He Finally Understood: A Harris Burdick Inspired story

The door had always been the least favorite part of his house. It was strange, way to small for a normal person to comfortably use, and it had this sense of wrongness about it. Whenever he looked at it through the corner of his eye he could’ve sworn he could see symbols traveling along it, His heart was pounding. He was sure he had seen the door knob turn. He hurried to grab the can of paint he had come to the basement for. He then turned his back toward the door and quickly walked up the stairs, until he heard a creaking behind him. He whipped around and stared at the door. It hadn’t moved, he shook his head convinced that he was just imagining things. He then continued up the stairs, as he left the basement he let go of the breath he didn’t realized he was holding. The tension left his body as he locked the basement door. He thought he was being paranoid but he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong with that door.

He awoke to the sound of something moving through his house, he could hear the opening and closing of drawers and doors. He prepared himself to go and investigate, when the door to his room began to open. He instantly froze and feigned like he was sleeping. He peeked and saw that the door was wide open. Standing in the frame was a creature that defied reality. It’s face was frozen in a grotesque smile that defied it’s cold dead eyes. It was incredibly tall with lanky limbs that seemed to have no weight to them. It moved towards his bed with a smooth gait that seemed so incredibly normal. He scrambled up to the other side of the bed. It didn’t even react to his movement, except to adjust its path towards him. As it approached it simply asked him “ Why did you ignore the door?” By the time the last word had been spoke the monster had reached him. It towered over him, looking down upon him with those beady black eyes. As he stared into them he began to see the door, and the symbols, he finally understood.

They found the man’s body in his basement with his hand wrapped around a doorknob, His eyes had turned a deep inky black and his face had a look of profound terror. The Forensic experts were puzzled they could not understand how the man had died he had no marks upon his body, and no sign of any damage at all. It was late at night when finally there was only one police officer there to guard this crime scene. The officer decided to check the basement, he didn’t know why he just felt uneasy about it.

He made his way down the basement stairs, staring at that little door. It seemed wrong, impossible, like it shouldn’t exist. How such a mundane thing could give off such a feeling the officer did not know. He froze on the steps as he could see the doorknob slowly turn. The door opened and the creature seemingly unfolded from it. He was petrified with fear he couldn’t move or think. The creature approached and he stared into the void of those eyes, and he finally understood.