The Door
By Nelly Asher
Copyright 2014 by Nelly Asher
Chapter 1
Made of Wood
While the city was melting from the heat, this neighborhood turned out to be relatively serene. The street Selena was walking on earned its name after the chestnut trees that were planted along the road – in their thick shadow one could take shelter from the scorching sun. Automatic sprinklers that turned on a minute ago were also refreshing the air. The girl has never been to this district before, and now she realized why it's considered the most prestigious in Texven. Looking around in fascination, Selena couldn't help but envy. Well-groomed mansions were making a way better impression than an apartment she was renting in a high-rise. And just to think of it, she gave up on driving a car to get a chance to live there... Her parents were going to present Selena a used car to celebrate her entering the university, but the girl prefered to spend that money on paying for her own apartment – she didn't want to be cooped up in a dorm. Both her house and university were close to subway stations, and after the late-night parties someone would always offer a ride. At the end of the second semester, all her high heel shoes were as good as new.
Selena stopped in front of an iron fence with a fanciful grating. It took some time to find the doorbell button concealed in the door's metal ornament. She recalled professor's words: “Push it for no less than five seconds”. It seems that uninvited guests weren't welcome here... About a minute later a woman went out and approached the gate.
“Whom did you come to see?” she was looking somewhat surprised. Obviously, visitors like that didn't show up every day.
“I came to see Mr. Evanford. Selena Silver, if it tells you anything.”
After a few seconds of hesitation, a woman nodded and let the guest in. The moment they've entered the house, she said:
“Wait here, I'll call him.”
Selena leaned against the front door, watching a woman walking up the wide and quite steep staircase. It was clear that this forty-something lady was sick and tired of climbing those stairs. Who is she, anyway? Evanford's wife? Probably not – someone at the university has said that he doesn't have a family.
***
There are people who solve crosswords in their spare time; there are those who cross-stitch or make paper models. As for Kevin Evanford, he liked solving equations. That was soothing him, making him concentrate. But the June heat did no good to his thinking process. Kevin was reluctantly writing down a solution, even though he realized that it's wrong. He made a mistake somewhere, but couldn't be bothered to look for it.
“Mister Evanford?” their housemaid, Mrs.Mackolei, knocked the door. “Some girl came to see you.”
“A girl?” he drew a question mark and put the pencil aside. Some girls he knew were meddlesome for sure, but no one came as far as showing up at his place. Kevin shrugged, went out into a hall and stopped at the top of the staircase, examining his guest.
The girl looked gorgeous – he has established that fact at the very first glance. Fine features of her face could be very well called perfect, and her physique was certainly good. But her most extraordinary feature was hair. Not yellowish, not acidized to the loss of pigment – a pure white color. At the same time, the girl wasn't an albino – dark hazel eyes, framed with long, mascara-tinted eyelashes were brightly standing out on her face. Contrast between the hair and the eyes was making her looks especially striking.
“Do I know you?” Kevin inquired. He was good at picking up details, and obviously would've remembered a person like that.
Selena took a look at a tall, very slender guy. It occurred to her that it must be not that easy to find clothes for such a body type, but his garments were tasteful and fitting, probably tailored.
“You didn't quite understand me,” Selena turned to a woman. “I came here to see professor, Henry Evanford. He invited me to come here at this time.”
“Sorry for disturbing you...” the housemaid said confusedly.
“It's all right. You can go, I'll deal with it.” he waved to the visitor, beckoning her to follow. “I think my uncle is in the library. I'll show you the way.”
Selena started climbing the staircase, holding onto the railing. The carpet on the stairs did nothing but hindering the movement – stiletto heels of her shoes were catching on its stiff pile. After overcoming the staircase she looked back – the feeling was similar to standing at the top of a mountain.
“How many stairs are there?” she asked, catching her breath.
“Twenty,” Kevin replied, walking further down the corridor.
“It seems like no less than fifty,” the visitor snorted.
“You can go back and count them yourself,” young man said without even glancing at her. Before Selena had time to retort, he entered the half-open door.
Library shelves were filled with rows of books from the floor to the ceiling. Their sheer mass was oppressing – even the light pouring from wide windows with low windowstills couldn't make up for it. One window was open wide, and the light breeze was blowing. Professor was standing near the window, gazing into the distance.
“You've got a guest,” Henry's nephew turned his back to leave.
“Ah, Selena... You're right on time,” Evanford casted a cursory glance at the visitors. “Kevin, you stay here, too.”
He shrugged and wanted to close the door behind him, but something was impeding it. Kevin jerked the door, and it closed with a crunch. Selena gave the guy a disapproving look – the air in the library was stifling enough already, and this way they'll suffocate completely. After hearing the sound of the closing door, professor slightly flinched and turned to his visitors.
“Sometimes, a long-forgotten past starts chasing you... And it leads you into a corner, into a dead end,” he slowly said. Selena and Keving unwittingly exchanged glances and looked back at Evanford, waiting for an explanation. But he started talking about something else entirely:
“There is a book... The more you read it, the deeper you plunge into the madness. It all starts with the fear of doors...”
“What book? What are you talking about?!” Selena couldn't hold it any longer. “Why did you call me here, anyway?”
“I proved myself weak,” he changed the subject again, ignoring the girl's questions. “Too much of a coward, both to move on and to withdraw from the race at my own will. Thus I decided to flip a coin, so to speak, to rely on a trigger principle,” he looked somewhere behind Kevin's back. “I've established for myself – if a thin piece of wood will turn out to be tougher than me, I'll struggle on. If it'll break... So will I.”
Henry made a few steps towards young people, still looking straight through them, and stopped. His face turned into a grimace of disgust that has immediately turned into fear, and then – into indifference bordering the hopelessness. Man turned around, ran to the window and stepped onto a windowstill.
“I'm sorry!” he yelled and jumped. There was a muffled sound, and then everything turned quiet.
Kevin and Selena, already shocked by professor's odd behavior, were utterly stunned. They were standing still, gazes fixed at the open window. The only thing breaking the moist silence was the buzz of flies. In half a minute a woman's scream pierced their ears.