Eight years old and he'd never tried the wardrobe door. Too scared. He'd been told not to. Now he stood before the forbidding oak door again, staring. But with courage this time. Recklessness perhaps.
He tentatively reached out a hand. It was unlocked! The door creaked open.
It was a door to another world. Not darkness, but light. Bright sunshine. He stepped through. Sweet air, birds singing, warmth and colour embraced him on all sides. It was the magical world he'd dreamt of.
A paradise he enjoyed for two minutes, until they returned and locked him back inside the wardrobe.