Your Presence Is An Open Door Novels & Stories

Matt didn’t move for a second after the knock. “Matt?” Maya’s voice came again, louder this time. Jordy stepped back, his breathing still uneven, his mind scrambling to catch up with everything that had just happened. Matt finally turned toward the door, running a hand through his hair before unlocking it. The door opened. Maya stood there, arms crossed, eyebrows raised. “Why was your door locked?” Matt leaned casually against the frame like nothing had happened. “Privacy exists, you know.”

What's the door he doesn't know he doesn't have. "I looked at her."In my past life." She said. "He got in through my feelings. Through the version of me that wanted to believe someone was offering something real." She held my gaze. "That door doesn't exist anymore." She paused. "So what does he do when the door he planned for isn't there."

“Open this door, or I will break it down.” Alpha Zaid. Her breath hitched. His presence—so close, so undeniable—seized her, every nerve quaking under the force of his Alpha aura. She knew there was no hiding, no running. Sighing in resignation, she placed a protective arm around Zephyr and whispered, “Stay behind me. And don’t speak.” Slowly, she approached the door, every step heavy with dread. Her hand trembled as she gripped the handle, inhaling deeply to steady herself. With one last look at Zephyr, she opened the door.

Zola then spoke inside my mind, she suggested that I need to open the door. Before she mentioned the door, there wasn’t anyone. Yet, when she did, it appeared from nowhere in the Darkness. I was about to do what I was told when this thing happened in my mind. “The door is closed for a reason,” I told Zola using the mind link. “What if I'm not ready for what is existing behind that door?” Zola answered me without wasting much time. “You don't have to worry about anything anymore, you're not alone. I am here with you. Together, we are going to face whatever is waiting for us!”

None of it had been wrong or dishonest or without its own genuine warmth. And still. Standing on the landing of this house at midnight, the real world a forty-minute car ride behind me, the amber light steady and present at the end of the east corridor, I understood something I had been not-understanding for two weeks with impressive dedication: No door that you open for the purpose of not-thinking-about-something will ever be substantial enough to do that job. The door has to be for itself. I had always known this, technically.

"They will insist on playing loud music and games during the height of the zombie outbreak! And they won't stop even when you tell them to!" "They're also going to eat up all of your rations and then eat your pets too!" "Don't you ever open that door! It's your last line of defense against them!" The knocking on the other side of the door continued, and my vision somehow felt like it had just been attacked by a virus with how the live comments kept popping up non-stop. Yet, all of them warned me not to open the door at all costs. I carefully withdrew my hand, feeling my heart thumping loudly in my chest.

“Come in. Close the door behind you and wait on your knees by the entrance. - Aiden” Claire’s breath caught in her throat as she read the words, her heart pounding with excitement. With a trembling hand, she pushed the door open and stepped inside, the soft click of the latch echoing through the empty foyer. The room was bathed in a warm, inviting glow, the flickering light of candles casting dancing shadows on the walls.

It was the kind of stillness that reminded you the world kept turning without asking your permission. David pulled up to the entrance and stepped out before I could reach the handle. He opened my door without a word, offering his hand the way he always did. Steady, practiced, giving nothing away. I didn’t take it. I stepped out on my own and smoothed the front of my clothes, not because they needed it but because I needed a moment before walking through those doors.

The open door became a metaph⁠or for their new, fragil⁠e‍ reality. Kaelan did not⁠ return the next day, or the day after. He gave he⁠r space‌, resp‌ectin‍g t⁠he boundary she h‍ad set.⁠ But his pres‌ence was fe⁠lt in small, deliberate ways. ‍

Each step echoes my resolve, mixed with a flurry of emotions that threaten to spill over. Reaching the door, I pause, hand hovering over the handle, taking one final breath to center myself before unlocking it. The moment is suspended in time as I pull the door open, heart pounding in my chest. Whatever truths are revealed, I know the strength within me and the unwavering support from my loved ones will see me through. Opening the door, I am immediately met with Sebastian's presence. It's a moment that feels unexpectedly intense like the air around us has thickened with uncertainty.