The Front Door

A pale dent at shoulder height beside the front door has been hidden behind a narrow table for years. The morning Mara moves the table, sunlight finds it.

door

The dent beside the front door was small enough that most people never noticed it.

It sat at shoulder height, a pale crescent in the drywall where the paint had cracked but not fallen away. For years, Mara kept a narrow table beneath it. She placed the mail there, along with a blue ceramic bowl for keys and a candle that smelled faintly of clean cotton. If anyone looked too closely at the wall, she would reach for the candle or straighten the envelopes, as if tidiness could pull the eye somewhere safer.

After Daniel left, the table was the last thing she moved.

On the morning she finally carried it into the garage, sunlight fell across the empty space and made the dent impossible to miss. Mara stood with both hands around the table's thin wooden legs. Dust had collected along the baseboard in a soft gray line. Outside, a delivery truck groaned down the street, and somewhere nearby a sprinkler clicked over dry summer grass.

She set the table down again.

For a long time, she simply looked.

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Quick answers about The Front Door

What is The Front Door about?

A pale dent at shoulder height beside the front door has been hidden behind a narrow table for years. The morning Mara moves the table, sunlight finds it.

Is The Front Door free to read?

Yes. Every story on RapidTale is free to read in the browser, with no sign-up and nothing to install.

How long does it take to read?

This story runs 1 chapter — most readers finish in one sitting, and you can stop and return to any chapter using the contents list.

Who wrote it?

Nimra Khan — original fiction published on RapidTale.