Beyond The Door

“Mornin’ Homie!” Mike shouted, waking me up.

“Hh — huh?” I irritably grunted.

“Rise and shine! It’s Saturday.”

“5:30 am in the Saturday that is! Why the heck would you wake me up this early?”

“’Cause it’s Saturday.”

“So?”

“And you oldie sister’s coming.”

“Wait, what!?” I was surprised. What would my older sister do here in our house? Mike explained everything downstairs.

“Your older sister is coming for a visit remember? She dropped a letter two weeks ago.”

“Really? Where is it?”

“Haven’t you checked above the fridge?[color]” I look at the said fridge.

“Wait, I never saw this before.”

“Never saw it or never noticed it? ‘Cause I placed it on the fridge the day that letter came.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course, I even— ” He was about to say something until a tall, white, brown-haired woman wearing matching red clothes came inside our house. She wore some bracelets in both wrists and three necklaces. She had her lip painted with red velvet lipstick and her fingers with red and pink manicure.

“Hey, how’s my little brother’s been doing down here!?” the lady spoke.

“T — Tt — Taya…?”

The woman came in and gave me a hug like there’s no tomorrow.

“You forgot the letter again, didn’t you?” she said, still hugging me.

“Okay, okay, I forgot it. ” I struggled. “Would you please put me down so I can breathe?”

I panted as she placed me down on the floor.

“So, umm…Taya Crocker, right?” Mike asked.

“Yes, and you?”

“He’s my roommate, Michael Chislett, or Mike for short.”

“Well nice to meet you. Anyways, I’m here to pick you up and your friend here if he won’t mind.”

“Where are we going?”

“Well, since tomorrow is weekends, and it’s your school holidays, we’re going to New York just to visit old Uncle Adams. He sent me a letter to visit him this week.”

“He did? How is he now?”

“Well, like I said, he’s a bit old but he’s still strong. He owns an antique shop in New York and is a very skillful when it comes to business. By the way, you really need to get dressed and pack up. And how about you Mike? Would you like to come?”

“Well, don’t mind if I do.”

“So what are you all waiting for? Go pack your things and get dressed; and you don’t mind if I check what’s on the fridge?”

“Yeah, and there’s some cake if you want.

So, while my older sister’s “investigating” our fridge, I and Mike arranged our clothes and stuffs in our suitcase. It wasn’t long until we’re finely dressed and our suitcases. I and Mike wore some winter clothes with scarves.

“Why are you all dressed like that?” Taya asked as we went out of our rooms. “Why it’s still September!”

“It’s a free country; you can dress what you want.” We laughed as Taya rolled her eyes.

We then both walked downstairs as all of us went outside. I noticed that Taya still has that cake of hers.

“Wait, is that our cake you’re eating?”

“What? Oh, you said I can have some, right? You’re the one who told me there’s cake in your fridge.”

“Well, yeah but, I thought you’d only get one piece…”

“Yeah, that’s what you thought.”

“Boy, your sister sure is hungry” Mike whispered.

“It’s only a cake. You haven’t met her real self yet” I whispered back.

“Well come one, get in the car”

“What car?”

“This one, just beside me” she pointed out a red, classy, car behind her.

“Hold on, you own a car!?” I doubted.

“Hey, mind to tell you that I’m the one spending your college funds, your lunch monies, and your pony merchandises!” she yelled a bit.

“Just saying; there’s no need to be upset.”

“Just get in.” We frankly obeyed.

As we got inside, she placed our suitcases at the back of the car. She then got inside and made the wheels roll. It was one heck of a ride, but I’m not gonna tell all of it. Why? ‘Cause it’s too long and boring so I’ll just skip to the part wherein we made it to NY.

So, yeah, we’re here now at New York, it’s already night, and we stopped by and old shop selling nothing but vintage clocks and some antiques. The shop is nice though, kinda like a restaurant but instead of selling foods it sells old stuffs. We all hopped out of the car, grabbed our suitcases, and went inside. As we opened the door an old, fat, shaggy man walked towards Taya and hugged her. She hugged him back.

“Hey! How’s my little niece doing?” the man said. “And you brought some of your friends too?”

“Actually, this is my younger brother Matt and his friend Mike.”

The man looked at me, somewhat surprised and amazed. I got a bit nervous, so did Mike.

“That…that’s Matt?” he said.

“Well, yeah.”

He came closer to me, staring at my eyes. This is starting to get creepy if you ask me. In fact, I’m starting to sweat already.

“Uhm…hi. I – uhh…I’m…Matt, Matthew Crocker, or Matt for short.” I said nervously.

“Why Matt, you’ve grown!” he chuckled. “Have you forgotten who I am?”

“If I’m not mistaken, you’re Uncle Adams, right?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Adamson Smith if you have forgotten” he answered, going back to his wooden counter. “And it seems that you’ve changed for the past seven years! Hah, well come one. I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.”

Uncle Adams took us upstairs to a hall with many rooms. It was grand! As if you were walking on the red carpet.

“Here’s where your sister will be staying.”

He opened the door of a room. When we looked inside, it was quite large. It has a bed, a TV, a computer, and a small bathroom.

“I don’t mean to ask” said Mike, “But why do you have so many rooms like this?”

“Actually, this house was not mine" said Uncle Adams. "It belongs to my great ancestor Neoi the Pharisee. He was one of the greatest Pharisees in Israel during Jesus’ time until he escaped to Rome. He has traveled so many places like Athens, Britain, and many more. He then decided to live here in America. This house was built by his hands and was carried down to many generations. I’m currently the housekeeper and soon you Matt will be the next owner of this house and so is this antique shop of mine.”

I was delighted by Uncle Adams’ words. Me, the next key holder of this house! My mind is playing so many scenes right now: me standing at the door of the antique shop while greeting my customers, me lying at the finest bed here in the city, and me…daydreaming too early. Nah, forget about daydreaming. What’s important is that I’ll be the next housekeeper and that soon I’ll have a business of my own.

“And this is where you boys will be staying in the night.”

He showed us the same room Taya had; only it has a double-decked bed. It’s still kinda nice though. So we went inside and placed our suitcases under the bed and changed our clothes for the night.

“If you need anything I’ll be downstairs. Until then, have a good night.” he said as he waved all of us a goodbye.

“So, your planes for tomorrow weekend?” Mike asked.

“I think I’ll explore this house for a while” I answered as I climbed up the top bed while Mike’s staying at the bottom bed.

“Sounds fun!”

“It will!”