Forbidden (short, short story)
Everyday, Bernice walked past the place she was forbidden to go. Then, one day, she opened the door. The white light blinded her as she stumbled backward into the mud. She rubbed her eyes with her dirty hands as she stood to peer into the room to see what it contained. She brushed her hair aside and wandered into the shining corridor. The floors were white marble, as were the towering columns that framed the hallway. With each step Bernice made, a muddy footprint was left which blemished the glistening surface of the polished floor. But something did not seem quite right as silence thundered all around her. The door shut all by itself, and her heart pounded in her ears as she tried to open the door. She tried to scream for help, but no sound escaped from her parched throat. She stomped on the floor with her bootÂ…silence still. The only sound that Bernice could hear was her heart forcing blood through her veins.
She began to run toward the end of the corridor, hoping to find an exit. Her raven hair floated behind her as the columns moved by her at high speeds, but she only heard her heart, and there seemed to be no end to the blinding hallway. The gleam now hurt her eyes and they burned as much as her lungs and legs. She fell to the floor, crashing down in silence, breathing deeply and looking back on where she came from, but she no longer saw the door through which she entered. She was trapped with only her thundering heart to accompany her.