Chapter Two:

Behind the Door in the Evergreen Trees

But as far as cryptic statements from old men went, Iolyn did a good job of pushing it out of his mind over the next few days as his family settled in to their new house. Iolyn didn’t see what was so impressive about the place. Well, OK, it was fairly nice with its expansive backyard and cuddly woodland creatures and… he could be sold on this. But still, it was his job as a teenage boy to make sure his parents were aware of the fact that he did not approve, even though he secretly did. Why? Because Phoebe approved. Phoebe loved the place.

Phoebe was a menace.

When Phoebe claimed the room to the front of the house, which faced the front yard and the numerous evergreen trees (Iolyn had decided to count how many there exactly were, because it was really starting to feel like they were living in the North Pole), Iolyn chose the back room that seemed considerably smaller than the others. Maybe that was just him.

He was a little annoyed to find that the closet had a habit of getting stuck, so he opted to keep it cracked open. He didn't notice the small package that sat on the top shelf (or maybe he did notice and just decided not to give it any attention for the time being, which would be a little odd because if you find a mysterious package in your closet, isn't it your first instinct to see what it is? So it was more likely that he just didn't notice it).

On the fourth day, Iolyn finally found the time to count the evergreens. But I'm sure you realize, dear reader, that something much more interesting happened that day than simply finding out how many perpetually living trees were on the property. And boy, was it interesting.

Upon examining the backyard, Iolyn discovered that a path had been cleared in between the trees. He was surprised that he hadn't noticed before; it was fairly obvious now that he had seen it. He couldn't see how far it went down because about thirty feet in, it was obstructed by more trees, but it looked like it went farther. It seemed like the kind of thing he would sketch, except maybe this was a little bit more magical. Looking down at his sketchpad, he wondered if he should abandon his quest to count the trees and see where this path led him.

His feet answered for him. Acting as if they were more familiar with the area than his brain was (it was a strange feeling), they took him down the path. It was perfectly ordinary for a country path, but for some reason, his heart was thudding. He wasn't sure if it was from excitement or fear. He suddenly thought of all the fairy tales where the kids wandered into the woods, and he always knew they shouldn't because they would always get into trouble. There was Little Red Riding Hood, Hansel and Gretel, and there had to be more than that (but he couldn't think of them at the moment).

There was nothing very mysterious about this path. It hadn’t cut off in two directions, there hadn't been any twigs snapping suddenly, there was… nothing. Why wasn’t there anything out here? He should have at least seen a squirrel or something. He knew there was a family of deer out here, but he hadn't seen any signs that they had been here.

What was going on here?

Everything had gone quiet. Iolyn couldn’t even see the house above the trees, and he wondered vaguely where the property line was. It didn't seem to matter so much as his feet kept taking him farther down the widening path. It was like someone had turned off the logical side of his brain and turned on the magical side.

Turned on the magical side? That was random.

Iolyn stopped when he came to a small clearing that was circular- it reminded him of Stonehenge in a way because the trees were nearly in a perfect circle- but what struck him as odd was how a dilapidated old door was standing in between two massive evergreens. There were vines growing on them, but he was fairly certain that there wasn't a source for the vines. What really made him curious was how the vines had spiral-shaped leaves, as if someone had cut them that way, and he swore that they looked like they were glowing. They had to be fake, but they looked so real- sure enough, when his fingers brushed against them, instead of the rough material they made fake plants from, the leaves and vines were soft and silky.

He laughed uneasily. "Get a hold of yourself, Iolyn," he muttered to himself. "There are lots of kinds of plants in the world. This is just a kind you haven't seen. Maybe homegrown. That old guy seemed weird enough to try... and plants don't glow!" That little thought kept perturbing him for some reason. "Plants absorb light for energy; they don't use it to glow!" He kept staring at the unusually sparkly ivy (that didn't sound much better to him) and it occurred to him that maybe he should see where it was growing from. He circled around to the back of the two evergreens that held the door in place, but he saw that there wasn't any sign of a door there.

Now this was just nonsense because how could a door be present on one side but not the other? When Iolyn went back to the front of the door, it was still standing there, as suspicious as ever (and now even more so). He repeated this three times until he was a little more entertained by it than he was spooked. This had to be an optical illusion. There was no way-

The door had a handle. It definitely was not there before.

Forget spooked. Iolyn was so terrified his heart had stopped. And by a door in the middle of his backyard, if this was still his backyard.

He had two options here. He could open the door (in which case, he would be most likely be greeted by the sight of evergreens and feel completely idiotic), or he could run away and never look back. His brain would have loved to execute the latter plan, but his feet and hands obviously knew something they didn't because Iolyn found himself moving towards the Haunted Door (what else could it be?) with his right hand stretched out as if to grab the doorknob- his hand was now turning the doorknob, it was just evergreen trees, so why did he feel like he couldn't breathe?- the doorknob clicked open- and there was nothing.

Absolutely.

Nothing.

Iolyn wasn’t a scientist or an architect, but he was fairly certain that when you opened a door, something was supposed to be behind it. For a while, he just stared in complete shock. Then two words escaped his lips. “Holy Flord.”

A blank sea of darkness was spread out in front of Iolyn, like it was outer space without the stars and planets and everything else. It was an empty canvas waiting to be filled. Iolyn became aware that his jaw had dropped a little, and that was when he ran.

He ran as fast as he could back to the house, through the door in the back of the garage, into the kitchen, and he pulled open the junk drawer, fishing for a flashlight. There had to be something in that never-ending darkness. There had to be. He couldn't have been the first kid to discover that place; it wouldn't make any sense. And what was with that door? He circled around it a few times so a doorknob appeared? Weird. Way too weird to be anything normal. He should have known something was up from the moment he saw those glowing vines.

"Iolyn?" said Phoebe as she came in the kitchen. She was looking at him disapprovingly. "Iolyn, where were you? Mom was calling you and I was looking for you everywhere-"

"Outside," said Iolyn, retrieving the flashlight and making sure it worked fine. "There are some trees- and a door- see ya!" Like that, he bolted back outside and down the path, no longer feeling as creeped and curious as he did before. He just wanted to see in that doorway; what was inside it? He kept running until he found the door, still open to the eerie darkness, and he shone the light into the area, expecting it to shine on something, anything.

There was just a beam of light. It wasn't even a beam; it was more like a ball of light. It made Iolyn feel a little irritated because there had to be something in there, even if it was only dust. But no matter where he shined his light, there was nothing to illumine. It really was as empty as it seemed.

Iolyn turned off the flashlight, but the ball of light that he had cast didn't fade like he was accustomed to seeing. It floated for a moment or so, and then it started glowing brighter. Iolyn noticed that the vines on the door seemed to be getting brighter as well, and frankly, it freaked him out. He wanted to say something, but what was he supposed to say about this? It was like in the play performances of Peter Pan when they would cast Tinker Bell as a stage light, except this was much more surreal. This light was somehow brighter and untainted, even if it had come from a flashlight. It was simple and elegant and… moving. No really, it was moving. By itself.

Iolyn had had enough of the Twilight Zone for one day. He dropped the flashlight and ran, slamming the door shut on whatever the hell that was.

That made me laugh, how 'bout you?

Thanks to CaveDwellers for reviewing!

Have some milk with your cookies. The next chapter is Phoebe-centric. Er, young Phoebe. I'm pretty certain you won't be seeing the older Phoebe anymore.