“Can you help me, sir?” a little girl holding a basket of keys tapped the man’s stomach with her foot. He groaned and that gave her some hope. “I’m lost.”
Rostam opened his eyes and saw nothing but darkness and a yellow light glowing from her basket of keys. She smiled when he stared from the floor that reflected the old man that was no longer old. Noticing his wrinkles and grey head replaced with smooth skin and shiny black hair, the man leapt up. He dropped his cane from his spook and watched it fall through the floor and plummet deeper and deeper into a void that gave Rostam chills.
“Where are we?”
The little girl shrugged her shoulders. “Was hoping you could tell me.”
Her smile faded when she realized he knew less than her. She walked away and Rostam ran after her, his footsteps stepping twice for every one step taken forward. He did too much and got ahead of her. He stood surrounded by darkness and that reminded him of the shadows. That brought back the fear. As he became afraid, he heard cracks below his feet. The floor now reflected many different kinds of Rostam.
She laughed, “I did the same.” She half skipped and brought back light and relief. “This place is weird. Walk once and walk step twice. Speak a little and you say a lot.”
The solid floor returned. He felt better by her side or maybe next to the basket of glowing yellow keys. She picked out one of the keys and handed it to him. It shined fiercely in his palm.
“In case you lose me again, use that to keep the shadows away.”
He held it in front of himself like he often did in the forest while holding a torch. It shined so bright that he saw floating doors far away in the distance. He got excited. The key turned green and he blurted out, “DOORS!”
She stepped back, the floor beneath her cracking a little, “I’m not sure of that place.”
“Better than standing in the middle of nothing.”
His confidence gave her more confidence. They grabbed hands and together they ran a few steps before reaching the floating door. Someone carved this door out of wood. It looked ordinary except for the golden doorknob. Without thinking, Rostam flung the key inside and turned till both him and the girl heard a click.
CLICK!
The man went for the doorknob when she pulled him back.
“Sir, what are you doing?”
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Maybe he saw wrong but he thought the girl’s hair got shorter. She stumbled dropping her basket. Rostam leaned in and saw hundreds of red keys inside. Cracks creaked below him.
“Why are they all red?”
Cracks and creaks.
“Why are you turning the doorknob?”
Cracks and creaks.
“Because this is the way out!”
She ran away from him. The man glanced back at the wooden door and then looked at his young friend vanishing into the darkness. He shook his head and grabbed the golden doorknob when he remembered the grinning wish granting tree. He wanted to forget about it. He closed his eyes, squeezed harder, clenched his jaw and picked up one of the yellow glowing keys and sprinted after her.
Loud sobbing brought the cracks. He found her but somehow, she had changed to a baby girl. Her basket of red keys had fallen on the floor beside her. The man noticed a few green ones still in the bottom of the lopsided container. Horrific jutting blades of offensive darkness stood between them. As the girl cried, more of the space around her collapsed into the abyss below. He took one step towards her and his leg broke through the floor. One more time he saw himself reflected from the cracking floor and he witnessed many boys staring back at him. They winked. He shuttered until he heard the cracking around the now baby girl grow horribly louder.
CRACKS AND CREAKS!
The basket tumbled into the dark void. The baby girl wailed and the cracks crashed the world from underneath her. Rostam stared in horror as her cries got softer and softer until eventually nothing. His heartbeat pounded against his existence. The yellow key grew dimmer and he also noticed it felt heavier too. He bit his lip, ripped his leg out of the cracked hole and ran back towards that door.
The boy once a man barely saw what lay before him. His key now glowed a red that highlighted only a few feet ahead. He scanned for the pile of keys left behind yet he failed to find them. He panted harder with every step forward while he tried to not let go of the ever heavier key. Loud whipping shots creaking underneath him increased his fear which made the cracks louder and more terrifying until another leg broke through.
Half stuck he closed his eyes to not look at the many faces of himself staring back at him. He remembered the grinning words and they returned awareness. That insight brought calmness and the calmness prevented the world underneath him from crashing.
“Excuse me, young sir,” a big woman holding nothing bumped into him, “Can you help me? I’m lost.”
“Take this.”
She reached out and he drop the red key in her outstretched hand. The boy felt the happiness only a deep sense of relief brings when he saw the key glow fiercely yellow. He pulled himself out from the cracks and asked her to look for a door with a bunch of glowing keys near it.
“This door right next to you has a lot keys but they aren’t glowing.”
And for the first time in Rostam’s life he laughed. Not a fake chuckle or a careless haha. He laughed the only way a child knows how, with pure innocence. He twisted the doorknob and before he pulled it open, he said, “Thank you and whatever you do, once you find a key that glows green hold on to it no matter what.”
As the old woman saw the young man disappear into the door, she watched the key in her hand glow green. The many dull silver keys strewn on the floor whetted her curiosity. She tapped one and sparks flew. Her sharp intrigued almost sliced her senses, until she understood that she couldn’t possibly carry all those keys on the floor without a basket or something. She held her key like a torch and saw many floating doors in the horizon. She ran towards one that looked nice and, in an instant, she unlocked a new world all for herself.