TDWC – The Doors Behind the Doors

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Dan Antion at No Facilities hosts the annual Thursday Doors Writing Challenge in May. It goes from May 1 to May 31. Bloggers were invited to submit door photos for the prompts. I submitted three door photos. It was my pleasure that Dan used one of my photos as his prompt to write Uncle Otto.

 This is my first year participating in Dan’s Thursday Doors Writing Challenge. Kerf’s Zen Garden Entrance caught my eye and inspired me to write this flash fiction piece.

Zen Garden Entrance – photo prompt submitted by Kerf

“The door was there. I swear.” Jack frantically scanned left and right across the wall, unblinking. There was no trace.

He dashed toward the brilliant white wall, banging with both rigid fists. Despaired, dropping to the ground on his knees, arms raised, fingers glued to the wall, knocking with his forehead.

“Calm down. Panicking doesn’t help.” A soothing voice rippled through his head.

“Okay. I don’t have forever to find the door. Hurry.”

He inspected the area where the door appeared, traced up and down, side to side, with his fingertips inch by inch.

His left small finger came to a stop with the sensation of dipping into a dent. He carefully pressed the finger to ensure the position. Replaced the small finger with his right index finger, he tracked the invisible contour clockwise. A metal ring stopped his finger to go further. He hastened to put his fingers through the ring and yanked. The door opened slowly with resistance. He squeezed his left leg and then his body through before letting his fingers leave the ring.

The door closed behind him. It’s pitch black. The glare from the previous room played tricks on his sight. He blinked and blinked. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again.

“Come on. Show me the door. I don’t get all day.”

“Calm down. Panicking doesn’t help.” The soothing voice returned.

“Okay. I know.”

He stepped backward, cupping his head with both hands, sinking his body with his back against the wall until his bottom hit the floor.

His pupils opened slowly. He detected rainbow waves on the wall in a circular room. No sight of a door.

“Of course. Why would you make it easy for me? I’ll find you.”

Even though with no logic, he glides his ten fingers through the waves. Disappointed. His sense of compass direction told him he covered the entire circular ground.

Pressing his ear on the wall, he tapped the surface with his knuckles as he went around again slowly.

“Hollow… hollow… hollow. Wait, this sounds solid. Got to be a door.” He swept the immediate area up and down and around and felt nothing.

He tapped again to find the area between hollow and solid. Then he positioned the upper right body on the solid and thrust with all his might.

The door swung open. He dropped and flew to the other side of the room. He heard a bang.

“Sh**! My head. It hurts.”

“At least you found the door behind the door.” His inner partner justified.

“Now what? Two done, one more to go. Time is running out.”

“Calm down. Panicking doesn’t help. Remember?”

“What is this? What is the Disco Ball doing here? A dancing party?”

“Never mind. Find the last door.”

The reflections from the Disco Ball mirror spun on a wall. Jack could see a door spinning counterclockwise with colored reflections. He ran after the door. The spinning went faster and faster. He was just half a step behind from grabbing the door handle. With determination, he pushed and leaped on his right foot. He did it. His right hand is hooked onto the door handle. As soon as he touched the handle, the door dissipated into darkness. Revealed before his sight was a small rocky and low-ceiling cave.

“Clara! Clara!” His voice echoed.

“Here, Jack?”

“Where?”

“Follow the stream upward.”

“I’m coming.”

“Hurry.”

“Here I am.”

“Untie me.”

“Okay. We have 35 seconds. My watch synchs with the timer.”

“See the light? That’s the opening. Let’s run.”

“Can you run?”

“I can. Let’s go.”

“Ohh, it’s a cliff. The bomb will go off in 5 seconds. Can you jump down to the ocean?”

“We have no choice.”

“Jump away from the rock as far as possible.”

“Okay.”

~ ~ ~

“JACK, JACK.”

“What?”

“You screamed.”

“I did?”

“You fell asleep. You only got a few hours of sleep after your night shift. Thank you for coming to our yacht party for my mom’s birthday. Some guys went down to the boat and just flipped over for a dive. Do you care to join them?”

“I love you, Clara! I’ll give my life to save you.”

“What?”

“I love you so much. I wouldn’t let anyone hurt you.”

“You talk funny. I love you too. The server opened another bottle of Champaign. Let’s go celebrate.”

“Of course. To your mom and to us.”

~ ~ ~

If you are interested in joining the writing for the Third Annual Thursday Doors Writing Challenge, click the link, pick a door, and write a story, poem, novel, screenplay, musical score – anything at all. Post your writing on your blog and email your post to Dan.

TDWC – The Doors Behind the Doors

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