This Tuesday's Story

Beginning last week, I promised that I'll make a new book with a brand-new story every Tuesday, and so here it is!

This Tuesday's story is "The Key." It started from a found object. What else but a key, lost and forgotten inside a drawer, but with so much character it had to be resurrected, given a story all its own. Click here to have a look at the book's inside pages.

The Key

Elena had spent ten years and twenty looking for the
room that could only be opened by the enchanted key.
Her own father had given the key to her, Senor Maximo on his
deathbed confiding that this would unlock the “chamber
containing the riches of one’s life.”

Too promptly, Elena turned her back on friends and abandoned
all family to search for the place she was convinced contained
wondrous treasures and fulfilled all dreams.

For decades, she toiled alone, spending days inspecting keyholes,
evenings in greasy restaurants plotting her next move, and
nights in lonely hotel rooms.

Meanwhile: her friends passed on one by one, her husband
remarried, her children grew up and moved away.

Bent and grey, not much younger than Senor Maximo was
when he gave the enchanted key to her, Elena at last came
upon the chamber. She inserted the key into the lock and
heard a muffled click. Turning the doorknob, she pushed
the door open, eager to finally behold the riches of her life.

Elena found the room empty.