In this little community, our doors define us. The colour of our doors are painted according to who we are perceived to be. All our privacy is exposed as soon as someone looks at your door. The city council comes around to paint new colours once they find new information about you, and you are forbidden to take it off.

As I walk through my neighbourhood at dusk, I glance at the doors I always look at, just to see if anything has changed. The only difference is my old school teachers door. It has BROWN (not a lot of money) ORANGE (old age) BLUE (stereotypical male) and WHITE… for dying.

It is rude to knock. I don’t have to know about why he’s dying, so I sadly continue.

I walk up my tiny rock steps to my door. It is simply PINK (stereotypical female) and PURPLE (single). I hate that people can see this- and I know I’m not alone. I’m not sure why others need to see everything about you. It’s almost like “judging a book by its cover.”

Suddenly I get I weird shiver that crawls up my spine and I whip around to see a man dressed in a black suit walking up to me.

“Uh- Hello?” I jump and subtly grab my house keys from my purse. My hands are sweaty.

“Hello Sadie” his voice is a quiet but familiar. He pulls his hood back and his dark brown hair almost reaches his shoulders. His eyebrows are scarred and his green eyes are piercing but- weirdly trusting…

“Greyson!” I say shocked. “I haven’t seen you since school” I can’t believe I’ve come across him. We used to be in theatre together. He was always so funny and dramatic and… happy?

“Well I haven’t seen you since last month when you performed at the coffee place by the ocean” he responds grinning slyly. He was there for that? I didn’t even tell him I had pursued singing.

“Well, how did you know I live here?” I ask releasing my tight grip on my keys and phone.

He shrugs. “Just saw you walking around here. Followed you to say hi” he backs up when I raise my eyebrows. “But- I see your doing better than your neighbour..”

I try to remember her door. BROWN, YELLOW (children) and PURPLE. I have to agree.

“Her husband left her after she had twin boys.” He looked down.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I turn to open my door. “Wait- do you want to come over for tea?” he asks me before I go inside. Who drinks tea at this hour? I roll my eyes, but I guess it wouldn’t be bad to catch up with a very old friend.

“Alright then, only for a few minutes, it’s past my bedtime” I reply locking my door. He laughs at me.

“You don’t have one. Only children have specific ‘bedtimes’.” I roll my eyes for the fifth time tonight and he leads me down the road. It’s so quiet out- not even a cricket makes a sound as we enter a trail in a field. I get a shiver when the street lights end at the trail head.

“How long of a walk just for tea?” I say wincing as thorns brush my bare legs.

“Not much longer. Why? Are you cold?” He asks and I shake my head. We finally get onto a muddy road leading down a hill. The stars are not in the sky tonight, and I feel a slight raindrop on my shoulder. We finally start to see some houses come into view.

“I have never been in this area before” I saw squinting to see the doors colours. I can make out one with a light on outside. It has PINK, GREEN (recent birth) and TEAL (city council or leader). I spot another one. RED (for rich) and BLUE. Greyson watches me.

“Please don’t look at every door” he says with a slight pain in his voice. I was about to ask ‘what the heck’ but he turns into a long driveway and beckons me to follow.

It’s a lot darker over here, and the woods crowd the starless sky. We walk up to the door. And then I see something I wish I hadn’t. His door was strait BLACK. The colour means he has committed a murder, and served his time in jail. But before I could run, he pushed me inside…