THE THINGS WE WERE NEVER MEANT TO FIND.

Book One of The Things We Were Never Meant to Find Author: Flourish Kitonel Chapter One — The Door The first time I saw the door, I was certain it wasn't there before. It stood at the end of the hallway, between two walls that had always been bare. I stopped walking. The building was supposed to be empty. That was the whole reason I was there. Rain tapped against the broken windows as I stood beneath the flickering corridor light, listening to the sound of my own breathing. Then I looked at the door again. Old wood. Black handle. No number. No sign. Nothing to explain why it was there. I reached for my phone and switched on the flashlight. The beam trembled slightly in my hand. "Hello?" My voice disappeared into the darkness. No answer. I took one step closer. Then another. There was something strange about the floor in front of the door. Dust covered everything else in the hallway, but the area immediately around the door was clean. Not just clean. There were footprints. Fresh ones. Someone had walked through there recently. I crouched down. The footprints were wet. I stared at them. Then I noticed something that made my stomach tighten. They weren't coming toward the door. They were coming from it. I slowly stood. My hand hovered over the handle. Every sensible part of my mind told me to leave. But curiosity has a dangerous way of sounding like courage. I turned the handle. Click. The door opened. Cold air rushed over my face. I froze. Beyond the doorway was another hallway. But it couldn't be. The building only had one floor. And that hallway looked nothing like the one I was standing in. At the far end was a window. Behind it, lightning flashed across a sky that wasn't the same sky outside. Then I heard something. A soft voice. A whisper. My name. I stepped backward. The voice came again. Closer this time. "You finally found it." I slammed the door shut. For several seconds, I couldn't move. Then I looked down. The footprints were gone. All of them. Except one. A single wet footprint now stood directly behind me. I slowly turned around. There was nobody there. But on the wall beside me, written in fresh black ink, were five words: YOU WERE NEVER SUPPOSED TO COME.