Chapter 3
DANNI
I just stood there for a minute, starting at the strange new place.
It looked like a quaint, New England town.
What I was looking at seemed to be the main street.
It was lined with shops. I saw a diner called “Goldie’s” at one end and a place called “The Lost Lamb.” Further down I saw a kind of general store and what looked like a kind of grocery store called “Goodman Kreeches Grocery and Co-op.” There was also a huge white building with a vast covered porch.
A sign on it read, “The Red Lion Inn” and there was a wooden cut out of a red lion’s head just under it.
The town I could see through the doorway was incredibly photogenic. It looked like someplace you’d go to get Instagram photos to make all your friends jealous of your New England vacation.
All the trees I saw—mostly huge, old-growth maples and oaks—were decked out in gorgeous patterns of gold, vermillion, and scarlet leaves.
The sky overhead was a pale, Autumn blue without a single cloud.
But the sunlight streaming down felt like a blessing, not a curse.
There was a faint smell in the air like someone burning dried leaves mixed with the sweet smell of caramel that made my stomach rumble. What the hell was this place?
Before I could find any kind of satisfactory answer, a chilly gust of wind swept around my bare legs, making me shiver.
I started to take a step back, thinking I needed to get dressed—at least put on some sweatpants to go with the faded Lady Gaga nightshirt I was wearing…
but the little voice in my head shouted,
No!
And then I felt as though a pair of hands was pushing me—pushing me forward and right through the doorway into the magical town.
“Oh!” I gasped as I stumbled forward onto the quaint, cobblestone street. “Hey, I didn’t mean to—“ I began, as I whirled around to go back through the door again.
But even as I watched, the door slammed itself shut. Then it began fading away, turning translucent before my eyes. I could already see through it by the time I reached for the knob and then it was too late—the door had vanished completely.
“Hey—where did it go?” I muttered. I looked all around frantically, but there was no sign of the door. It was just gone—utterly gone as though it had never been there.
I was all alone, standing in the middle of the street in a strange town in my nightclothes and I had no idea where I was.