Flash Fiction - Behind the Black Door

What secrets lie behind the ominous black door?

Billy stood in the hallway and stared at the black door sitting ever so slightly open. The space beyond the edge of the door and the frame was blacker still, the inky darkness sending a shiver up his spine. He stepped forward, hand extended, reaching for the handle, but he stopped when he heard his father’s voice screaming in his head.

“YOU ARE NEVER TO OPEN THIS DOOR. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”

He had heard the phrase so many times now that it has become something of a personal mantra. Billy liked to obey, liked to make his father happy, but that dark space beyond the forbidden door called to him. Why was he not allowed inside? What could father possibly be hiding in the basement?

Curiosity overcame obedience as Billy pulled the door open and flicked the light switch on the wall at the top of the stairs. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright light, but when they did, he saw lushly carpeted stairs leading down to the basement. The cement floor was painted white and seemed to glow under the rays of the overhead lighting.

Billy placed his foot on the top step and stopped, once again hearing father’s voice screaming inside his skull. What if he’s down there waiting for me and this is some kind of test? What if he punishes me for my disobedience?
Shaking his head, eyes twitching furiously, Billy bolted down the stairs before he chickened out. His feet almost went out from under him, his socks slipping on the smooth floor. He caught himself before he went down, and then his eyes went wide as he took in the entirety of the basement.

The whole space was white, including the workbenches and strange equipment that sat upon them. He recognized nothing, all the tools and implements foreign to his young eyes. What he did recognize was his own face staring back at him, as well as all the other body parts that made up his whole. Wires and circuit boards were visible, protruding from each of the parts.

Billy took a step backward, covering his mouth as his doppelganger opened its eyes. Those eyes bore into him, as though seeing through him, and Billy could see he saw red lights flickering inside the irises. It was then that he felt the rough hand on his shoulder.
“I did warn you, Billy,” father said. “It’s clear you have not yet been perfected.”

Billy opened his mouth to speak, but father hushed him as he reached behind his head, pushing a button that turned Billy’s world to black.