Blackbox

Door to the Hole

The concrete making up the sidewalk, and the weeds growing from between the cracks swirled under Maya's vision. The ground seemed to be dissolving into a watercolour painting.

Maya stepped back and rubbed her eyes in order to see better. Her eyes didn't seem to have adjusted to the sunlight. As soon as her vision was restored, she started sprinting towards where the cafe was supposed to be.

"All I remember seeing in that alley is an old and abandoned apartments," Maya recalled, hoping with all her might that the letter was actually just a joke.

Finally taking the right turn which led into that alley, she slowed down to catch her breath. It did not need a second look to confirm that all the buildings around her were abandoned. Her steps began to slow down as she looked for the cafe. Her gaurd was up, there was no sign of life around her, and yet it was the closest she had ever felt to people.

Maya had always suffered dissociation due to anxiety, and her therapist told her that it was a common symptom to feel detached from her surroundings. But that day, several invisible hands seemed to be guiding her feet in the right direction. She began to feel calmer; she felt at home in that deserted alley more than she had ever felt in her own apartment.

Her feet stopped in front of a large black door with silver handles gleaming under the sunlight. She scanned the door from top to bottom, there were no "open" or "closed" signs. It looked like the door to a large hall in a mansion, only it stood there detached from any of the buildings. She stepped forward to look at whatever was on the other side. There was only gravel and grass. The door looked exactly the same from the other side too.

After waiting for several minutes for something to happen, a sense of urgency washed over her. What if everything in the letter was actually true? In that case she couldn't afford to waste even a minute.

Maya placed her index finger upon one of the handles and the door flew open with an unmatched ferocity. Harsh wind blew in Maya's face almost cutting through her skin. For a few seconds she could not open her eyes; she lost her bearings and her consciousness began to shift irrevocably.

A montage of memories played at the speed of light on the screen of her eyelids, memories that she wasn't aware she had. There was no time to comprehend any of it. Every image flashed for less than a second. The wind began to slow down and the memories began to slow down too. Again, she saw the glowing hand dragging her towards darkness. This time, she also noticed the red marks slithering like snakes over her arms. The memory had never been so vivid. Everything was finally still, the wind had stopped.

Slowly, fearing the worst, Maya opened her eyes. And as if her vision and hearing were somehow connected, a mellow music flooded her ears as soon as light reached her eyes.

Beyond the door was a place she could never conceive of. It was indeed a cafe, but there was no end to it. The floor spread beneath her feet endlessly; it was a pool of rainbows captured in eternity.

"Don't go beyond that point," a familiar voice called to Maya after she had coveresd a few feet's distance "That's the point where the hole ends. If you go any further, your father would know instantly."

Maya turned to look at the person whose voice invoked such warmth in her heart. There was nothing to be seen, only the vast floor with no edges or ends.

Suddenly a holographic table started to appear in front of her. The space around her started to dark and took the shape of brick walls. The floor beneath wasn't endless anymore, it covered a finite space, tiled from wall to wall in the colour of drywood.

It was a cafe made just for her. There was only one table, a cup of coffee placed upon it, one vacant chair and another occupied by the man who had spoken.