The Door That Only Opened to Good People

The door looked like an ordinary door.

It was not even fancy. A dull white and a rusty golden handle. Nothing else. But that was where the ordinary stuff stopped because this door was not ordinary. Oh, no. It was a magic door. The only one that knew that, was Thomas.

Thomas was an eleven-year-old kid that had just moved to the house a couple of weeks ago. He was a very happy and pleasant boy. He had noticed how special that door was after the second day there. At first, he did not think much of it.

It was a coincidence, he thought to himself. But Thomas was smarter than that. He knew it could not be. So, he kept on waiting and observing. Like a good little scientist, he had drawn his conclusions after observation and experimentation.

For his first experiment, he needed to test the door with someone that was not good. Well, that was easy. The lady that always yelled at him was the perfect candidate. She was pale and old, but most of all, mean. And so, he waited, and waited, and waited.

Nothing.

The door was never opened by the lady. It was very strange. The lady only closed the door, never opened. So, after a while, Thomas stopped being afraid of the door opening. Because he knew it could not be the yelling lady. Well, at least not by herself. The yelling lady was not mean when other people were around. She was rather pleasant at those times. Which always felt weird to Thomas. So superficial.

The other kids never understood what Thomas meant. He would try and explain to them, but well, they were too young. They did not understand, or just did not believe Thomas. He did not care. In fact, he stopped trying to convince them after a while. He decided he would use the knowledge in his favor. After all, there was nothing else going for him there. All the other kids were younger. They were cleaner too. He knew that because the yelling lady always said he was a dirty little boy.

So every day, around the same time, he was ready – there were no clocks or watches in the house, so Thomas had to guess when the door was going to open.

The eleven-year-old would get as clean as possible, put on his best clothes, and sit by the door. Maybe if he was the first one to talk to the good people coming, he would be the chosen one. It was not happening though.

Day after day the door opened to the good people. Some looked at him, some didn’t. No one ever chose him. Kids would leave with good people, more kids would arrive and then leave, but Thomas remained.

He was now thirteen. It had been so long. He had lost hope. Until they came.

The door opened as it always did, and the good people that came through it were so similar to him. They talked to him the most. There was a bright spark in their eyes, the same one Thomas had every time the door opened. They talked for hours. Well, minutes, but Thomas fantasized hours. He was so sure he would not be chosen, he just wanted to talk to them for as long as possible.

“Thomas, would you like to come home with us?”

He did not know how to react. His heart felt like exploding. He looked around at all the other kids, all the younger kids. Much better than him, according to the yelling lady. Much cleaner. Instead of saying yes right away, instead of jumping and hugging the good people, instead of bursting out tears of joy, he asked one question only.

“Are you sure?” He said, avoiding eye contact for he felt unworthy.

“Yes, we are honey.” The good woman stroked Thomas's hair, and it felt good. The other good woman kneeled and put her hand on his shoulder.

“We want you to come with us, Thomas. We will take care of you.”

Thomas noticed on the corner of his eye the yelling lady. She was more disgusted than usual. Only that time, it was not at the kids or Thomas. It was at the good people. He soon realized they were different than most. The yelling lady hated different.

“Yes.” He said, whispering so low he could barely hear his voice.

“Yes.” He said, loud enough for the two good women to hear.

“Yes.” He yelled, bursting out in tears, and hugging the good woman that was finally choosing him.

He was finally going to cross the magic door. The door only good people could open.

The yelling lady left right after Thomas said yes. The two women grabbed his hand and walked out with him. Some kids said bye to Thomas, some didn’t. He waved back at them all.

As they left, one of the women closed the door behind them. After a few feet, Thomas stopped abruptly.

“Wait.” He said, letting go of their hands.

“What’s wrong Thomas?” They asked, looking a little worried.

Thomas ran back and faced the door. It was right in front of him. It looked larger than usual. The two women stayed back, watching him. Thomas grabbed the handle and took a deep breath. He slowly opened the door to reveal once again, the room with all the kids, still talking and playing with toys and with each other.

He opened the door. He was happy.

As he walked back to the two women, Thomas felt a strange urge to smile. And so, he did.