Drabble Challenge 15 Entry
Title: Knock At the Door
Rating: T (just to be safe - Ed can't refrain from dropping a slightly off-color comment)
Summary: Susan learns a few truths from a locked door.
A/N: It's weird. It's random. It's oddly Biblical. I honestly don't know where it came from. Enjoy!!
The trio pulled up to the huge mansion in a black sedan. The tires crunched on the gravel drive but no lights flickered on inside. Each breathed their own sigh of relief. Susan, Michael and Robert slid from the car, careful to make as little noise as possible. All were clad in head-to-toe black, from Michael's stylishly unnecessary bowtie to Susan's stunningly tight leggings.
"I feel bad about this, you guys," she hissed, pulling on her gloves.
Michael scoffed. "Oh, come off it, Su. The old man's dead. You haven't got any attachment to the stray cat that lives here now, have you?"
Susan sighed despite Robert's commanding 'hush.' The three slunk across the drive to the front door. From his pocket Robert retrieved a skeleton key and slid it noiselessly into the lock. The door swung open with hardly a tap.
The dark-haired Irishman smiled. "Works like a charm everytime." He winked at Susan but she only rolled her eyes and pushed past him into the house, grabbing the key from him as she went.
"Oh don’t be a git. Let's just get this over with," she huffed. The two men raised their eyebrows at each other but followed her lead for once.
The three accomplished thieves made quick work of the parlor, den and downstairs bedroom. Flashlight beams made odd shadows on the walls. Susan was jumpier than either of them had ever seen her. At the sudden light of headlights on the road passing the house she even let out a small scream.
"Susan! Get a hold of yourself!" Robert scolded just above a whisper.
She grit her teeth. "I'm going upstairs. Don’t leave me here," she glared. Susan took the stairs two at a time, running her hand over the smooth railing. Once she was alone, the memories assaulted her. Mrs. MacCready yelling at her there, Lucy and Ed sliding down that banister, Peter mock-dueling with the suit of armor down that hall.
She ticked off the rooms in her head as she passed them, her fingers touching each doorknob but never entering. Peter and Ed's room, the Professor's study, her and Lucy's room, the attic, the Renaissance room… the spare room. Susan stopped outside that door. There were other memories here, too. Countless nights spent crying herself to sleep and praying she would wake up in her faraway home. Bloody battles and doomed romances. Yes, there had been more than one. She had been quite the heartbreaker in her prime. Both of them.But only one such romance had stuck. Sure, there had been handsome princes and many good kissers, but only one had caught her heart as well as her lips.
Caspian. An almost audible voice, tinged with that sensuous accent she had always adored, called to her from inside the room. Beckoned her. She tried the doorknob but it was locked. Susan sighed and began to turn away but a thought struck her. She shoved her hand in her pocket and came up with Robert's prized skeleton key. With a small smile and his words, "Works like a charm everytime," echoing in her head, she shoved it in the hole. The door stayed locked. Susan let out a groan.
"Fitting. The damn key won’t open the only door I’ve ever truly wanted into," she grumbled to herself. Without warning, the house was aglow with light. Susan's eyes widened in alarm and she darted to the railing, crouching low. Police cars were strewn across the driveway and officers swarmed the house. Robert and Michael ran out the back door; she heard it slam in their wake. They had gone and done the one thing she had asked them not to. They had left her there.
Susan's eyes darted to the locked door to her left and to the policemen searching the house for her. Throwing caution and common sense to the wind, she took a deep breath and stood. She ran headlong into that locked door and crashed to the floor, unconscious.
---
Susan Pevensie awoke in the hospital with a concussion and a fractured arm. It seemed that was one very sturdy door. Police questioned her as to the whereabouts of her two accomplices but she could only shrug and tell them she as much knew where they were as she knew that her brother, Peter, would be coming back from the dead to loudly inform her how disappointed he was. In truth, she wondered how improbable that actually was.
But for the first time in fifteen years, Susan wasn't scared. She wasn't scared of court. She wasn't scared of prison. She wasn't scared of herself and she certainly wasn't going to hide anymore. For a locked door that stayed locked and a key that was supposed to open anything, taught her something. It taught her that sometimes you can't hold the key in your hand. Sometimes you can't even find the key. But at the most inapropo and most unexpected time, the key just might find you.
At 8:16 on February 12, 1964, Susan Pevensie was playing solitaire in her hospital bed, listening to her almost deaf neighbor’s wife loudly reading the bible aloud to him. In that same minute, she heard the woman say, "Matthew 7:7. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
Susan looked up from her cards, startled. "Knock and the door…" At 8:18, she put aside her game, got out of bed and walked to the bathroom door. With a wary eye at the others in the room, she gave two sharp knocks on the door. It swung open and all her pain seemed to float to somewhere far beneath her feet as she stepped inside. The door swung shut and she glanced down at herself. Young, beautiful and dressed as a queen again. Simple as that.
"Knock and the door will be opened to you," she murmured, purely delighted. She ran up the grassy green hill to look out over the sea far below.
"Take me in your heart and, yes, it is as simple as that, my child. I knew it would only take you time." Susan spun around and instantly threw her arms around Aslan’s neck.
"A bathroom door at county hospital? Really, Aslan?" she teased him. Aslan gave what she knew passed as a laugh for a lion.
"It was convenient. But we will talk later, Gentle. There are many who have waited a long time for you." Susan looked up to see her brothers and sister standing patiently to the side. As her eyes swept over them though, they rushed forward as one to hug and kiss her. One remained back, waiting until the small reunion had subsided just enough. In time he stepped forward too. The three siblings parted to let him through.
"Queen Susan." Caspian bowed gallantly to kiss her hand.
"You know, it was you that turned my heart around again," she murmured.
He shook his head. "No, it was you that did that. But I only pray you will invite me into such a precious place again."
"Knock and the door will be opened to you." Her voice was light and airy and held the teasing tone of a laugh. Caspian tugged her to him with one easy pull and pressed his lips to hers. The siblings all chuckled good-naturedly.
"Careful, Caspian. That’s my sister you’re knocking on." Ed clapped the king on the shoulder as he dragged his older and younger siblings away. Caspian straightened, Susan still in his arms, to blush.
Susan laughed at his expression, tangling her fingers in his hair. "Don’t mind him. I may have strayed but I do remember a few of those Sunday school lessons: 'Greet one another with a holy kiss'." Susan smirked as Caspian happily obliged.
At 8:19, Susan Pevensie unexplainably collapsed, never again to wake. Despite her circumstances, she died with a smile on her face.