#im sorry if I gave anyone whiplash on this tumblr post tonight

[junipernight]

I HAVE THOUGHTS ON THIS SUBJECT

As a child, I was deathly afraid of Dracula . So, naturally, I gave a lot of thought to what I would do if a vampire ever tried to enter my bedroom while I was sleeping.

Was it better to have the door shut, so that the sound of the knob turning and hinges creaking would wake me up?

Or was it better to have the door open, so that if I woke to find a beastly menace looming over me, the door would be one less obstacle on my way out?

I waffled on this subject. I usually left the door just barely ajar.

I finally got a conclusive answer on closed vs shut when I least expected it, during Community Emergency Response Training from the local fire chief. Mr. Fire Chief said we were all idiots if we slept with our bedrooms door open, not because of intruders (vampiric or otherwise) but because of smoke inhalation. People tend to be overconfident that they would wake up if their building caught fire. They don't account for the fact that smoke/carbon monoxide puts you to sleep. Smoke inhalation kills more people in house fires than fire itself. Ergo, if you shut your bedroom door and a fire starts somewhere else in the building, you are more likely to hear the fire or the smoke alarm, wake up, and survive.