THE SECOND KEY
1104 Words
CHAPTER SEVEN: The Second Key
Lana stood frozen on the sidewalk.
The stranger was gone.
The street across from her apartment
building was empty once again.
Only the broken streetlights
remained,flickering weakly in the
darkness .
But Lana knew what she had seen.
A silver key.
A second key.
One that looked exactly like hers.
Beside her Ethan was still staring at the place
Where the man had stood moments earlier.
His expression was unreadable.
But his jaw was tight.
Too tight.
“You knew what that means, don’t you?”he
asked quietly.
Lana looked at him.
“ No.”
Ethan exhaled slowly.
“It means we were wrong.”
“We?”
“ I thought your mother’s key was the only
one.
Lana reached into her pocket and pulled
out the silver key.
It felt colder than usual in her hand.
“He had one too.”
“Yes.”
“ And that’s bad.
Ethan gave a short laugh without
humor.
“Very bad.”
Claire stepped between them.
“Could somebody please explain things
using normal people language?”
Ethan looked at the key in Lana’s
hand.
“ My father once told me there was two
keys.”
Lana frowned.
“Two keys to what?”
“ I don’t know.”
“You don’t know or you won’t tell me?”
His eyes met hers.
“I honestly don’t know.”
For some reason, she believed him.
The next morning, Lana woke to
spilling through her curtains.
For the first time in days, the rain had
Stopped.
But the feeling of being watched
remained.
She checked the locks on the door
twice before making coffee.
Then her phone buzzed.
A message from Claire.
Still alive?
Lana smiled despite herself.
Barely.
A second message arrived
immediately.
Good. Meet me downstairs on twenty
Minutes.
Lana frowned.
Why?
Claire replied instantly.
Because mysterious men and secret
keys are easier to deal with after
breakfast .
Twenty- five minutes later they sat
inside a small cafe near the apartment
Building.
Lana wrapped both hands around a
cup of coffee.
Claire watched her carefully.
“You like him.”
Lana nearly choked.
“What?”.
“ Ethan.”
“No I don’t.”
Claire raised an eyebrow.
“ Lana , you’re terrible at lying.”
Lana looked away toward the
window.
Outside,people walked along the sidewalk,
completely unaware that her life had
become something out of a mystery novel.
“ I don’t even know him,” she said quietly.
“Exactly.”
Claire smiled.
“ Which make it worse.”
Before Lana could answer, the cafe door
Opened .
Ethan walked in.
He spotted them immediately and crossed
the room.
For a brief moment,Lana forgot what she
Wanted to say.
He looked tired.
As though he hadn’t slept.
His eyes found hers.
“ You okay?”
The question came so naturally that it
caught her off guard.
“Yes.”
He nodded once.
But he looked unconvinced.
Claire noticed too.
“ Does he always do that?” she asked.
Ethan frowned.
“ Do what?”
“Look at her like she’s about to walk into
traffic if you stop paying attention for five
Seconds.
To Lana’s surprise, Ethan almost smiled.
“Only when she’s in danger.”
Lana looked down at her coffee.
She wasn’t sure why that answer
affected her so much.
Ethan placed an old photograph on the
table.
Lana immediately recognized the faces.
Her mother.
Ethan’s father.
A woman she now knew was Eleanor
price.
And one more person.
A man standing at the edge of the
photograph .
His face had been folded under the
edge of the picture.
Almost hidden.
Lana unfolded it carefully.
The moment she saw him,she froze.
It was the man from outside her
apartment.
The watcher.
The man with the second key.
Claire leaned closer.
“That’s him.
Ethan nodded.
“His name is Victor Mercer.”
Lana repeated the name quietly.
“Who is he?”
Ethan hesitated.
Then answered.
“ He used to work with our
parents .
Silence.
“ What?” Lana asked.
“He was part of the group.”
Claire frowned.
“ Then why is he hunting you?”
Ethan looked at the photograph.
“ Because twenty years ago, he betrayed
them.
Lana felt cold.
“What did he betray them for ?”
Ethan looked her.
“ The same thing everyone is still looking
for.”
“The keys.
“No.”
He pointed toward Lana’s key.
“The key only open it.
Lana’s heart raced.
“ Open what?”
Ethan reached into his jacket pocket.
Slowly,he placed a folded piece of paper on
The table.
It was old.
Very old.
Lana unfolded it carefully.
It was a map.
In the center,written in her mother’s
handwriting,were four words.
The truth lies below.
Below what?”
Below where?”
In one corner of the map was a symbol.
The exact same symbol engraved on her
Key.
Lana looked up.
“ What is this?”
Ethan took a deep breath.
“ I think your mother hid something.”
“ What kind of something?”
He met her eyes.
“Something people have been willing to
kill for.”
That evening,Lana returned to her
apartment alone.
Claire had gone home.
Ethan had promised to stay nearby.
Still the apartment felt too quiet.
She walked toward the window.
The street below looked normal.
Peaceful.
Then she noticed it.
A small envelope lying on the floor
beside her door.
Her heart skipped a.
Slowly, she picked it up
No stamp.
No address.
Just her name.
Inside was a single photograph.
Lana stared at it.
It showed her standing outside the
coffee shop two nights earlier.
The night she met Ethan.
Someone had been watching them.
Watching from the beginning.
Written across the back of the
photograph were six words:
Trust him and lose everything.
Lana sank onto the couch.
Her hands trembled.
The message was clear.
Someone wanted her afraid of
Ethan.
Someone wanted them
separated.
Her phone rang suddenly.
Ethan.
She answered immediately.
“ Hello?”
His voice was tense.
“Lana, lock your door.”
Her heat jumped.
“Why?”
“ I just found something.”
A pause.
Then he spoke.
“Victor Mercer died eleven years ago.”
The room spun.
Lana looked down at the photograph
in her hand.
At the man she had seen standing
under the streetlight.
The man holding the second key.
The man who was supposedly dead.
Outside her apartment window, a
shadow moved.
And then——
Three slow knocks echoed
Through her door .
- Writer
