“I’ve measured it. It’s a perfect octahedron, down to the millimeter.”

The object’s obsidian black surface shone like steel in the fading dusk light. It floated, perfectly still, perfectly stable, just above the two sisters’ heads. A low hum that June felt in her teeth filled the forest clearing.

June didn’t know what she’d been expecting when Alice insisted on taking her on a forty-five minute hike into the woods, but whatever this was certainly wasn’t it.

“Do you…” June started, but she was at a loss for words. What does someone even say in this situation? “Do you know what it is?”

“Not a clue.” Alice’s voice brimmed with childlike wonder. She had that glint in her eyes that usually preceded her charging into trouble and June having to bail her out.

That low, pulsing thrum that June felt more than she heard was making her uneasy. “I don’t trust this thing. Let’s get some pictures and get outta here, alright?”

That discovery in the forest had happened two weeks ago. Now Alice was gone.

Of course, June had done everything she could. She filed a missing persons report the moment she realized that no one had seen Alice in days. She’d brought the photos of that strange object to the police station, and tried to get them to search the woods. Of course, no one believed her. In fact, one of the younger officers let it slip that June was the prime suspect in the disappearance. Her “pathetic attempt at a cover-up” was only adding to the evidence against her.

Wherever Alice had gone, June knew it had something to do with that Octahedron. Alice’s notes had called it the Octahedron, with a capital ‘O’; it rejected all other attempts to name it. She was going back to that clearing, no matter how uneasy it made her. 

June’s phone chimed on the countertop. A voicemail. She let it play as she packed a backpack for her expedition.

“You need to answer your phone, June.” It was her boyfriend. The only person who’d believed her story when she told him. He’d seen the way she sobbed for her sister. The obsessive attention she focused on Alice’s notes on the Octahedron. “This is the fifth time I’ve called you. Please, just tell me you’re safe.”

June mentally went down her list of supplies as she gathered them. Compass. GPS tracker. Solar-powered flashlight.

“Alice isn’t coming back. I know you think you can save her, but if you follow her, you will end up just like she did.”

Water bottle. Jacket. Extra snacks.

“Please, don’t do this. I can’t stand to see you get hur–”

June shut off her phone before dropping it into her bag.

She stood in the open doorway for several minutes, watching the long evening shadows of the trees flicker in the breeze. Her boyfriend was right; she might not come back from this. Still, she didn’t have a choice. Not really. She had to try.

With a deep breath, June marched out the door and towards the treeline.

“Alice? Alice!”

June had been calling into the woods for close to fifteen minutes. She didn’t really know why; she knew Alice wasn’t out here.

At last, the thin, overgrown trail came to a sudden end. June stumbled out of the brush and into a familiar clearing.

It was a perfect Octahedron, down to the millimeter. The obsidian surface shone like steel in the fading dusk light. A low hum that June felt in her teeth filled the forest clearing.

Slowly, apprehensively, she reached out. It seemed like someone else was raising her hand up, up, until her fingertips landed on the smooth surface. It was hot and cold, and a stinging electricity pulsed through it, like sticking your tongue on a battery. Before she could pull her hand away, it was gone.

Everything was gone, actually. June stood in an empty white void. The ground beneath her was completely indistinguishable from the white sky– or was it a ceiling? This place was far too strange to be natural, so it had to have walls. It had to end somewhere.

Right?

She shouted Alice’s name into the emptiness. Her voice echoed, despite the lack of anything for it to bounce off of. She spun around uselessly.What was she even looking for? Her sister? A way out? She could see neither, if they even existed.

So this was what happened to Alice. She got too close to the Octahedron, and it took her here. Wherever “here” was. June picked a random direction and began to run.

“ALICE!”

How long had June been searching? Minutes? Hours? Her watch was broken, stuck at the second she was transported. It was a constant reminder that outside of this void, time was moving on without her. 

There was a way in, so there had to be a way out. She imagined it would be another Octahedron, leading to another random location on Earth. She didn’t care where it dumped her. At this point, buying a plane ticket home was the least of her worries. At least there’d be color again, wherever the exit was. The monochrome white was already starting to get to her. Her eyes projected static and scattered dark floaters on the fluorescent-light nothingness. She figured it was similar to the ghostly shapes you sometimes saw staring into a bright, open sky. God, she would kill for some variety.

“What even was that thing?” June wondered aloud sometime later. “And where am I? Where did any of this come from?” Those questions and a thousand more had been bouncing around in her brain this whole time, but voicing them broke the painful silence. “At first I thought it was alien tech of some kind. I mean, no way it was natural. Now, though, I’m not so sure. Why would aliens need a device that sends people into some kinda pocket dimension or whatever this is? How could any civilization even create this?”

Eventually, she ran out of theories to ramble about, and silence settled over her again. It was unbearable, almost suffocating. The silence felt like it was watching her. She went back to calling for Alice.

Alice, though, was nowhere to be found. June was almost sure her sister was dead. There was no food or water here, and she doubted Alice had brought enough to last this long.

There had to be an exit. She could not be stuck here, doomed to slowly die of thirst. It made no sense that there would only be one doorway to this place. It made no sense that this place existed at all, she thought as she stared into the swimming, melting sea of white, but here she was. Why was the space distorting all of a sudden? It hadn’t moved before.

June didn’t know how much time had passed when she finally ran out of strength. She’d stopped running a while ago, instead wandering aimlessly. The scenery hadn’t changed a bit. More than once, she wondered if she was moving at all. 

She tossed her backpack off and checked its contents. She’d only brought food and water for a day’s worth of hiking. Her supplies wouldn’t last long, and now she was certain that Alice hadn’t, either. Her sister was dead.

June sat down heavily on the floor, letting her unzipped bag fall and partially spill.

“Crap.”