The Golden Door

Peter Boyd
Nov 2 · 4 min read

A man is in a room being chased by a scary monster. He starts to run while looking for a way out. Everywhere he turns he sees doors around the room with people standing next to them shouting “come on, this is the way out!”. They all have friendly faces. Some of them seem more trusting than others.

The man rushes to the first door he sees and steps through eagerly. The doorman beams him a smile as he steps through. When he gets through to the new room he feels a rush of calm and peace. As the moment passes the man comes to realize that he’s now in a room much like the one before, only this one is a little smaller and dirtier.

The man gets anxious. All of a sudden the scary monster comes barging in. The man panics and starts running. He sees another door with an even friendlier person next to it shouting, “come in, monsters can’t get in here!”

The man rushes through, feels a wave of calm again and breathes a sigh of relief. This time the man looks around and realizes this room doesn’t have a roof. He first hears thunder, then feels a few rain drops on his forehead. A light worry soon turns into full-blown anxiety.

A lightning bolt strikes right when the monster comes barging in. The man freaks out. He starts running for his life and looking for a friendly doorman.

This cycle happens again, and again, and once again.

At this point he is in a room that is pure hell. Snakes are slithering all around. A dark tornado cloud circles near. The monster is still there, chasing the man with even more ferocity.

The man can’t take it anymore. He no longer trusts the friendly doormen. He doesn’t see a way out. He is stuck.

Feeling hopeless, he stops running and stands still. He turns toward the monster coming right for him while a snake crawls near his leg. The man looks the monster square in the eyes and waits. As the monster nears, the man feels intense fear but continues to stand his ground.

Just when the man feels like it can’t get any worse, everything goes quiet.

He can’t believe his eyes.

What he sees is not a monster but a door. This door is different from the others.

It’s golden.

There is no one by the door, it’s just a solid gold door. He is skeptical but he decides to go through. The man steps into the new room.

This room looks safe much like the one he started in. It has other people in it. They all look shaken up. The man asks the others what happened to them.

“We were all being chased by the m…monster, but then we st…stopped running and were lead into this roo…room.” one of them says, shaking.

“The monster brings out the worst in you. It makes you look for the easy way out of the room, but those doors only take you to worse places. You have to face the fear even when you’re panicking. It’s the only way to a better place.” another says with a tone of certainty.

“Yeah right. There is no way out. We’re doomed.” another says out of frustration.

All of a sudden they feel a twinge in their stomachs as they hear a familiar sound. They turn and see the monster running straight for them.

The panic comes in full force. The doors and friendly doormen around the room seem to come out of no where. The doormen start shouting, offering them all an easy way out of the danger.

People immediately start rushing through doors with friendly doormen.

Only the man and one other person stand their ground and ignore the doormen. The man recognizes the other person, they were the one that spoke with certainty about facing the monster head on.

They both stand still and look the monster right in the eyes.

The monster comes rushing toward them at full-speed. At the very last instant before the monster runs them over, everything goes quiet. Then, the golden door appears.

Together, they step through.

On the other side is not another room. It’s different.

They look around and see vast meadows and trees off in the distance. The sky is blue. They feel a light breeze as they turn toward each other and laugh. They’re on top of a small mountain.

At that moment, in the corner of their eyes they see a small monster running up the side of the mountain.

They both realize it has a long way to go before it will get to them. With that thought they lie down and breathe deeply as they stare up at the clouds.

“When it gets here you know what to do.” the man says to his new friend.

“I wonder where the golden door will take us next.” the other says with anticipation.

“God only knows.” the man says.

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