Beyond the Doors by David Neilsen

Author:David Neilsen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2017-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

At first, Sydney figured she’d heard her grandfather wrong. They weren’t stuck in here. That would be wrong. There were other ways out of this place. All they had to do was…

“Whenever a new door is opened, that memory becomes part of your MemorySphere, right?” she asked.

“Yes! Absolutely!” agreed Marcus enthusiastically. “Such a smart girl!”

“So all we have to do is wait for Aunt Gladys to open another door.”

Her grandfather sighed and displayed his sad-puppy face. “Ah. No. You still need a doorknob. They don’t grow on trees.”

Sydney flushed, embarrassed. She should have realized that.

“Aunt Gladys doesn’t remember how to hook up a door in the first place,” interrupted Zack.

“So you say.” Marcus nodded sagely.

The unfamiliar feeling of hopelessness descended upon Sydney. She didn’t like it. “So what do we do?” she asked, determined to find a course of action. “There’s something we can do, isn’t there?”

Their grandfather first shook his head, then nodded, looking more than anything like an out-of-control jack-in-the-box. “For now, I think—”

He gasped and froze in midsentence at the sound of a screen door sliding open above them. “Waggling wombats! Hide!” he hissed, true fear sweeping over his features. He pulled Zack and Sydney down behind a pile of old beach furniture stacked up against the house.

“What—” began Zack.

“Zip it! Zip! Zippity-zip!” Marcus ran his finger across his throat, either telling them to stop talking or indicating that they were going to be beheaded soon. Sydney figured the former.

She tried to imagine what sort of horrific monster stalked these beachside memories. A hideous sand beast? A giant crab? A multitentacled sea monster?

She started momentarily as Zack placed what he probably thought was a reassuring hand on her shoulder. She let him keep it there. He liked to feel he was protecting her, and, to be honest, it was slightly comforting.

The three waited in silence, Sydney straining her ears for signs of the incoming menace. From the look on her grandfather’s face, it was something truly evil.

Eventually, the rhythmic, tranquil beating of the waves against the seashore was finally broken by the oddest of sounds—singing. Someone was singing a sweet, innocent little tune that vaguely reminded Sydney of something she’d heard in a Disney movie. Then the singer came closer, and Sydney could make out the words.

“…with the big red knife that she chopped, chopped, chopped till the teddy bear popped and the head fell, plop!”

Marcus Tulving’s face turned white as the abomination skipped into view.

“Sally the silly clown, liked to chase the children down, chase them all around the town, chase them with a…hatchet!”

It was a little girl, maybe Alexa’s age. She wore an old-fashioned blue-and-white dress, had bright pink ribbons in her hair, and was smiling from ear to ear. She didn’t look evil; she didn’t look monstrous. She looked adorable. She sang out loud and proud the way children do when they can’t carry a tune, and from the look on Sydney’s grandfather’s face, it was obvious that this sweet little girl was, for him, the stuff of nightmares.

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