I woke up gasping for breath. The ceiling looked the same, but something felt off. I reached for my phone on the table. The date was different.
“This can’t be…”
I hurried out of the bedroom. The house was still the same, except the family photo in the living room had changed. Someone was standing beside me. His face looked exactly like mine.
“Who is he?” I muttered.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind me.
“Finally awake, huh?”
I turned around. A guy I’d never seen before was standing in the doorway.
“Who are you?”
Instead, he gave me a faint smile.
“I should be asking you that. You’re not the person who lives in this house.”
I fell silent. My heart began pounding faster.
“Then… whose house is this?”
The guy looked at the photo on the wall.
“Yours. But not in the world you know.”
I was still standing in the same spot. The guy’s words kept spinning through my head.
“Not in the world I know?”
He nodded casually, as if what he’d said wasn’t completely insane.
“My name is Raka,” he said. “And before you start asking questions, sit down.”
“I don’t want to sit down. I want to know what this actually is.”
Raka sighed. “If you keep standing there freaking out, the answer isn’t going to change.”
I eyed him suspiciously. I felt like he was deliberately hiding something.
“I’m still in my city, right?”
“If you mean the city you know, yes. It’s almost the same.”
“Almost?”
“The people are different. Some places are different too. Even the events you remember may never have happened here.”
I fell silent.
Raka walked over to the dining table. He picked up a glass of water and set it in front of me.
“Drink.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“Good. Don’t trust people too easily.”
His answer only confused me more.
I picked up the glass, but didn’t drink from it right away.
“If this is another world, how did I get here?”
Raka stared at me for a long moment.
“That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”
“We?”
Before Raka could answer, the front door opened. A woman walked in carrying a black bag. Her shoulder-length hair framed a serious-looking face.
“Raka, is he awake?”
“He is.”
The woman came straight over to me.
Her stare made me uncomfortable.
“Do you remember your name?”
“Of course.”
“Say it.”
I told her my name.
She gave a small nod.
“It’s still the same.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
The woman turned to Raka.
“His condition is normal.”
“What’s your name?” I asked.
“Dina.”
“And you know about this too?”
Dina set her bag on a chair.
“I know more than I should.”
I let out a short laugh, because everything was starting to feel completely absurd.
“Why is everyone talking like they know something I don’t?”
Dina sat down across from me.
“Because you’re the only one who doesn’t know.”
“What?”
Raka stood behind Dina.
“In this world, there’s someone whose life is almost the same as yours.”
I looked back and forth between them.
“Someone who looks like me?”
“Not just someone who looks like you,” Dina replied. “His name is the same too.”
My chest felt tight.
“Where is he?”
Dina didn’t answer right away.
“He’s dead.”
I froze.
“What?”
“He died three days ago.”
I took a step backward.
“Then why am I here?”
No one answered.
Raka finally spoke in a low voice. “Because his death may be connected to your arrival.”
I wanted to deny all of it, but my mind kept returning to the photo in the living room. It really did show me standing beside someone I’d never known. Now everything felt even stranger.
Dina opened her bag and took out an old photograph.
She handed it to me.
My hands trembled as I looked at it.
The photo showed four people standing in front of an old building. One of them was me.
I stared at my own face.
“I’ve never been to this place.”
“Maybe not in your original world,” Dina said.
I turned the photo over.
There was handwriting on the back.
Don’t let him find the second door.
“What is this?” I asked.
“The last message from the person who lived here before you arrived.”
“He knew I was coming?”
“Apparently.”
I rubbed my face.
“This is insane.”
“It is,” Raka replied. “But if you want to go home, you have to accept that this is real.”
I glared at him.
“What if I don’t?”
“Then you’ll stay here.”
“Forever?”
Raka said nothing.
That answer was enough.
Suddenly, I heard a motorcycle stop in front of the house. Dina immediately stood up.
“Who’s here?”
Raka walked over to the window.
A guy got off the motorcycle. He was wearing a black jacket, his hair was messy, and he held a small box in one hand.
Dina looked shocked.
“Arga?”
There were three knocks on the door.
Raka opened it.
Arga came in and immediately looked at me.
His face went pale.
“So it’s true…”
I stared at him.
“What’s true?”
Arga didn’t answer. Instead, he handed the box to Dina.
“I found this at the scene.”
Dina opened the box.
Inside was an old watch.
The moment I saw it, a sudden pain shot through my head.
I pressed a hand to my temple.
Someone’s voice sounded faintly in my mind.
Don’t trust them.
I closed my eyes.
A shadow appeared. I was standing in a dark hallway. In front of me was a white door with the number two in the center.
Then someone shouted.
“Don’t open the door!”
I jolted and opened my eyes.
Raka immediately grabbed my shoulder.
“What’s wrong?”
“I saw something.”
“What?”
“A door.”
Dina and Arga exchanged a look.
“What kind of door?” Dina asked.
“White. With the number two on it.”
Arga’s expression grew tense.
“He’s seen it already.”
“What do you mean?” Raka asked.
Arga looked at me.
“The second door isn’t just a place.”
I swallowed.
“Then what is it?”
“That door is a passage between worlds.”
The room suddenly fell silent.
I looked at the watch still sitting inside the box.
Its hands were moving on their own.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
Then they stopped exactly at the number two.
Raka snatched up the box.
“We have to go.”
“Where?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“From whom?”
Before Raka could answer, the lights in the house suddenly went out.
The room went dark.
Footsteps sounded outside.
One step.
Then two.
Then they stopped right in front of the door.
Arga whispered, “They’ve found us.”
I stared at the door as it slowly moved.
Someone was standing behind it.
And for some reason, from the shadow slipping through the gap in the door, I felt like I knew that person very well.