The Locked Door

A man’s heart is like a house, but what happens if the door is locked? What happens when the blinds are shut and the windows are sealed? What happens when no one is allowed in and the emotions are not allowed out? The residents forget to pay the bills. They forget to talk to their neighbors, leaving the neighborhood distanced by fences. The key is thrown away and people think the house is empty. The water is turned off and the lights go out. The residents sit in darkness. 

Shawn sat in what felt like a lifetime of darkness as he sat alone in the cafeteria. People passed behind him. People passed in front of him. Their words were muffled as he ate in silence. He had grays under his once bright blue eyes. He was tired, but sleep was no trouble for him. He looked up and scanned the cafeteria. His eyes locked with those belonging to a blurry face. He immediately looked back down and did not look back up for the rest of the day. 

In the house that was Shawn’s heart, the residents were sitting in silence. Before the door had been locked, other residents had moved in. The newer residents were the active ones, while the older ones said and did nothing. “Could today be the day?” Depression asked.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Hurt replied. “The building hasn’t suffered any damage in a while.”

“But what if it crumbles to pieces?” Anxiety asked nervously. 

“Stop moving around!” Fear scolded. “You could cause even further damage.”

“What’s the point?” Broken said. “The house has lost power, so how could anything we do fix it?”

The residents stopped speaking after that. Shawn walked home after school. He passed by more people with muffled voices and blurry faces. His steps and heart beating were the only sounds he could hear. The only thing he could see was gray. For Shawn, there was no light at the end of the tunnel.

As Shawn ate, the faces of his family could not be seen. Their words were muffled, and when Shawn spoke back to them his words were muffled as well. As he lay in bed, a single tear rolled down the side of his face and he fell asleep. “There goes another day,” Depression sighed as the residents shut down for the night. 

The next day Shawn sat alone at lunch. The residents sat in silence. Muffled and blurry people passed by before and behind Shawn. Suddenly, there was a voice that wasn’t muffled. Shawn looked up, and standing in front of him on the opposite side of the table was the girl he could hear clearly, yet her face was still blurry. 

“Hey, Shawn,” said the girl, “we’re in the same science class, and I was wondering if you could help me study for the next test?”

“Um… sure,” Shawn replied hesitantly.

“Great!” the girl exclaimed. “It would really help if we could do it over FaceTime or a call, so here’s my number.”

The girl put a piece of paper in front of Shawn. He in turn wrote his on a napkin he had not used yet and gave it to her. “Here’s mine,” he said quietly. “When do you want to study?”

“Can we do it tomorrow after school?” the girl asked and Shawn nodded. “Yay! Thanks, Shawn! See you later.” She waved as she walked off back to her friends. In the house, dripping from one of the faucets could be heard. The dripping continued as Shawn walked home. It continued as he ate dinner with his family. 

As Shawn lay in bed, one resident spoke up. “I don’t think the day will come very soon,” Depression stated. 

“But do you not hear the sound of the faucet dripping? This could cause the house to crumble!” Fear said back. The residents said no more as Shawn shut his eyes. As the other residents were shutting down, Hope was stirring.

The next night the light above the residents was flickering. The faucet was still dripping as well, but this was not the main concern. “I don’t think the day will come in the near future,” Depression commented. 

“But what if the foundations crumble?” Anxiety asked nervously.

“I don’t think so,” Hope spoke up.

“What do you know?” Fear sneered. “You waking up just makes the house more likely to fall!”

As Shawn went to sleep, so did the residents. He had been happily humming a tune he had heard earlier that day. As he drifted off, a tear did not fall from his eye. Today had not been so bad. He fell asleep with a smile.

The next day Shawn did not sit alone. The girl had been able to recall all the information for the test, so she invited Shawn to sit with her and her friends. As they were talking, Shawn could hear their voices. As he smiled with them, he could see their faces. As they laughed, Shawn could speak. 

All of the lights in the house were flickering. The residents were arguing amongst themselves. Only Hope and Depression remained silent. For the rest of the day the house was in a panic. Fear believed that the house was crumbling because of all the new commotion. Anxiety was worried the house was already falling. Hurt said that the house could not possibly take any more damage. Broken said there was nothing they could do to help the house, so they should leave it alone. As Shawn was falling asleep and the residents were shutting down, Depression whispered, “I don’t think the day will come. Rest easy.”

The next morning, the lights were no longer flickering but were working perfectly. The faucet was still dripping. The blinds were still closed and the windows were still sealed. No other parts of the house had gained power yet, but Fear was not happy with this improvement. “What has happened?” Fear exclaimed. “The house is now sure to fall apart. Why are the lights suddenly working?”

“I fixed them,” Hope replied calmly. 

As Fear protested against this, Anxiety wondered, “Where has Depression gone?”

Over the course of a month, another of the old residents woke up and worked on the house. It was Happy that awoke and fixed the water. While Shawn was at a football game with his new friends, Happy was attempting to unlock the door, but Fear would not allow this to happen. Shawn’s friends were encouraging him to ask out the girl, but Shawn was scared. After the game, as Happy was arguing with Fear, Hope snuck past them and opened the blinds on the windows. The girl and Shawn had been talking, and she had asked Shawn if he would go out with her. Surprised, yet happy, Shawn said yes. 

Broken walked up to the now opened blinds and looked out the windows. “It’s beautiful,” Broken whispered. As Shawn was falling asleep and the residents were doing the same, Broken said, “Fix the foundations.” Broken was no longer in the house the next morning.

Shawn and the girl had decided to go for a picnic as their first date. Yet another old resident had awoken. This was Content, who fixed the wiring and piping of the house. The water ran smoothly and the toilet flushed regularly now. During the date, Content was sitting on the couch enjoying the house. Fear was guarding the door and yelling at Hope for working on unsealing the windows. Happy was trying to have a conversation with Anxiety.

“Why don’t you want to talk to me?” Happy asked with a frown.

“I’m afraid I’ll say or do something wrong,” Anxiety replied sheepishly. “I don’t want you to think less of me or think I’m weird.”

“But I can’t know any of that if you don’t talk to me,” Happy persisted. 

Shawn and the girl were enjoying their date. As the two were talking, their hands found each other. At this moment, Hope opened up all the windows. They were finally unsealed. Fear shrieked at this, but Hurt, who had been staring at the cracks, felt the breeze. He did not say anything until later that night. When Shawn got home after his date, he told his parents about how well it went, but he also admitted that he had been a bit nervous. 

Shawn did not immediately fall asleep that night, for he was so happy about how well the date had gone. He tossed and turned for about twenty minutes, but he did so with a smile on his face. When he finally started to fall asleep, Hurt said to Happy, “Fill in the cracks, would ya?” When Shawn woke up there was one less resident in the house.

The old residents worked on the house and fixed it up before Shawn’s third date with the girl. The second date had gone just as well as the first one. Anxiety simply sat on the floor and did nothing. Anxiety did not know what to do. Fear grumpily guarded the door. It was not to be unlocked while under Fear’s watchful eye. 

During the third date, Content and Happy were talking to Anxiety while Hope was working on filling in the cracks. Fear was still guarding the door. As the date was going smoothly, Anxiety was beginning to speak confidently to Happy and Content. By the end of the date, Anxiety was leading the conversation and kept it going.

Shawn took the girl home. They ran to her door because it was raining. Fear walked over to the couch and sat down. Fear was tired after guarding the door and needed a break. The girl kissed Shawn and they stood there like that for what felt like an eternity, but was really a few seconds. They stood in each other’s embrace as the rain came pouring down, but the rain did not break them apart. In Shawn’s mind, it was a perfect moment. A moment you wish you could save like you save a photo.

When Shawn went to bed Fear was exhausted. As Shawn was falling asleep, Anxiety went up to Fear and said, “Maybe we’ve been doing this all wrong.” Fear merely grunted and the lights went out. The next morning Anxiety was gone, leaving Fear at an all-time high of rage and grumpiness.

That entire day, as the other remaining residents worked on the house, Fear yelled and screamed at them. Fear blamed them for Anxiety and the others leaving. Fear guarded the door and said that if any of them came near it then they would face horrible consequences. Fear would not allow the door to be unlocked. It must not be unlocked. It could not be opened under any circumstances.

As Fear was hurtling curses at the others, someone knocked on the door. This was the first time someone from the outside had wanted to come in since the power went out. Hope, Happy, and Content attempted to unlock and open the door, but Fear stood strong. Fear was not going to let the house fall apart. The house would not crumble or suffer any more damage. The knocking continued for the rest of the day, but Fear did not give in. Even when the darkness came, Fear would not open the door. Fear screamed and yelled until the darkness consumed the house. Just like that, Fear was gone the next morning.

Knock-knock. From the inside, the door was unlocked, and out stepped a young man. “Hi,” he said.

“Hi,” the girl said. “I brought paint. Is there any room for me to stay?”

“You’ll always have a place here,” the boy said with a true smile. The girl smiled back. “Four others are living here: Hope, Happy, Content, and Love. They fixed the house after it was nearly destroyed.”

“I can’t wait to meet them,” the girl said as she took the boy’s hand in her own and followed him inside. In the boy’s hand was a key that he gave to the girl. The door was shut after they entered, but it was never locked again. In front of the door was a mat to welcome in the outside. On the mat were six words: “Home is Where the Heart Is.”