"Choose."
The word clawed through Ethan's skull.
Not from outside.
From inside him.
His chest split wider.
The opening stretched—
Darkness pouring out, alive and breathing, as the hands inside him forced their way further through.
One arm.
Then a shoulder.
Something was climbing out of him.
Ethan choked on a scream.
"No… NO—!"
Around him, the suspended figures drifted closer, their hollow faces trembling with anticipation.
Watching.
Waiting.
Hungry.
"You're opening," the voices whispered again.
The Lina-thing tilted its head, its smile flickering—unstable now.
"You don't have to fight," it said softly. "It hurts less if you don't."
Ethan's vision blurred.
Pain tore through his body—not sharp, but deep, like something was rewriting what he was.
Breaking him into pieces that could swing open.
His knees buckled—
But there was no ground.
He hung there, held in place by unseen forces and the thing forcing its way out of his chest.
Another hand emerged.
Then fingers.
Gripping the edges of him.
Pulling.
"STOP!" he screamed.
And then—
Through the chaos—
Through the noise—
Through the tearing of his own body—
He heard it.
"…Ethan…"
Soft.
Weak.
But real.
His breath hitched violently.
"Lina…?"
The Lina-thing flinched.
Just slightly.
"…don't let it use you…"
The voice came from nowhere—
And everywhere—
Threaded through the darkness like something fragile, barely holding on.
Ethan's eyes darted wildly.
"Where are you?!"
"…inside…"
The Lina-thing's smile twitched.
Cracked.
Its head jerked unnaturally.
"No," it said sharply, voice suddenly deeper. "She doesn't get to speak."
Its hand lifted—
Reaching toward Ethan's chest again.
But this time—
Ethan reacted.
"Get AWAY FROM ME!"
With a burst of raw instinct, he grabbed its wrist.
The moment he touched it—
Something snapped.
The world glitched.
The darkness flickered.
And for a split second—
He saw her.
Real Lina.
Trapped beneath the surface.
Her face twisted in pain, her mouth moving soundlessly.
Help me.
Ethan's grip tightened.
"You're still in there," he whispered, shaking. "I knew it."
The Lina-thing let out a distorted scream, its body glitching between forms—human, hollow, stretched, broken.
"You're not supposed to see that!"
"Then I won't let go."
The pressure inside Ethan's chest surged violently.
The thing climbing out of him pushed harder—
Its head now forcing through the opening, faceless, unfinished.
Ethan gasped.
He could feel it replacing something.
Taking space where his heart should be.
"You can't stop it," the voices hissed. "Doors open. That's what they do."
Ethan's breathing slowed.
Not from calm—
From something else.
A realization.
"No," he whispered.
The Lina-thing stilled.
"What…?"
Ethan looked at it—
Then down at his chest—
At the thing trying to crawl out.
And something in his expression changed.
"Doors open," he repeated quietly.
His fingers dug into the edges of the split in his chest—
Grabbing it.
Holding it.
Ignoring the agony ripping through him.
"But they also close."
The darkness inside him reacted.
Violently.
The thing halfway out shrieked—a sound like tearing metal and screaming voices combined.
"No," it hissed. "You can't—"
Ethan screamed—
And forced his chest inward.
Not pulling it open—
Pushing it shut.
The pain was unimaginable.
Bones grinding.
Something inside him resisting, clawing, trying to pry itself back out—
But Ethan didn't stop.
"I'M NOT A DOOR!" he roared.
The space around him trembled.
The suspended figures jerked violently, their bodies distorting as if something fundamental had just been challenged.
The Lina-thing staggered back.
"That's not how it works!" it shrieked.
Ethan pushed harder.
The opening in his chest began to close—
Slowly.
Forcefully.
The thing inside him clawed desperately, its fingers slipping as the gap narrowed.
"No—NO—!"
Its voice cracked.
Terrified.
For the first time—
It was afraid.
Ethan's vision darkened as he forced the last inch shut.
"Get… OUT…!"
With one final scream—
He slammed himself closed.
CRACK.
Silence exploded outward.
The darkness ruptured.
The suspended figures screamed as their forms tore apart, unraveling into nothing.
The hands vanished.
The pressure released.
Everything—
Collapsed.
Ethan dropped.
Hard.
Onto solid ground.
Real ground.
He gasped, coughing violently as air rushed back into his lungs.
For a moment—
There was nothing.
No voices.
No whispers.
No movement.
Just silence.
Then—
A sound.
Soft.
Fragile.
"…Ethan…?"
He froze.
Slowly—
He lifted his head.
And there—
A few feet away—
Lina lay on the ground.
Human.
Whole.
Shaking.
His heart nearly stopped.
"Lina…?"
She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face.
"You didn't open," she whispered.
Ethan let out a broken laugh, crawling toward her.
"Neither did you."
They reached for each other—
Fingers inches apart—
When suddenly—
The ground beneath them cracked.
A deep, violent sound tore through the space.
Both of them froze.
"No…" Lina whispered.
The crack spread.
Fast.
Too fast.
Splitting the ground between them—
Separating their hands.
Ethan lunged forward—
But the floor gave way beneath him.
He fell—
Again—
Into darkness.
"ETHAN!" Lina screamed.
He reached for her—
Their fingers brushing—
Almost touching—
And then—
She was gone.
Swallowed by the collapsing world above.
Ethan dropped into the void—
But this time—
He didn't fall alone.
Something fell with him.
Right beside him.
Close.
Too close.
In the darkness—
A voice whispered.
Not Lina.
Not the house.
Something else.
Something new.
"…you closed the wrong door…"
Ethan's blood ran cold.
A faint light flickered below him.
As he fell toward it—
He saw—
Another place.
Another hallway.
Another door.
Already open.
Waiting.
To be continued…