The is Chapter 1 – Ghost in the Morning
The smell of coffee hit me first.
Then the sound of his voice.
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead."
I blinked. Adrian leaned against the kitchen doorway, mug in hand, that crooked smile that always undid me.
Milo, my white cat, purred on my chest. Rex, my fluffy dog, sprawled at the bed's edge, tail thumping against the wood.
Perfect. Too perfect.
Outside, Mrs. Kane watered her roses. She glanced at my window — and straight through Adrian as if he didn't exist.
A knot pulled tight in my stomach.
"Pancakes today," Adrian teased, winking.
I laughed, but my voice didn't sound like mine.
By night, the storm came. Thunder rattled the glass, lightning lit up the walls — and Adrian was gone.
Milo hissed. Rex whined at the dark hallway.
My phone slipped from my hand. On the floor, an old, yellowed newspaper.
LOCAL MAN DIES IN MOTORCYCLE CRASH — TWO YEARS AGO.
The photo… Adrian's eyes staring back at me.
Chapter 2 – Two Years Lost
I gasped — and the world shattered like glass.
When I opened my eyes, it wasn't my bed.
White ceiling. Harsh lights. Beeping monitors.
"You're awake," a doctor's voice said, too calm.
"You've been in a coma… for two years."
Two years.
Rex's fur was grayer, Milo's eyes sadder — but they were real, warm against my skin. Adrian was nowhere.
The doctor talked about an accident, about my brain injury, but I couldn't listen. My eyes kept finding the empty chair in the corner.
That night, half-dreaming, I heard him. His voice, as clear as if he were breathing beside me.
"Find me," Adrian whispered.
Chapter 3 – The Shimmering Door
It started with Rex.
The morning after the whisper, he barked at the front door, whining until I followed him. Milo trotted at my side.
Through winding streets, we reached an abandoned building, windows boarded, walls tagged with fading paint.
Light leaked from inside — not gold, not daylight. Blue. Cold. Alive.
Milo darted through a hole in the wall. I crawled after him, my breath frosting in the air.
They sat in front of a door. It wasn't wood or steel. It shimmered, liquid and glass all at once, rippling like it was breathing.
I touched it.
The light died instantly. The room went black.
And when I opened my eyes again…
I was in our perfect apartment.
Adrian in the doorway. Coffee in hand. Smiling like he never left.
Chapter 4 – The Door That Remembers
The next morning, the door was gone.
The shimmering, rippling frame from last night had been replaced by plain brick, rough and sun-faded. I ran my fingers over it, heart pounding. Just cold stone. No shimmer. No impossible hum.
"Rex?" My voice shook.
My shepherd mix sniffed the bricks, then yelped. I swear—I saw his paw vanish inside the wall for a heartbeat before it snapped back into reality. His claws scraped the pavement as he backed away.
That's when I heard it.
Adrian's voice. Not in English. A language that curled around my mind like smoke, deep and urgent. I fumbled for my phone, hit record—
Static. Except… one word cut through.
> "Run."
I spun, scanning the empty alley. And then I saw her.
A woman in a deep blue coat. Standing at the corner. Watching me. Her pale face was unreadable, but her eyes—dark as oil—didn't blink.
I stepped forward.
She vanished.
That night, the dream came again. A hallway lined with mirrors. My own reflection stared back from every direction—until one mirror rippled. Adrian's face pressed against the glass, his palm flat against mine.
"Adrian—"
Something cold brushed the back of my neck. I turned.
The mirror behind me was empty. But something was breathing there.
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Chapter 5 – The Photograph That Shouldn't Exist
Grandma's attic smelled of dust and forgotten winters.
I was looking for anything—anything that might explain the door—when I found the shoebox. Inside, under brittle letters and a cracked locket, was the photograph.
Black and white.
My grandmother, young and laughing, standing beside… that door. The same shimmer in the air behind her, frozen in the frame. And next to her—
The woman in the blue coat. Exactly as I'd seen her. Not a single wrinkle. Not a trace of age.
My hands trembled as I turned the photo over.
Four words, written in faded ink:
> Never open without the key.
That night, I dreamed of Adrian again. Only this time, he didn't speak. He just stared at me, then lifted his hand and pointed… behind me.
I turned.
She was there. The woman in the blue coat. Smiling. Her eyes were black pools. A drop of dark water slid down her cheek.
I woke with a gasp. My bedroom was silent.
And on the wall above my bed—
A wet, blue handprint.
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Chapter 6 – The Trial of the Endless Stairs
The door was back.
I don't know how, but I knew I had to go through it. Rex followed, hackles raised. My fingers sank into the shimmer like warm water—and then the world tipped.
I landed hard on cold stone.
An endless staircase spiraled upward into darkness. My breath echoed. Every few steps, whispers brushed my ears—my own voice telling secrets I'd buried years ago.
On the thirteenth landing, movement caught my eye.
Adrian. Two flights above. His head tilted down at me, face flickering like a bad signal.
"Adrian! Wait!"
He didn't move.
Shadows stirred below. The masked figures were climbing toward me, their steps in perfect rhythm. One reached up and pulled off its mask—
It was my nurse from the hospital. Her smile was wrong. Her eyes were hollow.
I ran, taking the stairs two at a time. At the top, a door stood waiting. In its center, a crystal keyhole shimmered—exactly like the one in the photograph.
I didn't have the key.
Behind me, the nurse laughed.
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