I don’t normally write anything for a writing prompt, but I’ve been horribly unproductive and torn between simultaneously wanting to “create” something yet also having nothing banging around in my head that wanted to turn into words. So … in my down-time, I went hunting around and found this one.
Prompt: A portal appears in an unlikely place. Where is this, what does it look like, and where does it lead? [Limit 2000 characters]
I remember when it appeared. I was in the center of town, visiting my best friend Corey who worked at Dylan’s Hardware. Someone shouted from outside and we rushed out to look. There, in the middle of the gazebo platform there was now a shimmering doorway. We couldn’t see through it, just the flickering of multicolored lights.
Some stray dog ran up and sniffed at it and then disappeared as it ran through. A minute later, it came back out, barking in seeming delight and apparently unharmed from its passage. Of course, the gazebo stairs were taped off while everyone debated what it was, why it was there and what we should do about it. Should we tell anyone? It didn’t seem to be dangerous.
After a few weeks, a couple of people in town disappeared. They left notes saying they were curious and were heading in. Everyone knew exactly what they meant. They didn’t return, leading others to wonder what they found.
More and more people went away, taking their families and even their dogs. Slowly, the town grew quiet as there were fewer and fewer people left.
Two weeks ago, my wife, Becky, said she had to know. We argued, but I wasn’t ready. I didn’t even know what I wasn’t ready for, but I wasn’t going with her. The next morning, there was a note and she was gone.
There are, maybe, five or ten of us left, but the doorway is still there – shimmering. Somehow I feel, eventually, I’ll be the last one remaining. I don’t know what I’ll do then.
