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The Door to Nowhere by jacobtothe

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· @jacobtothe · (edited)
$22.72
The Door to Nowhere
*I started spinning a yarn in reply to [another post,](https://peakd.com/hive-189641/@jerrytsuseer/closet-door-replacement#@jacobtothe/re-jerrytsuseer-r1mpdv) and thought it might work as a response to the [HiveBuzz Halloween challenge.](https://peakd.com/halloween/@hivebuzz/halloween-2021) A little editing, expansion, and gratuitous padding later, and here we go: a rare foray into fiction. Or at least, that's what my psychiatrist keeps assuring me...*

***

My first apartment was a pathetic studio shoehorned awkwardly in an old building I was told had once been a brothel.  That's not where the spooky things happened, though. My second apartment was a three-bedroom townhouse-style apartment. My roommate married my sister, so I had to move next door and find a new roommate. Fortunately, that was super easy, barely an inconvenience. However, the roommate also got married to another neighbor and moved out. This actually leads to the story, though, because that roommate and his wife eventually moved into a house of their own, and that was where the problems began.

This house seemed normal enough at first. It looked like it had been built some time in the 1970s, so definitely too new to accumulate the expected smorgasbord of supernatural horrors, just the usual mundane bad cabinetry and ugly linoleum horrors.

<div class=pull-right>

<center>![door-g1f8ea8941_640.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/jacobtothe/23tbRQsKeTo2Ha9EYjLir4ufTyLoxapDZ1BcHYLCHimpWRb2dtqeorLYMScL1oF9wdcun.png)
[Image credit](https://pixabay.com/photos/door-old-blue-old-door-2788439/)</center>

</div>

There was one peculiarity, though. In the hall to the master bedroom, there was a door. It looked as though the opposite side of the wall had been sheetrocked, spackled, and painted in a prior remodel, leaving no trace. The door must have been left behind by someone who didn't want to bother patching *two* sides of the same wall. No big deal. It just would have been easier to remove if we had the key.

There were higher-priority projects keeping him busy for some time. The door could just wait, so wait it did. If only we knew...

I was visiting them that first Halloween, helping supervise the kids as they got costumed up and occasionally answering the door with candy for the rugrats who showed up periodically. It was a lot like prior Halloweens when we shared the apartment until we heard knocking, opened the front door, and saw no one there.

As we peered into the darkness, we heard the knocking again.

It wasn't coming from *this* door, but the mystery door in the hall.

The door sealed and locked, the door which should have nothing behind it except an empty gap and sheetrock.

We cautiously approached the hall, and I could swear we heard the faint sound of children laughing. Of course, it was just their kids playing a prank on us adults. Ha, ha, ha.

We almost jumped out of our skins when the knocking came from the door right next to us. A red glow began to emanate from the door frame, and a key slid from under the door, matching the patina on the old doorknob. "Trick or Treat," chanted a chorus of sing-song voices in unison, and the stench of smoke and sulfur nearly overwhelmed us.

I don't remember anything after that until I woke up in  the hospital. Their youngest didn't make it out. No one was able to explain the fire, but the report said it was an electrical fault and Danny's remains were consumed. But I know better. The kid found *a* door, because every Halloween now, I see it again in my dreams, and when I hear the voices, one of them sounds familiar...

***

*Where does this fall on the spooky/[spoopy](https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/what-does-spoopy-mean-slang-word-history) scale or epic/fail axis? Find a way to use candy corn instead of stars or thumbs up/down in the comments for a 100% upvote, regardless of your rating or whether you voted on this post!*
πŸ‘  , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and 481 others
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vote details (545)
@brandt ·
$0.90
Funny, I used to live in an apartment with a door to hell too! What are the odds?

> super easy, barely an inconvenience

_Oh really?_

<hr> 

![emoji-icon-glossy-00-00-food-drink-food-sweet-candy-corn-72dpi-forPersonalUseOnly.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/brandt/AKApA6D7Johqaen5VHdioZz6FR5isj29sVh9MCU2Ak877iSBH46HntWk5NCKVwT.png)
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@jacobtothe ·
Yeah, this was long before the recent rent rate ballooning, and my then-neighbor was vacating his unit, so timing was perfect.
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@brandt ·
Can't beat perfect timing. _Thanks for that phat vhote btw._
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@deeanndmathews · (edited)
$1.20
You should write fiction more often ... this was truly creepy on an Edgar Allen Poe type of vibe ... cursed children instead of cats ... but still close enough ... even an Ambrose Pierce *In the Midst of Life* type of vibe ... a lot of doors to nowhere in these old Victorian/Edwardian homes that people are remodeling nowadays, but not doing it right ... 7/10 candy corns on this one!
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@ecency ·
Your content has been **voted** as a part of [Encouragement program](https://ecency.com/ecency/@good-karma/encouragement-program-continues-82eafcd10a299). Keep up the good work! <br><br>Use Ecency daily to boost your growth on platform! <br><br><b>Support Ecency</b><br>[Vote for Proposal](https://hivesigner.com/sign/update-proposal-votes?proposal_ids=%5B141%5D&approve=true)<br>[Delegate HP and earn more](https://ecency.com/hive-125125/@ecency/daily-100-curation-rewards)
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@generikat ·
$0.09
GASP! You wrote a fiction! A spooky fiction(no way was that fluffy enough to be considered spoopy)! I am so, so happy! 

And it was pretty intense JT, I mean now Danny's behind the door, can you imagine what would happen if the door's inhabitants tried to pull that trick on my herd of heathens? Just pondering that made my day!🀣

Seriously though, you should write fictiony things more often, #theinkwell is a beyond cool group of peeps, and I know I can count on you for forthright commentary, and grammar policing😁
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@hivebuzz ·
$0.11
Congratulations @jacobtothe! You received a personal badge!

<table><tr><td>https://images.hive.blog/70x70/http://hivebuzz.me/badges/halloween-2021.png?202111010617</td><td><p>Congratulations. Your post has met all the conditions of the Halloween challenge. This scary badge is for you. Trick or Treat?</p>
</td></tr></table>

<sub>_You can view your badges on [your board](https://hivebuzz.me/@jacobtothe) and compare yourself to others in the [Ranking](https://hivebuzz.me/ranking)_</sub>


**Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:**
<table><tr><td><a href="/hivebuzz/@hivebuzz/pud-202111"><img src="https://images.hive.blog/64x128/https://i.imgur.com/805FIIt.jpg"></a></td><td><a href="/hivebuzz/@hivebuzz/pud-202111">Hive Power Up Day - November 1st 2021 - Hive Power Delegation</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/hivebuzz/@hivebuzz/pum-202111"><img src="https://images.hive.blog/64x128/https://i.imgur.com/M9RD8KS.png"></a></td><td><a href="/hivebuzz/@hivebuzz/pum-202111">Bee ready for the 2nd Hive Power Up Month challenge!</a></td></tr></table>
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@hivebuzz ·
$0.09
Thank you for participating in the challenge @jacobtothe 
Happy Halloween πŸŽƒπŸŽƒπŸŽƒ<div class="pull-right"><a href="/@hive.engage">![](https://i.imgur.com/XsrNmcl.png)</a></div>
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@jayna ·
$0.09
You have a great turn of phrase, @jacobtothe. You should definitely write more fiction! Maybe now you'll catch the bug. Ha ha.

Love this:

> This house seemed normal enough at first. It looked like it had been built some time in the 1970s, so definitely too new to accumulate the expected smorgasbord of supernatural horrors, just the usual mundane bad cabinetry and ugly linoleum horrors.

Thanks for introducing the term "spoopy." That's a new one! This one leans more toward spooky, but with a dose of spoop.
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@jacobtothe ·
$0.02
Be careful about encouraging my purple prose. I may wind up churning out something even worse than [*The Eye of Argon!*](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eye_of_Argon)
πŸ‘  ,
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vote details (2)
@jayna ·
Ha ha. Bring it.
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@litguru ·
$0.09
Very finely crafted tale. The comical style suits it. I particularly enjoyed the intro, which presents a comically convoluted set of relations as the protagonists and characters moves from place to place. Excellent!
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@meesterboom ·
$0.15
Way up on the *spoopy* scale. I had never heard of that word.

I am all out of corn  apart from my words :OD
πŸ‘  ,
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vote details (2)
@scribblingramma ·
$0.12
By all means, bring on the fiction! This story was nicely and creepily done.
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@sunnyag ·
After reading your story this morning, I thought I should think about a door story in a house built recently but with a touch of horror. In my story, there are no children but a cupboard with a mysterious past. Thanks for giving me this idea. 
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@theinkwell ·
$0.09
Thank you for sharing your creepy story in The Ink Well, @jacobtothe. That door &mdash; plastered shut on one side &mdash; is such an excellent fiction device. 

We hope you'll be back with more stories for us. Be sure to get to know our community. You can find our community rules at the top of The Ink Well home page. We ask everyone who posts in The Ink Well to read and comment on at least two other writers' work in the community for every story published. 

You can also find some introductory information in our recent [newsletter](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-newsletter-creative-coin-optimizing-rewards-mentoring-and-more). And be sure to visit the resources available in our [catalog of fiction writing tips](https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/catalog-of-fiction-writing-tips-from-the-ink-well).
πŸ‘  
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vote details (1)
@jacobtothe ·
@Generikat has been promoting your group for a while now, so I thought I would take a look around and see whether this feels like something to try more often. I plan to browse the other posts later when time allows.
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@jayna ·
$0.09
Yay for @generikat! We now have a marketing department. Woo hoo!
πŸ‘  
properties (23)
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vote details (1)