Phantom's Door

The key glowed in my pale hands; a mixture of gold and silver, indistinguishable by the human rainbow. Strands of light escaped through the glass, showing me the way to the door. A burst of cold wind sent my dark hair flurrying around me in a storm of black. The door was here. My white gown made noise as I ran down the hall. The lights went out. Even the key couldn’t light up the door. I ran my hands over the smooth surface, looking desperately for the hole in which the key would fit.

I searched for what seemed like hours, growing weary, until I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. I dropped the key and watched it shatter, sending sparks of the strange colors it possessed into the air. My eyes widened as I bent down to pick up the sharp fragments. I cried.

“Khorana!” My younger sister shook me awake. The stereo was blasting in the corner of my room.

“What?” I grumbled, still half asleep. I stood up, my loose black pajamas were almost completely twisted around me. I walked over to the stereo and turned it off.

“It’s almost 7:00! We missed the bus!” Amelia shrieked, hurrying out the door. “Hurry up so you can drive me!” I rolled my eyes at her enthusiasm to get to school on time and looked around my room.

“Khorana!” Amelia pleaded, “Please hurry!” I laughed her off, taking my time as I dressed and then ate. She slammed the front door angrily and went to my car. I finished my breakfast and then grabbed my school bag and keys, jumping into the car.

“You’re not going to be late.” I assured Amelia.

“Yeah, says you,” she answered. “Let’s just hurry please.” She took out a biology book and began to study.

“See you later.” I said, getting out and walking to my first class. The bell had already rung, but I didn’t care. I strolled in, earning a scold from my teacher and sat down as he began a boring lecture about who knows what.

The rest of the day followed in a similar pattern. When the teachers asked for homework, I gave it to them. Three of them came up to me and asked me if I was doing honors classes next year, saying I had the grades for it. I didn’t say anything to them, just walked off. I drove home without Amelia, forgetting to be certain if she had taken the bus or not.

Home provided another farmiliar routine. Homework came first, followed by a quick shower. I never ate dinner. Mother tried to coax me into eating, but I just sat there, unable to eat as always. Finally, it was a respectable hour to go to bed. Amelia came into our room with me.

“Are you okay?” she asked. “You seem, upset or something.”

“I didn’t sleep well,” I told her, changing quietly and getting into the bed.

I looked at the clock before heading to bed. It was still too early, but unconsciousness came to me quickly allowing for maximum sleep time. I found myself wearing the same thing in my dream as the night before, but this time I studied it with more detail.

Lace covered the front, with a few broken and ragged streaks. It looked a lot like my mother’s wedding dress, but I couldn’t be too sure. The key had appeared in my hand and its very existence seemed to suck every ounce of energy out of me. I felt my pale skin get paler as I raced down the hallway to the door. I carefully tucked the key in the folds of my dress, searching for the hole.

I found it.

Emotions mixed with adrenaline caused my heart to quicken as I opened the door. A man stood at me; smiling. The smile had no warmth to it, it was a cold, evil smile.

“Who are you?” I stumbled to ask. My voice was no more than a whisper. The man lifted a pale finger and put it to his lips.

I dared not to blink, not to breathe. Finally tears started to come from the fear and the shock of the figure in front of me. He rolled his eyes, obviously having seen this before.

Suddenly he was behind me, breathing lightly in my ear. I felt my body tense up, and I tried to remember the little self-defense that I knew. His breathing grew deeper as he put a cold hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you.” he said. He was across the room again, standing on a set of black marble stairs. “You have no idea the favor you’ve just given me.” The evil grin stretched gracefully over his face. He flew toward me, sending me back into consciousness. I stood up and walked out of the room, heading downstairs.

Mom was sitting down at the kitchen table, her hands wrapped around a mug of steaming coffee. Her black hair was up in a messy bun, and her pink bathrobe wasn’t tied, giving her a stressed and messy look.

“Mom?” I said to get her attention. She looked up from the table.

“What are you doing up? Are you okay?”

I nodded. “I just had a bad dream.” I assured her.

“Anything you want to talk about? I haven’t seen much of you lately, Khorana. How’s school?”

I shrugged. “Fine I guess. Teachers are nagging me about taking honors classes next year, but I don’t see the point in that.”

“Khorana, that’s fantastic! You should go for it! It can’t hurt, right?” She gave me a hug.

“Now, go back to bed.” She patted my shoulder and then walked up the stairs. I sat there for a moment, afraid to sleep and find the man who I knew was waiting for me. I sat down at my computer, willing to go on some mindless website until tomorrow morning. I refused to sleep.
I felt a gentle nudge on my shoulder who knows how much later. I shook my head and groaned, turning my face over.

“Come on, Khorana.” My mother’s gentle voice said, bringing me back from the unconscious state.

“What time is it?” I asked groggily, standing up and looking around. I had fallen asleep at the computer.

“It’s a bit after ten,” she said. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped.

“Ten? What do you mean ten?!” I screamed. “I can’t miss school! You were the one who told me that I have to get into honors!” I ran up the stairs and slammed my bedroom door, getting dressed in a hurry.

“Khorana.” My mother said from the other side of the door.

“Get away!” I screamed, throwing a shoe at the door. I heard her gasp and then obey as she walked off. I continued to get ready.

I turned the car on finally, but fell asleep before I could pull out of the driveway. I felt dreams overtaking me and pulled out of unconsciousness before I could get back to the door. I pulled out of the driveway and headed toward school.

“Young lady, where were you? It’s nearly eleven!” The safety advocate said.

“Mind your own business and lose some weight.” I snapped at him. His face turned a shade of red and he grabbed my right wrist and towed me away.

I felt my sister’s eyes on me as I walked into the cafeteria almost twenty minutes late. She was wearing her soccer uniform, clearly stating how she had a game, and was surrounded by about six guys, and twelve girls.

I ignored her and continued walking, taking my seat with the rest of the loners at my table in the back of the room.

“Hey,” one of the girls said. I had never seen her before. Her hair was a strange mixture of blonde and brown that fell to her shoulders, and she had bright green eyes. Her face was rounded, with countless freckles, but it seemed to light up when she smiled. Her teeth were perfect, and her skin was tanned but healthy. Definitely not my type.

“What?” I snapped. She looked taken aback, but it passed quickly.

“I’m just new here.” She shrugged. “It seemed like you were upset about something, I was just wondering what it was?”

Why should it matter to this girl? I had no idea who she was! I had no idea what she wanted with me. I was being bitter, and I knew it. Why was I being bitter? Was it the lack of sleep? Or was it something else?

“No, I’m not okay, but thanks for asking.” I told her, sighing and sitting down.

“I’m Jasmine, by the way. Jasmine Rivers.” She extended her hand over the table and shook mine.

“Khorana Beckett.” I told her, blushing slightly and looking down.

“That’s an interesting name. I like it.” She smiled at me, and then looked extremely curious.

Jasmine straightened up and looked around. She bit her lip and then looked back at me.

“Are you doing anything tonight?” She asked. I thought about it. It was a Friday, I had no friends, I was going to try and pull an all-nighter staying awake and away from the freaky man haunting my dreams, yeah. I was free.

“No.” I told her. “Want to come over to my house? My mom will let you stay over.” She smiled. I tried to smile back. I finally succeeded.

Jasmine met me by my car after school was over. Amelia was taking the soccer bus to a game and would be home later, giving us a bunch of alone time before my mom came home. It didn’t matter anyway, Jasmine was staying over. On the car ride home, I told her all about the guy from my dreams. She was a good listener, nodding and gasping in all the right places.

“What’s his name?” She asked when I was finished. We were at my house now and my wrist was in an excruciatingly large amount of pain. I showed her inside and brought her up in my room, inviting her to change into something more comfortable.

“I never gave him a name.” I said. “Or, he didn’t give me one to call him.” I thought about it.
“Maybe you should go in there and ask him?” She suggested.

“Go back in?! Are you nuts!?” I shouted. She didn’t seem to notice the raise in my voice. She sat there very quietly.

“I may be, but I think you need to learn more about this guy. What does he want? Something like that.” Jasmine said calmly. “Listen, I can tell you’re scared. I know. But, remember you were telling me about the whole thing with the key and the door? What if that was supposed to lead you to him? What if this guy, whoever he is, is part of a key to another door?”

“I didn’t think of that.” I admitted. “Okay, it’s worth a shot.” I got into my bed and pulled the covers over my body.

“I’ll shake you awake if you start screaming or something.” Jasmine said. Once again, she was one step ahead of me. I nodded and leaned back on my pillow, falling asleep almost instantly.
I felt the farmiliar chill of the black marble on my bare feet. This time the door was wide open, and I strode inside, confident and ready to face this mysterious man in my dreams. He sat at a small organ-like piano, playing a tune I didn’t recognize. He looked up at me and smiled, a warmer one than before.

“I wondered when you’d be back.” He told me, standing up and coming toward me. “We have to discuss something.”

“What?” I said confidently. My black hair was blowing in my face, not that it helped that it was longer than my waist. He put his hands on my shoulders, sliding them down to my waist.

“Khorana, do you know who I am?” He whispered in my ear. I felt my heart quicken.

“N-no.” I stuttered.

“Are you sure, muffin?” He asked. My eyes widened more. My father used to call me that. I looked up at his face, seeing the mask he wore and trying to look behind it. I reached up to take the mask off. The face behind it was my father’s. The smooth face was white, and reminded me exactly of him. The eyes were violet, the same shade as mine.

“Dad?” I questioned. He smiled, that same evil smile and put the mask back on.

“Not exactly.” He laughed. I looked around. Suddenly, I was in a cage. Bars were struck around me, bolted to the floor. I screamed, hoping that Jasmine would be able to hear me and wake me up.

“Khorana!” She screamed, shaking me as I screamed back. I finally woke up, crying, shaking, and still screaming.

Jasmine collapsed backwards. Her hair was messed up, and she had a scratch across her face.

“I-I’m okay.” I assured her. Her thin arms engulfed me in a warm, friendly embrace. “It was my father. The…Phantom? He was my father.” I sighed, allowing my heart to slow itself down.

“Your father?” Jasmine asked. “What happened to him?” I looked down, not really wanting to discuss it. The memory replayed for me as I told it to Jasmine.

“Bye Daddy!” I said. My hair was tied up above my head, and I was wearing a red and white polka-dotted dress. My father smiled.

“Bye, Muffin.” He told me. He got into the big black car, but the trunk was still open. I jumped in quickly, hiding all the way in the back of the section. I heard him come and close the trunk, then walk back around to the front and get in the car.

I could hear a mumbled version of a one-sided conversation from through the back of the trunk.

“Daddy is on the phone.” I told myself out loud. The car stopped suddenly, parking. Daddy got out of the car and didn’t come around to the trunk. I banged on the inside until he opened it.

“Khorana Andrea Beckett, what are you doing here? You are six years old. This is no place for someone your age.” His voice was stern. I looked around. We were at a train station.

“Daddy, I thought you were going to work?” I asked. He got angry, grabbing me up and putting me on the back of the car.

“You can’t come with me.” He said.

“Why?” I begged. “I don’t want to go home to Amelia and Mommy. Amelia is always following me around.”

“Khorana, that’s what four-year-olds do. Now get in the car and stay there.” He said. I got in as he locked the door. “Stay.” He mouthed through the glass. I nodded solemnly. I could hear a train whistle blow, and Daddy ran to go catch his train.

I sat with my hands pressed against the glass, listening to the train pull away. What was I going to do? I watched the direction that I saw the train go in, hoping it would come back.
I saw an explosion of colors in that direction, mostly reds, oranges, yellows, and blacks.

“Daddy!” I screamed, jumping out of the car and running toward the train station. There were men with guns everywhere, and everyone was down on the ground. I stood, frozen, watching these men take over

“Get down!” One of them yelled at me. I nodded and lied down on the ground. My eyes kept searching toward the area where his train had gone, hoping he would come out of the tunnel of smoke, completely unharmed.

No one came.

The men shot anyone who moved until the police came and arrested them. Mommy was waiting with Amelia in the parking lot.

“Khorana!” She said as soon as she saw me. She put Amelia on the ground and scooped me up, twirling me around. I was covered with ash. “Where’s Daddy, Khorana?” She asked.

I shook my head. No tears came to me, though I was so upset that he wasn’t here. He was gone. He had chosen to go. He had chosen to leave me.

Mother brought us home that night, after she was certain that Daddy was dead. We watched the television, seeing the reporters make obnoxious claims of their being heroes, and mentioning a brave little girl.

We watched the list of names go by, seeing William Beckett among the top. Mother burst into tears and shut off the television immediately, pulling Amelia from the room as she started crying too.

I sat there, frozen on the couch, still in shock after what had happened. Finally, Mother called me to bed, but I didn’t move.

“Come, Khorana.” She said.

“No!” I screamed. “I have to find Daddy!” I told her.

“Honey, Daddy is dead.” She explained, trying to coax me into going to my room to go to sleep.

“No he’s not!” I yelled back.

“Khorana,” She sighed.

“He would still be here if you had stopped him! He told us he was going to work! He didn’t go to work. He went to the train station. I went after him. I-I-…” I began to cry. Mother tried to move closer to me, but I ran away from her into my room, slamming the door and collapsing on my bed in a heap of stained red and white polka-dots.

Jasmine’s eyes were wide as I told her the entire story. She listened same way as before, nodding, screaming, and gasping in all the right places.

“Why is he trapping me there?” I asked her. “Why?”

“There’s only one way to find out, Khorana.” She told me. I nodded, and lied back again, falling again into a deep sleep. Time didn’t seem to have stopped. I was still in the cage, and Phantom was still over on the other side of the room, leaning against the marble stairs.

“Father, let me go!” I screamed at him. He smiled, the cold one, and moved toward me.

“Khorana, dear, do you think it would be that easy? No. You have to unlock yourself.” He said, striding away, up the stairs and out of sight. Unlock myself? What the heck was that supposed to mean? I looked down, the key was still in my hands. I looked deeper into the key seeing the answer. Father was trying to get away from us. He didn’t want to be with us. He and mother had a fight the night before and he was leaving. Yes, he loved me. He left. I touched the key to the edge of the bars. It exploded.

“So soon?” Phantom said. I looked at his cold, unfeeling eyes.

“You’re not my father.” I told him. “You never will be. All of this time, I’ve been waiting for you to come back, waiting to get out of this… depression that I’ve been in for the last ten years, and it was all your fault. You are the cause of all my suffering, but it ends tonight. It ends now.” I flung myself at him.

“So you know the secret, you know now how to unmask me? To make me leave forever?” He asked, a smile up on his face.

“Yes.” I told him, as I ripped the mask off of his face all the way. Throwing it across the room. “You’re not my father!” I screamed. His face turned paler and he seemed to do the same thing as the cage had done. I once again held the key, and a white door stood in front of me, the keyhole evident right under the knob.

As I opened it, the world seemed to expand. My face lit up, and my eyes had a happy tint to them they had not had since before my father’s death. I felt myself wake up, calm and collected. I looked at Jasmine and she smiled, seeming to notice an obvious change in my demeanor.

“Is he gone?” she asked me.

“Yes.” I said. My voice sounded happier, and her face lit up.

“Khorana, I’m home!” Amelia sang from downstairs. She looked at Jasmine. “Who are you?”

“Hey, be nice to my best friend!” I said, throwing a pillow at her. We finally collapsed in a heap on the ground, laughing and pulling feathers out of our hair.

“You seem different, Khorana.” Amelia commented. I looked at Jasmine. She smiled, and I knew she wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened.

“You could say that I got through a roadblock, or a door, in my life.” I smiled back at Jasmine. Amelia nodded and got up.

“Yeah, Phantom’s door.” Jasmine whispered, following Amelia down the stairs and introducing herself to my mom. I laughed to myself and bounced down the stairs to join my family, but not before closing my eyes and saying;

“Goodbye, Phantom.”

Wow, I guess this is a bad story.

That's not true! I woulda replied before, but I only had so much time yesterday to read stuff before church. xP

I just read it now, though, and it's awesome. I really like it! And plus the whole dreaming idea. Dreams are always cool to write about.

Thank you! I wrote it for school last year, we were doing a short story unit.

Coolio.

That's awesome!

I only got to read half of it, but awesome! I'll finish the oter half later, great story!

Thank you both.