Through the Door

The morning bell rang and the students marched towards their desk. Sylus took his usual spot near a window he could stare out during his day dreaming. Mr. Jefferson walked in, set his bag on his desk, and walked to the chalkboard.

“Today we have a new student joining us,” Mr. Jefferson said in a nasally voice. As he spoke the door of the classroom opened. “Just in time; everyone, say hello to Morena.”

In walked a girl with jet black hair and a no-nonsense look on her face. She seemed so familiar, but Stylus couldn’t place where. Maybe she just had one of those faces.

“Would you care to tell us anything about yourself?” Asked Mr. Jefferson.

“Not really,” Morena replied. She started to walk to an empty desk in the back. As she passed by Stylus she tossed a small piece of paper in his lap. He opened the note, it read: “No one is who they say they are. Meet me after class and I’ll explain everything.”

Sylus felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand. He glanced around the classroom, suddenly feeling a strangeness in the air that didn’t exist before. This can’t be true, he thought, it’s just some prank.

Mr. Jefferson began scratching words on the chalkboard and lecturing the class. Sylus tried to pay attention to the lecture and keep the note out of his mind. However, it wasn’t long before he noticed how similar this information felt. He laughed as he turned his notebook back to the previous day to see.

It was exactly the same, even after looking back and forth several times. When Sylus raised his hand to ask Mr. Jefferson about it he felt a sudden pain in the middle of his forehead. When he was able to focus again, he looked up to see completely different information on the board. It was the same case with his notes.

Panic and confusion creeped into Stylus' mind. He looked back towards to Morena who looked indifferently towards the front of the class.

I’m freaking out over nothing, he told himself. However for the rest of class he couldn’t focus on the lesson being taught.

The second bell rang after an eternity. Students flowed out of the classroom into the halls. Sylus followed Morena past the other students to a stairwell in the school he had no idea even existed.

“What kind of sick joke are you playing?” Sylus asked when the door closed. Morena looked around as though they were being watched. Then her gaze stared straight at Stylus. He felt like his soul was being pierced.

“You died four days ago,” Morena said with a calm look on her face. “And you are trapped by parasites that use your consciousness to survive. As long as you perceive and interact in their world they get stronger. This is not reality, only an imitation.”

“N-n-n-o, no, no,” Sylus said, his whole body shaking. “T-t-hat can’t be true.”

“You know it is true,” Morena said without breaking her gaze. “You’ve already noticed the limits of the illusion they can create. It keeps you in the same day forever, pacifying you with social interactions and monotony.”

“How do you know this?” Sylus said.

“I am Death, here to get you back on the proper path,” Morena said with a slight smile. “After all, I am only ever meant to be a guide, not a thief. And sometimes there are other dangers that I assist with.”

“Where are you leading me to?” Sylus said.

“The Next Step,” Morena said. “Though I can’t really explain much more. I only take you there.”

Sylus sat down on the stairs. His head spun from the influx of information. It all seemed impossible, yet as familiar as Morena did. The Next Step was where he wanted to go. That thought brought with it a wave of nausea which caused Stylus to vomit. It seemed to happen at the same time he had decided to go with Morena.

“Sorry, I should have warned you about that,” Morena said with undertones of laughter but quickly composed herself. “They can use a lot more than that to keep you in their trap. They exist in the mind and have complete access to whatever was in it.

“We have to move quickly, they are going to be frantic when they realize what we are trying to do. You’ll feel some pain when they change things to try and trick you into staying. Be aware of that.” Morena turned away towards the door and Stylus followed her out.

They walked out of the front door of the school. Sylus noticed that the world lost most of its color. He looked around in confusion when he felt scalding needles pierce the skin all over his body.

“This is what I was talking about,” Morena said as she sat by Sylus’ side. “You can only wait for it to pass.”

Sylus looked at Morena with tears in his eyes. She could tell that he wanted nothing more than to escape; many who sought her did. But his pain passed as quickly as it came and his eyes no longer looked at her with such desire.

“What the fuck…” Stylus muttered. Morena reached for his hand to help him up and they continued on.

Mr. Jefferson stumbled out from behind a car with his face in his hands letting out small sobs. As they came closer the sound of the sobs grew louder and his fingers pressed harder against his head. Sylus thought he saw blood dripping through his fingers.

“Is everything alright Mr. Jefferson?” Sylus said as he walked towards him.

The sobbing stopped and Mr. Jefferson lifted his head from his hands and turned towards them. His face had been split in the middle and appeared to be melting off of his head. His mouth split open like a flower blooming.

“You cannot leave,” said a raspy, broken voice. Sylus stood paralyzed as Mr. Jefferson slithered closer, his arms and legs bloody stumps painting the sidewalk. Morena jerked him away from the creature which dissolved into a puddle of decay.

“What was that?” Sylus asked. “I thought they were supposed to trick me. This is insanity!”

“I’ve never seen them this violent,” Morena said. “It’s like a parasite attacking its host when the host tries to clear them out. But if the host dies, it means that the parasite can’t get any more nourishment from it.” Morena’s face twitched.888----,km,8

“They don’t care if they destroy your consciousness, and if that happens there is just a void, nothingness. It doesn’t make sense that they would do that.”

“I don’t know what that means!” Sylus exclaimed. “They’ll just be able to rip me into the void whenever they feel like it? Why didn’t you just let me stay in the loop?”

“This is not where you belong,” Morena said with a sudden calmness. Sylus felt calm now too and they continued on their path. He worried that the pain would return and he would not be able to handle it, life gave him enough pain when he was alive.

As they walked the sky turned to the color of blood and the clouds began to melt, which looked like puss oozing from an infected wound. The buildings in the distance fell and the road cracked with sounds like bones breaking. Toxic air descended on them surrounding them with the smell of decay.

“This world doesn’t have much more time left,” Morena said. “You don’t have much more time left.”

Before Stylus could respond the scalding needles pierced his skin once more. This time they went deeper into his body. Every nerve screamed out for relief and he lost the ability to perceive anything else.

Not again, he thought as his legs gave out and he collapsed on the ground. As he hit the ground the needles dug further in until he couldn’t feel himself breathing. When it felt at the very limit of what he could handle, Morena's voice whispered in his head “it’s almost over.”

Sylus didn’t believe the voice in his head. He felt his whole body convulse because of the pain and tried to let out a scream, but he could no longer feel anything. Nothing compared to the suffering he was going through. Then it suddenly stopped.

After a few moments Stylus opened his eyes and saw Morena sitting next to him holding his hand. He wondered how death could be so compassionate.

“I never expected Death to be so kind,” Sylus said with a raspy voice. Morena smiled at him and helped him up.

“I am as much a part of life as breathing,” Morena said. “I’m only a guide to the next place, it was people who decided that I was evil. But I don’t mind because I understand their fear of the unknown. They’re not at fault just because they’re afraid.”

They felt the ground violently shake and saw cracks begin to form in the sky. Time was running out so they continued along. Not long after another person appeared from nowhere.

“Mom?” Sylus asked. “You can’t be real.” She looked enraged at the question.

“Why do you think that?” His mother replied. “You trust this stranger more than you trust your mother? I can’t believe you, Sylus.” He wanted so badly to believe her, everything about her seemed so real. But he kept telling himself that it was only an illusion.

“Get out of the way, whatever the fuck you are,” Sylus said. “I won’t be tricked again.”

Once those words left his mouth what he thought was his mother yelled out in an inhuman voice. Bones started to break and pierced through her skin. It looked as though she was being crushed by an invisible force.

“How could you do this to me?” Sylus’ mother said between screams of pain. Sylus started to move towards her, instinctually wanting to comfort her. Morena grabbed his arm before he got too close.

“She’s not real, Sylus,” Morena whispered in his ear. “Let's go, we’re almost there.” They continued onward while Stylus tried his best to ignore the cries of pain and not look back at that creature.

They came to a door in the middle of the road. It stood on its own, with nothing behind it. Sylus felt a weight in his chest, this was it, he could feel it. Morena smiled at him once more and gestured to him to open the door.

“I can’t open the door for you,” she said. “It leads to the place that you need to go, not me.” Sylus looked at her once more, then reached for the door. The greatest mystery was in front of him, yet he felt no fear. He turned back to Morena.

“Thank you,” Sylus said, smiling for the first time in what seemed like years. He hugged Morena and turned back to the door. He opened the door and walked through the door to the other side.