A Serenade for the Innocent 24 A Preparation Before a Return

It was there for this reason. It was there for this door. It's my gateway to the unknown dreamlike landscape of a rather hellish dimension that was quite literally out of this world.

It's a simple brown door with no engravings, no designs, and nothing special I could describe it that would make it stand out when I pin it against most other doors. It's a wooden door accompanied with planks around—except the space below—as means of supporting it. A flat wooden door with a normal-looking steel doorknob that one would often see in cheap motels. It's not connected anywhere; it's not a part of my apartment either. This shabby-looking, brown, wooden door just suddenly appeared out of nowhere just like it always does around this time of the year.

I directed my gaze off it for a few minutes to gaze at the small calendar hanging on the wall beside my shoe rack.

"Today is Thursday so, uhh... Let's see... No, it's October 3 last year, so they wouldn't do it on October 3 again, then... Ahh... Today is October 8. I was expecting it to come a little bit later, maybe next week."

I rushed towards a small cabinet beside my small bookshelf. "Now where have I put it?" I murmured to myself as I pull all my clothes off the cabinet and throwing it a few inches behind me. "I'm sure it was here."

Finally, after pulling almost a quarter of my clothes out of my cabinet, I saw what I was looking for. A white polo shirt and a white pair of pants, slightly wrinkled but perfectly functional still. I pulled a small compartment below my cabinet open and took the only thing inside of it. It was a dark navy blue suit with a black and white diagonal stripe pattern on its edges. I took my grease on top of my cabinet and swiped my hair with it sideways while I whistle Made in Heaven, not forgetting to move my body a little while doing it. After that, I wore a white sleeveless shirt before wearing my white polo shirt. I looked at the door with my polo shirt still unbuttoned while I pull my white trousers.

Hrrrnnggggggghhhh...

I don't know why, but the lone door standing in the middle of my flat started to emit a subtle noise, so unbearably silent, but it is one that I could still properly hear. Like the growling fan of an old CPU, the door seems to be whispering something to me, beckoning me to finally swung it open once and for all to unravel what lies within its far reaches.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming, Jesus. What's with all the rush?"

 Haaaaauuuuuurrrnngghhh...

The thin little spaces around the door suddenly showed a violet gleam, making it seem like the door itself is covered in a pillar of a thin, violet piece of paper. The noise it emits also grew a bit louder too, but not loud enough for my old neighbors to hear. At least the organization is still considerate enough to know that their customers value their anonymity and the quiet life I wish to uphold.

"No need to be so angry," I said as I button my polo shirt up. "There's no need to rush, okay? I'm going geez." I added while tucking my polo shirt inside my white trousers.

The grumbling noise coming from the brown door slowly quieted down and the violet light gleaming from the thin crevices around it started to dim till it darkens entirely. I wore my navy blue suit while looking for a tie that would better suit my outfit. I thought using black would be too predictable for me to do, so instead, I picked something that the man of the hour might like: a red tie with a white diagonal stripe pattern. I looked at the mirror, trying to see if my look would suit the taste of my "friends" that will be coming with me once I entered through that door. Finally, after a few moments of contemplation, I realized that it would be futile to think too much about it now that I have worn the entire damn attire. I took my brown leather shoes from the shoe rack and went straight to the door in the middle of my apartment after I smoothly fit my feet within the holes of the shoes without untying the laces.

I looked at the door with a sigh and grabbed the doorknob, feeling the enigmatic surge of absolute tremor seeping through my veins as I grabbed on that cold, metallic knob.

I let go of it. I did not know why, but something inside me thought I must let go of that doorknob.

"Ah..." I whispered. "Of, course, I forgot the mask." It wouldn't be a proper masquerade if I wouldn't wear a mask now, eh? I lazily grabbed the white plague doctor mask and wore the dusty old thing as indolently as I took it. The mask barely covers the entirety of my face, but I think it was designed that way. It spanned from my forehead down the space bellow my nose but just above my lips. The beak-like cone around the area of my nose and my mouth was deliberately sliced half; thus it looks like Zoro's mask, but it had a beak-like design dangling forward. It also had a thin rope laced on top of the beak of my mask to give off an aesthetic that it was cut lengthwise and mended back using a lace. 

Finally, I swung the door open, hearing its creaks as I see the light peer within the door. One might expect to see the other side of my apartment once they opened the door, but what I got instead is a blinding light of an iridescent chaos. I still vaguely remembered that I thought I was tripping when I first opened this door. I still do. Oh, I still do.

The light coming from the other side of the door is blinding; it's almost too much for my feeble eyes to take; thus, I swiftly closed my eyes as tight as I could while raising my hand to further remove my sight off the piercing spears of light that would otherwise cause my eyes to bleed till its inevitable doom—my inevitable doom. However, even if I did so, I could still see the light piercing through the cracks in my eyes, causing me to see a maddening red hue.

I laughed as I feel the pain in my eyes.

"IT'S HERE! I'M FINALLY HERE AGAIN!" I yelled with my eyes closed.

Thus, I fell on a downward spiral of a blinding typhoon of light as I hear the deafening growls of hundreds of souls touching my feeble body. 

"You're back."

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"You're here again."

"Fall with us." 

"You're back."

"You're back."

"You're back."

I'm back.

Chapter end