Jack started to question his decision to walk down the dark alley. He had walked past this alley hundreds of times on his way home from work, always sensing something peculiar about, but never acting upon it. Today, however, something deep down told him he was supposed to take the alleyway.
The street was still damp from the rain shower earlier that day. Jack pulled the collar of his jacket up close around his neck, trying to keep warm from the briskness of the night air. He kept his eyes down, avoiding the water puddles. Each step into the alley brought more and more darkness as the city lights faded away in the background.
An eerie feeling came over Jack as if someone were watching him. He looked back to see if anyone was following, but the alley was empty. The path ahead was becoming so dark he couldn’t see the street anymore. Jack reached into his pocket to pull out his phone for light when light from a neon sign began flashing off and on to his right. What the hell?
Jack stood frozen as the buzzing sound and light from the neon sign slowly faded in and out. He tried to make out what the sign said, but some of the tubes weren’t working. Jack walked towards the sign to make out what it said and noticed traces of a door below the sign.
The door had a sliding metal window so the person on the other side could open it and determine whether or not to grant admission. There wasn’t a doorknob on the outside, just the small window. That’s odd.
Jack started to look up at the neon sign, when the metal window slid open with a whack, startling him. Jack looked ahead at two almond-shaped eyes staring intently back at him. The eyes were menacing with red irises the likes Jack had never seen before. Jack wiped his own eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. They were real.
“We’ve been waiting for you Jack,” came a raspy voice from behind the door, a voice Jack knew that could only belong to the red eyes staring unblinkingly back at him.
“You’ve been waiting for…wait, how did you know my…” Jack started to reply, but he was cut off by the raspy voice from behind the door. “Please, come in Jack.”
Jack stood there with a confused look on his face waiting on the man behind the door to open it. Seconds slowly ticked by, but the door never opened.
“Well, aren’t you going to open the door for me?” Jack asked.
“The door is open,” came the raspy voice from behind the door.
“What?” Jack replied.
The man from behind the door slammed the small metal window shut with a whack. Jack could barely hear the muffled raspy voice from behind the door, “the door is open. Please don’t keep us waiting any longer.”
Maybe it opens up to the inside, Jack thought to himself. He walked towards the door to push it open and nearly fell flat on his face when his outstretched hands and arms went through the door as if it didn’t exist.
Jack caught his balance after he passed through the door and stood still. He could barely make out that he was standing in a hallway. He turned back around towards the door. A red light was softly glowing above the door. Maybe it was the red light that made the eyes look that way? Jack thought.
“This way,” said the raspy voice, up ahead in the darkness.