Behind the Door

I am a worker in the king’s castle. My job is to guard a small door in the lowest level of the dungeon. For two years, I’ve neither seen nor heard a thing. Two days ago, however, I heard a faint humming sound coming from the other side. You can imagine my surprise when I heard the noise. It started up quiet, then grew louder, then faded, then grew louder, then faded again, and then it stopped altogether. Yesterday, I heard it again. I said nothing to anybody about what I had heard. I figured that, had I said something, they might have done something about it, and then my excitement would be over. No, I was curious about that sound. All these years, I had assumed that whatever was inside was dead by now, because nobody ever went in to give it food or water. In fact, I had never seen a single other soul besides myself in that musty old corridor.

Today, I am ready. I am going to see what is behind that door. I am going to solve this mystery once and for all. I am going to open it a crack and have a peek, even though I have been strictly forbidden to. I think these things to myself as I walk down the hall to my post. My steps echo off the walls in a foreboding manner. Step by step, I get closer to the answer of my questions. The door is before me now. There is a tinkling sound, magnified by the silence, as I get out my keys. My hands shake in apprehension as I reach the small piece of metal toward the keyhole. As it slides in, I start to have second thoughts. What if whatever is inside kills me? And if it doesn’t, what if the king has me hanged? I shake my head vigorously to brush these thoughts aside, and turn the key.

Click! The door is unlocked. My whole body shuddering with sheer excitement, I give the door a push. It swings open with a loud CREEEEEEEAAAAAAAK. Inside is pitch darkness. The most I can see is a bit of the floor, illuminated by a torch a little ways behind me. I turn around and snatch the torch out of its holster, and step through the doorway, holding it above my head. I am standing in such a large room, I can’t even see the walls. I wave the torch around and see nothing. Could I have been watching an empty storage chamber all this time? No. I can’t have been. I take a step forward and my foot strikes something solid in the air in front of me. I look down and see nothing. Once again, I stick my foot out, and once again, it stops in midair, having hit something.