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Setting: Alternate Dimension "Sarah!" D.K.'s troubled voice echoed through the dark void. "Where are you?" He rubbed his jaw in nervous reflex. He didn't know where to look for her. Heck, he could barely even see, and what he could see didn't make up much--the floor; an occasional wall--nothing else. What would he do if he couldn't find her? How had she come to mean so much to him? He didn't know, but he did know that his heart ached at the thought of losing her. The weird stretching sound that he and Sarah had heard earlier returned. Louder this time. Was that a good or a bad sign? "Sarah?" he whispered desperately, moving cautiously toward the sound. He had the eerie and irrational feeling that some horrible monster was about to jump out at him. "Get a grip, man. This isn't a Wes Craven movie." A small light appeared in the distance. Maybe that's where Sarah was. As he moved toward it, he saw that the light came from an opening. It looked like a doorway. He carefully approached and stepped through it. The brightness of the light blinded him momentarily, until his eyes adjusted. "Sarah, are you in here?" Slam! D.K. jumped. He spun around. The door had closed behind him. He searched for a handle or knob. There was none. He was trapped. "Perfect." He turned to examine his surroundings. The room was all white, bright and ... completely empty. No windows, no other doors. Nothing. He frowned. "This can't be good." A whirring noise started. "What now?" A panel in the floor eased open. He stepped back, not wanting to tumble into another type of void. Something rose from the depths of the hole. A long, clear, coffin-like structure. His eyes widened at its contents. "D.K.! Help me." Sarah pounded on the inside walls of the glass prison. Panic and fear were etched on her face. "Sarah." D.K. jumped onto the platform where the coffin sat. He pushed at the top of the box. "It won't budge. Can you breathe all right in there?" "Yes, but I'm scared." "Don't worry. I'll get you out. Somehow," he mumbled as he searched for a control panel. "I found some buttons here." He hesitated. Four brightly-colored buttons lined one outside corner of the enclosure--blue, red, yellow, black. Please, let me choose the right one. He pressed the blue one. Blue had always been lucky for him. Nothing happened. Nothing that he could see, anyway. He frowned and pressed the red one. NOT one of his favorite colors, but choosing favorites was silly, right? A fine cloud rose inside the coffin, slowly obscuring Sarah as it grew thicker. D.K.'s pulse raced, and trepidation filled him. "What the--" Sarah blinked at the misty cloud surrounding her. She began to cough fitfully. "Turn it off, D.K. I--I ... can't ... breathe." D.K. punched each button, trying to turn off the vapor. Dang it! He shouldn't have touched any of the buttons to being with. "It's not working, Sarah." Panic assailed him. He didn't know what to do. He pounded each button. Maybe if he could break the darn thing, it would stop. A whirring noise began, and the platform started to descend. D.K. jumped off. After the platform cleared the opening, the panel in the floor began to close. "No!" "D.K.," Sarah weakly called out to him. "Don't leave me." She sobbed. "Please ... don't ... leave ... me ... here ... alone." Her cries tore at his heart. In a split second, he made his decision. He jumped into the hole, and landed on top of the coffin. The panel over his head closed with a resounding clang, and he was plunged into darkness. |