Open Sesame

By Alex Tozian

The big red door - It was next to the cafeteria. No one had ever seen the inside of it. Well, someone surely had; there’s no point to a room no one ever at least looks inside, but, no one had ever seen anyone open the door. Maybe it was the janitor’s closet? That seems to be what most unopened doors are - janitor’s closets. But, the other floors only had one janitor’s closet on them, and this floor’s was down by the band room. There certainly was curiosity amongst the students, but no one talked about it. Every one of the students thought that they were the only ones who wondered about it, and this meant any attempt to investigate would get them labeled as “that weird kid that just opens doors”. Something like that - no one wants that. Thomas couldn’t help but glance at the door whenever he passed it by. Before, when he had ignored it, it hadn’t been the least bit imposing. Even when he had noticed it he didn’t notice it. One does not take time to contemplate every object their eyes land on. But, eventually, Thomas did contemplate it. Red is quite an odd color for a door. All the other doors in the school were just a normal, wooden brown, and the surrounding walls were made of white bricks - it certainly stood out. Doors don’t just wind up red; that was a choice someone made at some point. And it wasn’t a neat red color either - it looked as if the door was once another color, and then someone had sloppily painted it red. What if there’s gold in it? Yes. That’s it. It’s where the school stashes their piles of gold. Or maybe it’s a teachers lounge. But better than the one by the art rooms. One that had a flat screen TV and comfortable couches instead of a couple fold out chairs and a microwave.

Sometimes, he would tug and tug on that door, but it would remain closed. People would pass by. Days would come and go. He would become part of the door. It was no longer just the big, red door; it was the big, red door with some foolish kid constantly tugging on it. No one would talk to the kid, or ask what he was doing. Did he know what was inside the door? No one knew, and everyone wondered, but, even still, no one asked. Eventually a cackling would arise. Not a disinterested cackling either; the cackler knew who they were cackling at. That was clear. But, was it coming from inside the room? Was it coming from the door itself? It was coming from in front of Thomas, but the distance couldn’t be gauged. Annoying as it was, it drove him. Whatever was cackling believed no one could open that door. Surely, once that door opened, they would stop. For the first time, Thomas stopped tugging. The cackling continued. It would stop when Thomas gave up, or when he got the door open. Deep breath. Thomas turned the knob, and the door swung open. His screams rang throughout the school, and then he woke up. He much preferred the dreams where a monster burst out of it and chased him around. Dreams like that didn’t get in his head. A monster was a monster. Scary, but simple. “Hey,” Thomas said shyly, eating his lunch, “do you ever wonder what’s in that door?” “That red one?” his friend replied, gesturing towards the door. “Yeah. That one.” “Sure, sometimes. It’s certainly an odd color.” “Why doesn’t someone check?” “What’s inside? Well, I feel like you’d get in trouble for it.” “What? What rule are you breaking?”

“I dunno. But if you wouldn’t get in trouble for it, someone would have probably checked by now.” “Well, let’s ask a teacher.” “That’d be suspicious.” “How?” “Well the teacher’d get suspicious.” “But why?” “They just would, probably,” he replied, “look, if you want to ask a teacher, then go ahead. No one is stopping you. I just don’t want to.” Thomas glanced towards Mrs. Henrietta; this lunch’s chaperone. She walked over to a kid raising his hand, and kindly nodded, prompting him to get up from his seat and walk away. She was an english teacher, and most student’s favorite. The teacher that the older kids would praise when they wanted to share the knowledge they’d gained about the school. “I guess I won’t,” Thomas decided, “I’d hate to ruin my reputation with her.” “See? I told you it’d be suspicious.” “I’m gonna just check myself.” “For real?” “Yeah. I’ll hang back for a bit after the bell rings. No one’ll notice. Then, I’ll just open it up a smidge and glance inside.” Thomas’s friend nervously glanced around the room as if Thomas had just confessed to a crime.

“Calm down,” Thomas said, “I’m not asking you to help me. And besides, I doubt I’ll get in any trouble.” Thomas finished up his lunch right as the bell rang. He was careful to take the most inconvenient path possible to the trash can and drop his trash multiple times as he tried to throw it away. Mrs. Henrietta glanced at him and flashed a warm smile. He smiled and nodded in return and began to walk out of the cafeteria. She turned her back to him, following the crowd of students. Thomas’s footsteps slowed. By the time he got to the door, most of the students had gone up the stairs or into their classrooms. Mrs. Henrietta was nowhere to be seen. Thomas approached the door. The big red door. The one no one thought to open. He was going to open it. His hand shivered with anticipation as he reached out to turn the knob. He grasped the warm metal and began to twist. It opened, just a smidge, like he’d promised. The door let out a creak as if it was rebelling to being opened. He leaned in to glance inside. Suddenly, something tapped his shoulder. Thomas turned to look at some teacher he’d never seen before. He had a friendly but stern disposition. “I don’t think your class is in there young man,” he said. “I’m sorry,” Thomas replied, “I’ll get back to class.” Thomas began to walk off but turned back to look at the teacher. “Do you know what’s in that door?” Thomas asked.

“It’s just a janitor's closet,” the teacher replied, looking up towards Thomas as he shut the door, “but it is pretty imposing, isn’t it.” The teacher chucked and flashed a smile at Thomas. “Yeah,” Thomas responded as he stumbled over himself in an attempt to turn back around. Once Thomas had begun walking up the stairs back to class, he heard the creak of a door slowly opening behind him.