Doors


Author: Terence Rajivan Edward
Date: 2002
Rejected in 2024 by: Flash Frog, Waxing and Waning, SunSpotLit, LA Lit, Free Flash Fiction, Eunoia Review, Tiny Molecules.
Note: not a small variation on another story I read.


Once upon a time, there was a man in a corridor where all the doors were shut. Every door that he tried was locked. So he went downstairs. Every door on that level was locked as well and on every other level. Finally, he found a hole in the wall and crept out into the street. In the street, there was no one. Every single door in the city was locked. Every window was shut. So he left the city to a town and then another town and then a third town. The situation was the same. He went all over the world, through every country, looking for a door that would open, but there was none that would open. Finally, he found an open door in the middle of nowhere. He went in and there was a person inside. The other person was himself. To himself, he said, 'I have looked all over the world for a door that would open and have not been able to find a single one, until now.' The other person, who was himself, replied, 'You were in solitude until at last you found yourself.'