Ebony Door

Is it really so insane to think that this is the only world we can exist in? Is it really so strange to think that the mind can creat its own world? That everything we have known can change in an instant? Well i used to think so, untill it happend to me.   1

It started out like any other Saturday morning, the normal sun sliding through my closed shades, the dark aroma of french roast rising lazily up the stairs from the kitchen. Nny and I were going to the movies around six that day. But it was not to be. 2

As i walked over the clothing and other junk on my floor i felt something was not right. The aroma of coffee was gone and the suns shining glory had faded as gold looks when covered in the sticky dust of time. I turned the door knob slowly with a shaking hand, and when it swung open i stepped not into the hallway, but into a grassy field. I turned with wide eyes towards the door as it slammed shut and the broken frame fell onto the green carpet ground. Vines covered what was left of the door and pulled it beneath the surface right in front of my frightened face. The only though in my head was, 'I need to get back, i need to get back to Nny.''3

I stared around me, this was not my world. The sun was large in the sky,the rays not golden, but crimson like fresh spilt blood. The grassy hill i stood upon looked over a town, smaller, a hamlet. Aroud me there were glittering beings and grazing not far from me where magnificent black horses with dark wings that were massive on there gracefull frames, i tryed approching one but they all galloped or flew off. I looked down into a valley and saw dancing people, all dressed in white silver and gold, laughing and just being free, but in all of the beauty i felt something was missing. There was a sound ringing in the air, but ever so faint that the ear struggled to hear, sort of like a high pitch bell.I decided to walk to the hamlet and ask where i was and how to get back.             4

I neared the first house, it was a small cottage, but the door looked as though it belonged on a castle, there where two cresant moons facing away from each other in the middle of the door. The ringing was more intense here. I knocked and after a few seconds the door slowly opened and a small being, no more than 3 feet high stood in front of me squinting up. Its eyes where violet but had the pupils on a cat, its hair was black as ink, almost blue, and its skin shone white against its black clothing. It stared up at me with its huge eyes and inclined its head as if to summon me inside.5

As i steped inside the ringing instantly stopped. The inside of the small house looked bigger than on the outside. The first room i stepped into was painted yellow, white, and light blue. Their were budding flowers everywhere and it smelled like the begining of spring where everything is new and being born again, in the corner was a creature simaler to mine, but this one looked much younger, barely maiden. It had hunny gold hair and smiled and laughed as i walked by, it was surronded by new born animals, all small and innocent, and its eyes held the mirth of a child. The creature beconed me into another room, where the walls were painted red, purple, pink, and dark blue, There were flowers here as well, but they were all in full bloom, and it was filled with the bounty of autumn. As with the other room, there was another creature, but this one was older, with the large belly of motherhood. Its hair was curly and red like autum leaves set aflame by the setting sun. Its eyes held wisdom. It looked at me as i walked by and smiled.6

The last room my creature brought me was dark. The walls were dark violet, and there were flowers everywhere, dead flowers. It had an odd smell, like decaying roses and lavender. It smelled of death.7

My creature sat down and bekond for me to do the same. As i sat i looked into its eyes and beheld wisdom, and memories, and knowledge of many things. The others had followed us into the room and sat down next to me.  No words were exchanged between us verbaly, for its lips, or her lips i think i should say now, for they all seemed to be female, never moved. 8

"Do you know where you are child?", She asked me, though it echoed not in the room but in my own mind. I tryed to answer out loud, but no sound came. I looked at her and she said "Just think the answer and we shall hear", 9

"I have no clue where i am, who are you?, why am i here? I want to go home, i want to go back to Nny" I thought in a rush, my mind was spinning, i was afraid id never see Nny again.10

"We are the keepers of forever, we are you past, presant and future, we know all, we see all, we hold the keys to the doors of time. Our world, Terre de paix immortelle, is everyones future. You have two choices child, the first, is to stay here in eternal peace. No fear, no hate, but, also, there is no love. The second is to go through our maze and seek out the ebony door back to your world. The choice is yours, and yours alone."11

My mind was racing, what was i to do? The land was beautifful, and my entire mind set seemed to be calm. But a life without love, is no life at all. My mind was set. I turned twords the three and sent them my answer.12

" I will seek out this ebony door. Lead me to your maze, i am ready."13

"Very well child. Your mind is based on love. Any other choice than this would have surprised us, and we are never surprised. Remember, there is always a simple answer to difficult quistions, even the toughest maze has a short cut, the hardest riddle has an answer. Folow us t te entrance."14

The led me down a long corridor to a silver door with arcan symboles engraved on it.  The dark sister pushed the door opend and bekond me in. i walked through the door into complete darkness. The door slammed shut behind me and torches lit. there were only two te the side of me, eld up by silver hands on the wall. The first thought in my mind was how i was going to see the rest of the way, and then their words came back to me. I turned and grabed the torch out of the silver hand and proceded down the stone hallway.15

After about 15 minutes of walkig straight, well at least i dont think the path turned, i came to two openings on either sides of me. I had three choices, go to the left, go to the right, or keep going straight. I regressed to third grade and began "eenie meenie minie mo," i pointes to all of the entrances "catch a tiger by his toe, if he hhollors let him go, eenie meenie minie mo" i stopped on the left entrace, at least i think it was the left entrance, i somehow got turned around and could not figure out wich way i had been coming from. I started to walk, and then the ground began to tremble underneather me. the solid ground beneath my feet gave out and i fell into a pit. "My luck, just my luck." i said out loud to myself, muttering, my light had gone out and it was very cold. 16

"Dont distress child" The voice came out of no where, i felt somthing soft rub up against my leg. "There is a way out," the voice said, there was an odd purring sound and its words were drawn out as if in ammusment. Out of the corner of my eyes i saw the glint of green eyes. 17

"What are you?" i asked18

"I am more the keeper of a special key."19

"oh, well, how do you get out of here?"20

"walk forward"21

I started to walk forward when i hit a wall, i ran my hands over it and there where places to place my hands and feet. I walked up the wall and pulled myselfo out. When i let my eyes adjust, i saw that it was much lighter than the tunnel i had been in befor. The air was a little fresher, and there was an odd electricity in the air. 22

"Odd isnt it" I heard the voice again, and looked down, There was a small black cat licking its paws next to me.23

"What?" i ask.24

"That everything can change in the blink of an eye, how you can fall down, and when you get back up, everything you once knew was gone, and is replaced. It just seems odd."25

"Well, everything changes, nothing really ever stays the same. There is nothing constant, so i guess coming here, and seeing change at a more rapid paace doesnt surprise me much, i just accept the change and move on." The cat looked at me with its big green eyes and noddedd.26

"Well done child, just the answer i was looking for, here is the key that will open what you seek. You will face things that you have feared soon, but do not dispare, you will have help." The cat moved its paw off the ground slightly and under was a small silver key. I bent down and picked it up. It was as if it were made of paper, it was small and light, and the designs on it where so small that it looked almost impossable for human hands to have made it, which is highly likely. When i looked back down at the cat, it was gone. 27

I walked for about 2 houres when i came to a  crimson sign that say'd "Una rosa ha spine, tuttavia č ancora lo symbole di amore. L'amore puņ danneggiare, ma rimane bello. Se rifiutate di vedere le spine sulla rosa, li pungeranno, lo stessi sono per se non veiw il dolore nell'amore." 28

"A rose has thorns...." i trailed off into thought as i stared at the door. I started walking as i thought and found myself at a cross road. I did the first thing that came to my mind. I spun in a circle. Yes i know, it seems a bit odd, but i guess i thought it was the best thing to do, at the time. 29

I started walking down the hall that i stopped in front of, and half way down, i found myself face to face with a towering gryphon. Its face was beautiful yet terrable, it had silver and gold wings that where folded cassualy behind its back, and its eyes where peircing and red as rubys. It almost looked like a statue, but i could see its eyes follow me as i moved.30

"Enlighten me, do you know what i am?" It asked, its ruby eyes fixed unblinking on my face31

"Y-y-es, i beli-e-eve s-o-o" I said haultingly, its apperance was rather shocking. "You a -g-gryphon"32

"Very good, but if you knew about me at all, you would not be afraid." The creature was ammused by my shaking and frightend stature. "I wont hurt you, I am a gaurdian of yours, in a way. I am a spirit guid if you will. The sisters said youd come this way. You are not far from what you seek, you are so close. You have to over come an obstical though, befor you can open the door. Check your pocket, where is that small key you were givin?" I checked my pockets, and to my horror, the key was gone. I burst into tears on the spot.33

"Im never going to get out of here!"34

"Calm yourself child, and remember what youv learned here."35

With that the gryphon got up, touched its tounge to my forhead, and instantly i was calm.36

"I just want to get home." I just wanted to go back to my love, to go back to my own world, to my family, to my friends.37

"I know. Remember, always look ahead."38

I stood up and hugged the gryphon, and then walked past him towords the door that blended so well with the dark surroundings, the door that had been there the entire time.39

As i neard the door, my mind went berzerk, it filled with thoughts of pain, deppression, emptyness. I was tormented by the ghosts of the past, the taunted, told me to give up. The old voices came back, the ones from my nightmares, the ones who told me to end it all. But i fought,because i knew i had love, i knew not all was lost. These demons of my mind were getting fainter, as i looked away from them, as i accepted my past, and began my futer.40

"I will not be ruled by your reminders! The past in the the past! Its done! Im still here, so why let it defete me now that its over?!" I screamed at them untill i drowend them out, and one by one they dissappered. As i lay huddled in the corner, exaughsted from the fight, i heard a creaking sound, and saw the door had been opend. I wiped my tears and stepped through the door and found myself in my room again, the morning sunlight still the same, the smell of coffee just as it had been when i woke up. I turned towords the Ebony door, but it was just my own door, swung open into the hallway. I guess i learned the most valuable thing you can learn in that maze. Nothing is impossable. There are pther worlds, even if they are in your own mind. Dreams can become reality, and reality can become a dream. Every door will lead you somewhere, but if you walk through the wrong door, at the right time, your life can be changed forever.41

My story is only one of many. Everyone has been somewhere other than this cozy thing we call reality, but not all remember. We all create our own personal hell, its just depends on how strong you weather you can get out or not. I built my hell, and then i tore it down. I refuse to live in my past, and i refuse to live ina realm without love. Love may cause pain, but its the sweetest pain you will ever feel. 42

Nothing is iso strange, so insane, that it cant happen. Just be prepared for when it happens to you.43