Where am I? Part Three
In the middle of the storage room, beyond the mysterious door, they found a floating doorway that led to a bright, vast field of grass. Brand and Megan both dropped their jaws in awe, while Buba took several huge steps back and stared with shockingly wide eyes.
With the exception of the doorway, the room appeared to be a normal storage room. There were two rows of five bookshelves all lined with books that seemed to be similar. Almost like an entire room filled with one giant encyclopedia set.
As the group collected themselves, Brand took a hesitant step toward the threshold. "No woman in there." Megan said. "Wonder if she went through that door as well."
Brand stood in the normal doorway and scanned the spines of the books closest to him. They were all black with silver lettering but the language was completely foreign. He rubbed his temples for a moment, trying to clear his mind without much luck.
"We ought to leave." Buba said. "This ain't natural and we really don't need to be messing with it. I say we just close the door and forget everything we seen here."
"I would have to agree with you big guy," Brand said, "but&" He looked back at Megan who saw what he had seen. As he turned his attention to the floating door again, he sighed. "Two of the books are missing. My boss checks this room once a week. He'll know if we don't get it back."
"He's right, Buba." Morgan said. "Anyway, you're the one who's always going on about not letting people get away with criminal activities. How's this any different?"
"This involves a door in the middle of the air! How is this different?" Buba repeated, blinking rapidly. "Look for yourself. This can't even be happening for real. One of us must be dreaming. Is this job really that important?"
Brand slowly approached the floating doorway, much to Buba's dismay. Megan continued to watch from right outside the room. "I'm going." Brand said at last. "This job is far too easy and it pays four times what it should. I'd be a fool to throw that away." He turned to face the others. "You can come or not. It's up to you. I'm a bit curious, myself, as to what is on the other side. So, what the hell?"
"Brand, this is just like you." Buba frowned sharply and shook his head. "Haven't you learned anything? You can't just go around messing with things you don't know about. Especially things that ain't natural!"
Megan ran her hand through her hair then shrugged. "You only live once, Buba." She lowered her gaze to the ground as she faintly nudged the tip of her worn-out boot against the floor tiling. "Why not take the risk? It could be the best thing you've ever done. What's the worse that could happen?"
"This is different, Buba. I'm only partially acting for myself." Brand fell silent and studied Buba's face. "I also want to get my bosses property back."
"I know you Brand, all too well. That isn't true." Buba shrugged. "This is a bad idea. Very bad. Maybe there's a reason your boss told you to stay away. I can't even believe my eyes and you all... you just want to throw caution into the window and jump through while you hope for the best. What if we get lost? How will we ever get back?"
"Fair enough." Brand said. "Go get the rope behind the front counter. We'll tie it to the bookshelf and use it as a guide. Will that satisfy you?"
"No." Buba said as he turned to retrieve the rope.
"He's scared." Megan said as soon as Buba was out of earshot. "Do you blame him? We have gotten him into messes before."
"I'm a little thrilled at the idea, Megan." Brand chuckled. "Still, we've always gotten through. I think he rather likes our... adventures. He'd probably be alone in his apartment when he wasn't working if it weren't for us."
Megan looked at Brand; her eyes slowly searched his. "We'd both be in jail or dead by now if it weren't for him."
Before Brand could reply, Buba returned and tied one end of the rope around the leg of the nearest bookshelf to the floating door. "Only reason I'm coming is to keep you two out of trouble."
Brand slapped Buba on the back. "All right. You're rope man. You make sure we can find out way home." He smiled. "Let's go." Then turned and stepped through the doorway. Megan followed. With a deep breath and a death grip on the end of the rope, Buba stepped through last.
Then, without warning, the storage room got a lot darker; the floating door winked out of existence and the rope fell to the floor, seared at the end.
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