AN: This is a rewrite of an existing story. While, in the barest of sense, it is still more or less the same, I've elaborated on a lot and changed some details. Really, I've just made it a better version of the story it used to be. I'll be uploading once a day or two to get it up to where the story previously was before I deleted the chapters, so I hope you enjoy it. Let me know!

Chapter I

Bearing a wide smile, Miranda knocked on a familiar door. She was excited, and hadn't calmed down since Alice called her earlier in the day. It was time to meet the boyfriend, apparently, and Randy was overjoyed.

Alice and Jack had been dating for a couple of months. It was relatively serious, as serious as Alice would let it be, and the relationship had finally moved onto the next level: meeting family and friends. If Alice was introducing the mysterious Mr. Chase to her and Carol, Alice's mother, things must have been getting very serious.

The door to the apartment slid open after Randy banged another trio of excited knocks against its metal surface. An older woman with dark hair and a smirk opened it. She looked over Miranda and arched a brow.

"Hello, Randy." She said coolly, still grinning a little. "Did you hurt your hand on my door?"

Randy felt a small flush of heat in her cheeks and knew she was close to blushing. "Hi, Mrs. Hamilton. Alice here?"

Carol stepped aside and said that her daughter was in the bathroom. Randy quickly darted through the familiar floor plan to find her.

Randy and Alice had been friends for ten years, which wouldn't seem like a long time if Alice hadn't only turned twenty a few months prior. They'd known one another for, what to them was, a substantial amount of time.

Miranda finally made it to the bathroom where she found Alice standing in front of the large mirror fussing with her hair. She was so lost in her actions that she didn't realize the incredibly odd faces she was making were no longer private. Randy grinned as she watched.

Throughout their friendship, people used to tell them that they looked like sisters. Randy could never see it, but people told them, you two just look so similar. Again, Randy didn't know why. Was it because they both had brown hair? Well, so did more than seventy-five percent of the population.

Miranda had dark brown eyes, while Alice's were an incredibly bright blue. Miranda's skin was sun-kissed and tanned, while Alice was as fair as humanly possible. Alice had dimples, Miranda didn't. Alice was short, Miranda wasn't.

It might have been a few small things, but enough small things tended to added up. Randy just couldn't see why people thought they were sisters. Then again, they'd spent so much time with each other growing up that maybe everyone simply assumed.

"Hi!" Randy chimed loudly.

"Oh, God!" Alice jumped and practically shouted the words. Randy had terrified her, and as cruel as it might sound, that was the point. "Why did you do that?!" Alice spun around and slapped Randy hard in the arm. "Jesus, where did you even come from?"

"Ah, the age old question. Where do we come from? Where are we going?" She teased. Alice rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the mirror. "You look nice." Randy sang the word which brought out a brilliant red hue to Alice's cheeks. She'd gone with a pale blue dress for the evening, tights, and boots.

"Oh, come on, Randy." Alice moaned slightly. She looked over Miranda's wardrobe through the mirror and her face fell. "I thought you were going to dress up?"

"Hey, I did dress up." Miranda tugged lightly on her shirt. "This is my best t-shirt."

Alice grumbled, but the smile was there. Sure, perhaps Randy should have tried a bit harder, but Jack wasn't her boyfriend to impress. She knew she could get away with jeans, a t-shirt, and flip-flops. Although, if she were being entirely honest, Miranda knew she shouldn't have worn flip-flops.

Randy helped Alice finish up her hair, and about ten minutes later Jack arrived. Miranda was on her best behavior around Mr. Tall-and-Strapping, but wasn't above miming, oh my god or giving Alice a thumbs up when the man's back was turned.

When the meal had finished, Carol and Randy decided to give the pair a moment to themselves. They pretended to linger in the kitchen doing dishes, but Miranda highly doubted that anyone was fooled.

Roughly ten minutes later and without warning, a door slammed. It caused Randy to jump. She shot Carol a glance and noticed the same apprehension she felt mirrored on the matriarch's face. Miranda grabbed a dishtowel and began to wipe her hands off.

"I'll go check it out."

Carol nodded. Randy left the kitchen and tentatively made her way down the hall. She found Alice leaning back on the couch, twiddling her thumbs as she stared into space. Something was wrong. She could see Alice's… was it heartbreak? She couldn't tell, but Alice was definitely hurt.

"Hey," Randy kept her voice light. Alice glanced up. "What happened?"

"He proposed to me." She said.

Randy, who'd made it to the chairs across from the couch, paused. She raised a single brow as her mind did her best to accept the blunt, random phrase.

"He did?"

Alice nodded heavily. "Had a ring and everything."

"Oh, wow…"

Randy fell easily into one of the chairs and let Alice relay the short conversation that she and Jack had just before he left.

"It was like a switch flipped. He was suddenly kind of erratic and he kept telling me that I needed to go with him." She looked up at Randy with a confused expression. "I liked him so much. What happened?"

"Nothing," Randy said softly. "Look, you had a weird… was it even a fight?" Alice shrugged. "Well, all you need to do is just talk about it when he's calmed down. It'll be fine."

"I don't know." Alice pushed herself up and Randy noticed her expression sour. She quickly began to dig into her pocket and retrieve a small, ornately-carved wooden box. "It's the ring." Randy's brows rose in surprise. "No," Alice pushed herself up. "This isn't going to happen."

And just like that, she stormed out of the apartment leaving Randy with her mouth open. Miranda had tried to stop her, but not even a single syllable had escaped her before Alice was nothing more than a memory.

"What happened?" Carol's voice drew Randy's attention. She seemed a bit worried.

"I'm not completely sure." Randy replied. She stood. "I'll get her."

She saw Carol nod before she left the apartment.

Randy shook her head, a bit annoyed that Alice had decided to launch herself out of the apartment so suddenly. Surely, she could have just called Jack and talked to him. Did she really have to run after him?

Knowing Alice, yes.

Randy jogged downstairs and onto the street. She looked around, but couldn't see Alice anywhere. Something guided her, though, took her to the left. There was a wide alley, one big enough for garbage trucks to ride down on their mission to pick up the dumpsters. It was down that creepy, dark, damp alley that Randy heard Alice's voice.

"Wait!" she heard Alice shout.

A bolt of ice trickled down her spine. Miranda immediately ran after her.

Through the winding twists and turns of an old building, Randy only caught glimpses of Alice. She'd see a flash of blue here, hear a clomp of a boot there. All the while, Alice took her deeper and deeper into a creepy old warehouse.

"Alice!" Randy shouted. She loved her friend dearly, but who in their right mind would run into an abandoned building?

Randy nearly fell when she rounded a corner, her flip-flops threatening to snap as she slid in a puddle. She spotted Alice, finally, racing up a flight of metal stairs.

"Alice!"

The brunette barely glanced over her shoulder while she continued. "They took Jack!" She yelled back.

"Who?!"

"I don't know!"

And then she was at the top and gone. Miranda growled, cursed her friend under her breath, then ran upstairs, too. She went after her. Of course she went after her. What was Miranda going to do, let Alice go on by herself?

Randy ran as fast as she could, determined to close the distance between her and her friend, and ran faster than she ever had before. Her feet hurt, she was breathing heavily, and afraid that Alice might get injured.

Another flash of blue rounding another corner finally met her eye. Miranda again pressed herself as hard as she could and then-

Nothing.

She'd tumbled into Alice and into a mirror –and not in a figurative sense. They went in to the mirror.

The world disappeared and she fell, fell for longer than a person should have been allowed to fall without a parachute on their back. Randy couldn't help but pray for an end to it all, pray for something to catch them. She should have been more careful about what she wished for.

Without warning, the ground came up on her and fast. Miranda slammed into the soft, yet horribly unyielding ground. She groaned. Her body hurt, the wind had been knocked out of her, and her head spun. Somehow, though, Randy managed to get herself to her feet, though with the help of someone else.

"Where are we?" She heard Alice ask.

Miranda's vision began to clear. She looked around and noticed they were standing in what could only be considered an abandoned hospital. That's what it looked like, from the long hall, to the stark walls. But, it looked like a hospital that had been through a hurricane. There was an inch or more of water on the floor, doors blown wide open, and sparking wires dangling from busted lighting fixtures.

"I don't know." Miranda grumbled. She looked at her friend. "What the hell, Alice?"

"What?" She defended weakly. "I was chasing this guy, and-"

Her words dropped off the moment they heard water shuffling in the distance. It drew their attention. Randy saw a man in white with long hair tied behind his head in a pair of pigtails. She didn't recognize him, but apparently Alice did.

"Hey!" She shouted angrily. The man in white ran. Alice took chase without a care as to the live wires in the water.

Randy growled her frustration loudly, but did as she had been thus far –she ran after Alice.

Curled toes were barely enough to keep her flip-flops on, but there was no way Randy was going to risk losing her shoes. She didn't know what in the hell she might step on and didn't feel like having a chunk of metal go right through her foot while she had to run down her stupid friend.

True, flip-flops might not have been able to save her from it, but it was a mental thing. It helped because she believed it'd help.

Randy hated herself for following after Alice as blindly as she was. It made her angry, honestly, because she had no choice. The alternative wasn't thinkable, so when Alice ran out into the real world, Randy followed. When Alice ran along dangerously narrow walkways untold stories above the ground, Randy followed. When Alice nearly barreled into another building without bothering to look to where she was going… Randy finally stopped her.

Having had enough long ago, sore, her feet aching and a rock currently digging into the arch of her foot, Randy finally put an end to the whole ordeal. She grabbed Alice and forced her to stop before she would have disappeared into a building with a white rabbit on the door.

"Alice, stop." Randy snapped.

"Let go!" She ripped her arm out of Randy's grasp. "They have Jack. I saw him. They were dragging him in here." Her expression softened and her brows furrowed. "I have to save him." She said almost desperately. "I can't let that be our last conversation."

The look of sadness on her friend's face broke Randy's heart. She hated that it made her want to give in.

"Fine, just," She took a breath and let it out harshly. She just wasn't in the mood for any more surprises. "Just let me look first, okay? We don't know what's on the other side of the door."

"Fine," She grumbled. Alice didn't sound happy with the prospect, but at least she was willing.

Randy gave her a sharp, determined nod before she gave her full attention to the door. As slowly and quietly as possible, she opened the door. The hinges creaked and the sound echoed loudly in the empty halls. She grimaced and paused, praying that whoever Alice had been chasing didn't hear it. There was nothing.

The floor was dirt, vines crawled up the walls, and there wasn't a soul in sight. Randy's brows pulled together curiously as she stepped fully inside. It made little to no sense. It looked as though nature was in the process of taking over, which would have been fine, if the building looked the same. As it was, it looked as though someone's house plant just decided to go crazy.

As she stepped even deeper into the building, Randy heard Alice hiss behind her. She took in a sharp breath. Randy glanced back through the open doorway. There was a loud churning sound from overhead, the sound of a machine of some kind. It curled Randy's stomach and filled her with a level of dread she hadn't felt in a long time.

Reacting instinctively, Randy grabbed Alice by the arm and jerked her into the hallways where she stood. At the moment, the danger outside was worse than the potential danger inside. Randy slammed the door shut and pressed her back to it. As best as she could, she listened to the sound of whatever was flying overhead until it disappeared.

She breathed easier when it did.

"What the hell?" Alice mumbled.

Randy looked over and noticed Alice was in the middle of trying to wipe something green off her arm. Curiously, Miranda gently took Alice's hand so she could better inspect the mark. It was a deep forest green, a paisley design that would have been pretty any other day. Unfortunately, it looked like it was branded into her skin. Randy ran her hand over it just to help confirm the theory.

"What happened?" She asked.

"I don't know." Alice replied. "It just appeared out of nowhere when that thing shined its light."

"Jesus," She mumbled.

"It doesn't matter." Alice took her arm back and finally looked around. "What is this place?"

"I don't know. All of these buildings look like old hospitals or something."

Alice nodded her agreement before she spotted something at the end of the hall. The curious way she tilted her head caused Randy to glance over her shoulder. There was a white room, almost blindingly bright resting there, as though it was presented to them. Miranda's eyes narrowed.

Without waiting for her friend, Alice headed for it. Miranda was slower to follow. She kept her eyes on their surroundings, darting from one place to another, down halls and into rooms. There was a prickle at the back of her neck, a prickle that told her something was bad was going to happen.

Alice entered the small room and approached the table in the middle of it. Out of the corner of her eye, Miranda noticed Alice pick up a small clear vial of something.

"Curiosity," Alice read out loud, drawing Miranda even closer. "Killed the cat."

Alice dropped the vial and shot back. Unfortunately, that made her step deeper into the box. The prickle was getting worse. Miranda knew that they had to get out of there as quickly as possible. No sooner than she set foot inside the creepy white room did a door slam shut behind her.

The sudden movement and sound of a door banging closed terrified her. Randy fell back, tumbled over the small table and took it to the ground. Alice had pushed herself far into the corner to avoid the flailing mass that Randy had become.

Alice charged the padded wall that the door truly was, but it didn't budge. Randy shot to her feet and repeated the action on any of the three other walls, but as with the first, they didn't even jiggle.

Without warning, another wall slammed into place cutting Randy and Alice off from the table and dividing their space in half easily. Alice grabbed Miranda, clutched at her clothing to hold her close. Randy did the same. The two held one another tightly out of fear and a desperate need to feel safe. Suddenly the ceiling dropped, forcing them onto their backside. And then another wall charged forward.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Alice cried out as she tried to brace her legs against it. "What's going on?!"

A faint buzzing began in Randy's ears. Her breathing became labored and her heart beat at an uncontrollable rate. She was beginning to hyperventilate.

Randy was claustrophobic.

A small, mail-slot-sized hole opened in the wall that had once been the door. Randy's attention shot to it. The man from before, the one she'd caught only brief glimpses of, stared back in at them.

"Oh, good." He grinned. "Two for the price of one."

"Let us out of here!" Randy screamed as she drove her heel violently into the door.

"Ooo, temper, temper." He openly taunted the panic-stricken young woman.

"What the hell is this place?" Alice demanded angrily.

"Shouldn't have followed me, little Oysters." He replied in a sing-song voice.

And that was it. He said nothing more as he backed away from them. Miranda could see him growing smaller and smaller through the slot in the wall.

Randy felt like she was running out of air, like her lungs couldn't decide if they wanted to explode, or implode because they couldn't take in enough oxygen.

When the room shifted and rocked from side to side, Randy slammed her eyes shut. Her fingernails bit angrily into the plush surface that surrounded her. They gouged out some of the leather (?) that had been bolted to it, probably to muffle the screams of the inhabitants.

Her stomach churned. With her eyes shut, Randy could feel her extremities tingle and her body break out into a cold sweat. She was going to faint.

"Hey," Alice's cool voice brought Randy to the moment. "Miranda, hey, look at me." Somehow, she managed to open her eyes. Alice was leaning forward as best she could, offering a small, slightly-reassuring smile. "It's going to be okay, okay?"

Miranda shook her head. "No, it won't be. I can't breathe." She slammed her eyes shut again. "I can't breathe, I can't breathe."

"Hey," Alice cooed again. Randy didn't dare open her eyes, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to get us out of here, okay? I promise." Miranda shook her head repeatedly once again. "I will. Now, just breathe, okay? In, out, in out."

Alice's soft voice and the gentle prompting for Miranda to breathe in a slow cadence helped, but she didn't dare open her eyes, or relent her hold on the walls. Every muscle was so tight they ached, but she couldn't stop.

Unable to see, Randy was forced to listen. She heard Alice poking and prodding, heard something that sounded like metal on metal.

"I think I've found a latch." Alice said in a distracted voice. "Just… give… me… a-"

Falling. Miranda was falling, and screaming.

She caught a brief glimpse of a flying behemoth overhead, a dozen crates, and Alice as she fell through the air. Just as suddenly, Randy was consumed in cold. It engulfed her, wrapped its steely-fingers around her, and clawed at her throat. She was in water.

Miranda, somehow managing to gain any composure at all, scrambled to reach the surface. Finally, after what felt like hours, she managed to break through and took in a long, deep breath. Life poured back into her while she treaded water.

Her name being called forced Randy to turn around. She spotted Alice bobbing in the dark water as well a few yards from her. Alice seemed to see her the same instant.

"Are you alright?"

Miranda couldn't hold it back. "No, I'm not alright!" She shouted angrily. "I have been chasing after you for the last half hour or better, through abandoned buildings, across freaky walkways a thousand feet in the air, through a mirror, and then we get stuck in a box! Now we're in the middle of a lake! Of course I'm not okay!"

Alice winced as Randy's voice became shrill. She wished she had control over her volume, but she couldn't. Randy was still reeling over everything that had happened since she left Alice's apartment.

Eventually, Alice and Miranda had closed the majority of the distance between them until yelling wasn't a necessity.

"Well, I'm sorry, okay?" Alice snapped back. She sounded apologetic, but not enough as far as Randy was concerned. "Look," Alice glanced around and spotted a city in the distance. "We should get back to civilization."

Miranda looked in the same direction and saw just how far away the city truly was. Her stomach sank.

"That has to be a couple miles away."

"Yeah, well, either we swim there, or we can wait for that thing to come back." She paused briefly. "Or wait for something to eat us."

Alice only waited a moment before she started off. Miranda glared angrily at the back of her head. She was furious, but followed Alice –no matter how reluctantly.

When they got back, if they got back, they were going to have a serious talk about their friendship.