{"id":2386,"date":"2013-03-19T10:46:56","date_gmt":"2013-03-19T15:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/?page_id=2386"},"modified":"2013-03-19T10:46:56","modified_gmt":"2013-03-19T15:46:56","slug":"a-doorway-of-stone","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/samples\/short-stories-wips\/a-doorway-of-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"A Doorway, of Stone"},"content":{"rendered":"

A short story, written in response to a challenge by K.N. Lee, for her blog – Write Like a Wizard<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Chapter 1. \u00a0A Doorway, of Stone.<\/h2>\n

I can\u2019t recall why I looked out the kitchen window, just that I did.\u00a0 A single glance, or was it a wind\u2019s whisper which cost me my mortal life\u2026?\u00a0 I really can\u2019t recall.<\/p>\n

That story began, or perhaps I should say ended, with a puzzled frown as the full moon\u2019s brilliant light drew my bored eye.\u00a0 Fast moving, irregular shapes flitted across the backyard, the shadows of clouds driven before a brisk, murmuring wind.\u00a0 A startled, wide-eyed blink as my eyes watched a shadow\u2019s shifting form sprint across the lawn toward me.\u00a0 I stepped backwards so fast a splash of coke spilled from the can I\u2019d just popped open.<\/p>\n

Coke\u2026 the memory\u2019s name conjured a gush of saliva.<\/p>\n

I digress.<\/p>\n

Yes, they\u2019re coming back now \u2013 memories long forgotten, tearing aside the cobwebs of a thousand deaths…<\/p>\n

After my initial fright, bravado goaded me to venture outside.\u00a0 Was I still a child \u2013 that imagination could transform simple lunar shadows into monsters?\u00a0 Was I a fool, that I thought a full moon\u2019s shadows could be anything else?\u00a0 How little I knew.<\/p>\n

Hours of solitude, hunched over a computer, had left me thirsty, blurry eyed, and cramped.\u00a0 I could use a walk in the fresh air \u2013 nothing like stepping outdoors in a gated community to prove your bravery.<\/p>\n

Moon, do your damndest \u2013 I won\u2019t be cowed by your conjured shadows!<\/p>\n

A breath and a gulp of coke, followed by another gush of saliva at coke\u2019s remembered taste.<\/p>\n

Putting the can down, I stepped outside to look up at the biggest moon I\u2019d ever seen.\u00a0 It was enormous, with light so bright it seemed blue. \u00a0As anticipated hundreds of small, irregularly shaped clouds drifted toward me across a starlit sky.\u00a0 For a minute I gazed upward, barely breathing as my jaded eyes took in a sight more splendid than any computer graphic.\u00a0 As a particularly dense shadow approached, I lowered my eyes to the empty yard and watched it take life and charge toward me.<\/p>\n

I smiled, then froze.\u00a0 In its wake, a new shadow formed, even-sided and square \u2013 yet there was nothing there!\u00a0 Frantic eyes leapt to the moon \u2013 no clouds between her and me.\u00a0 Reluctant eyes dropped, anticipating another trick of lunar light.<\/p>\n

No such luck.<\/p>\n

An even sided, oblong shadow lay hunkered on the lawn.\u00a0 Simple words, for a simple phenomenon \u2013 somehow rendered frightening by my subconscious.\u00a0 Shaking my head and blinking my eyes did nothing \u2013 it remained stationary, and so solid that for an instant I managed to convince myself it must be a freshly dug hole.\u00a0 During the last condominium association meeting there had been talk of a new swimming pool \u2013 but why would they place it on my lawn, behind my unit, instead of in the central, shared community area?<\/p>\n

Face flushing in embarrassment at my overzealous imagination, I muttered, \u201cToo many videos\u2026 jumping at shadows.\u201d\u00a0 My words leant me false courage.\u00a0 With a snort of bravado, I stepped onto the lawn and strode toward the shape.\u00a0 It became more menacing with my approach \u2013 each step slower than the last, as my mind struggled to explain the inexplicable.\u00a0 A furtive glance at the moon revealed a sky now ominously clear of clouds.<\/p>\n

About ten paces away, unwilling legs refusing to carry me closer, I stopped. \u00a0A mistake \u2013 the rapid thudding of my heartbeat couldn\u2019t be dismissed as echoes of my footsteps on the soft lawn.\u00a0 Squinting, I leant forward and peered into the shadow, \u201cIt\u2019s got to be a hole for the new swimming pool\u2026 idiot contractors probably thought this was the central area.\u201d<\/p>\n

A firm nod leant me conviction I lacked.\u00a0 Murmuring, \u201cGet a grip\u2026\u201d\u00a0 I took single step forward and stopped \u2013 once more unable to move.\u00a0 I glared into the darkness, wondering how I could have been so stupid as to not bring a flashlight with me.\u00a0 As I contemplated my foolishness, I noticed a minute movement on the ground \u2013 almost imperceptibly, the darkness moved toward me.\u00a0 It had to be a shadow, but a shadow cast by what?\u00a0 My eye traced a straight line from the moving edge up to the moon, which rode through the heavens with majestic ease.<\/p>\n

A few hesitant steps carried me to the very edge of the impenetrable black.\u00a0 With the toe of my left shoe less than an inch from it, I glared down \u2013 pursed lips and narrowed eyes daring it to touch me.\u00a0 A few seconds gliding motion, and it did.\u00a0 Though my flesh crawled, I refused to jump back.<\/p>\n

I watched, and felt the darkness creep over my foot.<\/p>\n

A cold, tangible thing that served to convince me I dreamt \u2013 when were shadows truly frigid?\u00a0 Granted comforting courage by this thought, I stepped into the shade and heard the crunching of frozen grass beneath my shoes.\u00a0 My legs protested as bitter cold swept over them in perfect synchronization with the shadow.\u00a0 It felt like stepping into a river in the middle of winter \u2013 unbearably cold, even in a dream.<\/p>\n

Shivering \u2013 no, shaking from the bitter ice, I stepped backward out of the darkness before glancing down at my shoes, which I expected to find coated with ice.\u00a0 As the shadow\u2019s cold clasp released me, warm blood flooded my frozen feet, tingling as if surging into limbs numb for long immobility.<\/p>\n

\u201cWeird dream\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Determined to make the most of the strangeness, I turned right, fixed my eyes straight ahead, and took six brisk steps \u2013 parallel to the shadows perfect edge.\u00a0 The last two strides took me beyond the darkness.\u00a0 After taking a deep breath through my nose, I turned to face the shadow and gasped as my jaw dropped.\u00a0 Only a small portion of the darkness remained visible \u2013 a sliver seen past a massive wall of stone, towering high.\u00a0 After blinking twice, and finding the wall still towering over me, I shook my head, turned, and backtracked six paces \u2013 the precise number of steps I had taken me to escape the shadow.<\/p>\n

This time I turned slowly, eyes narrowing as I once again looked at nothing \u2013 from this side, the shadow had no source. \u00a0More than that, there was no indication anything stood at the darkness edge \u2013 the bright moonlight let me see lawn beyond its boundary.\u00a0 No shimmer, no distortion \u2013 I\u2019d have sworn on my grave there was simply nothing there.<\/p>\n

A poor choice of words\u2026<\/p>\n

I retraced my six paces, slowly, head turned to the side to catch first sign of the towering wall.\u00a0 As I began the fifth pace, I froze \u2013 each eye considering two separate and irreconcilable images.\u00a0 My right beheld the solid stone, climbing high.\u00a0 My left \u2013 emptiness, and lawn.<\/p>\n

I titled my head left.<\/p>\n

At some point, the stones forming the wall simply vanished.\u00a0 No line, no edge, no depth \u2013 simply there\u2026 then not.<\/p>\n

Slowly, I tilted my head toward the right.\u00a0 Where was nothingness, now was stone, perceived first with my right eye while my left denied, then jointly \u2013 both eyes tricked by this illusion.<\/p>\n

Reaching forth a hand, to confirm the impossibility of solid stone that was not, I hesitated\u2026 then drew my hand back and instead took the two remaining steps to halt in the exact spot where this strange dream had already climaxed.\u00a0 Head shaking in mute denial, I turned at last \u2013 to stare again at solid stone.<\/p>\n

It seemed so real\u2026<\/p>\n

Beneath the moon\u2019s bright light, I noted the perfect fit of each stone to those above, beneath, and to each side.\u00a0 Nowhere was mortar, yet also no gaps to my narrowed gaze.\u00a0 Eyes scanning the solid seeming surface, I took several long paces to reach the midpoint of the wall.\u00a0 It was as wide as it stood tall \u2013 perhaps wider.\u00a0 Still two paces away, I stopped and turned to face it square.<\/p>\n

I gaped in mute silence, heart beating fast.\u00a0 Eyes fully accustomed to the moon\u2019s light, I stared for a long while, the absolute still broken only by the ragged, irregular thumping of my heart.\u00a0 My narrowed eyes noticed a huge doorway set into the wall\u2019s middle.<\/p>\n

How did I recognize it as a doorway?\u00a0 There was no handle, and no hinge, neither frame, nor recess.\u00a0 Yet somehow, I knew \u2013 within this wall, stood a door.\u00a0 The only purpose for the monstrous wall was holding this massive door.<\/p>\n

Reconciled to the dream, I reached out, anticipating a bitter bite of cold.\u00a0 My fingertips barely touched the wall before I snatched them back.\u00a0 The texture felt gritty, as stone should, but warm \u2013 as though baked beneath a hot, noonday sun.\u00a0 Sheepish, I reached out and placed the palm of my right hand flat on the part of the wall I knew to be a doorway.\u00a0 It felt solid, utterly immovable beneath my hand.\u00a0 Exhaling abruptly through my nose, in semblance of a derisory snort, I pressed.<\/p>\n

Nothing happened.<\/p>\n

The doorway remained sealed, immovable beneath my puny, tentative pressure, \u201cIt\u2019s just a dream\u2026\u201d\u00a0 I leant into the stone, placed my left palm alongside my right, set my feet into the lawn, and heaved against wall \u2013 certain I could not possibly move the enormous door. \u00a0A few seconds of effort, and I relaxed, secure in the knowledge it would not budge.<\/p>\n

Goaded by feelings of dream-induced inadequacy, I shifted a pace to the left and pressed again, this time with only my left hand upon the door\u2019s left edge.\u00a0 The stone doorway swung open \u2013 soundless and smooth, on hinges unseen.\u00a0 Naturally, the instant I felt movement beneath my hand, I snatched it away, ready to flee before the nightmare taking shape.<\/p>\n

Beyond the doorway lay only darkness, as deep as the pit I had earlier imagined.\u00a0 The stone door continued its smooth soundless passage, vanishing soundlessly behind the wall.\u00a0 It disappeared before I thought to note its thickness.\u00a0 With that question foremost in my mind, I leant forward, taking care not to lean into the gap left by the door\u2019s absence.\u00a0 Here, the stone had depth \u2013 closer to two feet than one.<\/p>\n

Only in a dream could I hope to move such a massive weight\u2026<\/p>\n

Reassured by this thought, I stepped into the doorway, reaching out a hand hesitant in anticipation of the darkness\u2019s biting cold.\u00a0 Discerning no discomfort my fingertips pressed on, into the shade.\u00a0 Emboldened, I let first my hand, then my forearm slide further in.<\/p>\n

Without warning, a steely hand grabbed my wrist and jerked me bodily forward.\u00a0 Overbalanced, I stumbled, an unborn scream leaping up my fear-clenched throat.\u00a0 The sight of my mirror image jerking me inside the stone room startled me into silence.<\/p>\n

Even as I staggered in, I stepped out, face grim.\u00a0 My voice came from the other me, \u201cEternity enough, for me.\u00a0 Better me, than I\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Mind numb with shock, completely overbalanced by the unrelenting wrench on my wrist, I lurched past myself in ungainly effort to keep my feel.\u00a0 The iron grip on my wrist released, letting me fall face forward onto firm packed sand.\u00a0 Behind me came a whoosh, followed by a dull thud as shadow enveloped me.\u00a0 Though there was no need to turn and look, I couldn\u2019t stop myself \u2013 the bright moonlight had vanished, leaving only dim darkness in its wake.<\/p>\n

Rolling onto my back, I sat up, peered toward where the stone doorway stood, pinched my arm, and murmured, \u201cTime to wake up\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

From somewhere behind me a low moan raised my hackles.\u00a0 In the instant it took me to leap to my feet and turn toward the sound, gooseflesh covered my entire body.<\/p>\n

This, was no dream.<\/p>\n

<<<-0->>><\/p>\n

Author\u2019s note<\/strong><\/em>.\u00a0 I hope you\u2019ve enjoyed this, and are tempted to taste other of my work, which is generally very different for this venture into First Person perspective. I\u2019d be particularly interested to know if you\u2019d like to see where this particular tale might lead – if you would, please leave a comment to encourage me to continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A short story, written in response to a challenge by K.N. Lee, for her blog – Write Like a Wizard. Chapter 1. \u00a0A Doorway, of Stone. I can\u2019t recall why I looked out the kitchen window, just that I did.\u00a0 A single glance, or was it a wind\u2019s whisper which cost me my mortal life\u2026?\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":2482,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2386","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2386\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cgayling.com\/malmaxa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}