The abandoned building sat deep in the woods, where the trees grew so close together they seemed to whisper behind one another's backs. A woman with dark hair and a faded red jacket stood before it at dusk. The structure might once have been a lodge or a factory. Time had gnawed away any clues. Broken windows stared out from the walls like empty eye sockets. She stepped inside. The floor groaned beneath her boots. Dust drifted through shafts of fading light. Rooms opened into other rooms with no clear purpose, and every hallway seemed slightly longer than it should have been. A sound echoed somewhere above her. Not a footstep. Not a voice. Just a soft scrape. She called out, half expecting an animal to bolt from the darkness. Nothing answered. The deeper she went, the quieter the forest outside became. Soon she could no longer hear the wind. Then she noticed something strange. The building seemed larger. A hallway she didn't remember stretched ahead. A doorway stood where a solid wall had been moments before. The scrape came again. Closer. She turned toward it. For a moment, her flashlight caught movement in the darkness beyond the doorway. Something pale. Something shifting. The beam flickered. When the light steadied, there was nothing there. The woman took a cautious step forward. Then another. The flashlight slipped from her hand and clattered across the floor. Its beam spun wildly, illuminating empty walls, empty halls, empty rooms. And then it stopped. The doorway was gone.
