The Lost Files of the Archives

Treasure Trove

Statement of Oliver Gerret

Regarding a strange childhood experience

original statement given April 20th 2015

Statement begins:

I know my statement will be easy to brush off. I was very young when it happened, and I can't imagine their being much follow up you could do. I just felt it belonged here. I couldn't let it be just a gag between me and my friend, like I have for so long. It happened, and I can't just brush it off anymore.

As a kid, I went to Saint-Peter's Elementary School. It was a nice school and I remember liking it a lot. Yes, I was a kid that liked school, call me a lucky bastard and move on. Another fun fact about me as a kid, I didn't have many friends. Actually, at the time of this story, I only had one. Her name was Lydia Roche. We were in the same first grade class and practically inseparable. We remained friends for a long time before drifting apart.

Anyways, the way my class worked, we cleaned the classroom at the end of every week. To do so, every kid had an assigned job. One of the jobs was to bring a crate full of all the books we borrowed in the week back to the library. The library was in the basement of the school, so we needed to go down a flight of rather narrow and steep stairs to make it there. Because of that, they always sent two kids. Me and Lydia were good friends and little goody two shoes, so we were often the ones trusted to do the task. All this to say, we went to the basement very often.

Another thing about the library, when there weren't any groups inside, you needed to go knock at the janitor's door and ask him to unlock it for you. That day, we made our way down the narrow stares to the basement, with the heavy box of books, and found it closed. Just as we were turning around to go get the janitor, I saw a door I had never noticed before. It was painted the same blue as the walls, even the handle. It almost looked like it had just grown out of the wall itself.

Naturally, I reached for the handle, curious what laid behind this new door. Actually, turning the handle was completely unnecessary. The moment I touched it the door opened softly and quietly, as if pushed by wind. The room it led to was some sort of storage room. The walls were a bright cyan and lined with shelves, leaving but a corridor to walk in. The shelves were full of sweets of all kinds. I think there were even cakes, though that might be my memory playing tricks on me after all this time. It was a real treasure trove of snacks. At the other end of the room, there was another identical blue door.

I looked over to Lydia with my mouth slightly agape. I remember we joked about stealing some of the sweets. It didn't take long before the question of what lay beyond the second door came. Of course, being kids, we were scared of getting in trouble if we were caught snooping, so I went inside to check while she kept watch over the stairs.

There was a drop as I stepped into the room that i hadn't noticed. As I lost my balance, Lydia jokingly started closing the door on me. I freaked and yelled at her but she quickly shushed me so we wouldn't draw attention and ushered me further into the strange room. The closer I got to the next door, the emptier the shelves became. The moment my fingers touched its warm blue handle the door swung open with a huge burst of wind. All I could see beyond was a cloudy sky. I remember the feeling of that wind, that impossible wind hitting my face like a brick, pushing me back. A wind from an impossible sky, in an impossible space, in the room that was apparently never there.

I am getting ahead of myself.

I ran out of that strange room, tripping on the step that had startled me earlier, scraping my knee in the process. It was remarkably hard to close the door to that freakish room. The wind coming from it was so strong, it took the two of us pushing our backs against it to successfully close it. After that we ran up the stairs to get the janitor. We were far too scared to stay alone with that door. We came to the silent understanding that we weren't going to mention opening the door to the janitor, still fearing getting scolded.

We told the man that my scraped knee was from falling in the stairs. I got a bandage before heading back down. The two of us made a point of standing behind the janitor as we journeyed back into the basement. When we made it to the bottom, the door was gone. The janitor opened the library door for us and left. We dropped off our books at the library in silence. I think we stared at the wall for about five minutes before heading back upstairs. I think we had even checked with our hands to make sure there wasn't a handle we simply weren't seeing. Not believing your eyes is a common expression but to actually feel it is a very strange experience. I never saw the door again. Not in waking life.

I changed schools the next year for completely unrelated reasons. As I said earlier, me and Lydia stayed in touch for a long time before slowly drifting apart. Recently I got back in contact with her, we now go to the same college. At some point I brought up the door, expecting her to tell me she didn't remember. I had half convinced myself it was just a dream at that point. It was almost a chock when she laughed and admitted that she remembered and thought she had imagined the memory. It was a momentary relief to have the confirmation that it had happened but that was quickly covered with fear.

Lydia seems happy to just let it be a mystery. It has become some sort of inside joke. Anytime we have to go into a room we've never entered before she says, "Run if you see sweets". It confuses our other friends, and she gets quite a laugh at seeing how uncomfortable the memory makes me. I know you likely have hundreds of stories far scarier than this in your archives but I just, I need this to be out there in case someone else has this kind of encounter. I don't want them to feel crazy. Maybe knowing someone else saw the door too will save them from the dreams I can't escape. I am sick of closing my eyes and seeing those impossible rooms.

Statement Ends.

No follow up.

[Note from the author]

[Look, I know this one isn't scary at all. Honestly, that wasn't even my goal. This story is what gave me the idea of starting this project because it is my personal paranormal story. All the stories I will be posting are based of true stories from the people in my life but will be exaggerated for your entertainment. However, I wanted to modify this one as little as possible because it is on its own a very strange occurrence and I cannot find any worthwhile explanation. I hope you enjoyed it anyways =)]