Duplicate Custodians

Chapter 4

It was rusted and old in case you are wondering if it could be really shiny and glowing.

Then, I stood up and tried the key into the old store room's lock. Due to it being rusted, it was hard to unravel the door. It took me complete 9 minutes and 34 seconds to open the lock, but still, the door was tenacious.

Then, I glared at the key again. It wasn't a usual key you find when playing hide and seek. It wasn't either circular or in pentagon or diamond shape from one end and lean and according to the door pattern from the other end. It was slender and it looked slightly bent from between. As if someone tried hard to make an effort on opening the lock of who knows which door. I gazed down at the key in my mind, looked around me to make sure no one was spying.

 One corner had the face of a man elf and the other had the face of a woman elf. They both had bells hanging on their pointed pierced ears. I tried both the sides one by one giving my all to open the damn door but it seemed to stand unaffected. I sighed and kicked the door with my hard branded sneakers. 

Immediately, a cracked voice echoed and I tilted my head about almost 360 degrees and felt a little strange in my own house because the door of the storeroom was unlatched.

There was no change, no laser beams, and no alerting alarms. No crazy creatures nor the woman elf and man elf came into existence, but turning back I saw the door of the storeroom a little opened. A little mysterious and a little bizarre. 

I scanned the area, an aura of a twinkling danger trickled in my gut, grans were out at Uncle Jax's house and would come after 2 in noon probably, and it was 11, so yeah I had a choice, so I took it.

I stepped into the galloping opportunity full of risks. 

 *

What must have been pictured: the room would be glowing and it must have some glowing treasure and that's why it was kept a secret.

Okay, there was nothing as a fairytale would picture, there was a load of old brooked furniture kept in there. Old and covered with thick layers of filth. I roamed inside the storeroom. Precisely not something so special to be kept under this irregular room with this strange-looking object called a key. But when you think about it there would have been something extraordinary that needed to be kept here in safety, in these old shacks of wood so that intruders may not notice an out of box something. I hawked a bit, trying to remember when each piece was scribbled uselessly. A very big cupboard, taller than Grandpa Julius, taller than Max, taller than anything around. It was a large wooden cupboard with glass walls shielding the doors. I swatted away the dirt and tried to open a drawer. It was stuck. Then I reached towards the large doors. It was empty, just some old broken photo frames and make up, and other accessories baskets and holders. Canvases and paintbrushes. Everything looked so old. The closet next held some old robes, dark and shiny. Though they were covered in dust all the way from top to bottom I could see they would have been shiny once. They looked honorable and professionally formal. The broken fry pan, the rusted cooker, the old metal kitchenware, and utensils. Everything looked so old and yet important to be kept there.

A sudden glance on a regular box kept in between the wall parallel to me caught my attention. It was not glowing, but it peeped from the old cloth kept over it. I headed towards it with shallow footsteps wondering what would be in it. I removed the cloth from above and brought the box out of the jagged place on the cold floor. Cleaned it with the same cloth and then I started investigating it. Jet kept jumping around. "Shh boy. You will get us caught red-handed!" I told him every now and then but then gave up myself.

To my surprise, it was just like the key except it was neither thinner nor twisted.

The box's lit, I assume, was divided into two parts. One displayed the same woman elf with bells and hoop earrings pierced. The woman elf looked beautiful with pointed ears and nose and large strawberry eyes. She wore a crown of flowers and diamond embedded together which seemed pretty much cute and honored.

The other half exposed a picture of an elf man. So, he looked a bit serious and his eyebrows were knitted together. He wore an elegant crown much bigger, but of palm tree leaves, and in the middle, a huge pearl the size of a middle finger sat with its glow.

"Wonder who they are and what they are doing in here", I murmured.

"Woof", Jet pleaded. "You want me to open this?" I asked Jet. But he was of no answer except for huffing and cuffing in excitement. So, I took it as a yes.

"Okay let's try", and I tried to open the box, but my luck wasn't doing any good. "Woof, woof, woof ". That was stupid, I mean Jet was seriously scolding me. Then he pointed to the key, (two-headed), with his nose. "Oh, my bad," I said and fixed the queen's side this time in the lock while I closed my eyes.

"Fix it, Fix it. Open huge old box, Open." I was whispering to myself.

I opened my eyes and of course, the sanctity,the black hole to all the excitements was dead opened.