The Blue Door

Sitting at the table, staring lifelessly outside the window. She did this day and night. There was no rest for her. This was her everyday activity. The interest of people passing by would be triggered. They would surely be worried and furthermore scared by such behaviour from a child.

But the problem was that there were no people in this place. This was a lone house far off in the woods. The only signs of life were the animals that roamed the land, the birds that often flew in the sky, nature itself and the two signs of human life, her, and her mother. She always wondered why her mother brought them here in the middle of nowhere. She always wondered why they left the vibrant and bustling city for the dark and quiet forest. Was it the way in which her mother was grieving the death of her husband?

This would not be the first time her mother did so. The year before this one her mother lost her close friend. To grieve her death, they both went to live by the sea camping somewhere hidden and unknown for two weeks. When her colleague died from an unknown cause they both went to camp in the mountains for seven days. Her mother’s way of doing things always troubled her but she always wondered and never asked.

This time around when her mother’s husband died, they did not go on a camping trip to grieve instead her mother told her to pack all her belongings. This time around she did not wonder, she asked, “Where are we going, mother?”. “It is time that you finally see the world for what it is. It is time for you to see the light.” Confused by her mother’s words she did not question her any further and did as she was told.

They left the city with only their clothes as baggage. The furniture was left behind along with all other important things. As the car sped down the road the city life slowly disappeared until the skyscrapers were seen no more. Up ahead the road was getting unsteady, and the brightness of the sun was slowly getting covered by thick trees. It was dark when they got to the house. An old house that seemed to have been abandoned for a very long time in the middle of the forest.

For the first time, she was worried. For the first time, she questioned her mother’s actions. The house had no fence to protect the yard. Trees were growing against the outer walls of the old structure. When they entered the household, it was totally different from the outside. The house had furniture and everything that a home could have. In contrast to the cold darkness outside, it was bright and warm inside. This was going to be her new home.

For the first month, she stayed with her mother in her new home. She woke up each morning and helped her mother clean the house and water the garden, which was the only secured piece of land in the yard. They never went to the city to buy food because her mother has now put restrictions on eating meat or any other food that has meat in it. Instead, they ate vegetables and fruit that grew from the garden. When she asked her mother why they were changing their diet she said, “We must eat healthy and natural food fresh from Mother Nature herself. This way our minds will be cleared of darkness, and we will see the light.”

Another thing that made her question her mother’s actions was the fact that their home had no electronic devices. The only things that lit up in the darkness when night came were candles located in each corner of the house. There was no radio, no television and certainly no cooking stove. They lit a fire outside and cooked.

She wanted to know why but held herself back from asking. Her mother’s husband’s death had not passed on, maybe her mother was still grieving the death of her husband. She did not want to disrupt her moments of finding peace in their new lifestyle. Her mother seemed to be satisfied with it.

The first month passed and things were going well until strange changes started to happen to them both. In the house, there was a room that her mother told her not to open. All the other rooms in the house had keys for opening but this room had no key and no door lock. It was a room with just a blue door. All the rooms in the house had red doors therefore it was strange that this room was the only one that had a different colour and no door lock. What could be inside it? She always wondered but she knew better than to let her curiosity take her away. She obliged to her mother’s orders and stayed away from the room. But the room did not want her to stay away.

Every night she would have strange dreams where she would wander along a small pathway through a thick foggy forest. When she reached the end of the path, the blue door was in front of her. She would reach out her hand to push it open and that is when she would wake up from her dream.

This troubled her for days and it made it hard for her to sleep. The dream was not what was troubling her though but the fact that each time she woke up from the dream she would be standing directly in front of the blue door with her hands planted against the door as if she was trying to push it. Her mother was unaware of this, and she did not want her to be aware of it at all because it would put her in trouble. She tried to lock her door at night so that she could not walk out of her room but that itself did not work. Somehow, she found a way to unlock the door.

This went on for nights, and she grew tired of it. She started to have thoughts about opening the door. This would get her in deep trouble with her mother unless she found a way to open it without her mother noticing and knowing. This may be the only way to stop the dreams. That is what she believed.

Her mother often went out for 30 minutes tending to the garden, watering the garden and picking vegetables and fruit that were good to eat. This was enough time for her to open the door quickly. Unless I tell Mother that I will be doing house chores upstairs she won’t suspect a thing. This seemed like a great plan to her, so she decided to set it in motion.

The next morning her mother woke up early and went to the garden. At the same time, she quickly informed her mother that she would be cleaning the rooms upstairs and her mother agreed. With that, she waited for a few minutes to see her mother work in the garden. After she saw that she was busy she went straight to the room with the blue door. She stood in front of it as if she were waiting for it to open on its own.

As she stood there a question came to mind. Is this worth getting me in trouble with my mother? When I go inside what will I find? With all those questions swirling in her mind, she was unsure about opening the door. She somehow felt that whatever she was going to find beyond that door was not going to be great. After all, the door had no lock, it was closed for a reason, she was restricted from entering it and she never saw her mother entering the room. She was throwing herself into a dark abyss where danger lay below ready to swallow her whole.

I cannot do it. She started to back away from the door, but something stopped her in her tracks. A weird sound was coming from inside the room. To hear it clearly, she got close to the door. The sound came again but she could not hear what it was. This time she got close enough to the door that her ear was planted against it alert to hear whatever was inside.

As she listened intently, she heard nothing for a few seconds until something banged against the door. The impact startled her so hard that she tripped on her own two feet and fell hard on the floor. Again, something banged against the door but this time it was followed by a low growl. A growl that sounded animalistic and human at the same time. Terrified she got up from the floor ready to bolt when the door opened wide on its own. Frozen in place she stared into the darkness as the darkness stared back at her. Then, hands reached out from the shadows pulled her in and swallowed her whole. The door closed shut, and the house was enveloped in silence.