A Simple Door

Start writing here…“Security, schmecurity. I wanna see what’s behind that door.” Theo frowned at Axel’s words, watching as a girl entered through the ‘mystery door’. The door was nothing special, it was a simple 7 foot, metal door. In front of the door stood a dude who looked double their sizes in muscles alone and Theo doubted that they would be able to get past him.

Axel had been whining about this mysterious door for days now, bugging Theo every second he got. He even spent most of the night spouting off conspiracies of what was behind that door. Theo didn’t get why Axel was so obsessed with this door.

“You know we can never get past him.” Theo said knowingly, jerking his thumb at the security guard, who he’d decided to call godzilla. Axel rolled his eyes, shaking his head as if Theo was stupid.

“T, I thought you were the smart one?” Theo glared at Axel flicking at his forehead, but missing as Axel anticipated this and jerked back. “Clearly we just need a distraction.” Axel adds, ignoring Theo’s ‘no duh’ look.

“Wow, you seem to have everything figured out!” Theo wiggled his fingers in Axels face, giving him a flat look. “Don’t even know why I’m here.” He finished, crossing his arms to give Axel a pointed look. Axel rolled his eyes at Theo’s theatrics.

“Don’t be so dramatic, you’re here cause we do everything together.” Axel grinned, lopped his arm over Theos neck and pulled him down to his height.

“We’re two peas in a pod, we are conjoined at the hip!” He waved a hand in front of the face as if to show an invisible picture.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Explain to me once more why this door is so important?” Theo shoved away Axel, rubbing his neck after having it strained by Axel. Axel sighed dramatically and rolled his eyes.

“I wanted it to be a surprise but you’re so persistent!” Axel threw his arms up in the air, defeated. Theo grinned triumphantly and leaned back against the wall they’d been using as a hiding spot.

“So I saw this thing on reddit about real live magicians! And before you make some kind of remark like ‘no duh, stupid, magicians are a typical party entertainment’, those aren’t the type of magicians I’m talking about! No, no full blown... movie magicians! You know? The ones that like carry wands and say weird phrases in different languages.” Theo gave Axel a flat expression. Axel’s wide grin wavered slightly and he offered Theo an encouraging set of nods.

“You mean to tell me that you think.” Theo paused, his next sentence feeling strange in his head. “You think, there are people beyond that door that can cast magic?” The words sounded bizarre to Theo but Axel nodded enthusiastically.

“That’s it! I’m checking you into a mental hospital!” Theo grabbed Axel’s arm and began tugging for him to follow, shaking his head in disbelief. “Better yet, I’m just taking away your computer and phone.” Theo’s statement was met with a loud gasp and Theo turned to see Axel clenching his phone tightly in his free hand. Axel gave Theo an offended look, yanking his arm from his grip.

“Can’t believe this is what has convinced you that I’ve lost it.” Axel made an offended look, holding a hand over his heart dramatically. “This is nothing.”

“But none of that matters! Let’s make a deal, we find out what’s behind that door, if it’s magic you owe me an apology and if you’re right and I’m crazy I’ll...” He glanced down at his phone and visibly gulped before finishing. “I’ll let you hold onto my phone and computer for a whole week!” He jerked out his hand, looking at Theo to shake their hands and seal the deal. Theo groaned loudly but reached out and took Axel’s hand, yanking it hard just so that Axel was aware of his annoyance.

“Perfect timing! Cause I already paid a kid to distract the guard. He should be here any second...” Axel peered around the corner at the door and Theo held his breath as he watched a kid, no more than 10, walk up to godzilla. After a few brief, nerve wracking seconds, both Theo and Axel watched as the guards face seemed to soften and he was dragged away by the little kid, Axel catching the small phrase of ‘let’s find your mommy’ as they passed by them.

“Hm. I’m impressed. It actually worked.” Theo said softly, watching as the guard and kid turned a corner and were out of eye sight.

“You can praise my brilliant ideas later! Come on!” Axel had the enthusiasm of a child as he grabbed hold of Theo and darted for the door. Theo felt a moment of panic, wondering how the heck Axel had once again dragged him into a potentially dangerous activity. In swift movements, Axel pulled open the door and yanked Theo through the doorway and out of his thoughts. Axel closed the door behind him quickly, but as silent as possible.

They leaned against the closed door, heaving quietly, their brains trying to process everything. They stood in a dimly lit hallway, it’s walls painted a dark red, giving into a chilling atmosphere that seemed to fill the hallway.

“I think this is, by far, the craziest idea you’ve had.” Theo whispered sharply, looking down the empty hallway then at Axel, mustering up a light glare. Axel beamed back at him and scrunched up his nose at him.

“I’m sure I’ve thought of something crazier.” He whispered back before pushing off the door and taking a few steps forward. Theo frowned and quickly glued himself to Axel’s back, even going as far as grabbing the end of Axel’s sleeve. Just in case.

In slow and careful steps, they walked down the hallway, on high alert for any possible sign of people. After a few minutes of walking down the hallway that never seemed to end, Theo pulled back Axel and frowned.

“It’s like a loop.” He murmured softly, looking at a small scratch in the wall that looked eerily similar to a smiley face. “I’ve seen that face, like, 4 times.” Axel followed his gaze, his eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“That doesn’t even make sense.” Axel mumbled.

“Well... lets just, for like five seconds, pretend your magic theory is correct, then wouldn’t they want to keep people out who don’t belong?” Theo gave Axel a pointed look, who simply nodded and shrugged. “Then there probably is a secret passage somewhere. We just need to find it.” Theo explained, looking around the hall.

“Kinda like a spy movie!” Axel concluded excitedly before starting the search for something... special. Theo and Axel peeked behind random pictures that hung in the hallway, no picture was the same, which didn’t really help. After concluding that the pictures were no help, they began looking for anything that could possibly be useful. The only issue was that the hall was completely bare of anything that could even possibly be a trigger to open a door.

“Nothing.” Axel said sourly, leaning against a wall in defeat. Absentmindedly, he ran his fingers along the walls as he waited for Theo to make some sort of smart plan.

“You’re already done? This was your idea.” Theo said blandly, also feeling quite defeated he planted himself on the ground, propping his elbows on his knees and leaning his head in his hands. He gazed up at Axel blankly, waiting for something, anything, to be done. Axel sighed quietly, trying to dig through his brain for some sort of idea, his fingers slowly finding their way to the small smiley face-like scratch. He followed the lines with his nail as he began to believe they’d just be stuck leaving this place and getting caught by the guard.

However, all thought bubbles were thrown out the window as the loud sounds of something shifting filled the hallway. Both boys meet each other’s sight wide-eyed, turning to look at the wall opposite to Axel slowly pulled back to reveal a set of stairs.

“Okay this is way weird.” Theo said as he took Axel’s outstretched hand to pull himself up. Both boy’s looked down the stairwell for a few seconds before the sound of something moving filled their ears once more. Without a moment’s hesitation, Axel pulled a confused Theo through the now closing hole. Axel turned to see it close with a heavy sigh as it sealed itself shut.

“Guess the only way now is down.” Axel said as he turned back to look down the stairwell. Theo nodded slowly, still in a slight state of shock.

“What have you gotten us into?” Theo asked quietly as he followed Axel as they slowly made their way down. While walking Theo took the opportunity to pull out his phone only to frown at it.

“My phone’s not working.” He informed Axel, his voice filled with confusion. Axel pulled out his phone only to be greeted with a black screen. No matter how long either of the boys held down their power buttons, the phones remained off.

“That’s really odd.” Axel said softly but any chance of conversation was cut off as the sound of voices filled the boys ears. They slowed down in their pace and Theo took this as a chance to fall behind Axel slightly, using his body as a human shield even if Axel was a bit shorter than him. Axel frowned at Theo but said nothing and kept up his slow pace down the steps.

“Don’t be an Idiot!” A girl’s shrill voice cried, filling the boys ears and causing them to stop in their tracks.

“Come on Ember! I thought it would be interesting.” Another girl’s voice tried to reason, her words were followed by the sound of items crashing and a strong smell of burnt filled Theo and Axel’s noses.

“That was childish.” The second voice said, a tone of annoyance clear in her voice.

“You advertised us on reddit! Reddit! That’s where all the weirdos are!” The first voice cried. Axel pushed back the want to feel offended and slowly crept forward, his curiosity at its peak, ready to take a leap into whatever awaited. Theo let out a small sound of protest but moved along with Axel. They made it to the end of the stairs and slowly peeked around the corner.

Just a few feet away stood a girl with red hair pulled up into a loose bun, her eyes were narrowed at a girl who stood only inches away from her. The other girl, who had short black hair pinned back with a few star clips, leaned back with arms crossed, looking almost unamused.

“I don’t understand how you thought this was a good idea!” The girl with red hair, who had earlier been called Ember by the other girl, threw her arms up in the air.

“It’s not like anything bad will come out of it.” The other girl said simply. “Not only would Kiale stop anyone from entering, but if someone happened to get past him, they’d still have to find a way to actually get down here.” Ember seemed to calm down slightly at this and nodded slowly.

“I guess you’re right. I put charms on that ugly hallway plus the door so there’s no way anyone could’ve gotten past.” If Axel was a dog, his ear’s would’ve shot straight up at the mention of charms, and Theo could almost feel his nonexistent tail moving excitedly.

“Plus, I only had it up for like 2 minutes. I couldn’t get the sound of you yelling at me for being stupid out of my head. No one even saw it.” The other girl added and once she was sure it was safe, she flung an arm around Ember and grinned. “See? No need to worry.”

“Okay, I guess you’re in the clear. But, Raven, I swear, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, it won’t just be a pillow that catches fire.” All four heads turned to look at a pillow that laid on the ground, half of it a pure black. Theo’s eyes widened and he jerked back in surprise, not expecting to find the source of the smell that had surrounded them.

Much to both boys’ dismay Theo’s little action made just enough sound to cause the two girls’ heads to jerk in their direction.

There were a few brief seconds of silence as everyone tried to process what was going on. Eyes’ switching between each other as Theo did his best to duck down behind Axel’s back with still being able to see.

“Hi?” Axel said softly, eyes flickering between the two girls. Ember frowned and Raven’s lips were in a flat line.

“Okay... maybe I was a tad stupid.” Raven mumbled softly and Ember grunted at her words.

“Tad? Gosh, now I gotta clean up your mess, I’m taking away your phone after this.” Ember ignored Raven’s sounds of protest as she began a quiet chant under her breath, a soft glow began to emit from Ember’s hands as she focused on the two boys. Theo and Axel found themselves suddenly surrounded by a soft yellow aura, and speechlessly watched as it slowly surrounded them until it was like a bubble with two human boys trapped inside.

“It’s okay, you’re just gonna take a little nap and forget all about this.” A voice hummed softly but both boys already found themselves coaxed into a sleepy haze before it all just stopped.

---

“I’m telling you! Something is behind that door!” Axel cried, tugging on Theo’s arm for added effects.

“A dream means nothing, Axel, you’re crazy.” Theo shook his head, looking at that oh so mysterious door that was nothing more than a metal door.

Word Count - 2,300