When one door closes another one opens

Mirella stood, holding her mug of coffee and staring out the large bay window that faced the front parking lot of the warehouse where she worked.  

She had made a mistake; the snow had picked up much quicker than she had anticipated. There was no way she’d be able to make it home in this blizzard, especially not with her little ‘05 Kia, she’d be blown off the road before she made it to the highway. 

Everyone else had left already, Mirella had planned on leaving over an hour ago but she had been trying to figure out a particularly stubborn accounting problem in their computers and had lost track of time.  

She sighed and sipped her coffee as she turned away from the window and headed back to her desk. Settling heavily in her chair she spun around a bit before stopping herself, back facing her desk. 

Mirella sipped at her coffee again as she regarded the doors that sat about ten yards behind her desk. The accountant had only been with this company for a few months; however, she couldn’t recall ever seeing anyone go through this set of doors.  

There were several other doors around the large open floor office space that were used regularly, the doors on the far right that led to the loading docks, the two doors on the left that lead to her supervisor and assistant supervisors' offices, and the main doors at the front of the warehouse that led to the parking lot. 

She had used many of these doors herself, but Mirella had never stepped foot through the doors at the back of the warehouse.  

She set down her mug and stood from her desk before making her way to the doors, she was stuck here for the foreseeable future and it wasn’t like she had been told she couldn’t go through the doors.  

She reached her hand out and grabbled the handle, Mirella was expecting the doors to be locked, honestly. However, the knob twisted under her hand and she pushed the door open. On the other side was a long, dark hallway. 

The accountant returned to her desk and grabbed her cell phone and a flashlight she kept in her purse for emergencies before returning and tentatively stepping through the still open door.

About 5 feet down the hall there were two more doors, one on her left and one on her right. She reached for the handle to the door on her left and slowly opened it. 

It opened to a dark room with another door on the opposite wall. This door was different from all the others in the warehouse, there was a light above it and a window set into the door that said Bella’s Bakery across it. Peering past the lettering on the window Mirella could see what looked to be a... Bakery? 

Yet again she reached out, carefully opening the door. A bell chimed above the door as it opened and the man standing behind the counter looked up and greeted her. Careful to not let the door shut behind her, Mirella looked around the bakery. It was daylight here and there was no snow to be seen. There were large windows around the entire shop with little tables set around the open floor space. 

The accountant was way beyond confused at this point, she turned around and could see the dark room and the hallway beyond that she had come from but she was standing in the doorway of a bakery. She took a second and looked more closely at the people in the bakery, the clothes they were wearing were... odd, almost as if everyone here was from the 1930’s. 

The man behind the counter called out to her again, “please, come in, what can I get for you today?” 

Mirella’s eyes flicked to the man before quickly stepping out of the door way and closing the door, through the window she could see a confused look cross the man’s face before he shrugged and started to wipe down the counter. 

Quickly Mirella stepped back into the hallways and looked through the door that was still open at the end of the hall. From here she could see her desk with her coat on her chair and her bag on the desktop but if she turned her head the bakery door was still right there just inside the dark room. 

She turned to face the door on the right side of the hallway, taking a deep breath she pushed this door open as well. Just inside of this room was yet another door that, again, looked different. This one was wooden and worn, as if it had been here for a very long time.

Stepping forward Mirella threw this door open, it opened wide before hitting something and stopping. The noise scared several birds that were sitting in the trees beyond. More confused than she had ever been she stepped just inside this door, making sure it couldn’t close with her on the wrong side of it. 

The ground under her feet squished as she looked up at the forest she was standing in. It was overcast here but again there was no snow. Looking up through the trees the accountant could see the sky and clouds but if she looked back through the door, she could still see the dark room and hallway beyond.  

Carefully, she peered around the door frame. Mirella gasped as she realized there was nothing behind the door, just more forest. The door was free standing in the middle of the woods. Taking another step into the forest Mirella heard a twig snap somewhere off to her right she gasped in shock before grabbing the door and slamming it shut. 

She quickly made her way out of the hallway and back into the relative safety of the office. Leaving the door open she slowly backed up until she felt her chair behind her. Without looking she turned the chair and heavily sat in it, still keeping her eyes on the open door at the back of the room. 

The accountant sat like this for a long time, just listening to her own breathing and watching the door as her mind raced.  

After some time, Mirella stood from her chair and made her way back to the door. Taking a deep breath, she made her way back down the hallway stopping in between the first two doors which were both still open. 

Looking she saw that the bakery door and the worn wooden door were both still right where she had left them. She peered further down the hallway before tentatively continuing to the next set of closed doors. She pushed them both open and peeked into the dark rooms beyond.  

On the left, there was a metal door, it was in an oval shape and had a metal wheel in the middle instead of a door knob, almost like it was a door in a submarine.  

On the right was a regular looking door, like the front door to someone's house, there were porch lights on either side of it and a Christmas wreath on it blocking most of the window. 

Not wanting to walk into someone’s home uninvited Mirella stepped into the left room. She carefully laid her hand on the door before reaching to turn the wheel. The wheel spun easily and the door opened up to reveal that it was a door on some kind of watercraft. Whether a boat or a sub Mirella wasn’t sure from what she could see.  

She carefully stepped through but the second her foot hit the floor of the watercraft she started to realize she could feel the ship rocking though the waves. Before she could step out of the doorway onto solid ground the ship lurched forward, throwing Mirella through the door and slamming it shut behind her.  

She looked at the closed door as terror settled in her chest, jumping up she whipped the door open praying that there would be a dark room on the other side. Instead, there was just more ship. Panic began to settle over her as she tried to close the door and open it a few more times but every time she did it was just the same brightly lit hallway on the other side.  

She slid down the wall until she was sitting. The accountant was trying to keep her breathing steady but a panic attack was trying to settle over her mind. She placed her head between her knees and took a few minutes to just breath and come back to herself, it was harder though with how much the ship was rocking.  

After a few minutes she stood, carefully making her way down the hallway, she needed to figure out where she was and how she could possibly get back to where she was supposed to be. She’d only made it a few feet down the hall when a door to her left opened up.

Mirella was about to try and explain she wasn’t a stow away when a man, who didn’t look like he belonged on a ship, looked right at her. 

Before she could say anything, the man spoke, “there you are, come here.” 

He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the door. As soon as her feet hit the while tiles on the other side of the door the rocking of the ship stopped. 

“We noticed a time jumper; I assume you didn’t jump on purpose?” Mirella shook her head. “Alright, give me a second and I'll have a door loaded up to take you back.” 

The accountant was even more confused, if that was possible. She was standing in a completely blank, white room, the man in front of her had dark hair and a silver jumpsuit on with some kind of badge or logo on the left breast. He was tapping away at a tablet, “this will just take a minute.” 

Given that there wasn’t much to look at, Mirella just stood there and waited for this man to tell her what to do next.  

Suddenly he looked up, “okay, so the door behind you will take you back to your offices, in the future please refrain from opening, or going into, any doors that you do not recognize or are not familiar with.” 

Turning around the accountant noticed that the door behind her now looked like one of the basic metal doors that were the standard in the warehouse. The man reached past her and pulled the door open, suddenly she was looking at the right side of her very own desk, almost as if she were standing in her supervisors' doorway.  

She stepped through and heard the man call out behind her, “have a nice day,” as he closed the door behind her. Turning around she found herself in front of her supervisors' door, she went to open the door again and found it was locked. She backed away from the door until she ran into her desk, she whipped her head around to look at the door at the back of the room. It was shut. She made her way over to it and tried to open it, locked. 

Making her way back to her desk she held onto the back of her chair to ground herself. After a few minutes she looked out the front windows again, the snow had stopped.  

She gathered her coat and her purse before making her way out of the building. She was so caught up in her own thoughts she barely noticed that the parking lot and the roads were almost completely clear as she made her way home. 

The next morning, she got up and got ready for work just like she did every day, assuming her life would just go on after her experience with the time traveling doors and the odd space man. However, once she arrived at work it was a different story.  

She swiped her badge to open the doors and made her way to her desk where she set down her purse before taking off her coat. Suddenly one of the other accountants, and her close friend, Max, burst out of their supervisor's office.  

“Mirella!?” 

Startled, Mirella looked up to see her friend running at her before wrapping his arms around her in hug, as he spoke, he sounded like he was about to start crying. 

“Oh my god, Mirella, I can’t believe you're back! We all assumed the worst when you didn’t show up on Tuesday! I went over to your house to check on you and you weren't there either! I let myself in to make super sure you weren’t there. Oh! I fed Mittens too. Oh my god I'm so glad you're okay! Where have you been? It's not like you to disappear for days at a time and not tell anyone!” 

Max pulled away from her and looked at her expectantly but Mirella could not figure out what he was asking her, “what do you mean days at a time? I was here yesterday?” 

Max started shaking his head, “you were here on Monday, Mirella, it’s Friday.” 

The accountant took a step back before falling into her chair, “how can it be Friday? I was only on that ship for maybe 10 minutes.” 

Max looked concerned as he knelt down in front of her, “Mira, hunny, what ship? We are hours from any ships.” 

Taking a deep breath, Mirella launched into one of the wildest stories she was ever going to tell.