The Key Keeper

Chapter 1

What had happened in the last hour? Ren Aoki couldn't remember. Her only memories were of fighting with her boyfriend earlier and running to Aiya to soak her clothes with tears at the bar, and even those memories were clouded with alcohol. She glanced over to the faded bar stool next to her. Aiya was practically devouring the attractive face of the guy she had picked up, her pink lipstick smeared all over his face and sitting in his lap. Her long brown hair, which had been perfectly styled earlier that evening, had been mussed up into a complete tangled mess. Ren sighed. Oh Aiya. She loved her energetic best friend, but sometimes Aiya could be a bit...much. At any rate, Aiya HAD comforted her earlier in regards to the fight, proclaiming that "I never liked that man from the start! You're too good for him".

Ren buried her face in her arms and took deep breaths, attempting to relieve the headache that had suddenly come on. Katashi had gotten mad at her earlier that day for bringing in a stray cat that had wandered into their apartment. He had a strong dislike for cats, and refused to even pet the little tabby cat. Little did he know, Ren had been feeding the cat, which she had named Fisher, for about a week and a half beforehand outside their apartment. The small tabby was very sweet, although he hated being picked up, and seemed to love her apartment. She couldn't just leave the poor animal to starve, and ignored her boyfriend's dislike of cats to help it. Earlier that day, Fisher had come while Katashi was home and Ren tried to shoo him away before her boyfriend saw. Needless to say, it didn't work and Katashi spotted him out of the corner of his eye. Fisher sprinted away, like he knew he wasn't wanted, and Ren was left to deal with an angry Katashi. Eventually, she stomped out after about 40 minutes of his ranting to meet Aiya at the bar. She would have to return home eventually, it was her apartment, after all, but now was not the time.

The music and bright lights of the bar made Ren's head pound, she needed to get away. Ren tapped Aiya on the shoulder to get her attention and pointed towards the wooden entrance door. Aiya pulled her face away from the man she was with and nodded cheerfully. Ren made her way through the bustling crowd, people bumping into her everywhere. She jumped as a small girl dropped her glass in front of her and it shattered. Ren gingerly picked her way around it and opened the heavy entrance door.

She stepped outside and took a deep breath. The cool night air filled her lungs and she felt slightly better, although her vision was still blurry. Her head throbbed again and she leaned against the stone wall of the building for support. The obnoxious pop music blared from inside the bar, loud as ever, and Ren fumbled her way across the edge of the wall towards a quieter place to stand. Just a little bit further away, she thought. She turned a corner into a small alley.... and fell straight into a huge pile of trash bags filled with cardboard and styrofoam, presumably from the packaging company next door. Of course, this HAD to happen to me, she thought. She lay sprawled underneath the many bags for a minute, trying to recover so she could walk again, but the alcohol in her system wouldn't let her. Completely hidden from the outside world, Ren closed her eyes for a minute. This isn't bad, actually, there's no gross stuff in the bags and it's quiet here, she mused to herself. She laid back down into the plastic and closed her eyes.

A loud BANG shocked Ren out of her drunken stupor, and she raised her head blearily out of the pile of bags to glance around. As soon as she poked her head up, she was completely blinded by a white flash of light, illuminating the entire alley like it was afternoon again. She immediately raised her hands in front of her face, squinting from the dazzling rays. Suddenly, she was plunged into darkness again, her eyes straining to adjust to the usual night sky. Ren shook her head, and dared to peep over the bags again.

In the middle of the wet alley street, a man stood looking down in front of him, dressed in clothes she had only ever seen the likes of at conventions or Halloween. He wore a long white overcoat around his shoulders with golden markings on it. His black pants matched with a formal looking black dress shirt. He stood at about 6'2 and his tousled, chin-length blond hair practically glowed in the dark alley. However, the weirdest thing about him were the worn keys hung everywhere on his tall frame. He wore 4 white belts on his waist, and hundreds of keys hung from them, along with several keys on chains around his neck, and small ones on bracelets around his wrists. What is UP with this guy?? Maybe a cosplayer?, Ren thought to herself. He seemed fairly young, around the same age as Ren, maybe 20 or 21? He was kind of attractive, with his muscles, but Ren scolded herself for thinking about that. You HAVE a boyfriend! Granted, he may not be perfect, but he can be nice sometimes, she reminded herself. The man glanced around, like he was nervous about someone finding him.

He glanced back down to where he was looking before. Right in front of him, was a giant, glowing, yellow orb HOVERING in front of him. Ren was surprised she hadn't seen it before. The man glanced around again, his hazel eyes flicking over Ren's hiding place. Thankfully, it was dark enough outside that Ren figured he couldn't see her. The man turned his attention back to the orb. He unhooked a key, glinting in the light from the orb, from one of his necklaces and put it into the glowing ball, like you would a lock. He turned the key, and the orb expanded into a full size, glowing door. Ren stared in shock. There's no way this is real!, Ren panicked. This has to be a hallucination caused by the alcohol or something I ate. That has to be it, she reasoned with herself. She glanced back up at the man, who had turned the golden door knob and opened it. The door made a giant WOOSH-ing sound and the man stepped through.

Ren warily stood up once she was sure he was out of sight. I have to get out of here!!, she thought. I will NOT be one of those stupid people in the movies that die because they investigate, she thought determinedly. Ren shoved down the trash bags and climbed over them. She inched along the narrow alley towards the empty main street, trying to avoid the glowing door that was slowly fading. Suddenly, her foot slipped out from behind her, like something was tugging on it. She hit the ground, HARD, and tasted dirt and blood. Ren grimaced in pain, wiping the blood off of her now cut, lip. She looked behind her to see what caused the fall. Nothing was there.

As she looked, her clothes began to ruffle and pull on their own, towards the looming door. Crap! I have to get out of here! Ren thought, and pushed herself to her feet. The pulling was getting stronger and stronger... the door was sucking her in. Ren started screaming, as she fell to the ground again. "SOMEBODY!! PLEASE, HELP ME!", she yelled at the top of her lungs. The alley remained silent, no footsteps or any sign of rescue. She clawed at the old stone bricks on the ground, dirt collecting under her nails, but it was futile at this point. Half of her body was through the door's opening already and the door's blinding light made it impossible to see what was on the other side, although she could feel her feet touching some kind of smooth surface.

The door gave one final tug, and Ren was pulled completely into the unknown. The door faded out of existence.