Doorway

The house stood inert at the end of the road, embracing the dark robe of night on its sides, and becoming comfortable with the sight of fireflies fluttering about its perimeter. There was a hollow complexion within the abode as a static fog of black filtered through the windows, and all light fixtures were turned off. It wasn't until the owner limped to the doorway that the estate showed any sign of emotion. The shutters flapped quietly in the brief puffs of wind, the wooden structure creaked as if it were barking like a dog, and the automatic lamplight flickered on as it sensed the young lady who bought it months ago. The house couldn't be happier to welcome its master back, especially since she came home a lot later than she promised.

Brushing a hand through her hair, Brin tenderly stepped up onto the porch and walked to the door. The key in possession fused with the knob, and a jingling sound echoed on the other side of the door. It triggered the cats to come running from upstairs and begin "meowing" at the arrival of their human mother.

"Hey, cuties, I'm home." Brin said softly, crouching slowly to meet their level.

Her hands stroked the felines in every direction as they twirled around her body. One of them even continued to yowl up at the face of the lady, begging for dinner. Therefore, Brin stood up with a grimace and limped to the kitchen, preparing food for her darlings. As soon as the job was done, she went back into the living room and curled into the sofa with an exhausted sigh. Having not already told people of what happened to her, the phone in grasp came into play.

Brin's fingers grazed across the attached keyboard and firstly sent a message to her friend, Haley.

"So... I have a concussion."

There was only enough time to turn the TV on before a response vibrated from the phone.

"Really? How did it happen?! :( "

"I was in a wreck. Broke the windshield of the car with my head... Just got home minutes ago."

Looking at the words lit up on the device, Brin began feeling guilty. She knew it was illegal to drive without her seat belt on, but the uncomfortable material and constriction that the strap offered was too much for her to bare. The want of being able to move as she pleased while driving overcame her, and once again there was nothing to do but back down and obey the urges pulsating through her body. It happened a couple times before where freedom became a sin, and Brin found herself without a seat belt, then later on scrunched against the side of a tree or telephone pole in her car. Only this time, she thought there was control on the road, but was dismayed at the results that came up. It was a huge disappointment for her.

"Gosh, I am so sorry that happened to you!" Haley's text said. "I'm just glad you're all right for the most part! Do you need anything, because I will gladly help you?"

A playful grin settled on Brin's lips, even though the rest of her body was a complete contrast and pushed further into the cushions of the sofa, not wanting to have any more fun.

"Could you send Crosby over by express mail? I need someone to cuddle right now, and he's chunky enough, eh? ;) "

Despite knowing her wishes were impossible at the moment, the young lady felt let down that they couldn't become true. However, she only had herself to blame considering she moved away from Pittsburgh and came to this little house in Chicago. Haley was left to find another person to always hang around, and was lucky to befriend the famous Sidney Crosby over the matter of three months. Though, if Brin stayed in her apartment back in the Burgh, her friends could have come to visit her with ease. It was another depleting thought, and it caused a rush of regret to stem from her heart and extend to her toes.

Another vibration went off from the phone as Brin's cats left the kitchen and jumped up to join their goddess on the sofa.

"Sorry, but there's a Rocky marathon on, and Sid's watching it with me... Maybe Tazer is free? ;) "

The heartache dwelling was immediately lifted with the sudden burn of embarrassment. Brin flushed and had to stare away from both the phone and her cats so that she didn't feel taunted. It was known her crush on the home team's hockey captain, Jon Toews, was evident and growing, but she never liked to think that it deserved any confidence. After all, there was a girlfriend involved and Brin refused to be the wrench that destroyed her new friend's relationship and possibly his career by plaguing the media. It would scar her mind into oblivion if there ever was to be a newspaper article reading "CAPTAIN SERIOUS TURNS PLAYFUL IN AN AFFAIR!"

Still, like her body waned the logic of matters, again it made Brin yearn to be cuddled and Jon was a desired victim.

"I guess he will do... I'll talk to you later! Tell Sid I said, 'Yo Adrian!'"

The nerves made her fingers twitch along the keyboard as she brought up a new messager and contacted Jon. It took Brin several tries to form a satisfying text to send him without sounding too helpless about her car crash, or boldly flirtatious about asking for cuddles. In the end, though, she was smiling and couldn't help feeling like teenager all over again. It was as if cellphone numbers were exchanged in the hallways of school, and now she was all jittery texting the most popular boy therefrom. The foolish thought made Brin laugh to herself, and turn away to the cats. They could easily drive away the fluster building up, but the text that soon vibrated was powerful enough to sway all attention back to the device.

"You were in a CRASH? Brin, come on..." a bubble lit up on the screen, another one following a second later, saying, "I'll be there in twenty."

Although Brin knew she would be in for it once Jon arrived, her happiness overwhelmed her. The power of being able to extract a man who belonged to someone else was admirable in any sense to the lady, who now finally acknowledged what was playing on the TV screen. It was a sitcom that mirrored her living room, except there was a man already within the frame, kissing the star. It made Brin feel queasy, and she could only hope that in the near future, the same wouldn't happen to her, despite her strong desire to partake in that action with her crush.



The golden lights from lampposts scanned over Jon's car that he drove in, as the hum of the engine distilled the night. Music that would normally be swimming through the particles around the driver was muted, and instead the silence gave leeway to musings.

While his body controlled the mechanics of the automobile, Jon zoned out with a hazy complexion to his dark eyes. What came and went like the streetlights he drove by were thoughts concerning the car crash. Flashes of his friend crippled against a deflated airbag and steering wheel burned into his skull. They made his body squirm slightly, and his foot apply more pressure on the gas pedal. Hopelessly wishing them away only made the images become more prominent, and therefore Jon entered himself into the daydream, to try to make things better. His clone ran to the crunched-up car, in which an embodiment of Brin resided, and began banging on the closed windows. With the strength built into his arms from hockey, the glass shattered with the lucky third attempt. As his arms wrapped around the shoulders of the unconscious lady, cold immediately struck his nerves. Her skin was radiating ice for all he knew, and it made his insides shudder with the fright of losing one of his new best friends.

The sudden flicker of white from Jon's peripheral vision made his soul float back into the body controlling the car. Brakes were slammed on as a rabbit came into sight, and dashed off into the nearby brush. What felt like thunder erupting from his heart pounded away the drastic thoughts that just before haunted him. All Jon could focus on now was his hefty breathing, throbbing rib cage from the seat belt, and cold sweat dripping down his neck.

"Fuck." he mumbled with the flickering of his eyes closed, and the falling of his head onto the cushion behind.

A whistling noise gradually built up from the quiet nature in the car. It gained more power and turned wispy, making the air currents tremble into a filter of paranoia for Jon to breathe in. His skin twitched slightly at the difference of mood, and it eventually forced him to open his eyes and look around. Expecting someone to be sitting in the seat beside him and staring, the hockey player clenched his fists and awaited the moment to actually display his strength. However, there was only the empty leather seat and car door in his view.

Despite shrugging off his nerves, Jon couldn't block out the louder whistle in his ears. He drove on to distract himself of the annoyance, but was soon met with another obstacle. A mist assembled into a form of his friend Brin, and ran at the car, hopping over the roof. The same reaction resulted from the now hysterical man driving the car. Then the gas pedal deadpanned to the bottom of the car, sending ear-piercing screeches from the tires into the neighborhood.

Jon swore obscenities, and shook his head in disbelief.

"It's a mirage, I swear."



The trees shook and sent spears of leaves flying by the windshield of Jon's car. He had just pulled onto the desolate street- the loner without lights to guide its way- and squinted to see the luster of Brin's house number on the side of her mailbox. Despite knowing she lived at the complete end of the road, it was difficult to tell where the woods began from how ungenerous his light source was. The black hues of night mixed with the swamp-like storm thrashing about the city. It had picked up several minutes after Jon concluded his hallucination was the cause of unforeseen fright that spurred from nearly running over a rabbit. Yet, the hockey player didn't think it would become so powerful in so little time.

"Ah hah." Jon mumbled to himself, spotting the destination shortly up ahead.

He stirred the vehicle into the driveway, avoiding the broken branches, and took a deep breath. His heart always got nervous and sent signals to the rest of his body to follow suit whenever Brin's presence was near. Not only was she as beautiful as any statue embellishing a mansion's backyard or oldest museum, but there was an edge to her personality that attracted him to her. She didn't act purposely in accord to her gender like how his girlfriend never stopped swishing her hair around, going on shopping sprees everyday, and singing songs as if she'd attract birds to the windowsill. This girl, whose door he just knocked at, was her own entity and further developed herself by picking up hobbies that no one else seemed to have. She was unique, to say the least, and Jon was amazed every time he thought so.

The muffled creaks from behind the closed door grew louder as Brin limped closer to her guest. With each octave lower, it seemed like heart palpitations took a greater toll on the hockey player's heart. They made him rub a hand over his chest and furrow his brow at the despondent feeling overcoming. He tried to hold it together before having a nervous breakdown, but once her pretty face peaked through a small opening, all control went astray. Although his face portrayed a perfectly stoic complexion, underneath the surface was a tangled garden of emotions.

"Hey, Jon."

The said man picked up immediately that her voice sounded more dull than perky, as it usually did. It only depressed his conscious further to know how deeply the car crash affected her.

"Hey..." his deep voice muttered.

Jon wanted to say more, but he was suddenly shut down of all his thought processes as her stare turned affectionate. It reminded him of a cat that looked upon its owner- nearly half-lidded eyes and a glow of admiration showing off them. Then, just as that similarity spawned, one of Brin's cats came strutting over and mewed up at him.

"What's that in your hand?" the tired lady asked, as she gingerly crouched to pet her cat.

Unsure for a moment, but soon enlightened upon the sound of rain pattering off it's plastic cover, Jon noticed the dish of sushi in his grasp.

"Oh," he croaked, smiling sheepishly. "I figured I'd buy your favorite food to help make you feel better, and all. I hope your cats won't get jealous."

Brin's airy laugh filled the void between them, and stood up with a crack of her legs.

"Why jealous? They can share with me, silly!"

A grin pushed its way upon Jon's face at the whimsical name thrown at him. Yet, he still couldn't move from his spot on the porch, despite being drenched by the downpour.

"All right, you can gladly do that. I'm not sure I will, but that's just how I roll."

"Yeah," a glint sparked in her eye. "you're a meanie."

"I'm not the one leaving a friend out in the rain, you know."

Brin's eyes suddenly widened at the realization, and grabbed his now slippery arm. His weight was too heavy for such a weakened state to handle with, though, so she nearly fell backwards. That stimulated Jon to finally move in the slightest bit, and grab a hold of her in return. His free hand was placed firmly on her backside, and his stance became prepared for any more surprises. The proximity now shortened between seemed to stun the both of them, and until Jon gained the guts to remove his hand from her, did they step away from each other.

"You gotta be careful, Brin. Try that again and you'll pull your back like how my mom did one time when I was being a fussy little boy, and didn't want to get in the shower."

Her laugh enlightened the disposition instantly, and she waved her hand for him to follow this time into the house. The cat waiting for the sushi already rushed to the arm of the couch, and wagged its tail anxiously. Brin turned and went to her little pet.

Jon was about to take a step up in the home when he remembered that the last time he was here, words of attraction were close to being sputtered from his lips. The two friends had spent so much time together that day an impulse was lit like a fire on a wick, burning slowly with desire. Once it would reach the bomb, Jon's stability was bound to explode and he'd have done something regretful. Like kissing Brin, and having a girlfriend at home sitting up for his return. He didn't want to feel the pull of lust, or perhaps love, on his body again and lead him towards a friend that was only met a couple months beforehand.

"Maybe I should leave..." Jon thought, his eyes focusing on the daunting step to the entrance. "Say that I have practice early tomorrow, give her the sushi to enjoy on her own."

He was about to nod with a decision that quickly came to a close, when there was a mist that brushed behind him. All focus shot to the familiar figure, as it turned to face the now nervous hockey player. The details were now smudged except for the visage peering through what felt like his eye sockets- it was disappointment and distress. When it's head tilted as if implying for him to reconsider his options, Jon became enthralled with the white fog. No longer was she a terror towards him, but a temptress. His thoughts rewinded and deleted all negative substances. Then mesmerized by her stare, he knew he was only going to be a friend- no- he'd let whatever happen as it were meant to occur. If last time there was nearly an outbreak of his feelings toward Brin, perhaps they should have been announced. Jon felt something, and no longer could he deny it.

Just as he was about to say something to the mystical woman that resembled his friend, she dissipated in thin air. Shock was minor until a voice spoke up from inside the house, making the fright substantial.

"Jon... come in."

The downcast tone of Brin's voice was enough to swell his heart into feeling bad for overthinking. It was obvious what it wanted, and that was the young lady awaiting his cuddles and with hefty lungs to explain the car crash.

Shuffling his feet in the opposite direction, Jon knew he had made the right decision this time around, thanks to whatever the mist was to him. A warning? A delusion? A tell-tale sign?

Taking a step up into the home, a mutter left his lips.

"Thanks."