A short semi story.

They say time heals all wounds but for my daughter, time was more like a virus bug that drained the very soul out of her. She began to lock herself in her room. As a father with a growing up daughter, I thought this was normal. I thought kids like this needed their space, so we had a closed door policy. Knock before you enter, you can't enter until you get an "OK" to go in. My wife and I would always get rejected.

On this specific night, my wife was out of town to tend to her grandmother who fell ill and was hospitalized. I got home late that night from work. My daughter was still up. I can hear the music coming from her room. I knock.

“Can I come in?”

She turns off the music.

I can hear her walk to the door. She answers.

“No, no you may not enter.”

I don’t hear her walk away from the door. I figure it’ll be fine, it’s late, I need some sleep. I walk away. My room was a few doors down. In the back from behind her door, she speaks.

“Have a good night.”

I think nothing of it.

The next day my wife wakes me up. I’d over slept 5 hours. My daughter hadn’t been home all night, she’d spent the night over at her friends. Whoever I talked to the night before, was not my daughter. From that day on, there were to be no more closed door policy. Why? I guess, you just never know what’ll be on the otherside.

 I guess I learned the hard way.