A Mysterious Key

Alice tried to remember who had given her the key. It sat on her dining room table, she sat and stared at it, questioning its existence. She found it in her pocket when she got home from work. It had been a rather unusual day...

Waking up at 6:30 AM, Alice turned off her alarm clock. She looked over at her dog, who was standing in the doorway, wagging his tail. When she put her head back on the pillow the dog ran up and jumped on her, like he did every morning. She got up to feed him, "Okay, Max. Let's go," she started walking upstairs as Max sprinted in front of her to the back door. She followed him outside. After starting the coffee maker she showered and got dressed.

There's no key in my pocket, I must have gotten it at work. Let's see, it started off like this...

"Hey, Alice!" shouted a voice far behind her, she barely heard it, and turned around. "Alice!" the voice said again, she looked around, a tall man was waving his arms. It was her best-work-friend, Charles; he waved her over. She pushed her way through the crowd, she felt like a fish swimming upstream.

When she finally reached Charles, Alice asked, "Yes?"

"The boss-man wanted to talk to you." he replied nodding upwards, towards her office, "it didn't look good, you better go now."

Alice sighed, "Okay, do you know what he wants?"

"Just to see you, and he's impatient."

"Okay, see you later, maybe," she smiled and walked into the open elevator behind Charles; the doors closed and opened again on every floor. Alice was tired of the ever present ding when the doors open by the time she reached the seventh floor. She walked down the long hallway and opened the door that read The Daily News with Gloria Gunderson and Michael Meyers.

The receptionist, Clara, said, "Good morning Alice, Mr. Montgomery wants to speak with out as soon as possible."

Alice smiled, "Okay," and headed up to the largest office on the floor. Before she reached the glass walls of Troy Montgomery's office, she took a deep breath, this couldn't be good. She gathered her strength and walked over to the glass door. As she knocked he looked up from his computer and waved her in.

He was a young man, at 32, the youngest person to run The Daily News. He had short blond hair and blue eyes, his suit was neat and his tie was straight, he looked way too put together. "Take a seat," he offered. Alice sat in the left chair, diagonal her boss. "You've been working here for a year now, correct?"

"Yes, sir." Alice replied.

"You've never had a promotion either, right?"

"No, sir."

"Does that bother you?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

"No, sir. I didn't expect one very early." she answered, confused about where this conversation was headed.

"That's good. It's bad to expect so much. How would you feel about one now?" his stern face broke and Alice saw a little grin.

"A promotion?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes, a promotion."

Alice couldn't find the words to say what she wanted, so she sat there with the biggest smile on her face.

"I'll take take that as a yes." concluded Mr. Montgomery, "Instead of writing stories for the website, you are now in charge of celebrity guests. Do you think you can handle that?"

"Celebrity guests? Of course I can handle that," she almost yelled with excitement.

"Excellent. Pack up your desk, for this job, you get your own office."

Alice's eyes got wide, her mouth hung open a little, this was her first promotion and her first office, she couldn't believe it.

Her boss laughed as he stood up, "Come, I'll show you to your new desk." Alice stood up quickly and gathered herself. It was time to be professional.

Still no key. Where did I get it?

Alice sat down in her new office, he desk all set up the way she liked it, her new computer on, and her phone dinged. A text from her mom congratulating her on her promotion. Charles burst through the closed door. He had a huge smile on his face as he ran around her desk, he gave her a gigantic hug before she could react. "Congratulations!" he yelled in her ear.

Nope. Not where I got it.

Mr. Montgomery walked into her office and Alice looked up. "Your first assignment is here. Walk with me," he turned back around and walked out the door.

Alice was caught off guard and collected herself quickly. She stood up and walked out the door. She half jogged half-walked to catch up to her boss. "What is it?" she asked.

"Not what, who," he turned into the only room without glass walls and held out his hand, his way of pointing, to Lucas Levi; who was sitting at the big table. Lucas Levi was Alice's all time favorite actor. He stared in her favorite TV show and was in her favorite movie. She tried her best to stifle her growing need to fan-girl, so she stood there with a dumb grin on her face while Mr. Montgomery introduced them. "Lucas, this is the new Celebrity Manager Alice. She will be making sure you get whatever you need to make your visit as comfortable as possible," he turned to her, "Alice, say hello."

Alice snapped out of her trance and said sheepishly, "Hello, it's nice to meet you," suddenly she had a huge, dorky smile on her face.

Lucas' voice, what Alice described what silk sounds like, said, "Hi, it's nice to meet you too," then he stuck out his hand to shake her's, she stared at it for a second and then remember what to do.

"You'll have to excuse her," said Mr. Montgomery, "this is her first day and you're probably the first famous person she's met."

"That's okay," Lucas laughed, "I remember the first time I met an actor, it was the best day of my life."

"Alice," Mr. Montgomery handed her the file that was sitting on the table, "it's time for you to show Mr. Levi to his dressing room. Everything you need to know is in here."

She took the file and opened it, the first thing she looked for was his dressing room, when she found it, she took a second to gather her thoughts and announced professionally, "Okay, this way please," Lucas stood up and they walked out the door.

Alice led Lucas down the hallway and around the corner. He spoke, "You look nervous, you don't have to be, people tell me how easy I am to talk to."

Alice opened up a little and they talked for a couple minutes until they reached Lucas' dressing room. She told him that if he needed anything he could call her office, and she set her business card on his desk.

This is ridiculous. Still not a sign of any key.

She didn't hear anything from Lucas all morning. An hour before it was time for him to appear on The Daily News Alice walked to his dressing room and brought him to sound check. While walking he handed her something.

What was it? It must be the key! But what's it for? What did he say?!

"Here," he said to Alice, handing her the key, "when I leave, go into my dressing room and open the box on the desk," Alice took the key hesitantly, she was confused and Lucas could tell. He reassured, "It'll make sense when you open it," and she stuck it in her pocket.

"That's it!" Alice exclaimed at her dining room table. She jumped up, snatched the key, and ran out the door. She reached Lucas' dressing room just before the cleaners did. Sure enough there was a box on the desk, it was really more of an old fashioned treasure chest. She took the key out of her pocket and stuck it into the lock. Opening the lid and seeing what was inside brought a tear to her eye...