The World Beyond The Door

“ Jake, get your arse down here to clean these dishes! ” My mum bellowed at me from down the stairs… I had just got in from school and all I really wanted to do was slouch in front of the TV, I had had a hard day at school doing nothing in lesson as usual. I had really just wanted to do nothing after my first week back at school. I already had two detentions next week and four pieces of homework due in on the first few days in the next week. My GCSE’s were already there biting me in the ass and I hadn’t even been back at school properly.

I got off of my bed and stumbled round all of my stuff on the floor to my new room. I managed to get down the stairs in one piece and headed into the kitchen… This was where my mum was fussing about how much work she had put into this house and paying for all of our belongings, only to come home to dirty dishes the sixth day in our new house. It was a dump really… The man that had lived here before us didn’t do much to the house… There was just one strange thing about it, it had two bedrooms but only he was living here. He slept in the double bed and there was what looked like a small room for a child? That must of meant that he had had a child but where was he or she? I had met the guy but no child. Where was the mother in this case? With the child? Okay, I need to calm down and stop thinking, it only makes my brain hurt.

“Why can’t you keep anything tidy for five minutes?” My mum whined at me. “I’ve seen the state of your room and it’s appalling… Why do I bother getting nice things for you if all you do is throw stuff on the floor of your new room?” That’s an under statement I have no furniture to put my stuff in yet, all I have is my bed. I didn’t argue though that’s one of the ways you get in more trouble and the one way to stay out of it is to agree with everything mum says… Then at least I can have time to my-self in my room, doing the things I want to with out any interruptions.

Dad’s still at work, he’s better natured than mum, I don’t really know why? He barely gets any sleep thanks to little Emily, actually none of us get much sleep at night thanks to my little sister Emily. She’s lovely and cute but she doesn’t stop screaming. Mind due what can you expect from an one year old? I washed the dishes in the sink and then dried them and put them away with out so much as a word. I had nothing to say to my mum anyway. I went back up to my room that by now I was sure had been some child’s before me but there was no proof of it anywhere… So why did I feel like I was right?

I sat on my bed looking at the walls, there was wall paper covering up the layer beneath it, I let my mind wonder onto other areas of my room as I thought about all the movies where there was a message that you had to figure out. Yes, I watch way too many detective shows but hey they get me no-where in life… I’m not exactly top set in anything…

I pulled my sketch book out of my school bag from where I had been doodling and my mind started to draw the image in my head…. Once I had finished I stared down at the lonely girl on the page, she looked little older than fourteen but she had this face that looked like she was in trouble. Where had my mind got her from? To top it all off I looked at the background and it looked like she was on some island out in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Why would I draw some girl who was no-where near me? When I turned back a page in my sketch book I noticed that during a few lessons I had drawn different pictures of this girl and they all made her look like she was in trouble… How do I find someone who could not be true?

I stared again at the wall of my room… My mum had been in here loads of times so why hadn’t she noticed that there was wall paper on the wall? Was I the only one who could notice it? I got up and put my sketch book down on my bed went over to the wall and started to rip the wall paper off. The sound of it coming off wasn’t too noisy but if my mum walked past she would notice so I shut my bedroom door. I ripped off more of the wall paper to be left with pictures/ drawings as well as messages… How had I known they were there?

I screwed up all the wall paper and went and got a black sack to put it in, once I had done that I looked very closely at the drawings on the wall. There was the girl again… She was standing at what looks like next to a door. Then the writing on the left of it said… Do not knock on the door! So I didn’t but it looked like a stupid trick someone would say. I wandered over to another part of my room to rip more wall paper off to see what lied beyond the cover up. I found more drawings and stood amazed at the size or scale of the trees… They were almost life size. I walked around the rest of my room to pull any remaining covered walls, this was amazing like someone was going out of there way to send me a message. Help me!

“ Jake! ” My mum shouted from down the stairs.

“ What! ” I shouted back. This was the way we would communicate the most, never a nice call or knock on my door just shouting. Always shouting and you wonder why I don’t talk to her. Would you?

I glanced at the wall around my room, at the girl who was standing holding nothing on the island then I opened my door.

“Come and get your dinner and then go to bed!” She thundered from down the stairs. So I slouched slowly into the kitchen grabbed my tray with my dinner on it and dashed back up to my room. I don’t talk to my mum unless I have to. She always tried to get close to me when I was younger but never managed it, I always pushed her away and all because she could never understand how I was feeling. I stared down at my half eaten dinner, how much more pain could I go through? I mean school already was a drag and I have a feeling it will just be getting worse from here on out. I finished my last mouthful and then took the tray down the stairs. Although I hate doing it, I washed up my dishes and put them away just so mum couldn’t have a go at me tomorrow.

When I entered my room I crashed down on my bed and looked back at the girl on my wall. She was standing there motionless, it wasn’t until I looked at her again did I see her move and produce a book out of no-where. I got up and rubbed my eyes. Was I dreaming or was this real? She held the book out towards me… How is she moving she is a wall a drawing! She moved again almost like thrusting the book towards me hurriedly. I got up and walked over to her.

She moved again. I gawped at her, how was she moving she’s not real. I touched the wall and immediately pulled back, my fingers had gone into the drawing. The girl thrust the book forward urgently and so I leant my hands through the dimension change and took hold of the book she was holding before taking it back into my reality. I stared down at the book in my hands. How was that possible? I looked at the front it looked old and battered. When I opened it to the first page it read…

This is the property of Amy Eldest please do not read unless you have to.
Dear Diary…

I stopped reading… and glanced at the wall, the drawing was frozen still. So this was the girl’s diary… How? Why and when did she write this? Why am I the one it was given to?

I went to open the book again but I heard movement outside my door.

“Jake are you in bed yet!” My mum shouted. She was on the other side of the door was there any need to shout? No.

I shoved the book under my bed and pulled the covers over me. At that second my mum burst in.

“Good to see you asleep. Remember to eat your breakfast tomorrow and then clean up. I shall have an early start tomorrow and should be home by eight. Okay. So have a nice day at school and what not.” She said… That is a change… Then she slammed my bedroom door shut. If I was to turn the light on next to me then she would come thundering back in here wondering what I am doing so late at night. So the diary will have to wait until tomorrow at school or even better afterwards.
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I walked slowly to school after feeling every bone in my body eager to just run back home and read the diary. If this diary was for my eyes only then I suppose I can’t show this to my friends… That is if they believe me anyway.

The school gate seemed even more uninviting this morning as I passed into the prison like building beyond. Why do parents force there kids into being in such a hell hole? I walked over to the tree and sat down staring at everything and nothing at the same time. Minutes passed and a shadow was cast upon my view so I looked up to see one of the people I hang out with in front of me.

“Hey Emma are you alright?” I asked as I watched her sit down next to me leaning against our favorite tree in the school grounds. She looked tired.

“Yeah, I suppose a little tired to be honest.” She answered. I looked at her, could I tell her? Would she think that it was weird? Who knows?

“Emz. You know you believe in the supernatural. Well erm do you believe in pictures moving?” I asked and I know I sound like the little lost kid that doesn’t seem sure of himself.

“Yeah of course I believe in moving pictures, I am going to see the vamp film that comes out in the cinema in three hours.” She smiled at me like I was nuts. She didn’t understand what I meant at all. Should I try again? Might as well…

“No… I meant, you know when you draw a manga drawing?”

“ Yeah… ”

“ Well if one of them moved across the page and I saw it would you believe me?” I held my breath. What if she thought I was a stupid loser? What if she doesn’t believe me?

“I would believe-”

“ Hey guys what’s up?” Matt said as he sat on the other side of me. “ What were you talking about?”

Was she going to believe me?

“ Nothing. ” Emz said knowing that Matt would laugh at us.

“I asked her if she believed in pictures moving … the ones we draw…” I answered… I know I really shouldn’t have asked him because he’ll laugh at me and call me a fagot. He doesn’t believe in the supernatural only the stupid people who do. He torments us by making us walk in grave yards and what not if we say we believe in it. Sometimes it’s dead scary but we do it none the less.

“That is one stupid question what was your answer Emm?” He asked round the other side of the tree from Emz.

“I was saying… I would think that you have been eating way too much sugar.” Though she went quiet afterwards and didn’t speak again. I don’t think that was what she was originally going to say but what the hell. Maybe I did have too much Sugar yesterday from those skittles… Maybe there is no such book that I was given maybe I made it up in my head.
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A few hours later I managed to talk to Emma alone and ask her the question again…

“Emz, you know the question I asked you before Matt came, can I have your honest opinion please… Even if you still think that I ate too much sugar.” I whispered the last bit.

“I was going to say that I believed you. I see moving pictures that I draw all the time.” I stared at her like she was insane. I never knew she would actually believe me at anything.

“Really… Seriously? You believe me?” I had to make sure wouldn’t you? If the diary is still there when I get home then maybe I’ll bring it in tomorrow for Emz to see? Should I?

“Of course I believe you.” She answered. She mumbled something to herself afterwards and then walked off to her next lesson and I was left feeling like I was on cloud nine.
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When after school came I couldn’t have been happier to run home as I was, I let myself in the house and went straight to my room to check that the diary was real. I picked up the book and indeed it was real now comes the interesting part…. I’m going to start reading it…

I opened the first page of the diary and stared at its neatness. This is what I read…

Dear Diary… 17th February 2005

This is my first ever diary and I suppose I was driven to write one since I’ve realized that no-one knows I exist. I have never been outside these walls, never spoken to another person my age, Never touched a tree or seen a hamster. It is a hard life but I have come to realize that no-one wants me. I shall drift in and out of life never known to anyone… I just hope that when I die, I die peacefully, like in my sleep for instance. I have only seen the outside world from behind curtains and it feels like a prison your in. One that will never leave, one that never sleeps, one that shall always be there to keep you hidden. It’s like a flipping death trap.
Anyway I got the idea that I should write down about my life, and who I am, show people that there was once a girl called Amy Eldest and she did exist. Even if no-one reads this for years at least I shall have shown that I existed. I don’t know what time it is but what I do know is that my dad is away on another business trip and I’m feeling lonely.
It’s hard having no friends, you talk to your self but it’s not the same. It’s even harder when you aren’t allowed to talk to anybody other than your dad who always seems to be in a bad mood with you. No… I stay in my room all day and only come out of it for food and water. You may have noticed my walls of my bedroom have odd bits of writing on, well I always wanted to draw and so I shall start drawing things on my walls… Maybe they are there in your time maybe they are not…
I have a sketch book at the moment my dad gave it to me a while ago and I keep it under the third floorboard from the door it should creak when you stand on it. Don’t take all of my treasures out of there because in the future I may have put them in and if so you need to read this diary first…
Have you ever just randomly drawn someone? I do it all the time at the moment… It is really, really weird. I feel drawn to them like I know them and yet I don’t because I have never seen a boy who looked like that. I suppose it’s a person from my imagination that I make up to keep me company but you see without meaning to I can make him move. He walks across the page acting out a normal life style and at night he talks to me out of my sketch book. So soon I may draw him on the wall life size so that he can talk to me whilst being the same size as me. What do you think? It’s a stupid question because you can’t exactly walk out of this page and tell me that can you?

…. I stopped reading was this too good to be true? Was she drawing me whilst I was drawing her? How? Was there really a sketchbook under that floorboard? I stared at it uneasily. Mum’s home and she’s calling me… I am so reading more of this later…

Mum wanted me to get ready for bed, because she had a date with dad tonight and I was going to be getting in the way. So my mum and dad are going through what seems a mini argument which they are trying to cover over for me and Emz. Emz may not be old enough but I know what’s going on… Tonight they are going out to sort their problems out. It’s code from mum to me… Saying make sure Emily and you are in bed at a reasonable time otherwise you will regret it later. So mum left the house all dressed up saying how she doesn’t want to be late as she has to meet my dad at the restaurant.

As soon as mum was out of the house I took Emz into the living room and put her on the sofa I then went up-stairs to get the diary so that I could keep an eye on her and read at the same time. I continued where I left off…

…It’s a stupid question because you can’t exactly walk out of this page and tell me can you? I draw him with a Black emo fringe and it’s around shoulder height. I love the way it drops into his eyes and makes him seem so life like. He has brown/hazel eyes and in my drawings, he is always wearing cool clothes. He has hobbies and loads of other things in common with me but if I went into that now I think you would think I’m nuts.
Excuse me but my drawing told me to tell you to stop Emz (I think that is) from eating the wires at the back of the TV right now!...

I looked up from the book and noticed that my little sister was indeed about to eat the wires and so picked her up on my lap whilst continued reading… How could she have such a hold on me? How had she known about what was happening around where I was? This was unbelievable. What is she doing to me? -

… I hope you stop her from doing that… Anyway I wanted to say that I have some weird things that I can do that I haven’t told anyone about apart from Jake (he’s my drawing). I can do things with my mind… That is how I can make Jake come to life, my mind does it and it does it by it’s self. Sometimes I can make things move, usually when im really angry or up-set which is why I don’t want to do that… Because I get so scared that I’m going to hurt myself. I really cant control it. I don’t know if that’s natural or not because I have never seen my dad or anyone else use strange odd powers like that. Please don’t label me as a freak. You know how in old books they would burn any poor soul unlucky enough to have done something no-one has ever done before… They start calling her a witch and decide to burn her at the stake… That is just freaky… please don’t try to do that to me.
Oh and Jake told me to tell you that your parents will be home an hour earlier and extremely annoyed if your not in bed. They are in a good mood and so he thinks that they have made up…
Anyway that reminds me I have to go to bed now too. I know this may sound strange to someone else but I am so bored of everyday being the same being bored… Having nothing to do all day takes the fun out of stuff and I’ve read the dictionary quite a lot of the time so I’m fed up with it. All the other books in this place aren’t that good either. So I suppose I have to look forward to doing nothing tomorrow then…
Well … I hope that I manage to talk or write in here tomorrow… Jake says you best get up and walk out of the room turning off the lights as your mum and dad are coming now-ish…
Goodnight …….. Amy Eldest

I got up and quickly left the room turning off all the lights and taking Emz up-stairs, I put her away in her bed before quickly returning to me room and getting into bed. Around five minutes later my parents could indeed be heard coming in the front door in good spirits, So how the hell does she do it? Is she a witch or something?.... Who knows?

If I’m calling her a witch, do I really mind it? I mean aren’t people always scared of them? Am I scared of her?

My dream was weird last night I kept seeing Amy and talking to her… It was strange but you see now I know her name and I finally have seen her face because about a year ago I started getting odd random dreams about a girl whose voice I could always hear but her appearance always eluded my imagination, it’s amazing really what a book can do. It can open so many things up to you… Witches… God maybe? Nah… He never seems to be on my side on anything. So what am I meant to do then, I mean the diary was given to me for some reason, what have I got to do?

“Jake! Stop daydreaming and answer the question!” Miss Snapton yelled at me as I stared off out the window, she made me jump, then everybody laughed at me.

“I didn’t hear the question sorry.” I said to her.

“Jake. Stay after the lesson I need to talk to you about manners and common courtesy.”

How boring another lecture on why I am failing almost all of my subjects, it’s not like I’m going to need this stuff when I’m older, I want to be in a band. I’m saving up for a guitar at the moment. Woops I’m daydreaming again.

So after my boring lecture on is something wrong at home and I hope you get your act together I was finally let out to go home and Emz walked along side me.

“Emz you know you believe me about the moving pictures well I want to show you something round my house. Will you come?” I asked secretly holding my breath and wondering whether I was being a loser or making a huge mistake. Hopefully this was the right mistake.

“I’ll come. What is it?” She asked. She looked truly interested and I admired her for believing in me.

“A surprise!” I said and ran ahead of her laughing. She started chasing me which was funny because I beat her home.

I unlocked the door and lead her up-stairs to my room, we entered it together and I went and got my scrap book for her to look at, she took it delicately in her hands knowing how much it meant to me. She gave me a look of trust and opened the book. She awed at all the pictures of the girl but she then looked at me.

“When do they move?” She asked. I looked down at the picture and the girl winked at me.

“They move when you will them to, why don’t you ask the drawing to show it’s self to you? That might work.” I said. I was guessing by now because I didn’t know how to make the picture move for someone else she always moves for me.

“What’s the girl’s name?” Emz asked me as she looked again at my drawings.

“ Amy. Amy Eldest.” I answered. Should I really be telling her this?

“Well then Amy will you please let your self be known by me?” Emz asked my drawings and almost immediately Amy started moving. Waving and laughing, jumping, skipping anything it looked like she could think of. We sat admiring her on my bed. I dismissed the sound of the front door closing knowing that it was my mum coming home from work. But I shouldn’t have and I know I shouldn’t of because a few minutes later Matt came crashing through my bedroom door laughing at what he had heard me and Emz talking about. He was holding my little sister as well.

“What are you two dipsticks looking at? A tattered old book with drawings in, your staring at something so boring, its not like it does something." I looked down at Amy and she was pulling a really funny face at Matt it made me laugh with out realizing it.

“What are you laughing at doofus?” Matt asked me, he liked being mean when people laughed at him.

“The simple fact that you don’t believe in anything supernatural, it’s funny really.”

He scowled at me and looked at my wall. He went and stood next to the door.

“So you’d find it funny if I was to knock on this door and something actually happened. That’s a stupid thing to write next to the door doofus because it’s a drawing nothing is going to happen!” Just like that he went to knock on the door.

“Matt Wait!” I shouted and he stopped. He spun round to face me smirking.

“Too late you peed me off and anyway nothing supernatural exists.” He said turning round to knock on the door. I looked at Amy in the picture and she pointed to the fourth floorboard from the door. I hadn’t exactly been in there yet. So I quickly moved across the floor and pried the floorboard up with my fingers. I looked at her again.

“What am I meant to take Amy?” She made an item appear in her picture and I took it out of the floor boards and tucked it in my pockets then she showed me four other objects to take, which I did.

Matt had turned round to see who the hell I was talking to and saw me panicking but he turned again and knocked on the door on the wall.

*Knock!* The floor trembled and the whole of the house shook, there was a clanging sound like a lock opening but the door on the wall stayed closed.

*Knock!* the walls looked like they were crumbling but when the clanging stopped everything went back to normal but the door was still shut. I stood trembling, watching Matt’s hand as he knocked one last time on the door on the wall, Emz beside me was scared stiff, she looked ill by the colour of her cheeks.

*Knock!* The final knock sounded and my brain felt like it would implode as I put my hands up to cover my ears. There was a long eerie creaking sound and the door from the painting opened 3D into my bedroom. Matt stood stunned but seemed to waste no time in entering into the unknown domain, I shuddered at the thought of entering the secret place but knew that if I didn’t go that Emz would be trapped in there with Matt, which is not a good thing, for a very long time.

I looked round at Emz she was transfixed on the door not moving. I outstretched my hand.

“Come on Emz. It’s time for an adventure even if it is just to save my sister.” I felt her lock her fingers in-between mine, I bent down under my bed to retrieve the diary before we stepped forward together into the door holding all the things we needed even my sketchbook.