literature

The Three Doors

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Literature Text

The man awoke to a blinding light, scourging his eyes until the man was forced to keep them closed for a substantial amount of time. His mind raced, wondering where he was that there would be such a potent light. A police station maybe? He didn’t hear any muttering or voices. In fact, there was no sound at all. The man regained strength in his eyes and opened them once more, prepared for the blinding light. He squinted, waiting for the light to subside, and it did, slowly. He tried his best to search his surrounding, but he could not make out much. Then, towards the back, appeared the silhouette of a man.

“Who are you?” asked the squinting man, commonly referred to as Thomas. It took a few seconds for the stranger to reply.

“It matters not who I am, but what stands behind me,” the stranger replied, referencing to three ominous doors behind him. Thomas rose from his bed, placing his blanked on top of his pillow. He walked carefully towards the stranger, trying to discern some kind of face, but was unable to. The man was dark—he was hardly a man at all. Just a figure.

“What do these doors represent?” Thomas asked.

The stranger smiled. How Thomas knew that the stranger was smiling, he was unsure. He could not see the face move, but he could feel it.  

“They represent your future. You get to choose your life ahead.” The stranger walked towards the first door, one lined up and down with cracks, racing down like trajectories of shadows. He placed his obscure hand on the knob.

“This door, door number one, represents a path of adventure for you. You will be free of responsibilities and of burdens. You will roam the earth, facing dangers and rebelling against any act deemed normal. Your youth will be one of extreme exhilaration. You will be free.”

Thomas sensed a ‘but’ in the answered, and his inclination was correct.

“However,” the stranger began, flirting the words with his invisible teeth, “you shall feed off the charity of others, and every night, you will question where to go next. As you age, you will long for a home, but never be able to settle down. Your past of recklessness will judge you untrustworthy to others, and you will find yourself roaming the land even at old age. You will die in your late 70s of lung cancer from all the times you smoked. You will be born happy, but die alone.”

Thomas stared at the stranger, indicating with his expression he desired to hear the other choices.

“Very well,” the stranger said. He moved his hand to door number two, which featured a rose, one with peddles of both dark colors and light. It glimmered in moonlight, but hung down, as if it were hiding its face from the light.

“Door number two will feature a mellow life. You will find a love early on in life. You will be happy together, have children, and live in a decent home. You will have a job that pays well enough for when your children are young, but as they get older, they want more; more of which you cannot provide. Then, disaster will strike. When your youngest of your four children is diagnosed with a disease, you and your wife will panic. You will try to find treatment but realize you cannot afford it. Your child will die at the age of twelve. You and your wife are miserable at the loss of this child. As the years wane on, you continually struggle with your job, trying to make a living for your family. Your oldest child shall be happy, get married, and have children. Your second son shall grow resentful and jealous, leaving and never speaking to you again. Your third child shall make a healthy living as a doctor, and be married twice, only finding success in the second marriage. Just as your first son is about to have a child and life appears to be on the upward trend, you shall have a heart attack and suffer death at the age of 52. You will be mourned. Life will be short and bittersweet.”

Once more, Thomas merely stared at the figure in black, beckoning him to continue. The stranger moved one more time and pointed towards a door with a finger, on it, worn to the bone, on the verge of becoming completely skeleton.

“This is option three. In this life, you will find great success in college and in your financial life. By your mid-thirties, you will encounter a wage of monetary success and become a wealthy man. You will have many women, and you shall marry one of them, much to your discontent. She will marry you for your money, and you will inevitably divorce her when she has an affair. Sadly, you will never find another woman again. You will continually make a fortune; however, you become so rich you buy out your competitors and force their employees to leave their jobs. They begin to begrudge you and they curse your name all the time. You will have numerous houses, attend fancy parties, and never worry about your finances in your life. Your mansions are they talk of legends and giants, but they will be silent like canyons without air. You will live to you are 97. Your funeral will be large, and there will be many in attendance. Yet, very little there will care of you.”

Thomas sighed. “Are these my three choices in life?” he asked.

The dark stranger nodded. “Yes. You must choose one of these doors, and your destiny will be set before you. Once you choose one of these paths, you cannot change your choice. You will be stuck with them forever.”

Thomas stared for a moment, not thinking of anything. He just stared. The stranger stared back. Thomas made his move.

“My choice is…” he began.

The stranger moved his hand towards door two.

“Is…”

The stranger placed his hand on the doorknob.

“Is……..”

The stranger began to turn the knob.

“Is…………..”

The stranger stopped.

Thomas removed the blanket from his pillow, placed it around his shoulders, and laid himself down upon his comfy mattress. He placed his face on his pillow and cuddled into a ball.

“I make my own destiny.”
A story with a purpose. Hopefully. :XD: Hope you enjoy! Long time since I last wrote a short story- felt good. :)
© 2014 - 2024 Pauper-Circumstance
Comments5
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MidnightDaybreak's avatar
Very interesting, and yes, somewhat meaningful. I like it