The Two Doors

     He walked towards the two doors, deciding in his mind which door to choose.

 

     "I did wrong," Luis thought to himself. "What I did was reasonable, it was the right thing to do. So what if I had to break a few laws to do it. My family is safe now. Atleast my family is safe."

     The prison's cell's door opened. Two guards in, what would be exquisite and brilliantly decorated, if not for the darkness of the prison, which hid all beauty that entered it, armor led Luis down the dark, cold passage of the prison.

     "My family is safe. I did the right thing for my family. My family is safe, " Luis continuously told himself.

 

     Before him were the two doors. The only differences in the two doors were where they were located and what they had enclosed behind them. The crowd of people watching him make this decison, which could end his life in an instant, or set him free from prison, kept quiet and motionless.

 

     The door slid open, revealing the brightness of the sun's rays. They shone in Luis's eyes without mercy. As his eyes adjusted to the dramatic change in light, and his body to the great change in temperature, he could hear the crowd roar above him. His eyes could make out only the blur of many spectators hoping to see a criminal like him mauled to death by a ferocious lion, or, perhaps, some were hoping to see a man get a second chance.

 

     He reminded himself of what lied behind the two doors.

"One," he thought, " contains a lion that will pounce on me with the slightest opening of the door. The other contains my freedom. My second chance. The freedom to go home to my family." Then he thought about what his brother told him while he sat in his cold, dark, damp cell.

    "By choosing between doors," Luis's brother told him from the outside of the cell door, "you shall have either death or freedom. It will also attract many people who hope to see your blood splattered across the ground, which will raise money for the city. However, consider this: If you do get your freedom, you should leave the second you exit the arena. Some people are not so happy about letting you be set free and may take matters into their own hands. Leave the city if you wish to live."

 

          The Day Before...

    

      "I want you to direct him to the door with the lion in it," King Xander told Luis's brother, Borale. "He is your brother, so he will trust you to give him the door to his freedom. Stay hidden from the crowd so they will not see you show him the door to choose. Simply give him a nod to the door, or a small wave of your hand. Do something no one other than your brother will notice. And make sure it is the door that contains the lion. My people came here for this, not to see a criminal like him be set free. If I find you sent him to the door to his freedom, I will keep my vow he will be set free. But you, however, will pay for his sins. You hear? Death awaits you if your brother does not open the door to the lion. You've been a great officer of mine, Borale. You are a true warrior, you are a great man, and I trust you to do the right thing. No man should be set free for the sins he committed. I know it will be hard, but by doing this you will be proving to me how much you truly care about me. I promise you great rewards if you do this for me, Borale."

 

                      ...

 

     Luis saw his brother, the great officer and servant to the King, point one finger to the door to his left. This was his brother telling him what door to choose. A member of his loving family. Luis trusted him. But he was also a servant to the king. Luis knew the king and his ways well enough to know that there was most likely something going on between his brother and the king. Would the king kill his brother? Would the king kill his brother's family if Luis made the wrong move? The wrong move to the king, however, would be the right move for Luis.

     Luis made his decision. He took in a deep breath, grabbed the handle to the door, and opened it.

 

 

 

 

    

Reviews

[Allan Eddings]

A nice story, one that does well leaving us questioning our own morals and actions, whether we see ourselves play the role of Luis or Borale. Loyalty and love, are the two most human emotions, and are they therefore the most corruptible? Or perhaps it is there at the core of our being we find, that semi-divine drop of blood within the human race?

Enough of my philosophising, I do beg forgiveness it is a weakness of mine, so I shall end by saying thank you and congratulations.

Sincerely,
A.E.

[Siena - Silent Awakenin..]

Love it, lovee all your writing. Always have.

[R.A. Youngblood]

It's very nice, i really enjoyed it!

[Julia Mancini]

Oh my goodness! WOW! This story sets up a very clever problem. It leaves many dots that the reader needs to connect. To connect these dots, the reader needed to call up his/her own morals. I actually love that this piece wasn't wrapped in a nice little present and served to the reader on a silver platter. This style keeps the reader thinking about the piece far after he/she has read it. I do know that this style is one that not everybody loves. I wrote a piece on a whim called Ours, which I wrote it in a similar style. From writing that, I know how hard it is to write a piece with a satisfying, yet thought provoking cliffhanger ending. I think you executed The Two Doors quite well.
Wonderful work,
Julia

[emma]

a great read. really had me feeling for not only Luis, but Borale. It must've been awful to have to betray your own family. while i found the ending's cliffhanger interesting and powerful, i still want to know what happens. but i'm wondering if you left it like that because you didn't know what you wanted to happen. which again, makes the story all the more intruiging. nice work :)

[GP]

I have loved all your stuff! This story is great! It is thought-provoking and leaves you hanging! Will we ever find out what happened to Luis???

[qaralynn]

aaaaaahh I totally wanna know how it ends!! absolutely great story!

[0_o Abbie]

Wow! I'm enthralled! I love the ending. Leaving it up to the reader... Very interesting. Anyways I LOVED it!

[halflives]

Very good, I must say.

[Miss Sally Sunshine]

I love it!!! I needed to reread it!!!! I still have the same opinion, and I still think you did a fantastic job with the end :) I love and hate cliff hangers at the same time!!!! They create mystery, and they cause me to think, but then I hate them because I din't know how it's supposed to end!!!!!! I still love it!!!!!