by Jelani Sims
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Alice came to a wooden door that was misshapen and warped, barely fitting into its frame. A thick metallic smell emitted from the blood and gore stains that crisscrossed the wood. Alice crept slowly towards the door, dreading what she would see when she kneeled down to peer in the keyhole.
Nevertheless, she got to her knees and squinted through the small hole in the door.
Woods.
They were dark and foreboding; the trees loomed in shadow like slumbering beasts. Alice also heard tortured moans. They sounded to her like the moans of conflicted ghosts or doomed spirits from the pit of Hades. Alice wanted to pull away from the door, but she noticed a girl running towards her.
The girl was sweaty and exasperated, a look of horror on her face. She had a bloody pan in her right hand that she held with a white-knuckle grip. She tripped and fell in front of the keyhole. She looked up, staring Alice straight in the face.
“Help me! My name is Regina and zombies are chasing me. I called my boyfriend to help but he didn’t answer my calls. Please, let me through the door!”
Alice wanted to help the girl, but she was afraid to open the door. What if zombies, whatever these beasts were, came through the door after Regina.
“Are the zombies the creatures making those terrible sounds?” Alice asked.
“Yes!” Regina replied. “They’re terrible. Please help me.”
Alice could see lumbering figures coming out of trees now, headed straight for Regina’s position. She instantly knew that those were the zombies Regina spoke of. They’re moans grew louder and more terrible. There was no way that Alice could leave Regina in there with them.
Alice stood up quickly and tried to open the door. As dilapidated as it was, it managed to hold fast. Alice pulled harder, and she could feel Regina pushing on the other side. The door still wouldn’t budge.
Alice leaned down to the keyhole again. Regina was still there.
“I can’t open it!” Alice said.
“I have to go now.” Regina looked even more terrified now than she had before. “If you see my boyfriend, tell him we’re never getting back together.”
With that, Regina disappeared, running back into the dark woods.
“O-okay.” Alice shook her head in confusion. She stood up and brushed off her dress. “Good luck Regina,” she whispered.
Then, without further ado, Alice headed down the hall to the next door.
~end
Alice keyhole post created for Alice in WhoLand event by Jelani Sims co-author of Night of the Necromancer
© 2011. All rights reserved.
by Jelani Sims
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Should Alice open this door?
