Chapter 1: Hall of Doors

Wrenley

The room was a square. When you walked in, the door was a couple feet from the right wall. On the center of that wall was a generic dresser. Flanking it was a door on either side. The one closest to the bedroom door was the closet. The other was the bathroom. On the opposite wall, pressed into the corner was a bed. It was a strangely sized bed, somewhere between a twin and a double, with a single drawer nightstand at the head. And on the wall opposite the foot of the bed, to the left of the bedroom door that led into the hall, was a trunk and floating bookshelves above it.

The room looked like it wasn’t lived in. There was nothing on the walls. The trunk was empty, as were the bookshelves. Her closet and drawers were pretty bare. Despite having been at DeadEnd since she was eleven, she lacked anything personal.

It was a choice. She didn’t want anything that would make her feel bound to this room. There were kids who treated them as dorms, which they were. Decorated to the ceiling. A boy down the hall had a full out gaming setup that even Wrenley admitted was pretty cool.

Her only possessions had been numerous books of Snow White retellings. Those she dumped in the trash bin four months ago. Otherwise, she had a few pairs of clothes. Three pants, four shirts, a hoodie, and a jacket. One bathing suite. A couple pairs of shoes. Three sets of pajamas. And many sets of socks and underwear. If there was one thing she needed, it was ample socks and underwear. She changed them at least twice a day. Anything less made her feel gross.

The rooms weren’t split by gender and there weren’t any rules stating that there couldn’t be any co-ed nights. At any age, actually. The only thing the Operators cared about was that you were dedicated to the reason you were there. And that was to study so that one day you can enter your fairy tale and fix it.

For the better part of thirteen years, she’d studied every single retelling of Snow White. Everything that mentioned Snow White. It wasn’t a broken fairy tale in that it turned toxic like so many others. It’s broken in that the pages around the world are erasing themselves.

DeadEnd has two Halls of Doors. One leads to the broken fairy tales. The other leads to the empty ones. It was Wrenley’s assigned story since she was twelve. Up until four months ago when the operators suddenly changed her from Snow White to Goldilocks and the Three Bears. From an empty tale to a toxic tale.

It was bullshit. To say she was pissed was an understatement. She’d spent the greater part of two years expertly getting her clothes filled with the right, anticipated markings and symbols. She’s paid to have them hand-sewn by one of the older girls. She had a few even tattooed into her body!

And now! All of that was for naught.

As if she even had an inkling of what to do in four months. There were like three Goldilocks retellings that she could find. All the copies of the fairy tale were filled with forests covered in blood. The words didn’t even make sense anymore. What the fuck was she supposed to do with that?!

Wrenley looked up at the door where her aforementioned outfit hung. The only thing she’d done was added a few extra weapons. Some bear traps. A crossbow.

She clenched her hands at her sides from where she sat on her bed, her back against the wall. Tomorrow was the day. She’d be leaving first thing in the morning. She packed a bag with a change of clothing, a set of pajamas, a bathing suit, another pair of shoes, and all her remaining undergarments. Her only regret was not being able to take her bedding.

Okay, so she owned nothing except an ample supply of pillows and blankets. It was her one obsession and man was she going to miss it.

She sighed and a knock sounded on her door. Wrenley frowned. She purposefully didn’t make any attachments. No friends to miss. Nothing. Instead of answering, she stared at it as if a window might appear and she could see who was disturbing her. One didn’t and her intruder knocked again.

With a bitter roll of her eyes, Wrenley scooted from the bed and padded across the room to swing the door open.

Dylan.

Of course, it was Dylan. Who else could it possibly have been?

Dylan was thirty at the most, but the man was absolutely stunning. He wasn’t a Fixer but a teacher. Although most didn’t look past his good looks, he and Wrenley had at one time been pretty close. And then she learned they’d had no chemistry and that was that. Which had been for the best since she had a one-way ticket into a hopefully happily ever after.

Either that or a grizzly death. Hard to say at this point.

“Wren. You ready?”

She frowned. “Yep.” Again, she glanced at the outfit hanging on the closet door. Sure, she was ready. 

For Snow White!

“Can I come in?”

Wrenley shrugged and left the door open as she returned to her bed. He came in, shutting the door behind him as he watched her make herself comfortable once more.

The thing about Dylan was that he was a bit of a slut. He slept with anyone who was interested and Wrenley was pretty sure the Operators liked it that way. They were weird but, in some cases, they went out of their way to indulge their Fixers. The Operators wanted the Fixers happy, stress-free. Dylan served as a bit of a reprieve from the reality of DeadEnd.

In fact, he’d recently gotten a girl pregnant. One of the ones that had been in their last year of training before heading into their fairy tale. And he still had a job. There were tons of rumors flying about it but she didn’t know what to believe. None of them sounded legit.

What no one really understood was that he was actually very intelligent. Something he didn’t necessarily hide but he also didn’t go out of his way to express. He’d found long ago that those around him wanted to fawn over him. Not listen. A pretty face and an even prettier body outranked an intelligent mind when it came to kids who just wanted to get away from life.

It didn’t seem to bother him. He was always happy and smiling. She supposed with as much as he was getting laid - every man’s dream - that he didn’t have anything to be unhappy about. And yet, she knew better. She knew him better than that.

Well, she used to. Once, a few years ago.

Dylan sat on the edge of her bed and looked around her room. “Leaving in the morning?”

“After breakfast.” She didn’t have to leave in the morning. She just had to leave at some point between midnight to midnight tomorrow. It was the date that was the deadline. Not a specific time. 

She chose the morning. Why dawdle? 

He nodded. After taking a breath, he looked at her. “Can we talk?”

Wrenley shrugged. “Sure.”

When he hesitated, biting his bottom lip, she raised a brow. 

“With the lights out?” he asked.

She laughed quietly, shaking her head a little. Hide in the anonymity of the dark. Something she hadn’t done with him in ages. It’s easier to confess when you can’t see the other person judging you.

Wrenley nodded. After Dylan had scooted up the bed to sit next to her, she reached over and hit the switch over the nightstand, and they were plunged into darkness. All the rooms had one window. It spanned most of the back wall a few feet above her bed. There was a shade built between the two glasses that she kept drawn during the night.

For a minute longer, Dylan didn’t say anything. Finally, he sighed. “So, I need to tell you the truth about what happened with me that night.”

He could only be referring to one night if it had to do with her. Three years ago, they’d been talking. For months. Spending a lot of time together. Being real, genuine, true. He actually let her in, and she shared her truth. Wrenley was sure, based on how much they liked each other, how much they flirted, how her heart pounded and how hot she had always gotten when they were alone together, that they’d have a whole lot of chemistry.

Well, he showed up one night. Climbed in her bed. And, well… let’s just say she was thankful when it was over. His body was just as beautiful uncovered. He had a glorious dick, something she knew even though she’d only ever seen two prior to his and three after. But the whole thing was boring!

She’d avoided him the next day. The next few weeks. And he never pursued her again. Their friendship seemed to die that night, going out like the chemistry they apparently didn’t share. She assumed that he’d felt the same way. Aside from the huge disappointment that there wasn’t actually any chemistry, it was a little awkward after.

Maybe she remembered it wrong. What was there really to talk about?

“Wren, I was crazy about you. I still am. But I’ve been such a coward that I could only drag myself here tonight because I knew if I didn’t tell you then I’d kick myself for the rest of my life.”

She frowned.

“I wasn’t ready,” he said, his voice quieting. “That night I came here, I wasn’t ready. But I didn’t want you to think I was a wimp so… I just wanted to get it over with so I could leave. And no matter how many times I’d tried to tell you after that, I was too horrified by what I’d done.”

“I wasn’t your first,” she said.

“No. That’s not it. Wren, I really liked you. I was falling in love with you. I thought getting in bed with you would be the best thing in the world, but I realized as I was in here kissing you, that this was a mistake. It wasn’t about sex but about being with you. But one awful thing after another filled my head of the many ways you’d take it if I changed my mind and left instead.”

Wren nodded, knowing he couldn’t see it. “I see. Okay.”

“I always meant to make it up to you. To grow some fucking balls and admit what was going on with me that night. Why I sucked so damn bad.” He chuckled. “I always told myself, there was plenty of time. You weren’t leaving yet. And then… here you are. Leaving in the morning.”

“Well, I forgive you.” Was that what he was looking for?

She could almost feel him smiling when he spoke. “Good. Because I am an absolute coward. I could have at least apologized instead of running away like a scolded dog.”

Wrenley nodded. She actually wished the light was on. It was hard to gauge what he was thinking in the dark.

“This might wreck me, but I want to make it up to you.”

She frowned. What did that mean? “It’s alright, Dylan. I get it.”

His hand covered hers and he pressed something into her palm. It took her a second to figure out that it was a condom. She raised a brow at him, although he couldn’t see it.

“Really?”

He laughed. “I promise, I’m a whole lot better than that. Not just a pretty face.”

“I never thought that.”

“No. You just thought that there wasn’t anything between us. And since I was such a coward and couldn’t bring myself to face you, I let you think that. But it’s not true. Let me prove it to you.”

“You understand I’m still leaving in the morning, right? Say you’re right but then what?”

Dylan sighed, pulling her towards him. She let him. Quite frankly, she was heading into the woods where she was probably going to get eaten by three angry bears. One good fuck wouldn’t be the end of the world. In fact, what a decent way to go if she were going to die tomorrow. Maybe she wouldn’t leave pissed off at the world. And if she walked right into death, if Dylan could show her that they had just had a bad night years ago, at least she’d go out after an orgasm. 

Right?

Yea, she heard the reasoning in her head. But fuck, she was going to die in a forest full of bloody trees at the paws of three fucking bears in a story she was not prepared for. And the damned Operators weren’t willing to give her more time!

Four months. They’d given her four months. She’d had over two decades to study Snow White and they gave her four months for Goldilocks!

It’s like they wanted her to fail.

“Then, at least I know you won’t think I was as stupid and lame as I’m sure you do.”

“I don’t think that.”

He kissed her forehead, her temple, hugging her to his side. “Wrenley,” he murmured and for the first time in years, she shivered at his voice in anticipation. Well, that was unexpected. “You’re the only one I’ve ever told real things to. You’re the only one I’ve ever really wanted. Don’t leave tomorrow without letting me show you what should have happened that night.”

With an internal shrug, Wrenley nodded. And the man wasted no time covering her mouth with his.