CHAPTER 03
HOT KEY, COLD KEY, OOD KEY
"And here we are! Barcelona!" said the same familiar voice just as she heard it last time.
"I don't think this is Barcelona…" I thought, and somewhere in the darkness I could hear my voice say those exact words.
"What?! Oh not again! Why do we keep coming to Cardiff? Wait here, I'll see if I can fix this… It should be a problem with the…"
The voice quieted. But it wasn't like the person that was speaking was walking away. It was like the voice never existed, like it was cut.
"Hello…? Is anyone there…? Why can't I see anything…? Who are you…?
The alarm clock was shouting, which made Rose jump in her bed. Apparently she did get some sleep after all. It was the second night that she had such a weird dream. She punched her alarm clock so the buzzing would stop, only to realize that it was Saturday, her day off, and she was woken at 6:00 am. She covered her head with her blanket in frustration, and somehow she had the feeling that someone was going to pull the blanket off, but obviously it didn't happen. Intrigued by that feeling, she started to remember all those little things that kept happening to her during the last couple of days. She sat up, picked up her key chain and started to analyze the spare key, which was still there. She got up, deciding not to go back to sleep, and started to use the key in every single lock that she could find. It fit none of them, so she decided to try it in the living room, again with every lock, and again it didn't work with any of them. The same thing happened in the kitchen, and in the front door. Nothing! She changed clothes, and went out, going for Mickey's flat. Even though he lived with his grandmother, he kept his old flat, but she never asked him why.
Rose stood there in front of his door, she lift the door mat, picked up the spare key for Mickey's place, but before using that one, she tried again the mysterious key. It didn't even fit, and she wasn't surprise anymore, so she just used the right key and got in.
I can't believe I'm breaking into his place because of a key…
She started to try it in every single lock, with no luck. She exhaled deeply and left, going back to her place, trying to find out where that key was from. When she entered her mum's apartment, she saw that her Oyster Card was on top of the small table that stayed in the entrance hall, and that gave her an idea. She entered her room, picked the tie, put it in her bag, and left once more, with a charged Oyster Card this time. She got on the bus (that this time had a different driver), and got off two stops before the final one, walking towards the grassy hill in the middle of the small park. There she sat down, looking for a while at the reckless people walking around, enjoying the sun that decided to show up today for the weekend. Then, she reached for the dark blue tie, and for the mysterious spare key, and placed them in front of her in the grass. She just sat there, looking at them intensely, trying to make sense out of it, out of them. After a few minutes of doing nothing but staring, she could feel like she was starting to get something. It felt like looking through a very thin layer of glass. You know that there is something there, but you can't quite point it out. She grabbed both items, closed her eyes shut and pressed them against her forehead, trying to focus. She knew she'd seen those items before! And somehow they were related! Even if she didn't know how, she just knew it! And that was when she felt it. That smell, coming from the tie in her hand. Such a familiar smell. She forced herself to remember, to pinpoint where she had smelled that. WHO smelled like that.
"ROSE!"
She opened her eyes, looking around trying to find who had called her. But she knew she wasn't going to see him, because that voice was the same one that she had been listening to in her dreams. She dropped the key into the grass. The palm of her hand was hurting in the exact place where the key was, and when she reached for the silver metal object, she burned her fingers. The key was hot! However, the grass around it was not burning! She tried again, but the temperature only seemed to have risen, because this time her fingertips were reddish, and she could smell burned flesh.
"The…. is near! That's why it's hot!"
It was her voice that she heard this time, but she was with her mouth shut! And that did not come from her head either! It was like it came from behind her. She stood up, turning around, but there was no one near her. Only families walking by, or loved ones enjoying the weather. And what was near? The voice she heard skipped that word, just like when the telly gets interference and the signal is cut for a few seconds. She turned and tried to pick up the key, ignoring the pain. She hold that firmly between her fingers at eyes length.
"WHAT IS IT?! WHAT IT GOING ON?!"
"Trust me Rose, I'm…"
Her vision started to blur, her knees felt weak, everything started to spin, her head started to explode with a massive headache and the, she collapsed, falling towards the grassy floor, not being able to stop the fall. She never actually felt her body hit the floor. She was already out.
A/N: Since this was a short chapter, I'll be publishing Chapter 04 today as well. And I just wanted to thank you all for following and for my first review.. :3
