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I'm writing a story (I think a bit long to post here, but I could if someone would like), which is a metaphor for depression. In the story (from a 3rd person past-tense POV, if that's helpful), an adult man seeks out his childhood home to visit a room where the time "stops" (i.e., he is sinking back into depression). I've written up to the point where he is in the room, and he's sitting on the bed, alone, watching the seasons pass by out the window while he watches the clock inside sit still.
Meanwhile, he hears a faint knocking sound, which (I intend) will grow louder over the course of the story. In the end, he will open the door to see someone (a family member, perhaps) that has grown much older and has "raw" knuckles from knocking for so long reaching out to help him. He then leaves the room (a metaphor for allowing himself to get help).
The problem is, I'm not sure how to fill in the middle. He's in an empty room, with the shutters closed and the lights off. So far, he's just sat on the bed. I need something for him to be doing in between now and the conclusion, and I also need some reason for him to finally open the door. Some kind of climax or "aha" moment, without revealing too much of the metaphor (if that makes sense). It would be incredibly premature to simply jump to the ending now, but the story is also fairly short (probably 1.5 - 2k words in the end) so I don't need a whole lot. Any suggestions?
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Ignore all else and set a time and a word-length.
Take a new sheet of paper and type "He's in an empty room, with the shutters closed and the lights off. He's just sat on the bed…"
Continue writing with no pause at all until you reach the time or word-length, even if that means you expend all your effort writing nothing but "blank blank blah la blank…"
If you do write nothing but "blank blank blah la blank…" take a break - for a cup of tea or for a whole day - then go back and do it again…
When you write anything else, build on that, or go back or both.
What to do with infinite time:
You could reverse it - time passes in the room, but not the outside world. The character is stuck in their thoughts and can't make an impact on the world around them. The person from outside wouldn't age - the character would. For what to write about, think "Groundhog Day." (for that matter, you could have the same outside events seemingly repeat over and over for the character if you wanted). That movie is already about people overcoming their own emotional traps that bind them to repeat the same wrong actions over and over. This also makes time in the room like a prison cell. What does a prisoner in a cell do with endless time? Depression is kind of like that.
Or instead of a prisoner, how about a monk? What do monks do with endless time forced into meditation? This leaves you with the internal reality of the main character to examine in depth. Maybe meditation is part of the character's goal in going to the room. It can also be part of the process of realization to eventually leave.
You've sort of written yourself into a bit of a trap - having them stay in the room shut away is a great metaphorical expression for the isolation of depression but as you're discovering it doesn't provide you with much happening to actually write about.
Time-skipping past as you would normally a period of inactivity in a story's timeframe would defeat the purpose of having it there in the first place of course.
The logical place to turn is inward if the point is to have the character alone with their depressive thought processes then use those same thoughts to provide you with events to write about - have them ruminate on relevant past events and you can effectively play those events out and have them respond to them. Rumination is frequently associated with depressive episodes so it plays in to your premise rather than detracting from it while still giving you a way to keep the reader engaged, you can also use these to show a progression in their arc towards the climax of your story.
Reflection, as Alexander says in the comments, is a good one. There are a million different standard negative thoughts depressed people usually have about themselves: "I'm not good enough," "the world would be better without me," "my friends just pity me and they won't miss me when I'm gone", etc. Even picking one could serve as a good structure.
In order for the emotional landing of the story to stick, there needs to be some sort of climax and then some sort of relief. What's the climax going to be? Is it an emotional thing? Is something dark and scary approaching the windows? Does he see something he knows he can't miss? Is it just the sheer volume of the person's knocks?
Once you pick the climactic event that forces the character to open the door, the rest should hopefully fall into place.
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