Breaking Away (The Man in the Shadows) (16 page)

“Ethan...” Bruce removed his glasses, revealing his hardened eyes, as his free hand swiftly pushed the two newcomers towards the exit. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“Did we say something?...” Nick begged, but Bruce kept pushing, stumbling them backwards awkwardly.

“Leave, and don’t come back.” His large hand swept them up like a bulldozer and before they knew what was happening they were back outside in the cold October wind, the wooden double doors with only one remaining knocker slamming shut before them.

Emily sighed and looked at Nick, still visibly unnerved. “What do you think’s going on?”

Nick shook his head a couple of times, trying reset his mind like an etch-a-sketch, to try and think straight. He ran his tongue over his teeth and looked at Emily sidelong. “This has got to be a hoax. Why would we get a good lead on a party place from such a reliable gal, and all of a sudden, we’re shunned because we don’t know a password?” Exasperated and confused, he took Emily’s hand. “Come with me.”

“Where are we going?” Emily was dragged along behind Nick like dead weight, as she was curious to know what he was up to. “What are you doing? We’re parked the other way...” She pointed in the direction of her car behind them, as she drug the soles of her shoes on the concrete.

Stopping momentarily, he smiled at her like a lunatic, eyes wide, smile crooked. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this.” He laughed once boisterously and winked at her, but she would have nothing of it.

“Oh, please, Nick!” She scoffed, “There’s nothing to get to the bottom of. We need a password...” She hit his grasping hand with her purse a couple times lightly.

“Oh, please, yourself,” Nick retorted, still dragging her forward. They turned a corner and began speed walking on the other side of the barren building. “We’re gonna go snoop a little... no big deal.”

“Let’s just call Ethan,” pressed Emily. “He’ll give us the password.”

“I’m gonna take a look quick,” Nick proclaimed, resolutely. “There’s a window on this side of the building that we can peek through to see the basement. No harm, no foul.” Stopping again, he wrapped her in a hug so sudden it was like being swept up in a tornado. Full of confidence, he promised, “We’ll take one quick peek. Then we’ll give Ethan a call.”

Emily shook her head from side to side quickly, and rolled her eyes, looking away from Nick, and down the street towards her car. Looking at her wristwatch, she sighed, “Okay. Quickly though. Party time’s a wastin’.”

He grinned like a little boy who was just given a cookie, and winked at her again. He ran a few feet forward to where the window was located. It was a basement window encapsulated by an egress window well, so that it was below the sidewalk line, but it was surrounded by a bit of free space, albeit limited. Nick lay down on his the sidewalk, stomach down, and hung over the egress well, scooting his body forward until his face was near the window pane. Cupping his hands around his eyes to get a better look, he yelled at once, “Emily!”

Frightened, she ran over, her high heels clacking against the cold sidewalk. “What, Nick? You’re freaking me out.”

“You’ll... you’ll never believe what’s down there!!”

“I’d wager to guess... a party of some sort?”

Nick pushed against the window pane to hoist himself up into a sitting position. His eyes were wide in awe as he muttered, “Not even close, Buttercup.”

Emily scrunched her lips together, contemplating this. “If it’s not a party, then what?...”

Nick couldn’t contain himself any longer. “A door.” He grinned widely, as if he had just presented her with a new car. “It’s a
door
!”

“Well, goodie...” Emily began, and started to walk away from him, annoyed. He grabbed her ankle and she stopped abruptly, her purse falling from her hands.

“No... not any ordinary door. It’s...
floating
... in the middle of the room. It’s a large room, I mean, think of First Ave’s main room,” Nick explained, waving his arms around in the air with excitement. “...But it’s entirely empty, except for this weird ass door. It’s in space just... there!”

Stopping, she closed her eyes. Not believing a word of it, she groaned impatiently, “Nick...”

“NO!” He yelled, jumping to his feet. “It’s really fucked up. I mean, it’s floating, and there is a bright light shining from all sides of it, like there’s a spotlight behind it. I mean, the light is spilling from every gap in the door, even though it looks like there is just more empty space behind it...”

“I really don’t...” Emily began again, but Nick still pleaded with her.

“Look for yourself... You’ll see precisely what I saw... Would I lie to you, Hon?”

Biting her lip, she looked into his eyes. They glowed and glistened in the street lights, and as she did so she had a hard time believing that he would lie to her. Even something as unbelievable as this. She put her hand on his shoulder tenderly. “Alright. I’m wearing a skirt, so help me get down there to get a better look.”

Inelegantly, she knelt on the sidewalk and then gradually fell to her stomach. Scooting forward towards the window, the fabric of her clothing catching on the rough surface of the concrete, she peered in. In shock, she murmured, “Holy shit...”

Full of triumph, Nick clapped his hands together, the sound echoing down the street lined with empty warehouses. Holding his hands out in front of him, as if presenting the door to her, he said, “See! I told you!” He laughed briefly and then crouched beside Emily, who was now struggling to sit back up. “What do you think it is?”

A half smile crept up on Emily’s face. She was usually mild mannered, but this phenomenon struck a chord of curiosity within her. “I don’t know, but let’s investigate more.”

Taken aback, Nick’s face twisted, unsure of what to think. “But... didn’t you want to go party...?”

“We have all night,” she chirped pleasantly, using his shoulder as a solid surface to assist herself in getting back to her feet. She wobbled a little on her heels as she stood. “This is just too incredible to not go check out.”

Wetting her lips, she looked up at the sky, tilting her head back so that her short brown hair spilled backwards. Studying the deep blue vaulted expanse, she whispered, “How do we get down there without running into that humungous bouncer?”

A light bulb turned on in Nick’s brain. Putting his hand on her face, he directed her gaze to his. “Follow me, I have an idea.”

Emily’s faced brightened with anticipation as they ran, hand in hand, towards the back of the building. The rear of the warehouse faced an empty, droll, scary looking alleyway, lined with metal garbage cans and pieces of litter flying around in little cyclones. Their running slowed a bit as the alley came into view, because it looked like a place where people get murdered and no one even notices. Squeezing Emily’s hand tighter, and she squeezing back as a sign of understanding, they made their way down the dreary passage. About half way down was the back entrance.

Nick took a hold of the handle and gave it a pull in his direction. With no hesitation, the metal door, which may have been painted orange back in 1940, opened. Surprised, he looked at Emily, and she mouthed the words
Oh my God!
In a fast
voila
type motion, he swept the door open. He noticed that there was a guard railing immediately inside the door, with steps leading off in two directions, one set to the left, and the other to the right, like the door was set atop a platform. With the way the warehouse was set up, Nick figured that the ballroom containing the floating door was in the room adjacent to the one into which he was currently leering.

He turned to Emily and whispered quickly, tripping over his words, “Do you want to come in, or do you want to wait here?”

Shocked, she answered, hitting his cheek playfully, “Of course I want to come with, Silly. I wouldn’t want to stand in this creepy alley alone, anyway!”

Holding up his hand, palm out, Emily hit it softly in a high-five, and he cheered with the wave of a hand, “Let’s go!”

In they went, cautiously; the only light sources in the area were the glowing exit signs located at the far edges of the room. Their feet treading down the metal stairs, and then on the smooth concrete floor, produced horrendous echoes, bouncing off of the walls and ceiling in long striding leaps. This was a good indicator that the room they were entering was empty, much like the one in which they wished to end up. Emily’s high heels made the most noise, and so, in the name of not getting caught by the scary bouncer, she took them off and left them by the stairs, treading the rest of the way in her nylon stockings.

They tiptoed along like they were in a spy film, holding hands firmly as to not lose one another in the gloom. As they arrived at the far wall, the one directly across from the rear exit door, they searched along for an entrance into the next room. This activity was more than a challenge, and they ran their hands along the invisible barrier’s surface as if carefully reading brail to find a door knob, all to no avail.

Taking a risk and making a small pip of noise, Emily whispered into Nick’s ear, “Maybe a door is in one of the corners?” She pointed to her left and right, like a flight attendant showing the passengers where the exit hatches are located.

Without any other words shared between them, Nick and Emily nodded once and split up, one to each corner of the room. Amazingly enough, there was a door at each corner. Nick opened the one on his end, and Emily did the same to the door on her end. Doing so with haste and zeal, they peered around on the other side, and they found each other at once, waving and smiling. They began to run towards one another, but before they could their celebration was cut short, as the door, which seemed to have been facing their direct line of sight from the outside window, had now turned towards them like a set of eyes following their every move. Now the door, glowing aura, golden door knob and all, faced them ominously.

Unthinkingly, Emily gasped and covered her mouth with her hand slowly, her finger tips lingering on her painted lips. Seeing the door floating in front of her was almost like seeing a deity, or a ghost, or, strangely enough, a throbbing, living soul.

As she stared at the door, she noticed it was unlike any door she had ever seen. The knob was pure gold, like a starburst in the dim light, and the door itself was painted a vivid purple.
No
, she thought,
It’s not painted. The wood grain... it’s naturally purple.
Into the surface of the wood was carved exquisite artwork of the highest quality. There were trees and soft leaves crawling vibrantly up each vertical side of the door. Within the frame of foliage were wispy figures that looked like ghosts; they rose off of a vast lake resembling morning mist, and the looks upon their shadowy faces appeared to be happy, free, and flying into the world. There was one window of stained glass near the top of the door, and it was shaped like the rising sun, yet still partially behind some hills, a radiant half circle. Within the sun’s sphere were several birds in flight, their wings outstretched and in mid-flap, frozen in a ‘W’ shape. Unconsciously, she thought about Nick at that moment, but she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the door even if she tried. The door pulsed, it breathed, and it whispered.
Whispered...
she marveled.

The voice that radiated from it was like that of an angel, so beautiful and full of joy that tears welled up slowly in the corners of Emily’s eyes and without warning, like a dam breaking loose, spilled down her cheeks. It was a female voice, and like a harp, it spoke in a strange melody to her. She couldn’t readily make out the words, they seemed to be in some other alien tongue. After a minute or two, she began to decipher some English from the melody. It sang, “Emily... I need you! I have summoned you and your partner to help me and my people. A tyrant runs our country, and will soon run our entire world... This tyranny may spill over into
your
world if not stopped. I stand between my world and yours... I am the only physical barrier holding both worlds in check. If you would like to help me, come through the door. It’s unlocked.”

Feeling like she was floating, like she had left her body, Emily asked in the same melody, “Why do you want me to help? What is going on?”

The voice answered, continuing the song, “You are special, Emily. You are connected to my world in ways which you may never know the scope... Your friend Maika is in danger, and so is your friend Zareh... and Ethan... they’ve all been brought to my world from yours by powers that are beyond my control. I can do nothing, as I am bound by this door. You can act for me, to save your friends, to save my world!”

Perplexed and ambivalent, Nick stared at Emily as she sang in some sort of weird language. As she did so, she crept closer to the door, her eyes glowing like candles. He ran to her worried, and shook her shoulders, yelling, “Emily! Can you hear me?”

When the last word left his lips, he then heard a different voice, which flooded through his ears and into his brain like an invading army. He shot back from Emily as if propelled backwards by a speeding cannon ball, and he too turned around to face the door. When he beheld the door and all its glory, he could suddenly hear the words in English. It frightened him, he felt like he was in a nightmare from which he couldn’t wake up. The angelic voice said earnestly, “You can act for me, to save your friends, to save my world!”

Waving his hands in front of his face, as if fighting off some invisible force, he said, “No, no! What kind of trickery is this?”

Emily fell to the ground, as if the strings of a marionette were cut, the glow in her eyes fading back to normal. She looked at Nick soberly, propping herself up on her elbows. “We need to go through the door.”

Almost elevated to full freak-out mode, Nick rubbed his eyes and stepped backwards, throwing up his hands in surrender. “I don’t know
what
is going on, Emily, but this is messing with my brain!” Full of circumspection, he slowly made his way back to Emily, who was still sitting on the floor. She looked dazed, but defiant. “What happened to you, Hon?”