text: Once Dr. Verrukt has stepped through the chalkboard portal you note that one of the circle's he'd drawn moments before disappeared. Frank steps through next and you watch as another circle disappears. James goes next followed by Destiny and then Christie; leaving you and Mike behind.
  
  "Thanks for vouching for me," you tell him.
  
  He sort of shrugs it off and waves it away. "Hey whatever," he says. "All I did was speak the truth. Now come on, let's check this world out." Without another word Mike steps through the portal leaving you alone behind them with a single circle remaining over the portal.
  
  You take a deep breath and step through. As you step into the portal you find that you feel more like you are stepping out of a chalkboard than stepping into a new world. As soon as you step through Dr. Verrukt draws a portal on the blank chalkboard you stepped out of. Above it he carefully draws a series of runes slightly different than the ones he'd drawn to create the original portal.
  
  "This is the way home," Dr. Verrukt said. "If for any reason we are separated and you need to return home simply draw a circle above the archway and step through. The quality of your circle does not truly matter; you could draw a square or triangle just the same. All that matters is that your circle is closed."
  
  "Why can't you just draw the circles now?" you ask.
  
  Dr. Verrukt looks at you very seriously. "Because anyone can step through that portal if a circle is drawn." He turns to the others and tells them to partner up in groups of three.
  
  James is with Destiny and Christie, he has his aluminum bat over his shoulder, Destiny holds a taser in her hand, and Christie carries a crowbar. Frank teams up with Dr. Verrukt and Mike, only Frank with his knives appears to be properly armed; Mike has a walking stick and the doctor carries some kind of device that looks like little more than a glorified cell phone.
  
  "What about me?" You ask.
  
  "Join up with whoever you want," Dr. Verrukt tells you. "Just follow their lead and do as they say."
  
  "Okay," you say. "But I don't have a weapon."
  
  "Not very prepared are you genius?" James mutters.
  
  "Here," Frank says; handing you a fold-out pocket knife.
  
  "Thanks," you mutter. You take a moment to look at the groups before making a decision.
  
  > join Dr. Verrukt, Mike, and Frank
  "I'll stick with the expert," you say, striding confidently over to the guys.
  
  "What's the matter, Charlie?" Destiny asks with a pouty lip. "Don't you like me?"
  
  "Don't feel bad, Destiny," big James says. "Charles is gay."
  
  "I'm not gay," you tell them.
  
  "It's okay," James says. "You're among friends."
  
  "I'm not-" you begin.
  
  James interrupts. "We accept you."
  
  Destiny rolls her eyes and reaches for the door. "Right this way," she says.
  
  "I'm not gay!" you call as Christie and Destiny walk out the door.
  
  "Whatever dude," James says before stepping out the door.
  
  "You're a dick!" You say as the door closes.
  
  The door opens back up, James peeks his head in. "I'll take that as a compliment because I know how much you like dicks," he says, popping his head back out and closing the door behind him. You turn around to find Frank, Mike, and Dr. Verrukt staring silently at you. To call the moment uncomfortable would be an understatement.
  
  "There's nothing wrong with being gay," Mike says dejectedly, looking down at the ground. "My... Cousin is gay."
  
  "No," you say; "I didn't mean there's anything wrong with being gay..." But they're already moving forward without you. GREAT. James has managed to alienate you from the girl you've crushed on for most of your life -AND- the nerd who'd vouched for you to be here. "I'm sorry," you say at last.
  
  Dr. Verrukt clears his throat. "Good. Now if we're through here, we have some ground to cover." He walks over to the door and holds his hand over the knob, stopping to turn back to face the rest of you. He strokes at his beard. "As always, be on the lookout for peculiarities. Something about this world is different from our own. It may be something minor or something very major. There's no way of knowing for sure. But be wary all the same."
  
  He opens the door and speaks in a cheerful voice despite his dour look. "Shall we?"
  
  "Let's go," Frank says; walking through the open door. Dr. Verrukt waits until all three of you are out before closing the door quietly behind you. The abandoned hall is blocked off by a line of trash cans just like your home world. The halls ahead appear to be unclean. A thin layer of dust seems to have settled on everything, papers and books lay abandoned on the tiled floor.
  
  "What happened here?" Mike asks.
  
  "Interesting," Dr. Verrukt says; "Whatever has happened was something recent. Within the last month or two, looking at the dust."
  
  "You think the school is COMPLETELY evacuated?" Mike asks.
  
  "Only one way to tell," Frank says; leading the group farther down the hall. He opens a classroom door. There are no chairs or desks remaining in the room, even the teachers' desk is gone. All that remains inside is a mess of loose papers, textbooks, and other school related supplies.
  
  As your group moves down the hall you check other rooms, meeting the same sort of thing each time; the desks and chairs gone, only rubble left behind. You make your way further along the hall. Mike points ahead to where the building exits are walled up with desks and chairs. It's a barricade.
  
  Something must have attacked the school, you think.
  
  "Something must have attacked the school," Dr. Verrukt says.
  
  You hear a strange shuffling, sticky sort of sound and looked down an intersecting hall to see something odd moving toward you. It is roughly human-like in shape and looks like its made of uncooked pastry dough.
  
  "Back to the portal," Dr. Verrukt says urgently, his eyes wide. "Move!" He runs. In all the time you've known the science teacher, you have never seen him move with such intensity. He's always been a slow and deliberate person, but now he was running.
  
  Mike and Frank follow his lead and you waste no time rushing to catch up.
  
  "Back to the portal!" Frank shouts, his words echoing in the empty halls like a roll of thunder. If the school weren't so empty you doubt he'd have been heard far beyond the hall you're in.
  
  You feel your heart leap a little in your chest when you round the corner to find Christie, Destiny, and James running back to the abandoned hall as well. You reach the hall at roughly the same time.
  
  "What is it?" Christie asks. You don't have time to answer and soon enough you find that one isn't necessary. Her face goes pale as she looks past your shoulder.
  
  "Hurry," Dr. Verrukt says, opening the door to room 413 while the rest of you are still navigating past the line of trash cans. You bring up the rear despite the terror you feel and are the last one to enter he room.
  
  You step in as the last of your group, Christie; is stepping through the portal. She drops the chalk on the tray as she goes and you glance over the portal to see no circles remaining. You hastily draw a circle for yourself. You can hear the door opening behind you. You glance over your shoulder as the dough-like creature points its eyeless face in your direction. It doesn't move, simply studies you.
  
  You drop the chalk and step slowly through the portal, leaving the dough creature behind and stepping out of the chalkboard on the other side into the safety of your own world.
  
  Dr. Verrukt almost shows a glimpse of emotion for a moment. Then he speaks in his dry voice. "That is one universe we will not be returning to," he says. He takes an eraser and removes the final two runic characters from above the portal.
  
  "Dr. Verrukt," Frank says hesitantly; "You knew what that thing was didn't you?"
  
  The older man seems reluctant to answer but at lasts he nods. "Yes," he says. "Whatever that thing is, it's the reason my assistant never returned. He must have panicked trying to open a portal home. We were running from one of those creatures."
  
  "What was it?" Frank asks.
  
  "I don't know," Verrukt answers. "I don't wish to discuss it now. Allow me to collect my thoughts and we can discuss it tomorrow, yes?" He looks around at the other students and all agree. "Good," he says. "For now, I bid you a good night."
  
  > Tomorrow
  Your mind keeps going back to the strange dough-like creature and the lingering primal sense of fear that has plagued you ever since. Despite this, you are eventually able to fall asleep rather easily. Your dreams are rather horrifyingly surreal, but otherwise you rest well.
  
  The next day you go through your classes as normal. Christie asks you to meet her at her locker after school and you do. She smiles when she sees you.
  
  "They're meeting in Verrukt's science lab," she tells you.
  
  "Oh," you reply; a little let down. You've been wanting to visit that abandoned class room again ever since you left it; to stare at the arch and the symbols and try to figure out what they mean. Your disappointment must be evident in your tone because Christie lays a hand on your shoulder.
  
  "We can go back to the room first, if you want," she says. "It's interesting, I know. I felt the same way after my first time. Though my first wasn't nearly as frightening as yours."
  
  You smile. She smiles back and pecks a kiss on your cheek that leaves you stunned. Where did that come from, you wonder. You've been friends for so long... You've never thought of her as anything more. But the softness of her lips on your cheek leaves your mind wandering elsewhere.
  
  "Are you coming?" She asks from further up the hall. She giggles a little as you hard-blink and try to shake some sense back into your head. You jog and catch up, walking with her against the flow of foot traffic until the halls empty are save for you and her.
  
  You step into math hall where Mr. Lewis the janitor is sweeping the floor. "You kids be good, now;" he tells you in a strained voice as you walk past.
  
  "We will," Christie says, laughing. The janitor pushes his broom further down the hall and the two of you soon find yourselves in sight of the garbage can barricade. You push a can aside and you step into the dark hall.
  
  The school is quiet, this old hall especially. "Hey," you say; tugging on Christie's backpack until she stops.
  
  "What?" She asks, slightly annoyed.
  
  "What was with that kiss on the cheek a little bit ago?"
  
  Christie smiles and blushes a little. "I don't know," she says; "It just felt like something I should do."
  
  "Yeah?" You ask. "Care to try it on my lips?"
  
  She bites her bottom lip and smiles a little. "Not in the hallway, Charlie. We're not supposed to be here, remember?"
  
  She jogs the last ten steps teasingly away from you and reaches the door. Why have you never thought of her like this before? She has her back to the door, staring back at you as she opens the it behind her back. You shake your head and walk over to her. She steps inside backwards.
  
  Before you quite reach the door she lets out a piercing terrified scream. You jog the rest of the way and step into room 413 beside her. There inside the room; lying on the floor with his stomach torn open and his organs spilling out, was the janitor. Mr. Lewis.
  
  "That doesn't make sense," you say. Christie meets your eyes briefly then looks over your shoulder. She begins shaking visibly, backing slowly to the chalkboard. You turn around to find Mr. Lewis standing behind you, his dust mop still in position to clean.
  
  "You kids shouldn't be back here," he says with a sinister strain to his voice. His features begin to soften and melt; the colors neutralizing until he became a dough thing in custodian apparel.
  
  The eyeless face manages to stare at you somehow despite having no real eyes to speak of. It moves across the floor slowly like a zombie in an old horror movie. Behind you Christie is chalking something on the board, crying the whole while. The dough thing is directly in front of you.
  
  "Charlie, come on!" she tells you. "I've opened a portal."
  
  The dough mesmerizes you as it moves closer.
  
  "Charlie what are you doing?! Come one! We have to leave!!"
  
  But you can't move. The dough gets nearer and you remain firmly planted in your stance.
  
  "I'm sorry," Christie says from behind you. You hear the ripple echo sound of the portal opening and she steps into another world, leaving you behind.
  
  Long tendrils reach forward and touch your head gently. Suddenly you start remembering old things you'd long forgotten and forgetting them all over again. You feel fond memories leaving you, getting absorbed by the creature's doughy limbs. Your education, your knowledge, everything you've ever learned and experienced passes through your mind and into the creature's tendrils.
  
  Soon you cannot even remember where you are, who you are, or how you got to where you are. You see the dough creature meld into a mirror image of yourself. You've forgotten how to breath. You panic a little as your senses begin to deteriorate. As your life fades from your body you see your doppelganger bend down to retrieve a piece of chalk.