That Door.

Along the curved road of a cul-de-sac in the middle of Fall, condensation appeared on every window, of every house, and every car. A trail of vehicles lined the block like cookie-crumbs leading straight to Mari Jones’ drive-way. Her favorite time of the month.

Music played through the house as Mari danced with everyone in her living room, her braids down and swaying with her movements. "September" by Earth, Wind and Fire had always been a song she loved (even if it was a little before her time.) Either due to the music's volume or her having fun- she hadn't noticed what time it was. The sun had vanished and been replaced with moonlight, like spotlights through her windows. The party had ended and everyone had left. 

Smoke surrounded her in the kitchen as the blaring of the smoke detector filled her with a sudden panic. "The timer never went off!" She groaned, that singe in her eyes and nose from smoke bellowing out made her regret ever opening her oven. It filled the room and suffocated the air as she scrambled to take the charred remains out to the backyard, not recalling what she'd even put inside. As she stepped out the kitchen and went to pass the bathroom for the backdoor, a frantic cacophony shook the house. Mari dropped the pan. Unable to even hear it shatter nor her scream while her heartbeat rung her throat tight.

In the silver moonlight stood figures, silhouettes cast against her closed blinds that banged their fists against the windows. Different speeds, different intensities, but all banging. Then again fell silence. The silhouettes were gone, the beeping and that smoke vanished. In her mind, flashing for just a moment was a door, cracked open, nothing but a thick black line between it and its frame. It looked no different from any of the doors in her home, but she felt uneasy by the darkness it held. Like a child afraid of the dark. Except, that fear never felt more reasonable.

Knock Knock Knock.

She turned away from the windows at the sound. This knocking was closer, and it echoed. It came from inside. Again, at the forefront of her mind- she saw that door. Wide open.

She stood against the oven, slowly inching toward the block of knives not far from her. Did everyone leave? Mari imagined everyone leaving but couldn't recall everyone that came this time. Breanna would know. Breanna helped invite everyone, she'd know everyone's names, who they came with.

Her hand scrambled for her phone as she flipped it open and dialed Breanna. Every instinct told her to leave, to rush out the front door. What if they're waiting for me?

Mari waited impatiently as the phone rang before she jumped at the sound of a car alarm outside, its bright red lights flashing against the front of the house. 

Breanna didn't pick up. 

When Mari looked back up from her phone, the alarm had stopped and on the opposite side of the kitchen, in the hallway, stood something. Something terrible. Tall and still, black dots floating in pools of white, frozen and unblinking eyes. It leaned against the wall, holding something in its hand, something that went dim. Mari understood then why animals stood still, hoping the predator was mistaken, that it was merely distracted and gazing in her direction. Until she inched her hand to the knife block and stopped when the creature inched out the hallway with her.

The moonlight carved its face, its mouth ajar and its dark braided hair slick and wet. The rest of its form hidden amongst the darkness. Mari turned her fear into rage, something she could ascertain and use. Something she could wield against this otherworldly thing. She threw her hand back and grabbed a long kitchen knife, and before she could make it to the door, the creature had closed the distance. Its scream was human. More human than it should've been, And its long fingers tipped with claws jabbed through her chest. 

Mari scrambled out of the darkness, her breathing like a drummer out of rhythm. Her chest felt icy and full of holes as she took in her surroundings. Her bedroom was as she left it last night, the sunlight poured through the slits of her blinds, and nothing was here. She threw herself out of bed and ran to her bathroom, yanking up her t-shirt for any signs of what she'd seen and felt. Her chest was fine. No holes. No scars. Only her panicked beating heart.

Part 2:

Mari rushed back into the bedroom and grabbed her phone, dialing Breanna’s number knowing she’d be asleep. Expecting that groaning morning voice.

But she picked up wide awake. “Hey girl, what’s up?”

“Bre! Oh my- I can’t breathe-”

“Uh uh, what’s wrong with you?” 

“Something was in my house! It hid after the party and it killed me!”

“Girl, what are you talking about? The party today?”

“Yes!”

“Mari, breathe. Nothing bad’s going to happen-”

“It felt so real! Like everything was screaming at me that it was coming.”

Breanna paused, talking softer and more gentle. “Did you still wanna’ do the party tonight? I think it would be good to have company around. Ya’know, friends, food, music.”

“After that nightmare? No, they can leave their food at the door, my house is on lockdown. If you didn’t work tonight I would’ve been had you over.” 

“Thanks, I love being the exception. Alright, I’ll talk to you later, gotta’ get ready for work.”

“Oh, alright, I’ll call you later. Wait! Tell everyone we invited not to come-” Call ended. “Dang, why’d she hang up so fast? It be your own people.” Mari rolled her eyes before setting down her phone, checking herself in the mirror again, repeating Breanna’s words over in her head.

The two had been friends for what felt like a thousand years and practically spent all their time together. Got their hair braided together, would spend hours watching DVDs while eating take-out or dinner Breanna always swindled Mari into cooking. Breanna had a skill for burning any and everything yet was a phenomenal nurse, said it was how the universe balanced her out. She’d never seen someone pretty, smart, and who could cook- except Mari, she’d add last minute.

-

Throughout the day Mari rejected everyone that came by, wishing she’d stopped procrastinating laying down that red brick at her door, maybe it would've kept her doorbell from ringing so much.

Images from her nightmare flashed in her head, of the banging at her windows, the glass on the floor, monster in the hallway. Its eyes stained her thoughts like blood in white cloth, a spot you could never look away from. Was always there.

Knock Knock Knock.

Mari groaned as she sat up off the couch, her show paused while she walked to the door.

On the porch stood Breanna, a cheesy smile on her lips while holding a glass pan wrapped in plastic, dressed in a solid t-shirt and jeans. "Surprisee, I came by on my lunch break to drop off some food I made last night." She slipped past Mari into the house, stopping in the kitchen to set down the food. "I'm gonna' run to the bathroom real quick." Mari waved for her to go ahead, her face twisting with confusion once she closed the door behind her. Then came the doorbell.

This time it was a woman dressed for colder weather with her silver curls pulled back, holding a shopping bag in both hands. An infectious smile creasing the edges of her eyes. "Hey, baby!" She stepped forward to give Mari a hug, to which she never refused.

"Hey! Sorry, Keisha, I cancelled the party for today." Mari frowned.

“Why? I thought you love throwing parties?”

“I just didn’t get a whole lot of sleep this morning.”

"Oh I feel you on that, baby. Make sure you spend today resting, did you still want what I brought?"

"Of course I still want it!" 

"Here you go then. Oh, did Teresa already stop by? She said she'd call me when she left for the party but I haven't heard from her. Said somethin’ about baking some pasta and was excited for everyone to try it."

"No, but her and Breanna live by one another, I’m sure she let Teresa know."

"Oh okay, baby. Well let me know when we're doing this again, I never mind getting out the house. Maybe it was best you cancelled the party then, not the same without some of Teresa’s cookin’." She laughed.

Mari hugged her again before watching her head down the driveway, noticing Breanna's car wasn’t outside. Did she catch an Uber over here? Before Keisha made it to her car, Mari rushed to catch up with her. She always respected Keisha's wisdom, came to her whenever two things didn't make sense and knew the internet couldn’t help. She explained everything to her from the nightmare, leaving out no details.

Keisha’s face darkened with fragments of fear but looked more concerned with not causing Mari anymore worry than she surely already felt. “Well, as long as you don’t let nobody in you don’t trust, then you should be alright. But, let me grab something from my car.” After a few moments of looking through her trunk she came back with a tall jar. “Here’s some red brick dust. Somethin’ told me somebody was gonna’ need it so I’ve kept it in my car ever since. You know how to use this?”

Mari nodded, taking the jar into her hand and feeling a wave of relief wash over her. Like she’d finally been given a chance against whatever she’d seen last night.

“Stay safe tonight, baby.” Keisha hugged Mari, longer than before, tighter too, then she got in her car and drove out the cul-de-sac. 

Mari walked through the home to the backyard first, sprinkling out the dust and speaking into it, just as her Mother had taught before sealing the jar and feeling a buzz from her pocket. 

“Thanks for letting me use your bathroom! Headed back to the hospital.”

Mari smiled at the message as she walked back into the house, noticing the bathroom door cracked open. She shook her head free of that cracked door from her dream just as the doorbell rang again. Mari pulled the knob till it clicked in the frame and went to answer the front door.

Part 3:

After she turned away what must’ve been the 15th person that day - and having sprinkled the dust at her front door - Mari went into her kitchen to look over what she’d collected. A pan of what looked like lasagna from Breanna, some cookies and candy yams from Keisha, and a bowl of macaroni from her cousin, Amanda. She grabbed a plate from the pantry just as the moonlight started to creep through her windows.

"Since when did that girl learn how to cook?" She whispered softly with a laugh, looking over the glass pan before unwrapping the plastic over top. She took out a scoop with some of the other food and placed it in the microwave, oddly suspicious of just how homemade the lasagna looked and wondering if Breanna had been holding out knowing how to cook something.

Mari took out her phone and dialed the hospital's front desk; she was known to call during the later hours of the night to bother Breanna & the staff when they were free.

"Hey! This is Mari, Breanna's friend. Are you guys busy? I know she's on shift tonight and just wanted to thank her for stopping by, I really appreciate it." 

"Hey Mari, we actually haven't heard from her in a few days, glad to know she's alright-"

The woman on the phone - Olivia maybe - continued talking, but Mari couldn’t hear her. The nightmare was playing through her head on repeat, that monster’s face and its dead eyes. The way it slumped against the wall, waiting.

Out the corner of her eye, Mari noticed the bathroom door. She’d closed it, remembered the click it made too. Yet that darkness was still there, pushing the door open, growing wider. She pretended not to notice it. That door. That same cracked door- she never saw her leave.

In the midst of her spilling thoughts and absent doubt, Mari sprinted for the front door, one hand in her pocket for the cold of her keys while the other reached for the handle. A ghastly scream rumbled the air and her bones as furniture was shoved and tossed behind her, the gurgle of syllables from a throat not possibly human calling out her name. A sickening disjointed attempt at speech.

Her hand latched onto the lock in an instant and she bolted outside. The sound of multiple footsteps clambered after her as she started her car from her pocket, leaping in and shoving the shift down into drive. Mari revved out of her cul-de-sac. In her rearview mirror was Breanna in the doorway. Though her porch light was off, Mari didn't need it to see those eyes, those pits of black and its wide open mouth.