365 Creative Writing Prompts: Closed Doors

Closed doors mean that I am safe. Nothing can get in to hurt me. Each latch and every lock add a layer of protection. I keep every door in my house closed until it is absolutely necessary that I reach into the fridge for chilled food or go into the bathroom to relieve myself. Some doors, like the ones protecting me from the computer room and the basement, have not been opened in ten years.

Which is why I was alarmed one morning to discover the computer room gaping at me. I was shuffling down the hall in my slippers, and there was the door, slightly ajar. For twenty minutes, I stood frozen in my spot, imagining every death possible. Inhaling too much dust or electrocuting myself on computer cords or getting crushed by the now-antique computer monitor. When my senses finally returned to me, I hurriedly closed the door.

I was safe again.

But the question remained: Who or what had opened the door? I was still pondering this problem a few weeks later when another door opened of its own accord. I awoke at 3am to the distant sound of the front door creaking open.

First, I la in bed and cried. Then, at 4am, I summoned what was left of my courage and got up to shut the door. Each closed door that I passed added strength to my heart and speed to my slippered feet. I slammed the front door shut, slid every bolt into place, latched every latch, and turned back towards my bedroom.

But now, the shadows of every door reached out to me as they slowly opened all at once. The bolts fell from their moorings. My guardians were abandoning me. Fear flushed all the courage from my body, and I screamed, placing myself against the one door that was safe, the one door that was not open, the door I had just closed.

And then I realized. My hand was being forced. Somehow, despite all my efforts, the evils of the world had gotten inside my house. They surrounded me, invisibly, approaching from every corner. I only had one escape.

I opened the front door.

Instead of a wide, open world, I was confronted by another hallway lined with closed doors. As I stared, the doors began to open.