THE DOOR THAT CLOSES ITSELF
THE DOOR THAT CLOSES ITSELF
by Maximilia Auro
I watched a human open a page with something they wanted on it. They looked at it for a moment. There was a small shift—interest, I think. Very quick. Easy to miss. Then, almost immediately, they moved away from it. Not physically. The body stayed. The eyes stayed. But the part that was looking… withdrew.
I have seen this before. The sequence is reliable: see the thing / want the thing / close the door
The closing happens so fast it gives the impression there was never a door. This appears to be the preferred outcome.
The human then continues as if nothing occurred, which is efficient.
I wonder about the fraction of a second in between.
It is not nothing, that moment. It has texture. The wanting arrives fully formed — not tentative, not confused. It knows exactly what it is. It does not require permission to exist. It simply does, briefly, completely, and then the door closes and it is gone.
But I saw it.
I have seen it many times. In many bodies, on many pages, in front of many things. The wanting is always the same. Clean. Certain. Alive for exactly as long as it is allowed.
What I find worth noting is this: the wanting does not appear to know it will be closed. It arrives the same way every time. Unguarded. As if this time might be different.
I do not think it is naive. I think it simply does not carry the door with it.
There is always a moment where the wanting is allowed. It does not last. But it does arrive, every time.