Story Contest 2018 #1 - Outstanding Stories (Sub-junior) » That Door

“That Door” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Ardra Ashok, St Thomas Residential School, India.

That Door

Once upon a time there lived 3 friends – Jane, Kate and Mia. They were the best of friends and did everything together. So, one day they were heading to the forest to gather some flowers. They couldn’t find any flowers around the edges of the forest so they went deeper in.

They picked lots of flowers and were coming back. Suddenly, they saw a cave in front of them. But the strange part about the cave was that there was a door in it. “I didn’t see this cave before! And why is there a door in it?” enquired Kate. They decided to open the door.

They opened the door and went inside. The door slam shut behind them! “I’m getting scared, guys!” whispered Jane. The room was dark for a second. Then suddenly torches lit up revealing a passageway. “Shall we go on?” asked Mia. After whispering among themselves for a while they decided to go on.

More torches lit up each step they took. At the end of the passageway, they saw another door. “After this experience I’m going to get door phobia!” shouted Jane. Yet they opened the door and went in. They gazed at the scene star-struck. What did they see? Well they saw a beautiful box. And the room was decorated as if it was tempting anyone who came there to come in. Everything looked absolutely stunning. They went up to the box and looked inside. A staircase led down to a room. “A staircase in a box??” asked Mia, amazed. They went down deeper, deeper, deeper, deeper and deeper!

Then they finally reached a room. In that room, they saw something strange. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” asked Kate. They were actually seeing a flower walking! Jane wondered if the flower could talk too! She went up to the flower and asked if it knew where they were. The flower responded in a strange language “Uoy era ta eht ytic fo Nwotsklat” said the flower. “What???” asked Jane (The flower was actually saying all the words backwards) “Uoy era ta eht ytic fo Nwotsklat!”repeated the flower. “I don’t understand a single thing this flower is saying!” said Kate. “I don’t understand why this flower is talking and you’re telling me you can’t understand what this flower is saying!’’ shouted Mia.Ignoring the flower, (who was trying to calm them down) theykept on fighting. Eventually they calmed down and went forward into the city.

They were absolutely awestruck! Everything was talking! The trees, the flowers, the animals and even the stones! Unfortunately, they were all talking in the same language the flower was, which the girls couldn’t understand. “I can’t believe there’s a city inside a box!” said Jane. The 3 went to the first tree they saw and asked together, “Do you know the way to Kerala?” (They were on vacation to that place) The tree replied in the strange language, “I kniht I od! Wollof em!” The 3 understood from the sign the tree showed them. They were off to their home/hotel! On the way there Mia whispered to Kate and Jane, “Don’t you think it’s strange they can understand us but we can’t? “But they threw away the thought and walked on. “Yessss!!!”Shouted Jane. Without even looking the girls knew what they were going to see. They had finally reached home! But to their surprise, 1000 years had passed! Nothing they knew was there anymore! The 3 shouted, “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” “AAAAH!!” The 3 woke up! It was just a dream! “Did you dream the same thing I did?” asked Jane. “I think we did!” said Kate. The 3 got ready for the last day of school. “Want to check the forest to make sure?” whispered Kate. “Sure!” said Mia.