A night of respite

The entire drive home I was thinking about the key. The rumor Ashley mentioned didn’t involve a key. Maybe it did? She might not have gotten to tell the full story to her “friends”. Maybe I just misheard. Given our social circles there was no way I had a means to get a hold of her. I managed to beat dad home. He usually stayed late at work.

After I got my homework done it was time for dinner. Dad had set out some pork chops to defrost this morning before he went to work. Our apartment was limited in size. When my mom passed we downgraded to this apartment really quick. My dad worked a good sales job, but without my mom it didn’t feel right staying in that house. We sold it and moved in here. Financially we would be stable for a long time. But if I wanted to go to college it’d be a very tight constraint on our budget. Not to mention the standard debt problems people run into. I had told him I wasn’t planning on immediately going to college, but even then I wasn’t sure about that. He supported me regardless. And never hinted at what he thought about it. While it was nice. It wasn’t very courage inspiring. I looked up to my father at least a little. It’d be nice to know what he thought. “But that’s a conversation for a different time” I said to myself. “Time to make dinner.”

I started some rice for us and spent the next twenty minutes waiting for it to cook. Preparing the pork and veggies I had it all set to cook. After a while I decided to see if the key would work on any door. If it worked at home I would be able to check it out relatively safely. If not I’d confirm that if it did anything special. It would have to be at school.

Plating my dinner and leaving dad’s ready to go I went over to my room. I kept it pretty tidy for a medium sized apartment. My bed was right next to my desk, I had a small dresser on the opposite side. With a hallway that led to my own small bathroom. I had big closets on either side of the hallway. My bathroom even came with a bathtub. My walls were adorned with some art of mine and a few artists I liked locally. My comic book shop would have a big day to celebrate Free Comic Book day every may. As such there’d be artists selling prints there as well. I always tried to grab a new one every year. I had a shelf of my closet solely dedicated to my various paperback volumes of comics.

Putting my food down I walked back out and got the key out. “Here goes nothing” Pushing the key forward it didn’t seem to want to go into the lock. Kinda like pushing magnets together of the same polarity. The key just wouldn’t go into the lock. “So I guess it doesn’t work on any door.” Putting the key back in my wallet I decided I’d check it out tomorrow after school. There was a maintenance door that people didn’t really check behind the art building. I didn’t even know what was in there and that’s where I spent most of my time. That’s where I’ll test it. Finalizing my plans and homework I went to bed.

The key wasn’t the only thing on my mind however. Mr. Leeman’s advice about college was the other part. Dad and I had talked in the past about college. How it would be possible. But really difficult for us. Even with all the normal scholarships I could get. We’d both struggle immensely and walk out with little left to our name. But what could I do if I didn’t go to school. Draw and post stuff online, hoping someone would notice? Work a dead end job at the same time? Then again, what could getting a degree do for me?

Thinking about my future like that wasn’t going to end well for me. So I decided to distract myself with theory crafting the key some more. If this key did something special who knows what I’d find. Maybe it’d be something sexual? Maybe if I fantasize about a hamburger before going in it’ll be like a diner with food there for me? There were a few different possibilities for what “my fantasy” could be. I realized not sleeping wouldn’t help and finally turned over and crashed.

“SHIT!” he could not find the key.

“SHIT FUCK FUCK SHIT FUCK WHERE DID IT GO!” Where the hell did he leave it. He needed it to go back. He HAD to go back. He was not done and desperately wanted more. Regardless of what happened there. She would not get the last laugh. He needed to go back. He needed to prove her wrong. Why didn’t he check for the key when he stormed out.

“There was a thud.” A lightbulb. “Why did the door stop? Why did it thud?” It was coming together. “Did I hit someone with the door?” Them.

“They have the key. Fuck.”