Where am I? Part Two
Brand's heart thumped against his chest faster and harder than he had ever experienced before. Slowly his hand wrapped around the cold knob of the door, sending a shiver straight down his spine. When he tried to twist the knob nothing happened. His heart skipped a beat, and then he tried again to no avail.
The bell on the front door rung out and Brand jumped away from the door, spun on his heels and stared at the new arrival with eyes wide. He was paralyzed and unable to make any kind of movement as he waited for what he had least expected: his boss.
Fate was on his side that day. In walked two people he recognized. The first was a large bear of a man, Benjamin "Buba" Bleu, around six feet, eight inches tall. He was clean-shaven with his hair cut short and graying at the temples. He wore some kind of gray and blue uniform, with a tag labeled security attached to the right of his chest and a holstered gun rested against his hip. Next to him was a young woman, Megan Dalton, around Brand's age. She stood about a foot shorter than the man did while her bleached-white hair rested against her shoulders. She wore a simple pair of faded jeans and a plain-white t-shirt, while over her shoulder she carried a bulky backpack.
Megan and Buba continued to chat as they walked toward the back without a care or worry in the world and without the realization of what was going on in this store today. Brand just continued to stare wide-eyed as he tried to catch his breath and calm down.
"You're serious?" Megan asked with a gentle laugh. "You've never read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe?"
"The words get all jumbled and don't make much sense." Buba shrugged.
She reached up and patted Buba on the arm. "It's okay." As Megan smiled at him, they stopped at the entrance to the short hall and turned their attention to Brand. "Something wrong?"
"Brand?" Buba said. "Hmm." He reached out and rested his large hand on Brand's shoulder then gave him a little shake. "Anyone home?"
Brand blinked. "Guys. Hi." He glanced at the door he had tried to open, then looked back at his friends. "What's up?"
"You look like you saw a ghost." Megan said. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, yeah." Brand paused, shook his head, and sighed. "No, something very& strange just happened and I need to get into this room." He indicated the door with a nod.
"You ought not do that Brand." Buba said. "Aren't you supposed to stay out of there? You don't want to lose your job."
"I don't want to go in, but&" He looked up at Buba for a moment, then Megan. "You're both going to think I'm insane, but some chick, at least I think it was a chick, just walked through the door. As in, through it, she didn't open it, she stepped right through like it wasn't there."
Megan chuckled. "You have been sampling the booze for tonight a little early, huh?" When Brand looked at her, his face looked set and determined more so than she had ever really noticed before. "You can't be serious."
"Nobody can just walk through things." Buba said as he looked at the door. He considered it a moment, then took a step back and away from the door. "Maybe it was a trick of light."
"I don't have time to argue about what happened." Brand said. "I need to get in there. Yes it'll cost me my job but so will doing nothing. I was told I wasn't allowed to go in and nobody else was either. So, unless I can get that chick out and get out before anyone notices, I'm screwed either way." He returned his gaze to Buba. "Will you help me?"
"It's not right, Brand. We can't just go barging in there." Buba frowned and eyed the door again. "And I really don't want to get too close if someone really walked through it."
"You're right." Brand said. He turned to Megan. "How about you put your little, extra-curricular activities to good use for once?"
With a smirk, Megan rolled her eyes. "What's that supposed to mean?" She reached back and pulled a small pin out of her hair, then knelt down in front of the door. As Brand and Buba watched, Megan bent the pin then went to work on the lock of the door.
As she fiddled and tried to get the lock open, Buba shook his head. "How can you let her do things like that?"
"She's an adult. She knows it's wrong." Brand glanced up at Buba and shrugged. "What else is there to do? She's going to do whatever she wants to do. No?"
"I guess." Buba said.
Megan smiled and stood back up. She dropped the pin in her pocket, then reached out and opened the door. As she pushed it back, a wave of dust escaped the room, sending all three people into a coughing and sneezing fit.
As the dust cleared away, all three of them wiped their eyes and peered into the room beyond. The sight before them was not what they were expecting, not by a long shot.
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