The Locked Door

A man's heart is like a house, but what happens if the door is locked? What happens when the blinds are shut and the windows are sealed?

What happens when no one is allowed in and the emotions are not allowed out? The residents forget to pay the bills. They forget to talk to their neighbors, leaving the neighborhood distanced by fences. The key is thrown away, and people think the house is empty.

The water is turned off and the lights go out. The residents sit in darkness.

Shawn, in what felt like a lifetime of darkness, sat alone in the cafeteria. People passed behind him. People passed in front of him. Their words were muffled as he ate in silence. He had gray under his once bright blue eyes. He was tired, but his eyes felt no burden. An emptiness lay in his chest at every moment. He looked up, scanning the cafeteria. His eyes locked with those belonging to a blurry face. He immediately looked back down and did not look back up for the rest of the day.

In the house that was Shawn's heart, the residents were sitting in silence. Before the door had been locked, other residents had moved in. The newer residents were the active ones, while the older ones said and did nothing. "Could today be the day the house falls?" Depression asked.

"I wouldn't count on it," Hurt replied. "The building

hasn't suffered any damage in a while."

"But what if it crumbles to pieces?" Anxiety asked

nervously.

"Stop moving around!" Fear scolded. "You could

cause even further damage."

"What's the point?" Broken said. "The house has

lost power, so how could anything we do fix it?' The residents stopped speaking after that. They sat in silence, just as Shawn walked home from school without muttering a word. He passed by more people with muffled voices and blurry faces. His steps and heart beating were the only sounds he could hear. The only thing he could see was gray. For Shawn, there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

As Shawn ate, he could not see the faces of his family. Their words were muffled, and when Shawn spoke back to them his words were but indeterminable whispers. As he lay in bed later that night, a single tear rolled down the side of his face, and he fell asleep.

"There goes another day," Depression sighed as the residents shut down for the night.

The next day, Shawn sat alone at lunch. The residents sat in silence. Muffled and blurry, people passed by before and behind Shawn. Suddenly, there was a voice that was not suppressed. Shawn looked up, and standing in front of him on the opposite side of the table was the girl he could hear clearly, yet her face was still blurred

"Hey, Shawn," said the girl, "we're in the same science class, and I was wondering if you could help me study for the next test?"

"Um... sure," Shawn replied hesitantly.

"Great!" the girl exclaimed. "It would really help if we could do it over Face Time or a call, so here's my number."

The girl wrote her phone number on a piece of paper

and put it in front of Shawn. He in turn wrote his number on a clean napkin and gave it to her. "Here's mine," he said quietly. "When do you want to study?"

"Can we do it tomorrow after school?" the girl asked. Shawn nodded. "Yay! All right, thanks, Shawn!

See you later." She waved as she walked back to her friends. In the house, dripping from one of the faucets could be heard. The dripping continued as Shawn walked home. It continued as he ate dinner with his family.

As Shawn lay in bed, one resident spoke up. "I don't think the day will come very soon," Depression stated.

"But do you not hear the sound of the faucet dripping? This could cause the house to crumble!" Fear exclaimed back with a tremble. The residents said no more as Shawn shut his eyes.

The next night the light above the residents was flickering. The faucet was still dripping as well, but this was not the main concern. "I don't think the day will come in the near future," Depression commented.

"But what if the foundations crumble?" Anxiety

asked nervously.

"I don't think so," Hope spoke up.

"What do you know?" Fear sneered. "You waking

up just makes the house more likely to fall!"

"It has not fallen before. Why would it fall now?"

Hope inquired.

Fear grumbled frustratedly but said nothing in return. They sat in silence, but the room seemed ever so slightly brighter with Hope seated next to the other residents.

As Shawn slipped into slumber, so did the residents.

He had been happily humming a tune he heard earlier that day. As he drifted off, a tear did not fall from his eye. Today had not been so bad. He fell asleep with a smile.

The next day, Shawn did not sit alone. The girl had been able to recall all the information for the test, so she invited Shawn to sit with her and her friends. As they were talking, Shawn could hear their voices. As he smiled with them, he could see their faces. As they laughed, Shawn could speak.

All the lights in the house were flickering. The residents were arguing amongst themselves. Only Hope and Depression remained silent. For the rest of the day the house was in a panic. Fear believed that the house was crumbling because of all the new commotion.

Anxiety was worried the house was already falling. Hurt said that the house could not take any more damage.

Broken said there was nothing they could do to help the house, so they should leave it alone. As Shawn was falling asleep and the residents were shutting down, Depression whispered, "I do not think the day will come. Rest easy."

The next morning, the lights were no longer flickering but were working perfectly. The faucet was still dripping. The blinds were still closed and the windows were still sealed. No other parts of the house had gained power yet, but Fear was not happy with this improvement. "What has happened?" Fear exclaimed

"The house is now sure to fall apart. Why are the lights suddenly working?"

"I fixed them," Hope replied calmly.

As Fear protested this, Anxiety wondered, "Where

has Depression gone?"

Over the course of a month, another of the old residents woke up and worked on the house. It was Happy that awoke and fixed the water. While Shawn was at a football game with his new friends, Happy was attempting to unlock the door, but Fear would not allow this to happen. Shawn's friends were encouraging him to ask out the girl, but Shawn was scared. After the game, as Happy was arguing with Fear, Hope snuck past them and opened the window blinds.

Broken walked up to the now opened blinds and looked out the windows. "It's beautiful," Broken whispered. As Shawn was falling asleep and the residents were doing the same, Broken said, "Fix the foundations." Happy and Hope opened their eyes and nodded. Broken closed his eyes and leaned back.

Though damaged, the house had never crumbled, and Broken knew this. He knew it would be okay. When darkness fell over the house, it was the last any of them saw Broken. When the night left, it took him with it.

Shawn and the girl had decided to go for a picnic as

their first date. The sun shone on a sky as blue as a diamond. The green grass gently grazed their skin, soft as a field of feathers. Shawn felt the comfort of a smile on his face, and it did not fade. Yet another old resident had awoken. This was Content, who fixed the wiring and piping of the house. The water ran smoothly, and the toilet flushed regularly now. During the date, Content was sitting on the couch enjoying the house. Fear was guarding the door and yelling at Hope for working on unsealing the windows. Happy was trying to have a conversation with Anxiety.

"Why don't you want to talk to me?" Happy asked

with a frown.

"I'm afraid I'II say or do something wrong," Anxiety replied sheepishly. "I don't want you to think less of me or think I'm weird."

"But I can't know any of that if you don't talk to

me," Happy persisted

Shawn and Ellie were enjoying their date. As the two were talking, their hands found each other. At this moment, Hope opened all the windows. They were finally unsealed. Fear shrieked at this, but Hurt, who had been staring at the cracks, felt the breeze. He did not say anything until later that night. When Shawn got home after his date, he told his parents about how well it went, but he also admitted that he had been a bit nervous.

Shawn did not immediately fall asleep that night because he was so happy about how well the date had gone. He tossed and turned for about twenty minutes, but he did so with a smile on his face. When he finally started to fall asleep, Hurt said to Happy, "Fill in the cracks, would ya?" When Shawn woke up there was one less resident in the house.

The old residents worked on the house and fixed it up before Shawn's third date with Ellie. The second date had gone just as well as the first one. Anxiety simply sat on the floor and did nothing. Anxiety did not know what to do. Fear grumpily guarded the door. It was not to be unlocked while under Fear's watchful eye.

During the third date, Content and Happy were talking to Anxiety while Hope was working on filling in the cracks. Fear was still guarding the door. As the date was going smoothly, Anxiety was beginning to speak confidently to Happy and Content. By the end of the date, Anxiety was leading the conversation and kept it going.

Shawn took Ellie home. Fear walked over to the couch and sat down, tired and needing a break after guarding the door. Ellie kissed Shawn. They stood in each other's embrace, enduring the downpour so as not to be apart. An eternity lasted for only a second, but in Shawn's mind, it was a perfect moment, one he wished he could capture forever like a photo.

When Shawn went to bed Fear was exhausted. As Shawn was falling asleep, Anxiety went up to Fear and said, "Maybe we've been doing this all wrong." Fear merely grunted and the lights went out. The next morning Anxiety was gone, leaving Fear at an all-time high of rage and grumpiness.

That entire day, as the other remaining residents worked on the house, Fear yelled and screamed at them.

Fear blamed them for Anxiety and the others leaving.

Fear guarded the door and said that if any of them came near it then they would face horrible consequences. Fear would not allow the door to be unlocked. It must not be unlocked. It could not be opened under any circumstances.

As Fear was hurtling curses at the others, someone knocked on the door. This was the first time someone from the outside had wanted to come in since the power went out. Hope, Happy, and Content attempted to unlock and open the door, but Fear stood strong. Fear was not going to let the house fall apart. The house would not crumble or suffer any more damage. The knocking continued for the rest of the day, but Fear did not give in. Even when the darkness came, Fear would not open the door. Fear screamed and yelled until the darkness consumed the house. Just like that, Fear was gone the next morning. The house still stood, just as strongly as the day before.

Knock-knock. From the inside, the click of the door unlocking echoed throughout the house, and out from the opened door stepped a new resident. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," the girl said. "I brought paint. Is there any

room for me to stay?"

"You'll always have a place here," the resident said with a true smile. Ellie smiled back. "I am Love. I've only just arrived, but there are others living here: Hope, Happy, Content. They fixed the house after it was nearly destroyed. At least, it felt destroyed, but I guess it never could truly fall, could it? You brought the others here, and they have made it a home again."

"I can't wait to meet them," Ellie said as she took

Love's hand in her own and followed him inside. In Love's hand was a key that he gave to her. The door shut after they entered, but no one would ever lock it again.

In front of the door, a mat welcomes all who wish to enter. On the mat reads, "Home is Where the Heart Is."