Chapter 3: The Door That Doesn't Exist.
1710 Words
I went back every night that week.
Monday night I found a courtyard that shouldn't exist. Trees growing at weird angles. Cobblestones on the floor. A bench in the middle. The whole space felt old. Peaceful. Wrong.
She talked to me while I sat there. Told me about the hotel's history. The parties they used to throw. The people who stayed there. Her voice got warmer when she talked about it. Less sad.
Tuesday night I discovered a room full of mirrors. But the reflections were wrong. They showed the building as it used to be. Fancy furniture. People in old clothes walking through hallways that didn't exist anymore.
"This is what I see," she told me. "Past and present layered on top of each other. All existing at once."
Wednesday night the library appeared again. Different books this time. I pulled one off the shelf and it showed photographs. Black and white images of the Hartley Grand in its glory days.
"Did you take these?" I asked.
"Yes. Before. When I was still me."
Thursday night I got lost. Walked through doorways that led to other doorways. Hallways that looped back on themselves. Stairs that went nowhere. I should've been terrified. Instead I felt excited. Like I was exploring something nobody else knew existed.
She guided me back eventually. Her voice leading me through the maze.
"You're not afraid," she said. It wasn't a question.
"No. Should I be?"
"Most people would be."
"I'm not most people."
"No. You're not."
By Friday I was exhausted. Running on maybe three hours of sleep a night. But I couldn't stop. Didn't want to stop.
My assistant Rachel kept giving me concerned looks. "Mr. Moreno, you look terrible. Are you sleeping?"
"Some."
"You should go home early. Rest."
But I didn't want to rest. I wanted to wait for night. Wanted to go back to those impossible spaces. Wanted to hear her voice.
I was becoming obsessed. I knew that. Didn't care.
Friday night I found something new.
A door I'd never seen before. At the end of a hallway that definitely wasn't on any floor plan.
This door was different. Old dark wood. Symbols carved into it that almost looked like writing. They glowed faintly. Pulsed like a heartbeat.
I stood in front of it for a long time. My hand hovering over the handle.
Something told me this door was important. That opening it would change things.
"Are you there?" I asked the empty hallway.
"Always." Her voice came from everywhere at once. "That door leads deeper into the Anamnex. Into the parts of me that are more memory than building."
"What happens if I open it?"
"You'll see more. Understand more." A pause. "You might see me."
My pulse jumped. "Really?"
"Maybe. If you're ready. If I'm strong enough now." She sounded uncertain. Scared. "I don't know, Lyric. This has never happened before. Nobody's ever come this far."
I put my hand on the handle. The wood was warm. Almost hot.
"Do you want me to open it?" I asked.
"Yes. No. I don't know." Her voice got quieter. "I want you to see me. But I'm afraid. What if I'm not what you expect? What if you're disappointed?"
"I won't be."
"You don't know that."
"You're right. I don't. But I want to find out."
I turned the handle before I could second-guess myself.
The door opened into a corridor that shouldn't have fit inside the building. It stretched way too far. The walls shimmered like water. The floor seemed solid but I couldn't be sure.
I stepped inside.
The door didn't close behind me this time. It stayed open. Like I could leave if I wanted to.
I walked forward slowly. The corridor twisted and curved. Sometimes the ceiling was way too high. Sometimes it felt like it was pressing down on me.
Shadows moved along the walls. Not threatening. Just present. Watching.
"Keep going," her voice said. Softer now. "Almost there."
The corridor opened into a circular room. Smaller than the one I'd found on the first night. No photographs on these walls. Just smooth stone.
In the center of the room stood something that looked like a doorway. But there was no door. Just an arch. Through it I could see light. Golden and warm.
And I could see a shape. A person. A woman.
Standing there. Not moving toward me or away. Just standing.
Waiting.
My heart pounded so hard I could hear it.
"Is that you?" I asked.
"Yes." Her voice came from the figure in the doorway. Not from all around anymore. From her. "I'm as solid as I can be right now. As real as your attention has made me."
I moved closer. Slowly. Like approaching something wild that might disappear if I moved too fast.
Through the doorway I could see her more clearly. Dark hair. White dress. Young. Mid-twenties like she'd said.
But I still couldn't see her face. The light was too bright. Or I wasn't close enough yet.
I reached the doorway and stopped. One more step and I'd be through. Be in whatever space she existed in.
"Can I come in?" I asked.
"If you want to. But Lyric, once you cross through you'll see me completely. All of me. What I am. What I've become. You can't unsee it."
"I don't want to unsee it."
"You say that now."
I took a breath. Let it out. "What's your name? Do you remember yet?"
She was quiet for a moment. Then, "Selene. My name was Selene Dray."
"Selene." I tested the name. It fit. "That's a beautiful name."
"Thank you." She sounded almost shy. "Nobody's said my name out loud in thirty-nine years."
"Well I'm saying it now. Selene." I stepped forward. "I'm coming in."
I crossed through the doorway.
The light shifted. Adjusted. And I could finally see her.
She was beautiful. That was my first thought. Not perfect. Not magazine-cover beautiful. Just real. Human. Pretty in a way that made my chest hurt.
Dark brown eyes that looked sad and hopeful at the same time. Delicate face. Long dark hair falling past her shoulders. The white dress looked old-fashioned but it suited her.
She was looking at me with the same intensity I was looking at her. Like she was trying to memorize every detail.
"Hi," I said. Stupidly. Because what else do you say?
She smiled. Small at first then bigger. "Hi."
We stood there staring at each other. I didn't know how long. Could've been seconds. Could've been hours.
"You're real," I said finally. "Actually real."
"So are you." She took a step closer. "I've been watching you for weeks. Hearing your voice. Feeling your presence. But seeing you now, this close, it's different."
"Different how?"
"More. Everything's more." She reached out slowly. Stopped with her hand halfway between us. "Can I?"
I nodded.
Her hand touched my face. Fingertips brushing my cheek. Warm. Solid. Real.
"You're warm," she said quietly. "I'd forgotten what warmth felt like."
I didn't know what to say to that. So I just stood there and let her touch my face. Let her confirm I was real.
"Selene," I said. "That's really your name?"
"Yes. I remembered it a few days ago. After you kept coming back. Kept paying attention. Little pieces of myself started coming back. My name. My age. Some memories from before." She dropped her hand. "I was twenty-four. A photographer. I loved this building so much I couldn't leave it alone."
"And now you can't leave at all."
"No. I'm part of it now. Part of the Anamnex. The memory spaces." She looked around the circular room. "This is as far from the building as I can go. This in-between place. I can't exist outside of it."
"What about me? Can I stay here? In this space?"
"For a while. But you'll need to go back eventually. You have a life out there. Work. Responsibilities. People who depend on you."
"I don't care about any of that as much as I care about this. About seeing you."
She smiled but it looked sad. "You say that now. But you don't know what you're giving up yet."
"I know enough."
"Lyric." She said my name carefully. "I've been alone for so long. Watching people live their lives while I existed in the shadows. And now you're here and I'm so happy. But I'm also terrified."
"Of what?"
"That this won't last. That eventually you'll realize how impossible this is and leave. That I'll be alone again. That I'll fade back into nothing."
I reached out and took her hand. She was solid. Real. Her fingers wrapped around mine naturally.
"I'm not leaving," I said. "I don't know how this works yet. Don't know how to balance everything. But I'm not walking away from you."
"You don't know that."
"Yes I do." I squeezed her hand gently. "Selene, I've spent my whole life alone. By choice. Building walls. Keeping everyone at a distance. And then I found this place. Found you. And for the first time in my entire life I don't feel alone."
Her eyes got shiny. Like she might cry. "Really?"
"Really. So no, I'm not leaving. You're stuck with me."
She laughed. Soft and surprised. "Stuck with you. I like that."
We stood there holding hands. The room hummed around us. The building itself seemed to be paying attention.
"What now?" I asked.
"I don't know. This has never happened before. Nobody's ever made it this far into the Anamnex. Nobody's ever seen me." She looked at our joined hands. "But I want to find out. With you. If you're willing."
"I'm willing."
"Even though it's impossible?"
"Especially because it's impossible."
She smiled again. Bigger this time. Real and happy and beautiful.
"Then come back tomorrow," she said. "And the day after. And the day after that. We'll figure it out as we go."
"Every night," I promised. "For as long as you want me here."
"Forever then," she said softly.
"Forever."
I meant it too. Crazy as it was. Impossible as it was.
I'd found something real in this impossible place. Someone real. And I wasn't letting go.
Not for anything.
- Writer
