Raina Samuel

The Door

The Door is usually ignored. It is a sloppily painted door made of thin plywood with a loose doorknob. People pass by it daily without stopping to look at it. And why should they? It is normal and obscure as the sidewalk. However, they once saw the Door a long time ago, when they were young and naive. The Door opened to them. Yet as time passed by, people became selfish, greedy, arrogant, and marred by society, that they forgot all about the Door, and were absorbed in their own lives. Therefore, the Door closed. Though, to children, the Door magically transforms in appearance and opens to them a new world. As they age the Door changes as well; from childhood, to adolescence, to adulthood.

The plywood door transforms into a colossal door made of pure mahogany. On the Door there are intricate hand carved designs of mythical creatures and animals. The Door is meticulously painted an immaculate white that from a distance it glowed like an angel’s wings. The Door’s handle is made of the finest silver. A child’s hand reaches out and touches the cold silver handle and opens the majestic door. As the child wanders in, he finds himself in a utopia, a haven, an oasis. There is a clear bright azure sky with a golden sun shining radiantly in the center of the sky and it is a beautiful summer day. He is standing in the midst of a vast garden. Surrounding and protecting the garden, are delicate pink cherry blossom trees and pale apple blossom trees. In the heart of the garden is a small pond inhabited by bright orange koi and a few lavender water lilies. The ground is covered with tall blades of vibrant green grass. There is a myriad of various flowers, from scarlet roses to sapphire hydrangeas. The hedges are trimmed as exotic animals from wild jungles like elephants and giraffes. The child sits on a marble bench covered with emerald ivy. He hears the water rushing and bright canaries chirping. A soft summer breeze gently blows in his face and the sweet fragrance of the flowers fills the air, giving a sense of calmness and tranquility. The garden is a sanctuary from society’s adversity and troubles, and where a child can escape and live in peace. However, the child, like all children, begins to age into an adolescent, and thus the door changes.

The white door transforms into a slightly large door made of oak. The Door also has a few vague carved designs and symbols. The Door is painted a silvery gray; however there are careless splatters of paint on the chipped onyx doorknob. A teenager opens the door and walks in cautiously. Instead of the oasis, he finds himself in a city. It is night and the sky is jet-black. There are no stars out because of the heavy rain clouds shrouding the sky. It begins to pour and lightning rips across the sky, tearing it in half. The teenager meanders through a dark empty alleyway. There is no one outside, only him. He soon ambles alone on the bare boulevards and the friendless roads. He walks alone as the city is asleep being drenched with rain and loneliness, as if all his childhood dreams are being crushed by him or society. He continues to amble alone on the deserted city streets like a lone wolf and wonders to himself whatever happened to his sanctuary. But the thought soon escapes his mind for he quickly ages and becomes an adult.

The silver door transforms into the plywood door with black paint peeling off. The Door appears to be very feeble. The doorknob is loose and is about to fall off. The adult, remembering his childhood experience in the Door, sees the Door and wants to enter it again. Yet the Door immediately locks itself, not allowing anyone to enter. The adult breaks the Door open, feeling victorious. However, the adult is found in a black void. The man squints and makes out a bright light. He walks toward the light which becomes into the white door he entered when he was little. The man tries to enter the Door but an invisible force seems to be pulling him back, like a vacuum. He is flung out of the void into the hard concrete sidewalk of reality. The Door of his childhood is out of his reach because he is grown now; he is not innocent or naive anymore, he is an adult.

The Door is usually unnoticed. People pass by it everyday without a glance. There was a time in all of their lives, they were young sweet children and saw the Door and walked in. The Door used to open for them. When they became teens, they were lost and confused and couldn’t find their way, for they were slowly being drained of innocence and purity. The Door still opened for them. Now as adults, only a few see the Door, but entering it is rarely a pleasant experience. As children it brought them happiness, as adolescents it gave them solitude, and as adults it gave them longing to be young again and a good reality check. The Door that they walk through and that we walk through is the Door of Imagination.