The Door

12:20 PM, 5th Sun of the 8th Moon

"{Chuckle} Hey, wait for me!" An energetic boy shouts whilst dashing through the wooden hall lit with a flickering yellowish light, giggling loudly as he goes. Today is a happy day, it's Birth Day!

"Hey Kim, don't run! What if you crash into someone!" John scolds him, in his hands are a stack of boxes labeled 'confetti', 'banners', and 'letters'.

"Unlike you, she's not a weak and wimpy kid!" James halts his rush to side with Kim.

"That's completely irrelevant to what he said (also Kim is a boy)." Josh barges into the conversation.

"H-huh? What did you say, you weakling? Weaklings don't have the right to patronize me! Let's go Kim!" James points his finger at Josh before grabbing Kim's slender hand and to the cafeteria.

"I don't know man, that's pretty gay to me-" John whispered mockingly.

Josh, who's desperately holding his laughter, leans at the door near him.

{Creak}

"{Yawn}What's with the noise? It's so early-" Ember yawns, still a little teary after popping out of her room with bed hair. At her feet is Josh face-first at the ground.

"Nothing, just James being gay as usual. Forget about it. (Also, it's 12:20 PM already what do you mean early?)." Josh stands up and shrugs. "Anyways, let me hold some of that John-"

"No! You know how weak you are- Oh, sorry, no offense. Just bad wording."

"None taken! I can handle this much-"

"Alright. Also where did you come from? (You just appeared like a ghost.)" John puzzled, his brow raised.

"{Chuckle} You asked that NOW?" Josh shook his head.

Just as Josh was about to grab them, Ember swiftly grabs the ones he was supposed to be holding.

"What are you doing?" John stares awkwardly at her.

"Helping you." Ember smiles in reply.

"B-but I was-"

She puts a finger on Josh's lips.

"Shhh, don't mention it! Now let's go-"

"B-but-"

"{Glares} What did I say about doing physical activities?"

"U-uh…" He tries to rummage every corner of his brain to look for an excuse, but none popped out, as if his body and mind themselves are agreeing with her.

Ember went ahead of the two with a blank smile leaving the two of them frozen in place, unable to speak a word back.

"{Sigh} Girls." Josh sighs it off.

"What do you mean 'girl'? She's more of a gori- {cough} Anyways, are you sure you're in love with her?" John changes the subject.

"Don't ask. I'm clueless too as to why."

"I mean, I'm not gay like a certain someone but I would rather marry Kim than her. She's too… unladylike."

"Once again brother, don't ask. You're not too manly yourself-" Josh looks at him with a wide grin.

"Haha, look who's talking." John laughs in monotone. "Anyways, I'm gonna drop the boxes right here-"

{Thud!}

The sound of the heavy boxes dropping reverberated through the entire room, which everyone seemed to ignore. The other children were laughing and dancing in tune with the music. Some were helping with the decorations and cooking, and some were helping with the lifting.

It's a party! At least before the main party itself.

In the middle of the chaos, a Blondie taller than the rest stood out with her lovely smile.

"Mom!" Ember rushes to the said Blondie.

"{Chuckle} Stop that Ember! Also, John and Josh! Have you brought the materials we need?"

"Yes Mom. It's right there-" John points at the corner where the boxes are.

"{Boing} Good boys!" Mom swiftly buries their heads into her soft, rather large bosom. The lucky boys turned as red as a beet.

"Alright then, John, Ember, and— James! Come! Help your Mom set the cafeteria!"

"—Yes Mom! I'm coming!" James rushes to her after whispering something to Kim.

"Josh, you can return to your room for now."

"You sure you don't want me to help?" Josh asked even though he already knew the answer.

"Let's see what time is it- oh it's 12:50! Make sure that you're back before 3 okay?" She changes the subject.

"Okay." He replied dejectedly, to which Mom couldn't help but watch as he lethargically walks back to the dormitory.

***

1:00 PM, 5th Sun of the 8th Moon

{Groan}

"I'm bored." Josh drops himself at the floor. It's not as if anyone is around to hear it, but it became a habit.

Of course he would be bored. Not only does he have no job to do, this entire shelter he's living in has nothing entertaining except the playground that he grew over and the books that he had read thousands of times already. Literally.

For a curious boy like Josh, even though the books give him the eye-candy known as 'colors' and other subjects that exclude 'guns', 'techniques', and 'training', it would still not suffice.

Fortunately for him, there's a room that houses a new set of books.

The subject is unknown, but the room is Father's. He has seen those books once and has requested for it but was strictly forbidden for reasons unknown. It's to be expected, they're not even allowed inside there unless Father himself brings you there.

However, even the word of Father could be ignored if it's Josh. Even though mature in his acts, Josh is still a child.

And if a child cannot get what it wants through permission, it gets it through sheer stupidity or cleverness depending on the child.

Josh, however, prefers to be both.

"I smell mystery." Josh whispers to himself as if there's an audience watching.

"Detective Josh Holmes, currently inspecting the suspicious staircase in front of me." Detective Josh Holmes is just a made up name by him in reference to his favorite detective.

He leans against the wall, peaking into the staircase as if there's someone he's hiding from. However, there's literally no one there.

"Bravo 6, going dark." Josh whispers to his chest before tip-toeing up the staircase. His chest has nothing except his favorite pen, which is just an ordinary pen.

After rushing in, he chants some strange music to 'fit the mood'.

"{Gasp!} What a weirdly suspicious door!" It's nothing fancy or suspicious, it's just the door that leads to Father's room.

"I'm going in! FBI OPEN UP!"

{THUD!}

He KICKS the door open, but catches his breathe afterwards. Kicking with all his might is taxing for him. He looks around to check if someone was around, but no soul was in sight.

"Whew!"

A sigh of relief.

Josh isn't worried about being loud, since the music in the cafeteria and the thud of heavy boxes dropping is definitely louder. He's just worried if someone was close enough to check him entering the forbidden door (and his embarrassing appearance of course).

"I've infiltrated the- Whoa!" his jaw drops in awe.

Inside Father's wide room is also a wide collection of guns hanging on the wall, wooden furniture and of course, books. It is so well organized and compared to the rest of the rooms in the shelter, this one is decorated with much more colors like red from the carpet and dark brown from the furnished wooden floor.

The room is also filled with a bitter smell that emanated from a curious machinery, although it is not unpleasant. Father's room is as impressive as he last remembered it.

"Whoa!" He stares at the head of a lion hanging on a metal frame. Josh admired how alive it looks despite only having it's head and neck.

"WHOA!" A Beretta Model 93R. Josh's interest lies in 3 things and 3 things only; books, the outside world, and guns. Since he's banned from the latter 2, books became his main interest.

However, in front of him is his favorite gun. A gun that looks good, fires good, and feels good to the hands (according to John, who actually held and fired one). And though he can't keep it or fire it (But he's having second thoughts), this day might be the happiest day of his life.

"Well, since I can't keep it, I'll borrow it for now. What could possibly go wrong?" he holds the gun firmly.

After inspecting the gun, he then heads into the private library. In there is also Father's desk and chair.

He settled for reading the history books until 3 but since he had a gun and a new area to discover, his 'detective' instincts awoke.

"This is Agent Josh Holmes from Bravo 6, inspecting the suspicious area."

Josh inspected each of the bookshelves carefully with discerning eyes. He wipes a finger on one of the books, but only dust was collected. After carefully inspecting the shelves, he stops and ponders for a moment.

"Hmm. There's something suspicious here." There's nothing suspicious as he literally found nothing. However, he 'perseveres'.

"Hmm. Maybe there's a hidden passage!" Again, he inspected each of the books but there was nothing there.

"Hoho, a tricky one are we-" There's nothing in the bookshelves as each book is organized neatly.

He opened the drawer under the desk in father's chair and grabbed a bottle of baby powder. He then started spraying it on every slit he found in the room.

"Here! Here! Here! And here! I sense it, iiiiiit's here!" He sprays the last powder in a slit in the bookshelves, but to no avail. Looking around the room, he made a mess. A large mess.

"{Nervous} Shit." he drops the gun in dread of what he has caused.

Quickly, Josh grabbed a piece of cloth he found lying on the table and started wiping every slit he sprayed powder into. He even went as far as to slide his thin little fingers inside the very slit themselves. Although his fingers were hurt, he has no choice. A swollen finger is nothing compared to Father's wrath.

As Josh wiped off the last slit, he noticed that the shelf moved slightly, enough for his fingers to fit perfectly.

"Wha- Ouch!" He tripped on a red carpet due to shock.

After processing what just happened and asking questions to himself, he stood back up to thoroughly inspect the shelf. Although curious, he is wary… and scared. He did not expect a real secret to appear.

What would Father possibly hide from him? No, from them?

Is it the way to 'The Outside'?

Questions that he can always think about later… or find out right now.

"Eh, whatever. Here comes nothing!" Josh pushed the shelf aside, revealing a wooden door and a metal door!

"What the-!" He wants to return right away and tell Ember and John what he found but his curiosity got the best of him. Although curious, he's also nervous.

He knows that he' definitely gonna get scolded. Well, if he's gonna get stained anyways, why not follow through the end?

The mystery of what the door hides behind it excites him.

"W-well, there's only one way to find out."

He does a one final check downstairs to see if anyone was around before locking the door to the office.

"{Deep Breathe} Let's do this." He grinned.

He didn't thought much of what could possibly happen.

Indeed, what could possibly happen in their warm and loving home?