My life was good. Peaceful. I had a beautiful wife and an energetic, happy son. Everything was going great until it appeared.
It appeared out of nowhere in my backyard one morning. A weathered green door somehow standing on its own. It was very plain; no windows, no peephole. I figured it was my neighbor Steven playing a prank; he was a funny man, but some of the things he did were pretty hard to understand.
Inspecting the door I really couldn't figure out how it was standing up. It didn't budge when pushed, and without an attached house there wasn't really anything to prop it up. I was hoping Seven didn't sink some massive spikes into my recently seeded lawn. I loved that lawn.
Trying the handle I found that the door was unlocked. I swung it open to reveal my back yard. No surprising landscape, no traps set off, just the rest of my backyard. I inspected the frame but found nothing out of the ordinary. It was then that I mindlessly stepped through.
At first there was only darkness. The ground below me had disappeared, but I didn't feel like I was falling. Floating doesn't describe the sensation either; I just existed. I was in that space, but that space itself didn't seem to exist.
After a minute I could hear faint chattering. Very slowly, at an almost imperceivable rate, it grew louder. I still couldn't understand what was being said, but it kept getting louder until my brain was filled with that chattering.
Then I blinked. The chattering stopped, the darkness faded to a field of grass and trees and my feet found purchase on new ground. I was no longer in my backyard. I was no longer in anywhere I recognized. Wherever I was, this was not my world.
All the colors are muted here. It felt dead to me then and hasn't improved in the year since. I'm certain this is hell; people argue over the most trivial disagreements. Neighbors might wave as you pass by, but they all seem to keep their distance from one another. War is rampant in this world; many people even seem to invite war.
I don't know if it will help, but if there's anyone out there that knows how I can get back home please tell me. This new life I've fallen into is unbearable. I've managed to make due financially, despite a considerable struggle to do so, but this is not where I belong. I belong in my beautiful, peaceful world with my loving family and fun loving neighbors. I want to go home.
