Come on, Everybody." 

Slowly the youngsters approached the doorway. 

"Let's link up," Adraun replied. "Donnie, I guess you'll be the anchor out here."

The big fellow took his place and was then joined by a rather robust young female. Turned out she was his sister. She stepped within the door and looked about. A rather tall, very thin fellow was third, followed by yet another big lad. 

"Start making your way around the inside of the door," Adraun called. Feeling there could be no harm as long as he stood within the door, he stepped inside to help guide the others. Another acquaintance entered and this was when Adraun realized they were doing it backwards. 

"We should be filing in," he said, "linked up outside, and enter." 

With that, he reached out and took Donedra's hand. She followed suit and grabbed Hintee. With another youth joining them with each entry, Adraun and Donedra followed along the four or five already in the domain and ventured to the front, until the last person of this link, Coop, reached the furthest figure from the outer link, where Donnie was anchored. 

When he could go no further, Adraun yelled back for another person to join them, either end. Another guy linked up with Donnie and this guy's brother followed suit and did the same. 

In no time at all, Adraun reached the stairs. This was it. When he reached the top of the stairs, he would be on his own with no more guidance from Clezentro's video. Adraun was half-hoping they would run out of people, but didn't happen. The human train made their way up the stairs to behold a rather large balcony area, looking out over the waves, slowly transcending away in the vast distance. 

Donedra looked at the high ceilings and curtains adorning the upper ranks, as if concealing something. 

"Which way now?" Hintee asked. 

"I guess we continue our usual pattern, but it seemed apparent the staircase would slightly throw that effort asunder. They seemed to be venturing elsewhere now, in another direction. 

As he rounded the corner as best he could, Adraun saw a door at the end of a long dark hallway. There seemed to be movement in the well-lit area beyond the doorway. With no other direction to venture, he moved toward the door. Donedra was still behind him. 

Back outside, with nearly all the kids having entered, Donnie asked Kelmontre if he was going in. The lad shook his head no. 

"I'm not going in there anymore," he replied, stepping further from the door. 

"What about you, James?" Donnie asked. 

"I don't think so," James said. "I got Majestic and that's all I'm after."  

Another child stepped into the portal and Adraun reached the doorway. He peered inside, with Donedra looking in behind him. 

Outside, another child was approaching to enter when Kelmondre heard the vehicle stop down by the road. He looked and had an absolute fright as he saw the police car. He was anxious to run. Another police car showed up as well. 

And there was Donedra's dad and JaShae as well. When car doors slammed, everyone else in the group turned to see what was going on. 

"Where's Calvin Cooper?" JaShae called out. 

"Don't anybody move," an officer ordered as he advanced toward them. 

At this moment, the scream was heard. Donnie and James turned away from JaShae's arrival and saw within the portal, there was Clezentro. He appeared a bit ragged, somewhat wide-eyed, his shirt very wrinkled. Clezentro came running up the steps in the opposite direction, heading toward the door. He ran past Donnie and James, encircled the door and pushed it to as fast as he could. 

"Hey! Watch it!" Donnie began from within the dwelling as he moved in to get away from the closing door. Kelmontre, James and a couple of other kids who didn't make it in stared in disbelief. 

Clezentro slammed the door so hard, the entire structure fell over, just as JaShae, Donedra's dad and the police came upon the scene. Unmistably the sound of breaking glass was heard beneath the door. Clezentro collapsed upon the door, exhausted, gasping for air. 

"Where's Donedra?" her dad yelled. 

James and Kelmontre and the other kids were astonished. 

"Help him up," James yelled for anyone listening to get Clezentro out of the way. The other kids helped Clezentro get to his feet, but he was fatigued. He all but collapsed again in the arms as they moved him away. 

"James," JaShae began, "where's Calvin Cooper." 

James didn't answer. He was lifting the door and frame back up to stand once more. On the ground was indeed broken glass. When he got the frame back into place so it could stand, James pushed the door open to see inside. Kelmontre stepped forward as well. 

The glass was broken. All they saw inside was the other side of the woods. 

"Okay," an officer began, "somebody needs to tell us what is happening here." 

"Where's Donedra?" her father asked again. 

James stared at the open door leading nowhere, the broken glass on the ground sparkling in the setting sunlight. 

"James," JaShae shrieked, "where's Donedra? Where's Calvin?" 

James looked to her. 

"And Donnie," he said quietly, "and Hintee and Adraun. All the others." 

He looked once more to the open doorway even though there was no longer anything to see.