The Doors to the Otherworld

Have you ever looked into a mirror and felt your reflection looking back at you? Have you ever woken up in the middle of the night to do something but had little to no recollection of it in the morning? Have you ever used a staircase that felt weirdly longer than it looked? Chances are you stumbled into a door—maybe even made it yourself. What are these doors, you may ask? They're called Doors to the Otherworld. Are you interested in what's inside? If so, are you perhaps interested in listening to a tale? ..

I woke up to the sight of a movie screen that displayed a blank, static screen. I felt confused at first, but then I remembered falling asleep while watching a movie.

I looked around to ask someone what the deal was with the movie screen. To my surprise, I found no one, not even a single soul. This really creeped me out, so I stood up, planning to exit the cinema or at least find a person. That's when I noticed there were people in the upper part of the cinema. I was sitting on the very bottom, close to the screen itself, so it's not a surprise I didn't notice them at first.

I couldn't see them very clearly, but I know they're sitting up there. It would be rude to shout, so I climbed the stairs, thinking I could ask them what was happening. The moment I saw the figures, however, I froze; fear filled every single fiber of my being.

Although the sitting figures looked human in shape, the problem lies with their frightening appearances. Pale skin that looks like ash, big circular eyes filled with darkness, and an uncanny smile that stretches to their ears.

"What in the world?" I whispered to myself.

My heart dropped as I felt several gazes being directed at me; the figures seemed to have heard my whisper. I wanted to run, but my feet wouldn't listen to me. My toes felt numb and cold, like they were submerged in freezing water. I looked down to see what was happening, and that's when I noticed that they seemed to be transforming into plastic.

I reached down, planning to massage my toes, thinking it would get rid of the numbness. The moment I touched them, however, the coldness from my toes also transferred to my fingers, and I could feel the numbness taking over them.

"This can't be happening." I uttered weakly.

I tried to convince myself that it was all a dream—a nightmare, to be exact. But the numbness and the bone-chilling cold felt so real. The cold has now reached my waist, and I can feel my thighs getting more numb as time passes by. My arms are now cold, my palms are numb, and my fingers have already transformed into plastic.

I looked up, only to see the sitting figures smiles widen, their lips beginning to crack and bleed. I can only stare at them helplessly as the cold transforms and numbs more and more of my body.

"Am I going to die?" Despair consumed me as tears began to form in my eyes. I've always thought death wasn't scary and that I would face it with a smile on my face. If that's indeed the case, then why am I more afraid of death than the monsters in front of me? I chuckled helplessly. "I guess you only long for life when death comes near."

The cold has now reached my upper body, specifically my stomach, and it's slowly but surely spreading to my chest. I took another look at my now-plastic arms and legs before a sudden realization hit me.

"Am I becoming a mannequin?" The thought refused to leave my head as I waited for my death to come.

The moment the cold approached my chest, however, a surprising thing happened. Instead of the cold, a burning sensation appeared. The heat traveled all over my body, slowly removing the numbness and the cold. My skin also began reverting back to normal, and I can feel my lower body again. The process was quite painful, but thankfully the pain was bearable.

I looked back at the figures, who were smiling ever so widely. They don't seem to notice anything, so I gathered up my courage and prepared to run to the exit the moment I fully recovered.

The numbness and cold quickly faded away, but the burning sensation stayed. I took one last look at the sitting figures before quickly running towards the exit.

The exit was below me, so I had to descend the stairs to reach it. I also needed to be careful not to slip as the floor is not made for running.

I carefully descended the stairs and tried my best not to slip; thankfully, I did not. The only problem was that the burning sensation on my chest was increasing in intensity the more I moved. It felt like very hot metal was being pressed against me. I wanted to look at what was causing it and even had the urge to remove it, but I knew not to, as it's the only thing keeping me alive.

The exit was now only a few steps away from me, and within a few seconds, I reached it. I ran through the exit hall before seeing the cinema lobby at the end and running to it. The moment I reached the lobby, a blinding light flashed at me. I heard a bloodcurdling scream behind me, followed by a metallic crack in my chest.

The moment I regained my vision, the movie lobby was nowhere to be seen; instead, I was now standing in the middle of a dilapidated room that contained three items: a door, a mirror, and a bed. I looked around expecting to see the exit hall and maybe even the figures who were chasing me, but instead I saw nothing but walls, the exit hall, and figures gone. I seemed to be trapped in this room.

I looked back at the three items and noticed words were written in each of them. The words on the door reads "dimensional door", the words on the mirror reads "reflection door", and the words on the bed reads "slumbering door".

I felt confused at first, but then I remembered how I got here, which is by falling asleep. That means the door that leads me out is also related to sleep, right? The thought sounds absurd, but considering the events that had just transpired, it kind of makes sense. I also did not have any other choice; it's either that or be trapped here.

I prayed to all the gods in existence before laying on the bed and drifting to sleep.

I woke up to the sight of a movie screen that displayed the ending credits. I immediately looked around and heaved a sigh of relief the moment I saw other people; some were leaving while others were still watching the ending credits. What's important though is that they all looked normal this time.

"I'm back.." I said it quite loudly. Granted, I got a few weird looks here and there, but that's nothing compared to the gazes of the figures.

I then remembered the heat that saved me, so I immediately touched the inside of my shirt and searched for something.

"found it." In my palm lies a broken metal pendant, still emitting heat..