Two Sides Of The Door

“There was only one rule: don’t open the door.”

The room was empty, save for a bright red fire extinguisher box hanging on the wall and a door. On the clear glass of the door, was a line of text—printed in reverse. It took me a while to make it out.

“Where is this? Who am I? How did I get here?”

“Don’t open the door? ”

“The door doesn’t even have a handle. "

Muttering to myself, I started exploring the room. Inside the fire extinguisher box, I found a large axe. I pulled it out and tried to break through the walls and floor, but nothing worked.

As I sat on the floor in front of the door, frustrated, I suddenly heard a commotion from behind it.

“Look! There’s a door! We can get out of here!”

“Don’t touch it, Sam! Didn’t you see the writing on the door? What if it’s just more of those horrible things behind it?”

“I don’t care about some stupid rule! I know those monsters are right on our heels! Even if there are more behind the door, so what? We’ve already killed so many of them—maybe a few more will buy us our safety!”

I scrambled off the floor, practically rolling as I got up, clutching the axe tightly in my trembling hands.

I couldn’t understand most of what they were saying, but I could tell one thing—they were talking about killing me.

“Don’t open the door, don’t open the door, don’t open the door…” I muttered over and over, terrified.

Suddenly, the door opened.

Without thinking, I swung the axe down hard. The flat surface of the blade reflected my face—half decayed, with one eye hanging grotesquely out of its socket.

“I told you—Don’t open the door!”