¨Ugh! Why do you always get your way, this isn’t fair at all. Dad, why does Jordan get whatever he wants!” Your little brother always obtains his way and you are always the first to blame whenever something bad happens. Jordan becomes more and more on your nerves each day. 

“Jordan didn’t do anything wrong. You should be looking after him, he’s only 12.” Dad replies. It’s not like he doesn’t ever hop on your brother's case about anything, it’s that he’s ALWAYS on your case about EVERYTHING. 

“Yeah, whatever.” You glance over and see Jordan grinning at you, causing you to mouth a slur at him and telling him to shut up. When you walk back to your room, you wonder what it would be like to get along with Jordan. When you think about everyone else at school, they are extremely close with their siblings, but not you. It can’t be your fault you don’t get along well. He’s the one who never is in trouble, for anything. He’s the one that instigates you all the time. 

Later that night when you’re lying on your bed preparing to fall asleep, you picture what it would feel like to have a brother you were tight with. Over the years, you´ve always been told that he looks up to you. However, is appears to you as if Jordan hasn’t seen you as someone who is supposed to paint a picture for them. So at one point around your early teen years, you just decide to give up trying. You wish you were the younger brother. That way you could feel what it’s like to be “the favorite” and not the one who’s yelled at 24/7. But hey, at least school is over and you can finally enjoy summer. You think about this for another solid 30 minutes before eventually falling asleep. 

You wake up to the sounds of police sirens blaring outside your window and assume it’s just a gloomy morning in Redmond. It’s as though sirens roar every morning here. As you walk to the kitchen to grab a quick snack for breakfast, you start to realize that the police sirens are becoming louder, indicating that they are may be closer. You begin to panic and search for Dad. You charge into his room, only to  see him lying on the bed with a pool of red blood surrounding him. “Dad! What happened? Are you okay? Do I need to take you to the hospital? No, please don’t die, Dad,” Your mind starts racing with all the different possibilities of what could happen.

“I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t want to scare you and your brother, but…I…um…I…” he takes a deep breath and lets it out,” I have cancer.” 

“You what? Dad, why? Why you?” You begin crying, and by this time Jordan is already awake and now screaming uncontrollably, dialing 911 as you just sit there on the edge of Dad’s bed.

“I’m sorry Ryan. But I need to tell you something before I die,” Dad whispers, “I have….I…I gave…” your dad takes a breath, ”Check the closet.” You nod as the police sirens are now outside your front door and red light flashes through the windows. Rain begins pouring outside, and it sounds louder than a bullet getting shot out of a gun. 

“I love you Dad,” you wince and tears start building up inside.

“I love you too, son,” Dad responds as he brings you and Jordan in for a hug.

By the time the ambulance arrives at the house, your dad has already died. You sit on the couch with your brother, shirts stained red, eyes staring into noting as you both are completely shocked at what just happened. You then remember what Dad said,“Check the closet.”. You then proceed to sprint to your dad's closet, checking every crevice there is, and throwing clothes from all directions. You have to find what you’re looking for, even though you have no idea what that may be.

“Ugh, I can’t see anything in here! Jordan, turn on the light switch,” you scold at him. Jordan finds the light switch and flips it on, but as soon as he does, you fall into a black pit screaming, “Help! Someone, help!” You scream in search of a voice and fall straight to the ground. “God Dammit?” you say as you stand up and look around the pitch dark room. You then hear the screams of Jordan, getting louder instantly. You look up to see Jordan falling directly on top of you yelling.

“Watch out!” A loud thud echoes throughout the dark and gloomy room. 

You throw Jordan off your body while demanding him, “Get the hell off of me!” You both stand upright and begin walking around shadowed room. “Look for a light switch or something.”

“That really worked last time, huh?” Jordan replies in a sarcastic tone.

“Just shut up and start looking,” You become annoyed with Jordan and begin realizing that you may be stuck down here with him for a while. “Found it!” Jordan shouts as lights begin flickering on. 

“Wow.” you both say, mouths wide open as you stare into the long hallway full of symmetrical doors. They all look identical to you, and it begins to make your head go numb for multiple seconds before you fall back into reality. You assume that what Dad mentioned about the closet had to of been this. “Did Dad do all of this on purpose?” you question Jordan. 

“Must of,” Jordan responds. “This is crazy.” The room is built with iron walls, making it almost indestructible, along with papers and papers filled with math and notes. It almost looks as if Albert Einstein were down here. You both walk over to the writing and at first glance, it all looks like a conjumbled pile of nonsense. “Is he trying to send a message? Like, what even is this?” Jordan tries to comprehend what is going on.

“I have no idea. Maybe Dad was working on this his whole life and never got to complete it due to his illness.” You and Jordan walk closer to the writing and attempt to put the puzzle pieces together. 

You both start figuring out what Dad was trying to create. One note that stands out to you is, “Finish the project.” When you and Jordan read this note, everything comes togethe. As if you completed the puzzle, but lost a piece. 

“Okay,” Jordan explains, “So we need to finish what Dad started. I believe it has something to do with these doors. There has to be something that tells us what he might have been working on. Maybe a notebook, a sketch, just…something. Let's start by searching the room for something that may indicate what Dad was working on.” 

“Who said you were in charge?” you become annoyed at your little brother for thinking he can control you.

“I did! Now do you want to find out what this place is or not?” 

“Whatever, just don’t think yo control me, understand?”

“Sure, whatever dude.” You and Jordan then proceed to look all over the room in search of a clue as to what this place is.

After countless hours of searching, you figure that you should probably find an exit to this room. There is no clock indicating how long you and Jordan have been down here, but too you, it’s been years. “Dude, I’m tired. Let's try to find a way out of here to go to bed.” 

“Alright, fine. Maybe one of those doors will lead to an exit,” Jordan says as he walks over there. He waves you over to follow him, and you decide not to argue, and continue obeying his commands. When you and Jordan reach the first door, you both are skeptical at first. “It can’t be that bad, right?”

“After everything that has happened today? We’ve gone through it all, what could be worse? A door?” you respond sarcastically, “It can’t be that bad, just open it.” 

“Okay then, but if something jumps out at us, it’s not my fault.” Jordan then proceeds to slowly open the door with a terrified expression shown on his face. 

“BOO!!” You grab him, making him jump away, closing the door in front of him. He turns around and slaps you upside the head. 

“Don’t ever do that again, you hear me!” you can tell Jordan is serious, making you chuckle for a second. 

“Alright, I won’t. But just open the door, good lord.” 

“Fine,” Jordan says as he walks over to the door once again, hoping you don’t scare him like you did last time. The hallway is extremely narrow, allowing only Jordan to see what is inside the door. He opens it and instantly, Jordan’s jaw drops. He slowly turns his head at you and quietly whispers, “I know what Dad was making.” This makes you excited but worried at the same time. By the look on Jordan’s face, it looks like he just witnessed a ghost for the first time. Jordan moves over, allowing access to the door. As you open it, bright red colors surround your vision, and you rapidly shut the door, having the exact same expression on your face as Jordan did.

“What was that?” you are still trying to comprehend what you just witnessed. 

“A portal, or…something,” Jordan responds.

“No kidding. Where do you think that may lead to? Another universe? Planet?” you can predict what Jordan’s gonna say next because you were thinking the same thing. 

“There’s only one way to find out,” Jordan says. At that point, your mind is racing with hundreds of different scenarios and hundreds of different questions. What if we do jump in? What if we don’t? Would Dad want us to go in? Does Dad want us to go in? “This is what Dad wants, Ryan. He wants us to go in.” You are still speechless. Your head is spinning like crazy and you feel like it will explode. 

“Screw it, you only live once, right?” you walk over and open the door, revealing bright red lights, giving you a headache instantly. 

“Wait! Are you sure you don’t want to think about this anymore?”

“Trust me, I thought about this enough,” you hold out your hand, indicating that you both are in this together. Jordan grabs it, and you pull him next to you, allowing you both to stare into the portal. You then look over at Jordan, and your eyes lock on his.

“I love you bro.”

“Love you too. No matter what happens.” You both jump into the door and begin falling through darkness, reminding you of how you ended up down there in the first place. You and Jordan continue falling, accelerating at an insane speed. 

Out of nowhere, you stop falling, and darkness escapes your vision and you’re left with bright lights shining all around you. Jordan is still next to you, tightening his grip on your hand. You two then begin walking forward at a dark figure that appears in the distance. You can then see the outline of a person, and your heart begins racing as you come closer. Rain initiates the interaction and it finally hits you. You are looking up at your father who just passed away earlier that day. Your brother jumps up to give him a hug and you just stand there, speechless, looking at him. 

“How? How did you do that? No, I saw you die this morning! How are you still alive? Did you fake it, huh?” you are now furious at your dad. It’s the only emotion you can feel right now. Tears are falling down your face as you are balled up on the floor, arms and legs kicking in all different directions.

“I’m so happy you guys are here,” Dad begins crying now, “I have dedicated my whole life to creating this monstrasity, and I’m glad to know it works. You two are the first ones to experience my masterpiece. Before you ask questions, yes, I’m dead. But that doesn’t mean you two are. I want you both to grow up and live an amazing life.” 

“Um…Dad. How do we get out of here?” Jordan asks. You finally sit up and listen.

“I have made an exit that only you and Ryan can take to enter back into the world. I will be down here forever, so whenever you want to see me, I’ll be right here, okay?”

“So you can’t come back with us?”

“Correct. I’m sorry,” Dad then holds his arms out for us to hug him. You and Jordan squeeze onto him as tight as you can, so ecstatic that you can see Dad whenever you want to. “I love you guys so much.”

“We love you too, Dad,” you and Jordan reply in excitement. Dad then leads you and Jordan over to another portal he built that allows you to return to Earth. Jordan reaches out and holds your hand as you two walk back into the bright red portal. Everything goes dark. 

You suddenly jerk awake to find yourself laying in a pool of sweat. As you stand out of bed, you see your damp clothes from last night. You yawn and stretch out, before walking out into the kitchen, Jordan right behind you. 

“Yesterday was crazy!” you say to him, “I’m glad we can still see him.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve been sleeping for 13 hours,” Jordan responds with a questioning look on his face.

“I’m talking about when we went into the portal and saw Dad,” you start becoming angry with Jordan because he has no idea what you’re talking about. “You don’t remember that?”

“You’re weird, dude,” Jordan grabs the cereal box and pours himself a bowl. You run into your dad’s room and see him lying in bed on his phone. 

“Dad!” you run up and give him a big hug, tearing up quicker than ever before, thanking god for this all to be a dream Then you run back into the kitchen and hug Jordan, “I love you guys so much!”

“Yeah, you’re definitely weird,” Jordan chuckles. No one knows what happened except for you. Any day something like this could happen to you and you would have no idea what to expect. You may wake up to find it’s a family members last minutes, so enjoy the times you spend with your loved ones. Don’t ever let a second go to waste.