The Dangerous Doors of Shannon Anderson

Chapter Twenty Five

"Miss Shannon?" Van Helsing looked up at me from his desk where I stood heaving and sobbing and pulling at my hair. "Why - where - my child, what is wrong?"

I just looked up at him, into those blue eyes under crazy raised eyebrows, shook my head, and put my hands over my face which I was sure for all the world greatly resembled that of a three-year-old mid-temper tantrum: red and splotchy and tear-stained and snotty. He pulled me under his arm and sat me down on the duvet under the window. Then he rang the little brass bell on his desk, and within moments a servant appeared in the doorway.

"Tea, Alida," the professor said. "Strong." He sat down next to me on the burgundy cushions. "Now, my dear Shannon, tell me what is the trouble?"

My life was ruined, for a start. I had half a mind just to hide here with Van Helsing forever. He was a kind old man, and he seemed pretty rich, and nineteenth century Amsterdam seemed nice. I could start over here. I bet there were loads of theaters in Amsterdam.

Alida came back carrying a fancy porcelain teapot on a silver platter. She poured me a cup, and then one for Dr. Van Helsing. I took a careful sip so I wouldn't burn my tongue, breathed deeply, and tried to calm down. Another sip. Tea was a magical thing. Already I felt a little calmer, and a little stronger.

"Do you have a Kleenex?" I asked. Van Helsing raised his bushy eyebrows. "Or something I can blow my nose with?"

He offered me a handkerchief from his pocket and I used it to clean off my face.

"There," he said as I handed the hankie back. "Now, why so upset?"

I was in no fit mental state to make something up, and I certainly didn't have it in me to concoct a story that fit with my Iowan vampire expert guise, but I wasn't sure where to start with the truth, either. I took a sip of tea.

"Dr. Van Helsing, I'm going to tell you something strange," I said. "Something I've only told one other person, and he didn't believe me, and because of that things have been going really badly for me. I really, really need you to believe what I'm about to tell you, even though it's going to sound impossible."

"I am in the habit of keeping an open mind," he assured me. "What is it?"

"Okay, well." I just had to spit it out. "I'm not sure how long it's been for you, but it wasn't even two months ago for me. I was home by myself during a storm, and the house got struck by lightning, and I got struck by lightning but I wasn't hurt or anything, and since the power was out I decided to read a book. Your book."

Dr. Van Helsing looked confused already. "Bear with me," I said. "I honestly have no idea how, but when I opened the book, I opened a door here, into your study."

"I do not understand," the professor said.

"Yeah, well, that makes two of us. But look, can you see the little door that I came through?" I stood up and pointed to the other side of his desk where my tiny purple door with the brass knob was fixed into the wall. Van Helsing cocked his head to the side.

"I never notice this structural anomaly," he said, striding over to it. He dropped to his knees and tried to turn the knob, but it wouldn't open for him.

"That's because it's my door," I said. "It only pops up when I want to come through, and it doesn't even always work anymore."

"Shannon, my child, you do not fit through this small passage. It is a door for a cat!"

"I find it's best not to think about that too hard. Maybe another example will help. Do you know The Swiss Family Robinson? Has that been written yet?"

"Der Schweizerische Robinson?" Van Helsing said, rejoining me on the duvet. "Yes, I know it."

"I have a door that goes there, too. And it's lovely, New Switzerland. I'm friends with Fritz, you know, the oldest son, and I was with him one day when this massive hurricane came in, and I got stuck. I got stuck there for three days, and I missed all my exams, and they didn't let me graduate. I was going to go to NYU, Dr. Van Helsing! I was going to become the best scenic designer you've ever seen. I was going to be exceptional. It was a miracle that I even got in in the first place, and now they're taking it all away from me just because I got stuck in a story, and no one believes me, they think I'm losing my mind. I should never have opened that door. I was supposed to be studying." I was crying again. "I should have been studying!"

"No, Miss Shannon, no. Do not think like that," said Dr. Van Helsing. "To wonder what could have been, my child, it can devour you. If you had not come through that door, you wonder forever what hid behind it."

"You don't think I'm nuts?" I sniffed.

"It is hard tale to believe, yes," Van Helsing said. "But I see stranger things as a doctor of the metaphysical. And I see your door. How can the brain refuse to acknowledge what the eyes see so clearly? My child, I cannot understand it, but there is much in this universe that lies beyond my feeble grasp."

Relief washed over me, warm and tingly, but that only made me cry harder out of gratitude that Dr. Van Helsing was willing to accept what I had told him. At last, I had an ally.

A/N: Yay, finally someone believes Shannon! Stay tuned for next chapter when she makes a big decision about her future. Thank you for reading!