Chapter 3: Through the doorway!
Off in the other room, a familiar metallic chattering announced a call.
"It must be mom," Lane whispered and rushed towards the hall.
By now Casey had a hold on her emotions. She was sure that it was the butterfly from her dreams. She gulped down her saliva and got up. Still stuck on the arched wall. Her eyes were locked on it. She edged closer, slowly lifting her hand to touch the butterfly. Lane came running towards her.
"What?" She shouted in a whisper, "You scared me."
"Mom said that she wouldn't be able to come tonight. It's raining heavily so she would be back by tomorrow evening." He looked at her hand. "What are you doing anyway?"
Casey looked at the wall. The butterfly is no longer in its original position. She turned and looked straight at the end of the storage hall. The butterfly was flapping around and moving into the basement. Funny. The basement door was closed, yet the butterfly just passed through the door as if it were nothing. Is it a ghost? Casey thought.
"That butterfly flew into the basement," she said, taking a deep breath.
Casey took the key from the carabiner in the hall and made her way towards the basement door. The keyhole of an old, stout door with a partly chipped, worn-out pattern on the sides. The rusty doorknob felt scratchy and cold on my fingers when she touched it.
"Here I go…." the key fit in. She pulled on the knob and the door opened. When she reached the top of the stairs, she turned on the light switch. Below in the darkness lies complete silence.
"Can you still see the butterfly?" Lane asked innocently
Casey started climbing down the wooden steps as they creaked and shrieked, "I can see a faint glowing light."
As they were fully into the basement, Casey's eyes searched for the butterfly.
"There," she gasped. She threw the items aside and made her way to the butterfly. She raised her hand yet again to catch it, slowly, steadily. The basement was so silent that she could hear her own breath.
"Come and help us..." The whisper came from the butterfly.
Casey took a few steps back in surprise.
"Casey," Lane said in wonder, "was there always a door here?"
"Huh?" Casey looked in front.
A large door was there as if a dream had become solid as if it had grown up on the hinges and blossomed into a comforting hue. The creepers coloured the upper part of the door green.
"I don't think so," Casey replied. She gasped as she saw the butterfly flitting through the door again. She rushed towards it but stopped just in front of the door.
She reached for the doorknob. Her hand trembled with anticipation. What was waiting for her on the other side? She took a deep breath and turned the knob, slowly pushing the heavy wooden door open. The hinges creaked, sending chills down her spine. The room was dark, and she couldn't see anything, but she could feel a presence. Her heart raced as she stepped inside, and she called out for Lane.
"Lane, you should check this out!"
Lane rushed into the darkness and slammed shut the door behind him.
"Why did you close the door?" Casey shouted in a whisper.
"What's the big deal, I will open it for you now?" He turned around to get a hold of a knob but there was nothing. The door was completely gone. He waved his hand in the dark in search to feel a wooden door but all he touched was air and complete silence.
"W-what happened?" Casey asked
He gulped down his saliva and turned towards her. "The door is gone."
"WHAT?" Her loud voice echoed in the space.
She took a few steps ahead and swung her hands in the air for the door, yet nothing. "Where did it go?"
"Where's the butterfly? Maybe it can help us find the door again?" Lane said in a trembling voice.
"I don't know, it just disappeared."
They were alone in the dark and didn't know what was going to happen next. They stumbled through the darkness, their hands outstretched in front of them. Both of them felt their hearts pounding in their chests, and their breaths came in short, ragged breaths as if they could hear each other's heartbeat. They had no idea where they were, all they knew was that they were alone in the dark.
Casey tried to calm herself down, telling Lane that it was just a bad dream and that they would wake up any moment.
"It's not just a bad dream!" Lane shouted in fear, "the darkness is too real, too suffocating." He folded both his hands on his chest.
Casey knew more than him how real this was. Exactly like her dreams. She waved her hands on her right side. She felt a cold wall. "Lane! There's a wall on the right...feel it. We can walk ahead along the wall"
Lane didn't reply to that and did as she said. His fingertips brushed against the rough stone.
Suddenly, a sound echoed through the darkness, a low, guttural growl that made the hairs on the back of their neck stand up. They froze, listening intently. There it was again, louder this time. Heart racing.
"RUN!" Casey yelled as she swung her hand behind and gripped Lane's hand.
They started to run blindly through the darkness, their only thought is to get away from the sound.
As Casey ran ahead, her foot caught on something, and she fell with Lane to the ground and rolled with a thud they stopped. Pain shot through her ankle, and she groaned. Lying there in the bushes she opened her eyes but the brightness was blinding. She put her hands above her eyes and asked, "Where are we?"
Lane stood up shaking off the dust as he squinted his eyes and looked around. "In a forest, it seems. I never knew our basement was this big"
He helped Casey up on her two feet as they admired the beauty they saw in front of them.
The forest seemed like a place of wonder. Every tree and every leaf seemed to pulse with some magic. The canopy of the forest was so thick that sunlight only filtered through in patches, creating dappled patterns on the forest floor. The air was cool and damp, filled with the earthy scent of damp soil and the sweet aroma of wildflowers.
The growling sound grew louder and closer. They turned around swiftly and knew that whatever was out there was coming for them. They looked closely at the darkness behind them as some creatures were now visible to them. Their fur was a mix of greys and browns, with streaks of white running through it like ribbons of moonlight. Its eyes were piercing gold, sparkling with intelligence and fierce determination.
"Wolves" Lane screamed, "Holy! Casey run!"
The wolf's muscles rippled beneath its thick coat, evidence of its raw power and strength. Its ears twitched as it listened to the screams of the twins, and its nostrils flared as it sniffed the air for any signs of prey. There was a wildness to the wolf, a sense of untamed energy that seemed to vibrate off of it in waves.
"Get them," one of the wolves whispered.
His heart pounded in his chest as he darted through the dense forest, the sound of his own breath ringing in his ears. Behind him, Casey looked like she almost passed out after seeing the wolves. He could hear the snarling and snapping of the wolves as they closed in on their trail, and their hot breaths sent chills down his spine.
As they ran deeper into the forest, the trees grew taller and their trunks wider. Their roots twisted into gnarled shapes that seemed almost alive. The branches reached out like spindly fingers, casting long shadows that danced in the shifting light. The ground was soft underfoot, covered in a thick layer of moss and fallen leaves, and the occasional crunch of a twig broke the otherwise stillness of the forest.
He dodged around trees and leapt over fallen logs, the thick undergrowth snagging his clothes and scraping his skin.
"Careful Casey!" He said, huffing, "Come to your senses! Come on!"
His lungs burned with the effort, but he pushed himself harder, adrenaline pumping through his veins. He knew I had to keep running, had to keep moving, or the wolves would catch him. The forest was a blur of greens and browns as he raced through it, his eyes scanning ahead for any sign of escape. The wolves were gaining on them, their growls growing louder and more insistent. He could feel their hot breath on his heels and could hear their claws scrabbling on the ground behind him.
As he ran forward, his foot caught on a root and he stumbled, one of his arms flailing wildly as he tried to regain his balance. He left Casey's hand but it was too late. He felt the ground rush up to meet him, the hard earth smacking into his knees and palms with a sickening thud. Casey fell on him.
"Ugh" she groaned as she looked in front.
The pack of wolves closed in on her. She felt a sense of panic rise up inside her more than ever. She had never been so close to danger before, and she knew that this time, she might not make it out alive.
Without even thinking, she raised her hands to cover her head palm facing towards the wolves, feeling a strange energy pulsing through her fingertips. It was as if the very air around her was charged with electricity.
She pointed her hands at the wolves, and with fierce determination, she released a burst of energy. It crackled through the air like lightning, striking the wolves with a force that sent them tumbling back.
The wolves were stunned, and for a moment, they hesitated, unsure of what to do next.
"Go away! Leave us alone!" She continued to pour every ounce of energy she had into her attack until finally, she watched them slink away into the forest, tails between their legs.
Lane couldn't believe what he had seen. His eyes widened in shock as he stared at his sister, his jaw-dropping open in disbelief. "What in the universe was just that?"
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone