Evan staggered to his feet, heart racing.

The field stretched endlessly in every direction, waves of tall grass bending under a wind he couldn’t feel. Above him, the sky churned with strange colors — violet melting into gold, blue twisting into shades he didn’t have names for.

“This isn’t real,” he whispered.

But the ground beneath his shoes was solid.

The air was cool.

And the gray door behind him was very, very real.

It stood upright with no frame, no wall, no building attached to it. Just a door planted in the middle of nowhere.

Evan turned slowly.

“What is this place…?”

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

The voice came from his left.

Evan jumped and spun around.

A girl stood several yards away, watching him with a mixture of curiosity and concern. She looked about his age, dressed in ordinary clothes that somehow made the impossible landscape feel even stranger.

“How did you get here?” she asked.

“I… I walked through a door,” Evan said.

The girl’s expression changed instantly.

Her eyes locked onto the gray door.

“You can see it.”

It wasn’t a question.

Evan blinked. “Of course I can see it. That’s how I got—”

“No,” she interrupted. “Most people can’t.”

A chill ran down his spine.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“My name is Lila.”

She approached cautiously, never taking her eyes off the door.

“That thing,” she said quietly, “isn’t just a door.”

Evan swallowed. “Then what is it?”

Lila hesitated.

Before she could answer—

The door trembled.

The grass around it shivered violently.

And a deep, unnatural sound rolled across the field, low and heavy, like metal groaning under enormous pressure.

Evan’s blood ran cold.

Because something was moving behind the door.

Something large.

Something trying to come through.

Lila’s face went pale.

“Oh no…”

“What?!” Evan shouted.

But Lila was already backing away.

“We have to run.”

The door began to open.