The Key

(For Fia Naturie's Keys Competition)

I walked into the attic room.
The black door stood
with seemingly nothing

behind it.
I felt inside my pocket
for the key I instinctively knew

would be there.
It felt warm and electric
in my pocket.

I fit the key into the lock,
and held my breath,
opening the door.

Inside was me.
But a completely different me.
I was thin and beautiful.

I could walk
without the help
of a walker.

I was normal.
I didn't have bipolar depression
and I didn't feel

sad or lost
or chronically empty and lonely
anymore.

I had a gorgeous husband
who doted on my every word
and a job I loved.

I wanted to step further inside the door
and lose myself to that unknown paradise
but at that exact instant,

I heard my daughter
moaning from the living room.
“Mama, it's time. Your grandbaby

is coming.”
And I heard my angry son-in-law
barking how if I didn't hurry up

I would make them late.
I stepped back from the door,
closed and locked it.

And I went back downstairs,
knowing as I did
the door would vanish forever.