CHAPTER 1: The Door
The Magical Door
OMG! What kind of friend accuses her own best friend of stealing her diary?!
And if you think I didn’t tell her I didn’t take it, you’re wrong! I DID tell her. I told her so many times. I even said maybe Derek The Bully is the one who actually stole it. But guess what? She still didn’t believe me.
Anyways… I really wanted to get her diary back so she would talk to me again, like how it used to be.
So after math class, I made a plan.
I went to Derek’s classroom.
Luckily, he wasn’t there.
I slowly went inside, and when I tell you I couldn’t believe my eyes, I mean it.
Because I literally saw Lily’s diary sitting on Derek’s desk.
Like WHAT??
But then I remembered something people always say:
“When something good happens, trouble always follows.”
And yeah… they were right.
Because while I was standing there, I heard footsteps.
Getting closer.
I turned and realized it too late.
Derek was back.
And he had already seen me.
He started chasing me immediately.
I ran so fast my legs literally hurt, turning corners without even thinking. My heart was beating so fast I thought it was going to explode.
I found a random room and ran inside, slamming the door shut behind me.
I stood there completely still, trying not to breathe too loud, waiting to make sure he was gone.
Silence.
No footsteps.
I thought I was safe.
But then…
I heard something behind me.
Slowly, I turned around.
And that’s when I saw it.
A HUGE glowing door.
Pink. Sparkly. Bright. Like it didn’t belong in the real world at all.
It was standing there… like it was waiting for me.
I saw this large glowing pink door.
For a few seconds, I just stood there staring at it. It didn’t even feel real. The light around it shimmered softly, making the whole room glow pink.
Then fear suddenly hit me. I ran out of the room as fast as I could and didn’t stop until I got home.
But even after I got back, I couldn’t stop thinking about the door.
Something about it felt wrong… but at the same time, it felt like it wanted me to come back.
That night, I couldn’t sleep at all.
So around midnight, I climbed out of my window and quietly ran back to the school without looking behind me once.
The school was strangely open.
No teachers.
No students.
Nothing.
Just silence.
I slowly pushed the doors open and tiptoed through the hallway. Every little sound made my heart beat faster.
When I finally reached the room again, I froze.
The glowing pink door was still there.
Tall.
Bright.
Almost beautiful.
And underneath it, there was something glowing white on the floor.
At first I was too scared to touch it. My hands were literally shaking.
But I had already come all this way.
Slowly, I kneeled down and picked it up.
It was a crumpled piece of paper covered in some weird slimy and sticky substance that smelled horrible.
I carefully unfolded it.
It said:
DEAR READER:
Plz come save me! I was a student just like you. I opened this door and a witch named Raza pretended to be my friend and captured me!!!!
Please come save me, HELP ME!!!!
From Zara.
I stared at the letter in complete shock.
A witch?
Another student?
Captured?
None of this made sense.
But one thing was clear.
I had to help her...
I tried to open the door, but it was locked.
I pulled the handle again and again, hoping maybe it would suddenly open, but nothing happened. My mind felt completely stuck. How was I even supposed to open this thing?
Then suddenly, I remembered something.
The day I went into Derek’s classroom to get Lily’s diary, I saw two strange keys under his desk. At the time I didn’t think much of them, but now I realized they looked almost exactly like the lock on the glowing door.
That means… Derek has the keys.
I knew there was no way I could steal them during school, so I decided to go back at night.
When nighttime finally came, I quietly snuck out and made my way back to the school. The whole place felt different in the dark. Creepy. Empty. Even the hallway lights looked scary.
OMG… I was sweating so much.
Every tiny sound made me jump. My footsteps echoed through the halls and my heart was beating so fast I thought someone would hear it.
I carefully walked toward Derek’s classroom and slowly peeked inside.
Luckily… he wasn’t there.
I quietly stepped into the classroom, trying not to make any noise. Then I looked under the desk and saw them.
The two keys.
I quickly grabbed one of them and shoved it into my pocket before running out of the classroom as fast as possible.
The next morning, I rushed back to the glowing door before anyone could see me. My hands were shaking while I pushed the key into the lock.
I turned it.
Nothing.
The door didn’t move at all.
I just stood there staring at it like… seriously???
After ALL of that, it still didn’t work.
Ugh!
So during break time, I went back again to steal the second key.
Luckily, Derek still wasn’t there.
I grabbed the other key and sprinted back to the room, completely out of breath. This time, I carefully held both keys together and pushed them into the lock.
For one second, nothing happened.
Then suddenly—
CLICK.
The door slowly started to open.
The key clicked and the door slowly opened.
For a second, I just stood there staring at it. My heart was beating so fast it almost hurt. The pink glow coming from inside the doorway lit up the entire room around me.
I took a deep breath.
Then I slowly put my right leg in first… then my left…
And finally, my whole body stepped through.
Oh wow.
On the other side, I saw a world I never could have imagined.
Everything looked different. The trees were unbelievably tall, so tall they almost touched the sky. Their branches twisted in strange shapes, and the air smelled horrible, like dead birds and wet dirt mixed together.
The whole place felt wrong.
Too quiet.
Too still.
Then suddenly—
SLAM!
The door shut behind me.
“AHH!” I screamed, spinning around quickly.
I grabbed the handle and tried pulling it open again, but it wouldn’t move. Panic rushed through my body so fast I felt dizzy. Tears started running down my cheeks and my hands were shaking badly.
For one second, I honestly thought I was trapped there forever.
But I forced myself to calm down.
“No,” I whispered to myself. “You have to stay brave.”
Even though I was terrified, I slowly started walking deeper into the forest.
Alone.
Every step felt dangerous. Cold shivers ran through my body while strange noises echoed around me. Somewhere far away, I heard loud howls that sounded almost like werewolves screaming.
I tried not to think about it.
I just kept walking.
The trees seemed to go on forever, and the deeper I went, the stranger everything became. The ground was dark and soft under my shoes, and the purple sky above me almost looked fake.
Then finally, I reached a river.
The river split the land into two different paths.
One side looked brighter and calmer. The air there smelled warm and sweet, like fresh cookies and candy.
The other side looked darker. The smell coming from it was absolutely disgusting, like rotten eggs and something dead.
Honestly… the choice was easy.
So I followed the sweeter smell and crossed toward the brighter side.
As I walked, I remembered the letter.
The purple sky.
The strange world.
It was exactly how Zara described it.
But then I suddenly stopped walking.
Because I realized something.
Where was she?
But where was she?
I kept walking through the strange forest, looking around nervously. The deeper I went, the quieter everything became. Even the wind sounded strange there.
Then finally, I saw someone.
A girl was standing beside a tree in the distance. She wasn’t moving at all. She just stood there quietly like she was waiting for somebody.
My heart started beating faster.
Was that Zara?
I stopped walking for a second.
Hmm… should I go say hi?
What if it was a trap?
Okay… no. I came all this way. I’m going.
I slowly started walking toward her, trying not to make too much noise.
But suddenly—
Something appeared right in front of me.
AHH!!
I screamed so loudly I almost fell backwards.
The creature looked terrifying. It was tall and thin with glowing eyes and long twisted fingers. Its body almost looked like smoke moving in the air.
But before I could even fully see it…
It disappeared.
Just like that.
My whole body was shaking. I could barely breathe properly, but I still forced myself to keep walking toward the girl because I needed answers.
The closer I got, the worse I felt.
My heart was pounding so hard it hurt. My hands felt cold and sweaty at the same time, and suddenly my head started hurting badly.
I tried taking another step—
BANG.
My forehead slammed into something invisible.
I gasped and stepped back in shock.
It felt like I had just walked into a glass wall, except there was nothing there.
I reached my hand forward slowly and felt it.
An invisible barrier.
Before I could even react properly, my vision became blurry and everything around me started spinning.
And then—
I fainted.
When I finally opened my eyes again, the girl was kneeling beside me.
“Finally, you woke up,” she whispered quickly. “But don’t make any noise.”
I slowly sat up, still feeling dizzy.
“What happened?” I asked quietly.
The girl looked around nervously before leaning closer to me.
“A witch locked me in this infinity box,” she whispered.
I froze.
Infinity box?
I looked around again and realized the invisible wall surrounding her was actually some kind of magical prison.
“So… how am I supposed to save you?” I asked nervously.
“There is only one way,” she said softly.
“Tell me.”
Her face suddenly became serious.
“You can only save me by killing the witch. She’s the only one who holds the power to break the spell.”
I stared at her in shock.
Kill a witch?
I didn’t even know if I was brave enough to survive this place… so how was I supposed to fight a witch?
But when I looked at the fear in her eyes, I realized something.
I had to try.
For a few seconds, I just stood there thinking.
My mind was racing with a million different ideas, but every single one sounded impossible.
How was I supposed to defeat a witch?
Then suddenly, out of nowhere, I got an idea.
“Hm… what else does the witch hate?” I asked quickly.
The girl thought for a moment before answering.
“Oh… the witch hates dirt,” she said. “If too much dirt touches her, she starts shrinking until she dies.”
Okay…
Perfect.
I immediately started thinking of a plan.
It sounded crazy, but honestly at this point everything about this world was crazy.
I looked around and started listing everything I would need.
The girl looked confused while I explained everything.
“Okay, so listen carefully,” I said. “I’m going to tie a rope between two trees. When the witch walks through, she’ll trip and fall.”
The girl nodded slowly.
“Then,” I continued, “I’ll pull another rope to make the huge box fall on top of her and trap her inside.”
I was getting more excited the more I explained it.
“And after that… all the dirt will fall into the box and cover her before she can escape.”
For a second, the forest became completely silent.
Even I had to admit…
The plan sounded insane.
But it also sounded like the only possible way to save her.
The girl suddenly smiled for the first time since I met her.
“Actually…” she said quietly, “that’s a really smart idea.”
Then she looked down for a second before softly saying:
“Thank you.”
I smiled a little.
“No problem. But I have to go now if I want this plan to work.”
I quickly stood up and started running back through the forest. The cold wind brushed against my face while the purple sky glowed above me.
Finally, I reached the glowing door again.
I grabbed the key with shaky hands and pushed it into the lock.
Squeak…
The door slowly opened
When I stepped back through the glowing door, I expected everything to feel different.
But it didn’t.
The school hallways looked completely normal, like I had never even left. Students were talking, lockers were slamming, teachers were walking past me like nothing strange had happened.
Which honestly felt really weird after everything I just saw.
But I didn’t have time to think about that.
The first thing I needed was a knife.
Easy.
After school, I ran home as fast as I could and quietly grabbed one from the kitchen. I wrapped it carefully and slid it into my pink sparkly bag before anyone noticed.
Then suddenly I remembered something else.
Rope.
Long rope.
And immediately I knew exactly where to get it.
The janitor’s room.
The second I reached the door, I saw the giant sign that said:
NO STUDENTS ALLOWED
I hesitated for like two seconds…
Then I went in anyway.
Luckily, the room wasn’t locked.
The smell inside was horrible, like cleaning spray and dusty old mops. I looked around quickly until I spotted a long thick rope hanging on the wall.
Perfect.
I grabbed it fast and shoved it into my bag before running out.
Now all I needed was the hardest thing yet.
1,000 bags of soil.
At first, I honestly had no idea how I was supposed to get THAT much dirt.
Then suddenly, I remembered something.
Lily’s family owns a farm.
I immediately ran to find her.
At first she still looked upset when she saw me, which made me feel guilty again.
But I told her everything.
The glowing door.
The strange world.
The trapped girl.
The witch.
At first Lily looked like she didn’t believe me, but the more I explained, the more serious her face became.
Finally she crossed her arms and sighed.
“Fine,” she said. “I’ll help you. Even though I’m still mad at you.”
I felt relief wash over me instantly.
“Thank you so much,” I said quickly. “And… I’m really sorry.”
She looked at me for a moment before finally smiling a little.
“Okay fine. I forgive you.”
Together, we went to her farm and gathered as many bags of soil as we could carry. By the end, both of us were exhausted and covered in dirt.
But then I suddenly remembered something else.
The box.
“A huge glass box…” I muttered.
Lily looked confused. “Where are we even supposed to find something like that?”
“I know a place,” I said quickly. “The aquarium near my house.”
“But those are expensive,” Lily said worriedly. “We don’t even have enough money.”
I shook my head.
“I’ll use my savings.”
Her eyes widened a little.
“Seriously?”
I nodded.
Saving the girl mattered more.
So we ran all the way back to my house, grabbed my money, and rushed to the aquarium store before it closed.
Luckily, we found a huge glass tank that was big enough.
After somehow carrying everything back to the school, we stood in front of the glowing door again.
The pink light reflected across the hallway walls while silence filled the room.
For a second, neither of us spoke.
Then I turned toward Lily and hugged her tightly.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
She smiled nervously.
“Just come back alive, okay?”
I nodded slowly.
Then I grabbed the key…
And opened the door again.
I tried my best to act brave, but honestly… I was terrified.
My hands wouldn’t stop shaking as I walked through the forest with Layla. The purple sky above us looked darker than before, and the strange sounds coming from the trees made everything feel even scarier.
Still, I knew we had to do this.
There was no turning back now.
When we finally reached the area near Layla’s invisible prison, we immediately started setting up the trap. We carefully tied the ropes between the trees and placed the huge glass box above the path.
Everything had to be perfect.
If we made one mistake, the witch could escape.
Layla looked nervous too.
“She comes every afternoon,” she whispered quietly. “Usually when the sky starts getting darker.”
I nodded slowly and hid behind one of the trees, tightly holding the second rope in my hands.
My heart was beating so loudly I thought the witch would hear it.
Then…
The forest suddenly went quiet.
Too quiet.
Even the wind stopped moving.
And that’s when she appeared.
The witch.
At first I only saw her shadow moving between the trees, but then she stepped into the light.
She looked even scarier than I imagined.
Her long black dress dragged across the ground like smoke, and her face looked pale and cracked like broken porcelain. Her eyes glowed dark purple, almost the same color as the sky.
The air around her felt strange, like everything became colder the second she arrived.
I covered my mouth so she wouldn’t hear my breathing.
Slowly, the witch walked closer and closer toward the trap.
One more step…
Then—
SNAP!
The rope tightened around her legs, making her fall forward hard onto the ground.
At the exact same moment, the giant glass box crashed down over her.
BOOM!
The entire forest shook.
The witch let out a terrifying scream that echoed through the trees. She slammed her hands against the glass, kicking and screaming so loudly my whole body froze in fear.
For one horrible second, I thought the glass would shatter and she would escape.
“NOW!” Layla screamed.
I immediately rushed out from hiding and pulled the second rope as hard as I could.
Suddenly, bags and bags of dirt started pouring down into the box.
The witch screamed even louder.
The dirt covered her dress, her hands, her face.
And slowly…
She started shrinking.
But the scariest part wasn’t her screaming.
It was the way she looked directly at me.
Like she knew me.
Like she was angry.
The ground underneath us started shaking violently while her screams echoed through the forest.
I knew we had to leave before something went wrong.
Fast.
So I grabbed Layla’s hand tightly.
“RUN!” I shouted.
And both of us sprinted through the forest as fast as we could. Branches scratched against my arms while the witch’s screams followed us through the trees.
Finally, we saw the glowing pink door again.
I quickly shoved the key into the lock with shaking hands.
CLICK.
The door opened.
Without even looking back, we jumped through it—
And escaped.
We ran through the door as fast as we could.
The second my feet hit the school floor again, everything suddenly went silent.
Too silent.
For a moment, I just stood there trying to catch my breath while my heart slammed against my chest. My ears were still ringing from the witch’s screams.
But when I looked around…
Everything was normal.
Completely normal.
Students were walking through the hallways laughing with their friends. Teachers were talking like it was just another regular school day. Lockers slammed shut. Someone down the hallway was even complaining about homework.
Like nothing had happened.
Like we didn’t just escape another world where a witch literally screamed while disappearing under thousands of bags of dirt.
It felt wrong.
I slowly turned toward Lily.
She looked just as shocked as I felt.
“…Did that actually just happen?” she whispered.
Honestly, I didn’t even know how to answer that.
Neither of us really spoke after that.
We just stood there frozen in the middle of the hallway, both trying to understand what we had just survived.
My hands were still shaking badly, and my heart was beating so fast I thought everyone around me could hear it.
But nobody noticed us.
Nobody noticed anything strange at all.
And somehow…
That was the scariest part.
The fact that the world kept moving normally after everything that happened made it feel almost unreal, like the forest and the witch were just some horrible dream.
But it wasn’t a dream.
Because I could still remember her scream perfectly.
And for some reason…
I couldn’t shake the feeling that this wasn’t really over.
The next day at school, I tried my best to act normal.
But I couldn’t.
No matter how hard I tried to focus in class, my mind kept going back to the forest. Every time the classroom became quiet, I could still hear the witch screaming in my head.
My hands were shaking underneath the desk so badly that I had to hide them in my sleeves.
I barely even listened to the teacher.
Everything felt strange now.
Like I didn’t fully belong in normal life anymore after seeing that world.
At lunch, I quickly found Lily sitting at our usual table. The second I sat down, she leaned closer to me and whispered:
“Tell me this is over.”
Her voice sounded nervous.
Scared.
I opened my mouth to answer…
But nothing came out.
Because honestly?
I didn’t know if it was over.
And that terrified me.
Then Lily slowly pulled up her sleeve.
“There’s something wrong,” she whispered.
I looked down at her arm—
And froze.
There was a black mark spreading across her skin.
It looked almost like cracked ink underneath her arm.
“What is that?” I whispered.
“I don’t know,” Lily said quietly. “It appeared this morning.”
My stomach dropped.
Slowly, I looked down at my own arm.
And my heart nearly stopped.
Because I had the exact same mark.
For a few seconds, neither of us spoke.
We just stared at each other in complete shock while the noise of the cafeteria faded into the background.
And in that moment, one horrible thought entered my mind.
Maybe the witch didn’t leave us completely.
I swallowed hard and looked at Lily.
“…Okay no,” I whispered nervously. “This is NOT normal.”
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125,006 Literary Works • 672,811 Reviews
Hi!
This book had a lot of great ideas. I love the whole "new world" concept.
However, I did notice that you start a new paragraph after almost every sentence. An easy way to fix this is just by grouping a few together instead of separating every single sentence.
Overall, I'd give this story a 7.5/10.
Thank you and have a great day!
this is a really interesting premise, i think. i like the shift from a seemingly 'normal' school with bullies and diaries to a huge, pink, sparkly door. i wonder if any of these elements are going to play into the rest of the story after the narrator goes through the door, or if it'll be a complete shift. either way, very intriguing.
as i was read though i couldn't help but wonder about the paragraphing. there's a new paragraph for almost every sentence, even though many sentences could be in the same paragraph. there's not necessarily anything wrong with a paragraph only being one sentence. like in scenes where the narrator is spotted by derek the bully it can actually be a subtle way of showing us the narrator's state of mind. when the sentences are divided it shows the shock/scare since it mirrors how adrenaline fragments our thinking, but it doesn't really have the same effect when the whole piece is paragraphed this way.
overall though this was a really fun read and i had a great time. i'm hoping to see more of this in the future!
THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW! JUST UPDATED MY BOOK MORE CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN ADDED HAVE FUN READING! THANK YOUUU
Hello! This concept is great, and I enjoyed the first few lines!
However, I do feel like that if this IS supposed to be a serious series, the writing certianly does not feel like it is supposed to be. Like the "Like WHAT??" Line was really jarring because I was expecting a serious series.
Additionally, the story just feels like it was written in the span of 10 minutes. Even if this is not the case it really does not feel polished.
I do see lots of potential here, the plot so far seems good, just the execution is a little off. If this is not supposed to be a serious plot, I still recommend revising and editing the future chapters.
THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW! JUST UPDATED MY BOOK MORE CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN ADDED HAVE FUN READING! THANK YOUUU
I HOPE YOU LOVE THIS BOOK! NEW CHAPTER EVERY DAY, CHAPTER 1-20 FOR BOOK 1 STAY TUNED..