The Locked Door

She needed to sell the antiques her mother has been asking of her over and over and over again. Where? She thought of eBay, but she wasn’t sure whether she would be able to do so with her limited knowledge of the financial world. Her father told her to sell those items of hers (collectibles from the 90’s) in her closet that has collected dust and mothballs forever. Such valuables shouldn’t be collecting dust and moth like Gold shouldn’t waste her time by procrastinating on selling her decades-old collectibles. She should be doing as told—something she feared. Failure of success only brought doom of life. Doom of life brought frustration. Life was too golden to be frustrated. So Gold waited for the golden opportunity.                

The perfect opportunity to, well, get to everything. When she did. She knew she had things to do. But didn’t until people forced her. She didn’t like that. She wished others would do things for her. But they never did.        

Sighing, the teenager opened her closet, wishing she would have some fun instead of always working on things she didn’t understand. She knew they were important things, but if she were to try something, she’d immediately push it away. Suddenly, vibrantly beautiful moths and big silver bunnies escaped her closet, flying and hopping around in her bedroom! The teenager stared, bug-eyed, as she couldn’t help but watch all the bunnies twitch their ears and rub their noses with the wide undersides of their paws and the moths flitter about as they boasted of fuchsia, emerald, sapphire, ruby and hot pink. Falling to her knees, the teenager cried out in glee at the bunnies’ whiskers brushing against her arms and hands, the moths’ unusually brightly colored wings shimmering overhead under the ceiling fan’s lamp. Collecting a bunny into her arms, she stroked its velvety fur, speaking softly to it as its ears, pinned back, twitched ever so slightly.              

“Gold, please—”

The pounding of footsteps so alerted her that she hurried everyone into the closet, shutting it and then spinning around to see her mother with her hands on her hips, standing beside her dark oak dresser. “What are you doing? Did you unwrap and—” She craned her neck and frowned, eyebrows furrowed pretty much as to make a uni-brow, at the double-doored closet her daughter struggled to hold closed. Try as she would, she could not fully secure the doors, and all the bunnies and moths flooded out into her room.

“What—in—the—world—” Her mother panicked, hurrying out of the room. Ordering her daughter to get those crazy animals out of the house, her mother shut the front door. Soon, everyone all settled down, the moths landing on her bunk bed’s cream ladder and the bunnies either sitting or standing in front of it.

“I have to do this stuff, or I’ll…” Sighing, the teenager sat down at her desk’s computer. “I’ll disappoint my mother. I don’t want my mother to be upset.” She opened her window’s blinds and looked outside, “She needs to come home with a big smile on her face!

“I’m sorry, guys. I…” She shook her head. “I’m just fourteen. Mom wants all these things—” She got up, opened her closet and unpacked her belongings, telling herself to be strong and willing to do her best with what she’s got knowledge-wise. “I’m just in high school. I don’t know finances. Dad’s been telling me since I was in elementary school—he’s a banker and a financial consultant—but I just don’t get it!”

She looked at all the bunnies. She wished today was Friday or Saturday, not Sunday. She sighed, told the bunnies and moths to wait until she had sold everything so she could hold and snuggle with them, and forced herself to focus on her little business.

Placing every collectible—Pokèmon cards, American Girl Doll dolls and books, Beanie Babies, Bratz Dolls and other memorable childhood toys—onto her wide oval desk next to her computer, the teen typed each name of each object into the search bar. Hours later, she had a whole list of collectibles with listed prices. Smiling a little, the teen nodded. That’s one accomplishment down. Now, for the selling part. She checked to see if her mother was back—no, the cyan minivan still wasn’t in the driveway—and then continued to auction off the awesomely expensive toys. A few minutes later, the teen gasped as to how she had managed to sell one of her cards for $5500! The next card was $4000.

Wow! The excited teen spun right around at her friends—and then stopped, shaking her dirty blond head.

“You know, it’s weird to celebrate something you wouldn’t understand. I can’t rejoice with animals. It’s just weird. I’ll tell my friends at school tomorrow. They’ll understand because they’re not—”

“Imagined!” Huffed a bunny, stomping a foot and hopping over, his beady little eyes glaring up at the teen. “Imagined. Hah! I’m a dust bunny, but I can see things as well as you!” He jumped over to her swivel chair’s black wheel, maneuvered around it and started crawling along the plastic leg. Soon, he was hanging from the arm. The teen picked him up by his scruff, showing him her sales.          

“See? Do you understand $4000, Bunny?”

“The name’s Riot, thank you very much!” The bunny kicked and pounded the air with his grey and white paws. “And I’m—”

“A dust bunny.” The teen put the bunny down, turned around, continuing with the auctions. Hours later, after crossing off every item, the teen leapt from her chair and jogged towards her mother, throwing her arms around her.          

“Mom, Mom, I sold everything. I’m no longer behind the locked door of frustration. I’m a business tycoon!” Bringing her mother into the room, the teen proved her powers of finance. Grinning from ear to ear, she shook her head. “It’s amazing! I’m a rich—”

“That’s great, honey.” The mother bobbed her head. “But, Gold, I’m not sure whether you did that right. Are you sure you sold all those toys the right way?” She sat down, scrolling through the pages. When she said Gold needed to pay fees for all the profit she’d made, the teen nodded.

“Yeah, I did research and then I sold all my merchandise. I did what I needed to—”         

A stiff silence, and then, “Fine.” The mother got up and walked out of the room. Gold claimed each toy’s name meant something to her. Not one toy went without a name, much less love. It was extremely difficult to let go of such ironically priceless toys.

Why didn’t her mother appreciate her talent the way her father would? Why didn’t Mom see that?

Riot demanded he give her a piece of his mind after being stuffed in that closet forever. “All I am is a dust bunny. I’ll never be—”

“Anyone important. Well, when my mother doesn’t even appreciate my talent, I don’t really what to do, either!” The teen’s eyes blazed down at Riot, her voice edgy. “I did as her mother said. Please don’t blame me. I’m just someone behind a locked door. A door of confusion and…” She shook her head. “Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe my mother just wanted my stuff to stop gathering dust and moth—”

“Hey!” Riot roared. “What about us?” Some bunnies held him back, as he stood on his two hind legs, swinging at the air. “We’re important. We’ll help you see that we’re all important. Please. Let us do something! Set us free in the fields, and we’ll chase away all those deer eating your plants and pesky foxes crying in the night—” 

But the teen had already swung around as she continued gaining profit and eventually, years later, making a business out of selling stuff on market sites and even giving chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookies to her neighbors, relatives and friends from school to raise college money and save for retirement. She didn’t open her closet to enjoy all the bunnies and moths: her cheeks would become crimson and then blood-red with the heat of anger should her friends ever know she ever befriended dust and mothballs. She wasn’t four, someone said, as they talked right outside her closet door. They’re just stuff to sweep away.

Suddenly, there was a kick, and the friend jumped. Oh, the teen stuttered, that’s just…maybe a ball had dropped. A bowling ball! The friend announced to everyone at school. They all laughed. Shrugging with her hands in her pockets, Gold laughed nervously, saying she didn’t have a bowling ball. Who knows? Things happen.   

Wierdo. The friend darted off, followed by the other kids. The teen pursed her lips, checking to see whether the thing that had fallen was really a ball. But nothing was there. The teen stared down at a ticked Riot. His eyes glowered with fiery anger, and his adorable chest puffed out greatly. “Get us out of here!” He roared. The teen slammed the door right on him, and her friends ran back into her room, looking all around.

“Nothing, nothing.” The teen’s embarrassed grin turned into quivering lips that night as she struggled not to cry too hard at her friends’ dismissal of her. “They don’t like me anymore. I’m not…not…” She buried her head in her arms, and stayed on her bed, curled up, knees up to her chin. Hearing her mother’s footsteps draw nearer to her room, the teen threw out that her friends were her best friends from childhood. To merely run out on her because she—

“Your friends don’t understand your fantasy stories, dear. Gold, I don’t know whether you’ll be able to hang out with those kinds of girls—”

“Mom, I’m a business tycoon. I don’t understand—”

“Gold, they’re different.” Her mother spread her arms and told her to come over and let her wrap her in her arms. “They don’t understand someone as precious as you could be into more…interesting things. Come on. You’re graduating tomorrow. Take the golden opportunity to enjoy your best achievement yet!

The next morning, Gold put on her graduation cap and gown, mumbling something to the bunnies and moths that she’d be back. After she left, Riot growled that she was lying, but one of the bunnies told him to practice patience. Riot rounded on him, throwing out that he’d come here out of the closet, and he wasn’t just something in someone’s closet meant to get thrown away. “I thought she trusted us. Now, she’s gone. Probably forever.

“Besides, I could protect this family from deer and foxes and other nasties.” Riot turned around, looking at the slit of light coming in between the doors. “I guess I belong somewhere. I don’t know where, but, like that human, I don’t belong behind a locked door.” He started pushing and throwing himself against it. It opened! Then he searched for—what was her name? Gold?—throughout the house. She’s gone, a bunny told him once they got to the kitchen. She’s gone to her graduation. Whatever that is.

“Let’s go find her. She’s got to see how we can help her get her friends back!” Riot escaped around a corner and a couch all the way towards the front door. Staring up at this humongous thing in front of him, he saw no way out and so thought he’d had lost her. She should’ve stayed! He slammed a curled paw against the door. She should’ve—

“Riot, she’s a human. We’re silver dust bunnies. She’s never coming back for us. She’s moving on.”

“Yeah, well, we’re valuable—”

“Give it up, Ri. We’re not humans or anything Gold can befriend.”

At the graduation, Gold told her mother she’d like a pet to keep her company while she studies in her bedroom. Her mother said she’d think about it and then told her she’ll have to think about caring for an animal when she’s got college work to do and studies to focus on, too. Can you handle all of that? Her mother wondered.   

Gold walked around, visiting friends (other friends who weren’t looking at her, whispering about the Oakton Community College students). That night, when Gold was resting on her bed, a riotous noise happened inside the closet. Hopping off, she opened the door.

“About time!” Riot jammed his paws on his sides. “Wherever you were, you couldn’t—”

“Riot, I’m a human. And you’re a bunny. I’m in college. But, please, understand something.” Gold bent down. “Please understand that I have a life, and so do you. Here.” She widened the gap of the opened door. “Now all your friends can come and go as they please.” She dashed out of the room, calling for all of them. “Go—fulfill your dreams, little bunnies and moths! Don’t hesitate to courageously face your fears. Maybe if I watch you, I’ll be doing the same thing.” Then she sighed, envy seeping through her bones. “Maybe if…I were you, I wouldn’t have to suffer such pointlessness as college and loneliness.”        

“Well,” Riot countered as he ran to meet her at the front door, “don’t see why you can’t be a human. I mean, you’re not just swept away. You have all the power in the world to change. We don’t!”

“‘Gold’ is just a name to me. I never won gold at anything. I guess…” Gold sighed. “I guess I just need to open the locked door and march right through. You know, Riot,” she smiled a little. “Your bold moves really inspire me!” 

Riot stared up at Gold, and she laughed. “I’ve got all the pets I can handle. I’ve all the friends I can befriend. You guys aren’t just dust bunnies and mothballs. I can’t explain it, but you’re also my family. I can’t bond with money. But I can trust you guys, right?”

And she put out her hands, Riot hopping up into them and wiggling his tail. She said she’d have to do more than just befriend dust bunnies and mothballs. Her home was not her life. Gold had an idea, and opened the front door after everyone had gotten to it.

“Go, everyone. Be free! One day, I’ll meet you, and we’ll both be free—just in different ways.”

“You mean—”

“Yes!” Gold demanded, jerking her finger. Ignoring her mother’s wondering voice, Gold watched them all flee out the door after opening it. Bye, everyone. Be free. Here is your golden opportunity—to shine forth in life! 

She wished she knew what became of Riot. When she wasn’t swamped with her internship at a bank or homework or shopping and being entertained by movies and parties with her boyfriend and coworkers, Gold took the golden opportunity to look inside her closet. Sniffing, she blinked back tears, closing her closet so that she didn’t cry.

She wouldn’t be caught dead crying in front of her boyfriend, who stopped by her room to tell her they were leaving for the movie in a few minutes. Gold nodded, and walked out, hands deep in her jean pockets, a frown on her face and melancholy thick in her throat. She missed Riot and his antics of defiance. When, at the movies, she laughed at a thought of Riot, he gave her a weird look.

“Oh,” she grinned, “Nothing. I—”

“Do you like the movie?”

“Yeah…” Gold watched it, her mind back in her room, talking with Riot.

It was weird to show gratitude to a dust bunny, but Gold felt she needed to do it. No friend went betrayed. Maybe she’ll strike gold. For the very first time.

Gold visited Riot and all her other friends, making little homes for them. Telling them she was adopting them as pets, Gold swelled with pride. At least I can take care of you guys! Weird how I’m caring for dust bunnies and moths from mothballs, but, still, can’t I? This world needs to see past others’ physical traits so it can believe in others. Natural or not, everyone’s got golden opportunities to prove themselves, right? 

Riot told her he wanted to be more than just a pet. Gold bit her lip. “But I just adopted you.” Maybe this is my golden opportunity—to make others happy with themselves. Gold waved them all off, wishing at least Riot would stay. As she closed the door when she got home, a bittersweet feeling washed over her. I let Riot go, but… She had watched as he had hopped away. Can’t he stay a little longer? Then it occurred to her. Gold studied Riot. He would lunge at deer and scamper up lamp posts and her deck to chase squirrels and birds away. He said he avoided all flowers and bushes, tempting as they were to him and his bunny family.

But, he said, please don’t forget me.

Gold promised.

As Fall’s leaves died and Winter’s snow covered the earth, Gold saw Riot’s protection against wild animals as golden opportunities to stay with her. One day, Gold realized she could shapeshift into a dust bunny. Frolicking with Riot was a golden opportunity for Gold to be with Riot. And Riot with Gold.

I guess, Gold told Riot one evening in a field, Gold isn’t just a name. It’s a word full of meaning and purpose!

Riot nodded. Yep! Thanks, Gold, for freeing me. Without you, we’d still be—

Behind the locked door. 

Yeah—whatever that is.

Gold laughed. Never mind. I’ll tell you soon enough.

Not right now?

You’re just a dust bunny.

You are, too. But, he shook his head, a human, too.

Yeah, but I’m glad you’re out here and I’m in there.

Why? I thought you didn’t like those girls. They were mean.

Well, we moved on.

Oh. Well…See ya. Riot hopped away.

Gold wondered whether he was gone forever. And Riot wondered whether Gold was gone forever, too.