Stairway to the After - Part I

Stairway to the After

by Zuzana Kocsis


To my friend Anthony who got me to write

and to Mrs. Garnsey who showed me that

I could really do it.

Prologue

Windows in any form are openings to a new world. In some instances, they show the outdoors, or a person’s soul, or an application in a computer. However, there are those which open to an entirely new place and change the fates of anyone nearby. These have intrigued humans for millennia and have caused much speculation about their purpose.

Unfortunately, that question will not be answered in the following pages. Instead, it will be an ordinary story about them.

Chapter 1

Unlike everyone else at that night’s party, Danyana, her roommate Iasmin, and Iasmin’s twin brother Aerek were not dancing, drinking, or otherwise participating in the noisy festivities. They were quite content to sit it out and chat.

“So Dr. Zelman caught you reading under a desk.” Aerek concluded with a chuckle.

“Well, it wasn’t really under a desk. Besides, I wasn’t even reading then. I only read while he was discussing his other classes.” Danyana defended herself.

“You were still reading in his class.” Aerek insisted.

Danyana glared at him jokingly, “He wouldn’t have caught me if I wasn’t putting my book away just then. He noticed me as I was picking my bookmark up off the floor.”

“You still landed a detention,” replied Iasmin, “Even if he was off on a tangent.”

“A sine over cosine, you mean?” Danyana brought up the old joke.

“Nah, he doesn’t go off on tangents. Everything he says somehow winds up being related to chem. They’re more like secants.”

“Why do I hang out with you two!?” Iasmin exclaimed, stood up, and left, presumably getting something to drink. The noisy party was finally speeding up, and she disappeared in the crowd quickly, helped by her petite build.

After a moment, Danyana said, “I guess we are nerds, aren’t we.”

“Of course we’re not. We just go to a magnet boarding school and act socially awkward for the heck of it.” Aerek responded.

“Well, at least there’s two of us” Danyana replied, relieved.

“So... what now?”

“I don’t know. We wait for your sister to come back?”

“She’s probably off dancing with someone.” He listened for a moment, noticing that the music was slower. After a short pause he asked, “Would you like to go dance, Dani?”

“Sure.” She replied, and they joined the many couples already dancing. They stood out, since Aerek could practically rest his chin on her head due to his extreme height. The song was nearly over, and when it ended, they walked over to a faded red couch to wait for Iasmin. Despite their usual habit of talking non-stop, neither one could find a suitable topic to breach the silence. Danyana looked off, not really focusing on anything, and Aerek traced a pattern on the armrest with his finger.

Several minutes later, he leaned over to Danyana, and whispered into her ear, “Hey, let’s spook Ias. Come on. There’s plenty of room behind this couch.” She grinned and climbed over the back behind him. It was the only furniture in the room, and worn down to the stuffing in the middle. It seemed that its previous owner had not cared enough to take it while moving out.

“Umm... look at this. Um, Dani?”

“What is it? I don’t see any—” she started. “Wait. You mean that fuzziness?”

They were both looking at a spot in the corner, about a foot off the ground, where the pattern of the wallpaper wavered over a little bit, like when hot air bends light differently above a black car in the summer.

“Yeah.” He replied, “Any idea what it is?”

“No.” then she hypothesized, “Maybe some kind of air current blurring the image?”

“It isn’t moving. It’s more like the wall is soft over there” He rationalized.

“It’s probably just an optical illusion,” She continued, “But how did it get there?”

Aerek said nothing at first. Then he started, “Do you think anyone else knows ab--”

Right then, a face popped out over the couch. Iasmin had a look of both glee and worry on her face, “Phew, I was afraid you two left without me. What were you doing here? Making out?” Then she saw their serious faces, and realized that her joke was neither welcome nor appropriate at the moment. “What were you talking about? How did what get where?”

As Aerek was filling her in on what she had missed, Danyana continued to examine the shimmer. When she moved her head slowly, it was visible, because of the way it diffused the light differently, but when she jerked her head to the side, she could barely see it, since it matched the wallpaper perfectly. It seemed to her less shadowy than the rest of the corner, as if there was a light behind it.

Iasmin squeezed in next to her to observe it. By now the narrow space was crowded with the three of them, and it seemed that any minute someone could look over and wonder what they were doing, but no one did. Aerek took off his tennis shoe and started prodding the wall next to it. It was solid, just as they expected. As he got closer, the shoe touched the undefined corners of the spot, and he gasped, trying to hide his reaction. “It did not stop at the wall. It’s going into it.”

They passed the shoe around. Danyana laughed at herself as she prodded the wall. “Poking is the most scientifically accepted practice to identify the nature of this kind of anomaly.”

Aerek rolled his eyes. “Which one of us was denying being a nerd again?”

“Umm... that was you.” Danyana replied.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you think someone knows about this?” Iasmin said.

“Whoever lives here, most likely,” Aerek responded.

“Why would they have a party and not hide it?” Danyana countered.

“Can you go find him and somehow see if he knows, Ias? He would probably be able to tell us what is up with it,” Aerek said.

“Or she.” Danyana corrected Aerek under her breath, “Half of this world is female, even if males make up ninety percent of the world’s ego.”

“Sure, I’ll go,” said Iasmin as she slipped back around the edge of the couch.

In the meantime, Aerek stared at the shimmer and pondered its nature. “Dani, do you have any theories on what it is?”

“Not any good ones. It could be some holographic cover-up of a hidden room or something, I guess.” She shrugged.

“What about a Window?” Even in the noisy room, she heard the different way he said “Window.”

“A window to where?”

“I don’t know. A different universe. Like the whole doughnut theory of the universe and this is covering the shortcut?”

“Rek, I don’t think such a tunnel would be as peaceful at the end.”

“True. I would imagine something more like explosions and ripping up matter and whirlwinds for that. Our best hope for figuring it out is to wait for Ias to get the guy who owns this place.”

“Do you think the spot would show up on a camera?”

“It’s worth a shot, but I doubt it,” he said. Danyana chuckled.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“What is it?” he insisted.

“It’s work a shot. Get it Rek? A shot? Like with a camera?”

“It’s late. You really need some sleep if you are laughing at such a stupid pun, Dani. I swear it was unintentional.”

“Yeah, Yeah.” She said, “You know, we should probably go find Iasmin. It looks like she’s not coming back soon.”

They moved the couch a little closer to the wall on their way out and then pushed through dancing people, searching for Iasmin. In the time they had been debating the Window, the music had sped up, and even more people had arrived to the party. The harder they tried to get through, the more sweaty bodies blocked their way. Eventually, they gave up planning their way, and began to move along with the crowd, not really dancing, but flowing with them. They saw Iasmin doing the same thing a little ways away, while trying to shout a conversation with someone.

It cost them several elbows to the head, but they managed to push over to where she stood. By that time, the person she was talking to was gone, but they agreed to move out of the dancing crowd so they could talk.

“Did you find out anything?” Aerek asked Iasmin.

“No. Turns out that nobody seems to know who planned this party. Alex just told me that he heard about it from Mia.”

Danyana added, “Mia got the invite from Jonathan. She was talking about it in lit class.”

“Well, that’s a great help. Does anyone even know who lives here?” Aerek said.

Danyana tapped a girl with a Celtic knot tattoo on the shoulder and shouted, although they were pretty far from the speakers, “Hey, do you know whose apartment this is?’

“No. Who cares? Are the cops here or something?” she responded.

“Nah, don’t worry. I was just wondering.” Danyana screamed back, but the girl had already turned away. “We’re not going to find out anything from these people.

“Yeah.” Aerek agreed, “Let’s just go home. It’s getting late.”

“It’s only like 11:30.” Iasmin said.

“Well, your slacker brother pulled an all-nighter with his precious roommate Kevin ‘studying’ for the physics exam.” Danyana explained.

“Heh, knowing him, they were studying the physics of video games.” Iasmin replied.

“Probably. But I stayed up late, too, and you will wake me up early. Let’s go.” Danyana gestured at the front hall.

“Oh fine.” Iasmin sighed.

“Hey, I’ll ask people tomorrow. And maybe Kevin will know.” Aerek comforted her.

“Guys? I don’t think we should be mentioning the Window to anyone. We’re just asking about the apartment. Okay?” Danyana checked.

“Agreed.” Aerek replied.

“Besides,” Iasmin said, “No one would believe us.”

Chapter 2

A sudden urge to go to the bathroom awakened Danyana. She pulled the covers up to her neck and tried to force her dream to come back, but she could only remember the feeling of panic and a strange sense of expectation without an inkling of what had caused them. She saw that she would have to get out of bed very soon and run down the hall to the restrooms, so she reluctantly flipped her covers off to the right and set her feet into the flip-flops that she always left beside the bed. As she stood, she noticed Iasmin’s figure bent over the desk, intensely studying.

“Wow, Iasmin, you didn’t wake me up the way you usually do. Is everything alright?’

“Yeah. Just about. I was going to shake you awake after Aerek called, but he told me to go against my nature and be nice to you.” Iasmin replied.

“Go against your nature? You are the sweetest person I know. Except at 7:30 in the morning.” Danyana said.

“Well, that’s sweet of you.”

Danyana stretched, “I’m going to go to the bathroom. Be back in a few minutes. I think there was something I wanted to ask you, but I am not awake enough yet. Hold on, ok?”

A few minutes later she walked back in. “Well, I’m back. What’s the plan now? Are we going to get breakfast?” she burst out.

“Breakfast? You’ve slept through brunch as well. It’s 1:30 in the afternoon.” Iasmin exclaimed.

“Really.” Danyana said. “Hmm. Well, how about lunch, then?”

“In twenty minutes. We are going to meet up with Aerek there. That was why he called.” Iasmin told her.

“Okay, that works out well, then. Do you want any coffee before we leave?” Danyana offered, while sorting through t-shirts on the slightly messier side of the wardrobe.

“Yeah, definitely. These French vocabulary cards are putting me to sleep. I’ll get you some change, give me a sec.”

“Don’t worry about that. I owe you for the train ticket anyway. Have you been doing vocabulary all morning?” Danyana questioned.

“Not all morning. Aerek called, and I also finished an essay.” Iasmin said.

“When did you get up?” Danyana asked.

“Seven-thirty, as always.”

“Of course. I shouldn’t have asked.” Danyana commented. As soon as she zipped up her jacket, she continued, “Well, I think I’m done. So what kind of coffee would brighten your day the most, mademoiselle?”

“A nice, strong, ‘espresso. Without sugar, please.”

“I don’t understand you. What’s wrong with cappuccinos?”

“The milk, the foam, and the sugar. Oh, and the size of the cup.” Iasmin retorted.

“You’re hopeless. Coffee isn’t supposed to be drunk with your nose pinched and head tilted back.” Danyana sighed.

“I don’t drink it like that.” Iasmin said.

“I had a triple ‘spresso once, and that was the only way to force it down. I only got one because it was the cheapest caffeine available and I had another ten pages to write in four hours.” Danyana continued.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Just go get the coffee, ok?” Iasmin offered. Danyana grabbed her room key and disappeared out the door without another word.

Later, over their coffees, they heard the buzz of the downstairs doorbell. They gulped down the rest of the hot liquid, grabbed keys, wallets, and jackets, and met Aerek at the door.

“Good morning!” he greeted them. Then he said, “Let’s go, I’m hungry.” and jogged toward the dining hall.

“Hey, wait up!” Iasmin shouted after him. “You are always hungry. At least get us a table.” He waved back to them, still running. She turned her head to Danyana and rolled her eyes.

“Oh well. At least his metabolism can keep up with what he eats. Imagine if it couldn’t; he would not only be tall, but also wide.”

They entered together and grabbed trays. Iasmin chose a fruit salad and oatmeal with skim milk, while Danyana got French toast and cereal. Then they joined Aerek at the table he had saved for them.

“So, did you find out anything about the apartment?” Danyana asked between mouthfuls.

“No. I wasn’t the one invited. Iasmin might know someone. I thought she was asking people about it already. Aerek replied. “That Windows has been bugging me. For some reason, I really need to know what it’s for.”

“Well, Jonathan’s over there, so I could go talk to him now. I doubt that I’ll see him again later. He might know who organized the party, and through that person, we can hopefully get some back-story. I’ll be right back” Danyana said, and maneuvered between several tables. She leaned down and exchanged several sentences with a redheaded guy, but then she shook her head, thanked him, and with a sigh, she returned to Aerek and Iasmin. “Nope. He doesn’t know. Still, he told me I should talk to someone named Briggs. He said he might know.”

Aerek spoke up, “Matt Briggs. Yeah, I know him. He’s in my lab group. I’m supposed to meet up with him and Katie in half an hour in the library. I can tell you what I find out at dinner.”

“Cool. I’ve got to get back to my French homework anyway,” replied Iasmin.

Simultaneously, Danyana asked to come with him, but Iasmin reminded her, “You have homework, too, you know.”

Danyana grimaced, “Oh, fine. I was hoping I could put it off for a while. We’ve got this amazing Window thing here, and I’m supposed to care about ohms and literary symbolism and the state of my underwear drawer?” Still, she agreed to let Aerek go alone.

For Danyana and Iasmin, the afternoon was uneventful. Finally, when neither of them could stand the sight of another textbook, Ias turned up the music and proposed, “I wanted to put up a couple of posters I brought from home. Can we clean up a bit so I can do that?”

“It’s already clean in here.” Danyana replied.

“There are shoes and socks kicked all around, the trashcan is overflowing, and I haven’t dusted in two weeks.” Iasmin said.

Danyana sighed and complied. “Alright, but those posters had better be good.”

By dinnertime, Iasmin was washing the windows, and Danyana had curled up on her bed with a novel to keep out of her way.

At six, they met Aerek in the dining hall again. He could hardly wait to tell them what he had heard, and nearly burst out while they were standing in line. However, Iasmin readily hushed him until they found a booth to themselves.

Through mouthfuls of food, he explained. “Matt didn’t really know much either. At first, that is. Then he started showing off in front of Katie, and hinted about what he did all day Friday. Turns out he and his friends found the perfect spot for partying. It’s not way too far from here, the building’s gate is broken and opens up with a stronger pull, there is a service elevator in which they can sneak beer, and, best of all, it is nearly empty, so all rooms have space and there are no belongings to break.”

“Hey, spit it out. It’s obviously the place we went last night. Who owns it?” Danyana urged.

“Well, that’s the thing. Nobody owns it. It’s been vacant for a while, and they broke in last week, just in time to plan the whole thing for yesterday.”

“If they broke in last week, they must have had plenty of time to move stuff around and search the place. Why didn’t they find the Window?” Danyana asked. “Did Matt mention it at all?”

“I doubt they saw it. I wouldn’t have seen it if you two hadn’t pointed it out.” Iasmin said.

Aerek continued, “Those guys were more concerned with placement of speakers and a bar than with shimmers on the wall. I doubt they bothered messing with the sofa. It was probably already like that. The question is who put it there. And who left the apartment in the first place.”

Slowly, Danyana brought up a new plan, “Do you remember how you said that our best hope to figure this out would be to ask the guy that owns the place? Well, even if someone lived there, they wouldn’t actually own it, right? It’s an apartment. We need to go see the landlord. That’s the guy that’s been there the longest anyways.”

Aerek smacked his forehead with his palm. “I am an idiot. I spent the entire afternoon listening to Matt’s flirtations with Katie to get practically no information, when we could have just gone back there?”

“Well, what if the landlord sends us off the property? Then we won’t ever be able to come back to the Window.” Iasmin reasoned.

“Do you have a better plan?” Danyana asked.

“Fine, we’ll go tomorrow.” Aerek said.

“Tomorrow’s Sunday.” Iasmin reminded him.

“So?” Aerek said.

“The guy might go to church.” She explained.

“So we’ll go in the afternoon.” Danyana said.

“We can do laundry before then. I ran out of Febreze yesterday.” Aerek proposed.

“As long as you don’t make me fold your underwear.” his sister agreed.