The Door

Chapter 2- Am I Dead?

The most stunning and the most immediate thing I noticed was a stunningly beautiful and very naked woman clothed only in her hair, which hid nothing. Unlike the wooden door, she was made of white marble and somehow joined to it. Her hair was long, falling to her knees, or would have if it weren’t instead arrayed all around her body like a halo. It even floated above her head as if it were aflame. She stood as tall as me, with her hair adding another three feet to her height. Additionally, she had angel’s wings that spread out behind her back and hair until the tips reached each side of the door. As for the woman, or goddess, or angel herself, her beauty was unmatched. Her nose was small and turned up. Her mouth was full and ripe. Her eyes were tilted and inviting. Her shoulders and arms were broad and strong. Her breasts were large and well-rounded. Her ribs V’d to a waspish waist. Her hips were broad. Her buttocks were thick and round. And her legs were long and muscular while her feet were small and perfectly formed. She was a woman made to enchant and seduce men. She was every dream and desire. And she held her hands out as if beckoning me to come to her.

Honestly, I stared at her for a long, long time. However, eventually, I saw beyond her. There was an enormous ancient tree behind her with a thick trunk and a crown that reached the heavens, or so it seemed from my perspective. The top of the world tree reached the top of the door while its foliage spread out to encompass all the rest of the door. Furthermore, amidst the lower boughs of the tree were two wolves to one side, an eagle and an owl on the other side, and above them all two crows watched. What it all meant, I had no idea. Also, residing at the crown of the tree was the full moon, and to each side arcing down were its eight phases. Beneath the moon were nine worlds, each of which was labeled in runes I couldn’t read. And lastly, wound around the nine worlds, within the boughs of the world tree, and around the wolves, the eagle, the owl, and the crows, was an enormous serpent.

Additionally, the door was cased in large, smooth ebony blacker than the night except for the glowing runes and thin blue lines tracing celestial pathways from stars, constellations, and galaxies. It was all so amazing, supernatural, and fear-inspiring. Despite my fear, I found myself approaching the door and tentatively placing the tips of my fingers on one of the angelic woman’s outstretched hands.

As soon as I touched her fingers, though, her eyes glowed and her mouth opened as if to speak. She stepped away from the door as if she were alive. The wolves, eagle, owl, and crows looked at me. I swear I heard the sound of wind in the world tree’s boughs. The serpent’s eye gleamed. The goddess’s hair was dancing all around us as she stepped in close and wrapped her arms around my waist. And her wings folded around me as our lips came together in a kiss that was unbelievable and supernatural!

A window pane appeared in my mind as I kissed the goddess. It was as if I was wearing a VR headset. There was a heads-up display with a small rectangular envelope blinking in the corner. I mentally opened it, and the message read:

“Achievement Attained!”

“Achievement: Door Finder!”

“Description: You have found a Door. A portal to new worlds and new opportunities.”

“Reward: New title: Door Finder.”

“Announcement: A new opportunity is offered. Your deepest desire has been heard and answered. The Door offers you the opportunity to start over and explore a new world. This is a once-in-a-lifetime offer. However, when one door opens, another also closes. Should you choose to walk through this door, you may not ever return to this world. Your life here will be over, forever. Will you accept this new opportunity and go through the Door?”

Below the message were two buttons labeled:

(Yes), or (No)

In that instant of time, as I kissed the stone goddess that held me in her arms with her body pressed so firmly against me, with her stone hair floating all around us and her wings folded around me, my life flashed before me. My childhood. My parents. My brothers and sisters. My ex-wife. The first time we met and how beautiful she was. Our marriage played out like a time-lapse home movie. Our children. How beautiful and happy they were as children before they grew up. The good times played, and the bad times. The fights. The arguments. The harsh words. The silence. The anger. The bitterness. The resentment. I watched my life fall apart when I finally realized that no matter what I did, it was never enough.

I watched as my ex-wife and children wouldn’t even speak to me. I felt miserable all over again. Anger welled up inside me. Resentment. Bitterness. I had left so they would be happy, but in actuality I had hoped they would realize how much I was contributing. It didn’t happen. Instead, the kids had threatened Beth that if she didn’t leave me, they were going to cut all ties and communication with both of us, with her. Well, I should have known what happened afterward. She never had supported me when it came to the kids. As soon as they were born, her loyalties shifted. She left the discipline to me, then sided with the kids and made me the bad guy.

Then there were the times that we fought. Every time—every f*****g time she was mad, throwing a tantrum, or having an emotional breakdown, I became the bad guy. The one man she could take all of her repressed anger at her abusive father and sexually abusive uncle out on. Of course she always denied it, but it never stopped her from saying whatever it took to win the argument. So, the kids grew up believing I was an evil narcissist. Of course, I was not perfect. I made mistakes. I also have opinions and morals and standards. Opinions, morals, and standards they didn’t like or appreciate, so I am also mean, sexist, and misogynistic.

It was always her and the kids with me on the outside, paying for everything. I was the handyman, the architect, the groundskeeper, the painter, the mechanic, the provider, and the lover. I was whatever they needed or wanted, but only when they wanted it. However, in the end, it was Beth who broke my heart when she asked me, “What do I really bring to the table?”

That, in the end, was the straw that broke my back. Broke my heart. Broke our marriage. So, I did her and the kids the biggest favor I ever could. I left. So, here I am. Before a Door leading to new worlds and new opportunities. Embraced by an angel whose breasts were soft, whose lips were moist, whose tongue was dancing with mine.

What should I do?

Did I really have any doubt what I was about to do?

No, I didn’t.

My arms wrapped around the goddess, and her stone body became soft and fleshy. My hands held her and caressed her as I grabbed her large, round ass cheeks. Then I mentally answered, “Yes!”

The button lit up, and suddenly the goddess was a part of the door once more. I wasn’t sure, but her beautiful mouth seemed to turn up slightly into a smirk as the door started swinging open towards me. I retreated until the door was able to swing fully open. It was so massive and yet it swung on silent hinges. I noticed then that the door was fully two feet thick, and as it opened, my eyes opened wide in amazement. Behind the door, within the ebony casing, was a glowing, swirling light of rainbow colors that reminded me of an event horizon or—something like it. Of course, being a gamer and a Stargate SG1 fan, I knew what this was. It was a portal to a new world!

Stepping forward, I placed my hand on the event horizon and felt nothing. It rippled beneath my fingers, and yet nothing was there. I stepped forward just as Daniel Jackson, played by James Spader in the movie Stargate, did. My eyes were wide open, but to me everything just went dark. There was no light. There was no sense of motion. There was nothing. Fear hit me as I wondered if I had just committed suicide.

Was this death?

Am I dead?

‘What does it matter?’ I immediately thought in response to my own inner fears, ‘My life has amounted to nothing so far. Nothing I ever did mattered. Not to any of the people I spent the last twenty-six years of my life loving and doing whatever I could to provide and protect.’

I sighed then, and embraced the darkness, ‘So be it. It is what it is. I’m ready. Whatever happens, happens.’