The Forbidden Door is the scariest door in history. Nobody has ever dared to open it. People say that it has spirits of those who died many years ago and those spirits made a mark on the door which people called the ‘Mark of Death’ to warn others not to go inside. So, they SEALED it.

This story is about an incident which happened in the year 1987 in a small town called Palampur which is located near Khandala, Maharashtra. It was winter time of the year. There lived a 10-year-old boy called Alok who resided in the town with his parents and his grandmother. One day, Alok and his friends were playing on the street. One of his friends told him that there was a door in the forest that led to a room filled with chocolates. Guess what?! Alok believed him, and that was a big mistake.

He went to the forest the next afternoon. At first, he was very excited that he could have a supply of chocolates for at least a year! But as he was going on his way, he realized that he was lost somewhere. He was very scared. When the sun started to set, he saw a door. It was the door! He shouted “Finally!”. But there was nothing on the other side of the door and moreover, it was locked with about 10 chains! Then he thought to himself – “What was the point of even coming here if this was just a stupid door with nothing on the other side?”. He was angry. But then he noticed that there was a mark on it. Believe it or not, it was the Mark of Death. He was terrified on seeing the mark. Just as he began to run, the lock opened. He turned around and saw the door opening slowly. After he saw that, he ran. He shouted “HELP, HELP!”. But nobody was there for him. So, he decided to go back to his town. But little did he know that the forest was cursed and he could not escape. As he ran, he realized that he was lost again.

He started sobbing under the tree. But then he said to himself – “Crying would not solve my problems. I will figure this out by myself. ” But then he remembered reading the legend of The Mark of Death in the library which said that the forest was cursed and there was no way anyone could escape the forest. He then realized that he had no choice but to enter the door. He decided to go back to the door which was surprisingly easy. When he entered the door, it was total dark out there. Then he heard a voice that said, “Come to me, I want to play with you”. He started to regret his decision about entering the door. As he turned to leave, the door shut and his heart beat became a lot faster. He was stuck in the darkness.

When he calmed down, he decided to go further as that was the only thing to do. When his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he could see a broken lab. After that, he saw a face with red eyes and a mouth with millions of sharp teeth. He instantly ran to the door and started banging on it. When the door opened, he ran for his life. Then he started flying and was taken through a portal. It teleported him back to his house. After that, Alok took a knife from the kitchen, went down and stabbed his friend, who lured him to go to the forest. Everybody was in shock. But then his friend stood up despite being stabbed. He said, “Alok, I am the monster” and he made a creepy face and disappeared. Then Alok heard a voice. It said, “Even though I am gone I will still haunt you”.

After that, Alok became so scared that he went to his house and told his Mom and Dad everything. But his Mom and Dad also made a scary face and they disappeared. Then there were a lot of voices in his head shrieking, “We will haunt you; we will haunt you!” He had never been so scared in his life. Just then, he woke up with a jolt. “Phew! It was just a nightmare”, Alok sighed in relief.

But the Forbidden door is still real and waiting for its next victim.

// This fictional story has been penned by 10-year-old Saieesh Dua and was submitted as an entry for the Box of Tales – Volume 2 International Creative Writing Contest. The story made it to the top 25 based on jury scores and hence, was chosen for publication on our website //