The Door

Portal

As you step through the door you notice everything's the very same as it was before, you step back out and in again just to make sure you didn't make a mistake. You get a whiff of the air, you notice it smells like food and your mom yells “Dinner!” You forget all about the door or which side of the door you're on and stumble through the bushes to your house. 

At first you notice that your house looks brand new and wonder once again if something was wrong because the last time you checked there was paint peeling from each side of the house and one of the side windows you used to be able to look out when you were in the family room was broken but now it looks brand new. you rub your eyes and shake your head trying to get that feeling that something was wrong out of your head. You head inside for dinner as you walk through the door you immediately walk outside again. You know that something is wrong, something is really off. 

You walk over to where your dad built a bench so you could sit and listen to the birds and try to think about something else, you quickly realize that the bench isn't there anymore and now where the bench used to be there's an apple tree that's when you start to freak out and realize that the queasy feeling that has been in your stomach since you walked through that door is now raging. You feel like you could almost puke. 

Then for the third time in a row your mom shrieks “It's dinner.” You see the sun go behind the mountain and look at your watch to see what time it is. But before you can look at the time you hear a rustle and a bump coming from your house or at least what you think your house is. You dart into the bushes and quickly realize that you're all scratched up and bleeding because you've jumped into prickers. Someone opens the door from the inside the house. The smell of rotten eggs wafts into the air. The stench is so strong you have to cover your nose. You quickly peek over the bushes to somehow get a sense of what's making that smell. 

You shrink back into the bushes whoever that person is it's definitely not your mom. Whoever she is she looks like she's dressed up for halloween her clothes look so old fashioned. A little boy comes out of the woods and stares right at where you're hiding, you duck down even farther afraid he might see you. The boy stares for a moment longer then rushes through the door to the women inside. It sounds as if the woman was scolding him for being so late and calls him in for dinner. The boy goes to close the door but before he closes it all the way he looks out for a second time and stares at the spot where you're hiding. You're terrified and have no idea where you are. You thought you were at your house but then why were those people in what you thought was your house wearing button through clothes and very dressy formal clothes that you would see in old movies. Then with quick thinking you run down the dirt road thinking that your neighbors, the kind old couple that always gave you tea and cookies would help you and tell you where you were. You knock on their door and look around at their yard. It looks different, the once rusted fence was now looking brand new and the flowers that used to be wilting are now looking like they just bloomed. As you wait you hear a dog bark hmm you think, that's weird you didn't know that they had a dog. A woman comes out of the door wearing a nice old fashioned looking dress and an apron. In a frightened voice she asks “Why are you here?”

You say you're looking for Meredith and her husband Harry. The woman looks horrified and pulls you into the house and then up the stairs into the attic she locks the door. Through gritted teeth she says “How do you know that name, why are you here, did you come through the door…?” You look at her worried face and tell her what happened. You tell her that you went through a door to a house that looked like yours but it looked like a newer version of your house.  Then you tell her about the women you thought was your mom and the little boy that looked right where you were hiding and how that sent a chill through your body and then you ran to at least what you thought was Meredith your neighbors house to try to look for help. At this point the woman's face is dead white she tells you that you have to run and hide before she gets you and to never come back to this house. You keep trying to ask her questions but she pulls you down stairs and practically throws you out the door and tells you to “Never come back because you put everyone in this household in more danger then they were before.” 

You were terrified, lost, lonely and even more confused than you were before. Now you don't know who to trust. Through the wind and the dust you see eyes flash in the woods and not thinking you run to them. But whoever or whatever they are, slip away before you can catch them. you being the fastest runner at your school can catch up easily. You see whatever it is and realize it's the boy that you saw staring at where you were hiding when you were in the prickers. You grab him by the wrist and ask him “What's going on and where are we?”

 The only thing he says is “You have to get out of here! you have to escape before she catches you. You have to escape before you become one of us. She controls us like dolls. She sees through your eyes she knows where you are and every movement you make and she hears every word you speak. She plays with our brains like we're science experiments you have to escape before she gets you. You need to go and find the door. You let go of him terrified. He swiftly sprints off weaving through the trees even faster than before. You dart in the direction you came from trying to search for the door. You run past the house you thought was yours and see the little boy looking out the window with a cold sad look in his eyes. You run faster than you ever have before trying to find the door that you went in earlier. You find the door and run through it. At first you freak out because you hear voices calling your name but you look up at the sky and realize that it’s dark out you process that it was not dark out on the other side of the door. You see flashlights but you can see the faces of your fellow neighbors. You sink into the ground crying waiting for someone to find you. At some point you fall asleep and wake back up laying in bed confused. You open your eyes and go downstairs, you think back to what happened last night and your parents act like everything is normal and say you're gonna be late for school. Confused, you start to worry. Was it a dream… or did it really happen…

 

Beanlettucesquash

VT

14 years old