The room

For as long as he could remember, the door to his room had been locked.

As a child he was warned never to go in there, that it was a secret and forbidden place.

Fear kept him from questioning these orders for years.

But a few months ago, things began to mysteriously disappear from his room.

At first it was small items like clothes and books, things she might have misplaced, but then entire pieces of furniture began to vanish: her chair, her desk, even her bed.

Curiosity and fear gripped him in equal measure.

What was behind that door? Who or what was taking all his belongings?

One night, plucking up his courage, he crept over and peered through the keyhole.

What he saw left him petrified. Inside the room, sitting at his old desk, was an old man with a long grayish beard, wearing his favorite shirt that had disappeared weeks before.

The man was busily writing in a thick, worn book.

Suddenly, the old man looked up and his eyes stared straight at him through the peephole.

An enigmatic smile crept across his wrinkled face, before the darkness enveloped everything.