Story Title: ConvergenceI first saw the door as a child. I’d come in from the pool and got turned around. The hotel halls all looked alike. As tears pooled in my eyes, I found a door with a purple tag with an image of a door. Purple was my favorite color. Perhaps someone in this room could help…
I turned the knob, not remembering it wouldn’t work without the card, and not thinking to knock. A warm rush of air engulfed me as it opened, easing my goosebumps The smell of popcorn, distinct and familiar, drew me inside. The air inside looked misty. Voices called faintly.
“Hello?”
Footsteps sounded. A boy came into view, his thick brown hair messy. He panted, like he’d been running.
“I—I’m sorry if I woke you up…”
He frowned, glancing behind him as more voices clamored.
“Where’d he go?”
“Find him!”
His dark eyes found mine. They glowed like liquid pools of nighttime. “You should go.” He whispered, one hand reaching toward me and the other back, as if to ward away some danger.
Behind him, the mist parted. Buildings spiraled into a sky the color of lemons. I gasped and stepped back.
The door closed.
I stood in the hotel hallway, gasping. The boy had looked as scared as me. I tried the door again.
Locked.
“Mathilda?”
“Momma!” I ran into her arms.
“I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Where did you go?”
I looked back, ready to tell her everything, but The door was gone.
“You’re shaking.” She stroked my hair. “Let’s get you into some dry clothes.”
She led me away, but I couldn’t help but wonder about the dark-eyed boy. Who’d been chasing him? Would I ever see him again?
The second time I saw the door, my life changed forever. My friends had good intentions, taking me out to cheer me up after I’d failed the most important test of my college career. But I didn’t want to drink. I only wanted to escape.
“You sure about this, Matty?”
I smiled at my friend, Sarah. “Yeah. I’m just gonna head back to the room. Grab some sleep. I’ll catch up with you guys tomorrow, okay?”
I punched the button and the elevator doors slid shut. I leaned back, closing my eyes, grateful to be alone. I didn’t bother to look when the doors hissed open again. I just walked, letting my fingers trail along the wallpaper.
When I looked up, I stood at the end of a hallway.
In front of a door.
The purple tag, its image of a door… where had I seen them before? I touched the handle and the door swung open.
Warm air pushed my hair away from my face. I heard voices, and… music. The soft tones soothed my nerves. I stepped through, following the sound.
Mist-filled air parted, revealing low tables. Sitting at the nearest one, a man with dark eyes. In them, light reflected like stars in an expanse of sky.
“The boy…”
He stood, his eyes wide as he stared at me. “I know you,” he breathed.
I knew him too, of course. The familiarity went beyond having met him once before. He was like a home I’d always missed.
“I’m David.”
My smile was genuine. For the first time in a long while, I felt happy. “I’m Mathilda.”
We talked for hours. About our lives. About the door, and what it must be. Strange as it sounded, we found the discussion easy. Natural. The door somehow connected our universes. And we, connected in a way that went beyond space and time, had found each other not once, but twice.
The lemon-yellow sky was beginning to brighten. We both yawned.
“I should get back. My friends will worry.”
David’s eyes widened. “No!” He extended a hand, and I remembered the moment we’d first met. “What if you can’t get back? I don’t… Stay. Stay here with me.”
Shock rolled through me, but also warmth. I wanted to stay with him, but this wasn’t even my universe. What would my friends do when they couldn’t find me? What would my family think?
I shook my head. “I’m sorry.” My whisper was as broken as his expression.
I got up before he could try and change my mind. The door was only a few steps away, but my feet dragged. My heart didn’t want to leave him.
As I reached for the handle, a hand landed on my shoulder.
“Then I’ll come with you. My Thilda.”
That was three years ago. The day my heart was finally whole. Everything changed. I wasn’t broken anymore. As if my soul had always been only half before him.
And now, I need to find him one last time. My heart. The one who saved me not once, not twice, but three times. Once as a child, from the wicked boys who pursued him. Once when I found him and my heart was restored. And six months ago, when he sacrificed himself to save me, pushing me through the smoke and flame, shielding my body with his own. I’d stumbled out of our apartment building, only to hear the rumble as stone and masonry crumbled behind me.
He couldn’t be dead.
Because my heart was still beating.
He had to have found it…
I close my eyes as I walk down a nondescript hallway. It didn’t matter which hotel. Not really. Just my need, and that I didn’t look too hard.
I know before I open them.
I feel the pull.
I don’t need to see the purple sign. I turn the knob, and the door swings open. A warm breeze ruffles my hair. I squint into the mist, and see a trace of lemon yellow above.
“David?”
“My Thilda?”
Dark eyes like pools of midnight come into view. He stretches out a hand. I hold it tightly before placing it against the gentle swell of my belly, and the wholeness coming to life within.
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