The Door

They were chasing me. Faster than ever before. So, I had to be faster. My bare feet were being torn apart by the forest floor, but I only let the pain fuel me. That combined with my pure terror made me nearly unstoppable. Nearly. I focused my gaze up ahead to the clearing in the trees, trying to figure out the next path I’d take. But this time, there was only one. Straight to the edge of a cliff. I nearly tumbled over it as I neared it, but my body halted before I could take another step. I was frozen in fear as I peered down over the edge into the black abyss. I felt the frigid ocean air hit my face, nearly sweeping me onto my back. An icy death, that’s where this path leads me. I turned my head towards the forest, searching for any sign of the beasts that forced me here. I heard not a peep, but I didn’t need to. The scent of them filled my nose. They smelled like a rotting corpse and that smell of decay was only getting closer by the minute. I turn my back to them and place my right foot forward. Towards the edge. A second later, my left foot as well. I repeated this until I found my toes were gripping the cliffs ragged sharp edges. The pain piercing in my feet made the reality of my situation all that more apparent. It wasn’t a choice of life or death now. But would I die by their hands or my own.

So, I jumped.

The glacial waters swallowed me whole and it felt like millions of miniscule shards of glass were puncturing my skin. I surfaced, trying to catch my breath, ignoring the piercing pain and began clawing for a nonexistent something to keep myself afloat. Before I could catch my breath, the waves caught me. The first one hit with me with so much force and dragged me under, it felt as if it was alive. Alive and it wanted me dead. I surfaced again just in time to see another racing towards me. And for a split second almost hidden within in its crest, I saw a face. I was yanked under again. And I sank, with not an ounce of energy left in my bones, I sank, till my head hit the floor. And as my eyes began to close, the ocean floor seemed to crack open and once again I began to fall.

Beeping. I heard a beeping sound coming from my left. A shuffling of feet next. Like rubber soles of shoes squeaking against a wet floor. Then a whisper.

“Do you think she’ll remember?”

Remember? Wait. Where am I? I jolted upright.

The bright lights blinding my eyes as I frantically looked around the room. In a second I felt a vice like grip on my arm. They pushed me backwards till I felt my head hit the bed. Then the voice spoke again. “Honey! You’re alright! It’s mom and dad.” I looked to where the voice was coming from. Mom. It was mom. And to my left was dad. Then around the room. I was in the hospital. I looked down to my legs, I could barely feel my toes. I turned back towards my parents with frantic eyes. “What happened to me? Why can’t I feel my legs?” I shouted, my voice coming out hoarse as I was overcome with a sudden wave of emotion and tears. They shared a glance before answering me. “You were coming home from school, and it was storming.” mom began but then paused for a moment as if she was unsure about what to say next. Dad resumed the telling for her. “Honey the rain from the storm made the roads barely visible and the car next to you changed lanes, without seeing you. They hit your car, driving you off the bridge and into the lake. By time they found you, your body had already gone into hypothermic shock.” he said, his voice quaking on the last few words. He looked down then squeezed my arm and drew a deep breath in before continuing. “You died honey. They brought you here and did everything they could but your brain, it was like it just shut off. You were gone for 10 minutes Shelby.” he said, his eyes seeming to search mine for answers. But I had none. A few minutes ago, I was dying, only a completely different death then the one they just explained to me. I don’t know what that was, but I know now is not the time to ponder over whether I experienced the afterlife. They didn’t try to comfort me with more words because they had none. They had no idea how I was sitting here, alive, talking to them. I could tell they were itching to ask if I saw anything. After all, isn't that always the question? What comes next?

What came next was a surprise. My parents had been sitting with me for hours after I woke, and I had almost dozed off when they shook me gently left to let me know they were going to grab something to eat. To “Tide us over for the rest of today, because were not leaving your side after we get back.” they said. I smiled at them, exhausted from their constant smothering since I awoke. I knew it would only be worse when they got back so I tried to relax and enjoy my own presence while theirs were absent.

Only I wasn’t alone.

Only a few moments later I felt the energy in the room shift. I opened my eyes to a small stranger at the foot of the bed. A girl. Her head barely reaching the height of the safety rails attached. Her little mouth moved into a smile as her gaze met mine. And then, a little voice came out of the little person, “I don’t usually choose forms this...small, but I thought given the circumstances, this might be less alarming.”. She began to move around the bed towards where I was now sitting upright, stiff as a board. Her little buns atop her head and glittery shoes were not enough to quell the unease I felt after hearing this child speak. She spoke as if she were a snake charmer and I the snake. But I would not be entranced so easily. As she reached my side, she grabbed the chair my father had been sleeping in only a few minutes ago. She pushed it towards me and crawled her way up into it. She then reached for my hand, but I drew it back, quickly. She appeared a little hurt but nodded and withdrew her hand. She looked down to her lap and chuckled lightly before returning her gaze to meet mine.

“Do you know where you went?”

Before I could spit out my confusion and frustration at this stranger, she chuckled again. “Well, you’ve already began to question it and there are only so many potentialities, so I’m going to assume you already figured that part out. You're a smart cookie after all.” She said as she threw me a wink. She began to move from the chair to sitting on the bed. I should've moved away from her, but I thought by leaning in I could catch her off guard and grab the remote with the emergency help button. She caught what I was doing and snatched it and placed it behind her back. Her gaze intensified as she locked eyes with me. “We can’t have interruptions for this part Shelby. You need to hear this and you need to hear this now.” she said, all playfulness leaving her voice as it was replaced with such ferocity, my gut told me this was no child. I inhaled shakily and let my chest fall before I spoke. “Who are you?” I said, willing my voice to sound more confident than I felt. She searched my eyes, almost identical to the way my parents had earlier. And then she spoke “That’s not what matters now. What matters is you being prepared for what’s about to come at you full speed. Because whether you want to believe it or not doesn’t change the fact that they are coming for you.” I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that she was right. She continued “As you know, you died. And you probably think your revival was just some miraculous miracle that wasn’t supposed to happen. And you're right, it wasn’t supposed to happen. But it wasn’t a miracle, Shelby.” she places her hand atop mine and i let her. She squeezes. “You did that. And you did that by going through a door that a lot of people have been trying to find and open for a long, long time. Now that made some incredibly scared and some desperate and honestly, I don't know which will be worse if they get their hands on you.” She said in a softer voice like she was dreading the possibility. I gulped. There’s no point in even questioning how she knows my name as her tone tells me she knows much more. My frustration builds with all this new information being thrown at me. “I literally just came back from the dead, not to mention saw the afterlife, and as if that wasn’t enough to worry about, you're telling me I now need to worry about people coming after me?” I yell. “YES SHELBY! Dead things are supposed to stay dead, and you didn’t. So now some very bad people are going to be after you so you can either spill the beans on how you did it or to prevent you from telling another soul!” She practically yells. I shifted my eyes back and forth across her face, searching for any hint of humor but she was stone cold, and I had the feeling I'd soon be a lot worse off if I didn’t listen to her. I closed my eyes to regain my composure I wasn’t even sure I had to begin with. Now I was the one with the intensity in my eyes as I asked the same question as before. “Who are you?” I demanded. She cocked her head to the side, that toothy little grin returning to her face.

“I said you went through a door, who do you think opened it for you?”

She holds a playful glint in her eyes once again. More frustration filled my being. “Well, if you know where the door is why aren't they going after you? Huh? Why just me?” I said raising my voice. “Well, they couldn’t get to me if they tried, I’m not quite alive or unalive dear.” She says in a passive tone. A puzzled look forms on my face “What are you, an angel?” I whisper. She donned another smirk as she began to rise from the bed. “Kind of” She laughed. Before I could respond she spoke. “I have to leave now but when you're ready, this will give you more answers” she states as she places a heart shaped necklace in my hands. She begins to walk away and before I can stop her, my head snaps towards the door. My parents are approaching. I turn to look at her again and speak but she’s gone. Stunned, I look at the necklace and notice it’s a locket. I open its lilac-colored heart center and see a folded-up piece of paper. As I unfold it, I realize now it’s a picture. It’s the cliff. The one I jumped from before. I turn it over to see coordinates and small writing. It reads “They're not your parents.”. A moment later mom and dad renter the room and begin talking to me, but I'm too focused on something else to even listen.

Thier smell.