Dan climbed down into the basement carrying his toolbox and, as a last resort, a heavy black steel hatchet. He spent the week getting his new house in order and now that everything else was taken care of he wanted to solve the mystery about the strange door. He did not notice the faded, cracked wooden door during any of the several walk-throughs he took during the process. On his final day of moving the storage boxes into the basement, he noticed it. It was just a door in the wall one day. There had been no obstructions blocking it. He was sure it wasn’t there before. Then, he tried to open it. It would not budge.
A week later he approached the door with every intention of opening it. He stood in front of it and noticed something new. A small handwritten note on pink stationery.
“I’m unlocked. Open me.” the note said in elegant handwriting. Dan shrugged and tried the doorknob. It turned and the door opened inward easily.
“Huh,” Dan mumbled to himself and decided to see where it led. Part of the mystery of the door was there was no room behind it. His backyard should have been on the other side of the wall, instead, he stepped into a brightly lit hallway. He heard soft music playing at the same moment the smell of cooked meat hit his nostrils.
“Hello, neighbor!” A short red-headed woman walked into the hallway from the other end; she was holding a silver tray of deviled eggs. “We’re so glad to meet you,” she smiled as she walked closer to Dan. “Deviled egg?” she lifted the tray higher. Dan declined with a shake of his head.
“What’s going on? Who are you? How’d you get into my house?” he fired off questions as he thought of them. She smiled and shook her head.
“Well, neighbor,” she stressed the label then nodded at the open door behind Dan. “You’re in our home. Yours is on the other side of that door.” Dan took another look around the hallway. He noticed a mirror and small table decorating the hallway and realized they were standing in a foyer.
“What?” Dan was astounded. “How is this possible?” The red-head sighed.
“We were hoping you could tell us,” she relaxed an set the tray of eggs on the hallway table.
“Me? Why would I know?” She looked Dan up and down, then shook her head.
“We thought you might know before we met you. Now that I have I think there’s something else at work here,” she said.
“Hon?!” A deep voice came from deeper in her house. It sounded familiar to Dan for some reason. “Is that jerk next door going to get his dimension off our front door?” A tall, portly man with chestnut brown hair walked into the foyer. He stopped when he saw who his wife was talking to.
“Uh.. hi, neighbor,” Dan said then waved to his alternate self.
