The Door

A Story by Mimi Vanity

Another story for creative writing. The prompt was that you woke up in a room, chained to a chair and you didnt know how you got there. You heard voices, we were supposed to describe the conversation.

My first thought when I came to was “Why am I so cold?” I almost never feel anything, and now suddenly I’m cold? At least I didn’t have a fever; I’ve heard those are terrible. My body has no control of its temperature, which is why I sat here fascinated for about 5 minutes while the loss of my sight failed to register. When I finally realized I couldn’t see anything, I panicked. Was this the price of feeling? As I tried to move, I noticed my arms and legs’ movement was limited. Slowly, it dawned upon me that my limbs were secured to the chair, and at the very same moment I became aware of the weight of fabric on my eyes. Now that I understood I wasn’t blind, I calmed down. Soon though, a sense of dread settled over me. I didn’t remember how I got here, or why. There was no means of escape as far as I could tell, which meant I would be submitted to whatever my captor’s imagination could conjure. That thought alone unnerved me, so I did what was expected of me; I shut everything out. Whenever any type of conflict arises, I shut out the outside world and retreat somewhere deep within my mind. It may sound a bit deranged, but it’s how I cope with things. After a few minutes, everything was blank. I was within the place I truly called home. It was my own world, where anything and everything was possible. Each time I visited this world, the setting was different. This time, it was an all white room; the walls were white, and the plush carpet I stood upon was white. As far as I could tell, the ceiling was as vast as a sky. The room seemed to stretch for miles, and I couldn’t wait to explore and see what was in store for me this time. Suddenly, I heard voices. I came to what seemed the center of the room, and whoever the voices belong to were hidden behind a circle of tall, jagged rocks. They were faint at first but as I moved closer, I could make out what they were saying. Funny thing is, one of the voices distinctly sounded like... Me.

“They couldn’t possibly find out! I did everything in my power to hide it from everyone else,” said my imposter. Another voice said, “Really? Are you shamed of me, of us? For you can’t deny there is an us. Without me, you wouldn’t exist, and vice verse. So why hide us from the world? We could do so much!” My imposer sighed at this, seemingly irritated with the other voice. “And what do I tell them? Half of me believes herself mad, while the other half thinks murder is a loving gesture? What a pair, the murderer and lunatic.” A laugh echoes across the imaginary walls I’ve created, and I winch from its brittleness. “Then what are you going to do about it, besides whine about us?” There was a long pause, as if the speaker was truly thinking about what else she could do. I noticed the subtle roar of a near-by source of water, which confused me. Why would there be water inside? Then again, it shouldn’t be much of a surprise; it was my mind. Imagination has free reign in this world, unlike the one I hide from now. As my mind wanders, I hear footsteps that pull me into the present. As they neared, my heartbeat quickened, and it would seem its loud enough for whoever’s approaching to hear. Whoever, or whatever, it is stopped behind me. The little hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I sensed their presence. After a few minutes, it slowly lumbered back the way it came. It took a while for my breathing to return back to normal, and even when it did the feeling that something was near wouldn’t go away.

I sat there thinking about what just happened, and the situation that played out in my mind. There was a lingering sense of Déjà vu, as if I had that very same conversation before. It confused me, because surely I would remember a conversation like that; the intensity make me curious. What where they hiding from everyone? Had they really committed murder? As I tried to understand what happened, sleep hit me suddenly and I slipped into unconsciousness.

I woke up the next day in a cold sweat. My heart was pounding inside my chest, and I fought against the shackles that bound me to my chair. A wisp of my dream still clung to my mind; the blood, the satisfied look on my face, and my name on his lips flashed before my eyes. As I calmed down, I wondered if this had anything to do with the conversation or if it was just my imagination. My stomach growled, distracting me from my lunacy. I wondered how long I’d been here, and if I would be doomed to be here for the rest of my life. Oddly enough, as soon as the thought crossed my mind I heard the footsteps again. I braced myself for what was about to happen next. This time, whenever the footsteps neared they didn’t go away. Instead, my arms and legs were released, and the blindfold was removed from my head. I blinked as the light blinded me, and looked around the room. It was a plain room, painted a shade of off-white. There were no windows, and a old light bulb hung directly above my hair. The most interesting thing about the room was the man who removed my blindfold. He stood at about 7 feet tall, and his features were hard to discern because of the many scars that covered his face. His eyes shone black, his face expressionless. I was finally FREE, and yet I stood there dumbly, staring at him. Whenever he spoke, the gentleness of his tone surprised me. “I suppose you’re hungry then,” he said. My mind couldn’t come up with a response, so I nodded. “Alright then, come along,” he called over his shoulder as he went out the door. I followed behind him, my legs unsteady from not being used in so long.

The hallway I walked through was very dimly lit, so I couldn’t see what I was walking into. The walls were whitewashed and bare, and the light came from single yellowed light bulbs on the ceiling. We walked for what seemed miles for hours in my mind, when in reality it was only down the hall, a minute at most. We came to two doors, which looked fairly new; both were wooden doors painted white with gold old-fashioned knobs. They seemed very out of place in the hallway. The man gestured to the one on the left, and waited for me to open the door. He noticed me glancing at the other door, and a fleeting smile crossed his face. “The door is locked, and very sturdy. In all the years I’ve been here, I’ve never been able to open that door. I imagine it’s the way out.” My eyes widen as I realized what he meant; if he was telling the truth, there truly is no way out of here. As I thought about it though, I was confused. “If there’s only one way out behind that door, how did I get here?” I blurted out. He appeared to think about it for a while. “I honestly don’t know... I woke up one morning and there you were, shackled to the chair. I found an envelope that enclosed a scrap of paper. All it said is ‘Don’t trust them. Half of her lies, while the other slowly fades away.’ I didn’t understand it, but I’m not the type of man to question. Now, are you done asking questions, or are we going to linger in the hall all morning? It isn’t as if we have all day here. Oh, wait; we kind of do!” He laughed rather awkwardly at his lame joke, obviously as nervous as I am. I didn’t know whether to believe him or not; he hasn’t given me a reason to believe him, but then again he didn’t give me a reason not to believe him. All I had control over is whether I opened that door. I had to decide whether or not I wanted to continue on with this crazy situation, or turn and run back to the room. I could pretend none of this happened and hide in my mind, safe from what’s ahead. I sighed, and closed my eyes. When I opened them, I decided that for once, I’m not going to run and hide from everything in my mind. I’m going to face the real world, not the one from my imaginations. I steeled myself for what I would see on the other side, and placed my hand on the door. When I glanced at the man he shrugged, and I finally decided to take charge of my life. I twisted the knob, and then… I pushed open the door.

To Be Continued…