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...

That Old House

Two young men hopped excitedly up the concrete stairs to the old house. Kevin Ricardo inherited the 150 year old house from his great-grandfather, and decided to take his best friend Fredrick to look at the house. The house sat alone on the corner of an empty street. Fields of grass surrounded it. The corner house's huge yard was overrun with weeds and the grass was knee-high. Kevin jiggled the key in the door's old lock, it finally opened with a thrust from both of the men.
The outside of the house was dark and worn by the weather. The windows were impossible to see through and half the siding was missing. The inside appeared to be well kept, despite the cobwebs that hung in the tall corners. Directly inside to the right of the door was a small bench chest. it was open and inside was a red plaid blanket. A single shoe sat on the floor next to the bench. The walls were covered in brown wall paper, which was ripped in places, mostly around windows and the huge fireplace. The living room was furnished with a single couch, which was ripped and had stuffing coming out the cushions. The sofa was in the middle of the room, facing the fireplace. Next to the couch a small end table sat, the finish was chipped and one leg was shorter than the rest. On top was a dusty candle. The house was not equipped with electricity so consequently there were candles everywhere.  There was a gas heater in the kitchen, which was through a small hallway left of the front door.
Kevin and Fredrick walked into the kitchen where a note was stuck on the old refrigerator with a letter magnet K. This is what it read:

Dear Kevin, 
      This house has been in our family for generations. Take great care of it. In my last years I've grown too old to mow the lawn and fix the siding, but I trust that you will do everything you can to make this house as wonderful as I imagine. Even though I am no longer there, this house was a dream of mine, I wanted it to look the way it did when it was new. 
     I don't ask that you fix it up like I imagined, my only request is this:
There is a mirror in the upstairs bedroom, it is 100 years-old. DO NOT break it.
                           Sincerly,
                                 Your Great-Grandfather Richard

As Kevin read the words of what might be the last thing his great grandfather had written, tears weld up in his eyes. He folded the letter up and stuck it in his coat pocket. Wiping his eyes, he looked around the old room at all the antique decorations. A clock hung un-working on the wall next to the sink, no water came out of the faucet, and instead of a refrigerator, an empty icebox sat in the corner.
Stairs led up to the second floor on the other side of the small kitchen, Kevin walked towards it glancing at the cracked linoleum floor, the stairs squeaked as he remembered coming here as a boy. Running up the stairs to the little back bedroom playing superheros with his cousins. Oh, memories. reminisced Kevin. He couldn't wait to see what that old room looked like.
The stairs were narrow as they spiraled upward, small steps made it difficult for the men's large feet to make it up without tripping. "I want to show you something," Kevin stated to Fredrick, "down the hallway." At the last door on the left was an open door. The two men  walked through, one after another. A bed sat on the right side of the room, in the middle of the back wall there was a window. Kevin walked slowly over, after wiping it off, he crossed his arms on the window sill, remembering all the great times he had in the old house.
Fredrick sneezed, he had picked up a dusty photo album off the bookcase opposite the bed. After flipping a couple pages he walked over to Kevin, book in hand, pointing at a black and white picture he asked, "Is this your dad?" Kevin looked at the photo, it was of four men: a really old man who looked to be 100 years old, a slightly younger man, an even younger man, who looked about thirty, and a baby. Words were written in cursive underneath the picture, they read: Four generations of Ricardo men. Jesse, Richard, Tony, and baby Lorenzo. 
"Yeah, the baby is my dad. Wow, so that's what Richard looked like," answered Kevin.
"You never met him? I thought you said you used to come here a lot," questioned Fredrick.
"I did, but I was so little that I didn't remember what he looked like."
Fredrick closed the book and put it back on the shelf. Kevin led the way out of the room and into the one across the hall. "This is the master bedroom," announced Kevin. A large bed lay at the center of the wall opposite the door a window was directly above the middle of the bed, short blue curtains covered it. Kevin walked quietly over the bedside table, an old picture sat upright of a young lady; she was beautiful, with short hair and a pearl necklace, she looked like she belonged in 1930-something. There was a wardrobe that sat on the left side of the room, next to it on the wall a mirror hung delicately. It was large and round, coming off the mirror was an intricate silver design that looked like the tentacles of a hundred squid. Fredrick walked up to the antique and stared at himself, trying to imagine what it was like to live there. "Look at this," directed Fredrick.
Kevin walked over to the looking glass, "This must be the 100 year old mirror Richard mentioned in the letter."
"It's gorgeous," commented Fredrick, after a silence he added, "This place is warm and friendly, it's full of memories and wonder, but it's almost creepy, with the emptiness of the rooms and the lack of light. I couldn't live here."
"Neither could I," Kevin reached out with his hand and caressed the side of the mysterious glass delicately. He felt something on the back of the mirror, with his index finger he pushed on the strange shape.
Suddenly a chill swept into the room, and a loud noise sounding like a large rock was being rolled away; the boys looked around, trying to discover the source. They walked out of the bedroom curiously and cautiously. They looked around, the breeze was coming from downstairs. Creeping down, they got colder and colder. Out of the kitchen they walked back into the living room.
The wall to the back of the couch, which was previously empty, caught there attention. Instead of the hideously old wallpaper, the middle of the wall, the size of a large door, was empty. Concrete stairs led down underneath the house, but all the boys could see was a couple steps; darkness consumed the rest. A cold breeze was emanating from that point, it smelled musty and old, like the air down there had been sitting still for a hundred years.
The men looked at each other, with wide eyes they knew the question in the others' mind. Kevin nodded and put one foot hesitantly in front of the other, he ventured down the stairs cautiously. Fredrick followed slowly.
The stairs turned left every now and then. They seemed to go on forever. Cobwebs hung from every corner -- spiders hanging off some of them -- and the air smelled cold and damp. When they finally reached the bottom, a huge corridor opened up in front. Marble statues of men and women stood around the room, each holding a different weapon. There were nameplates underneath each of them, a particularly tall statue, holding the largest weapon, had a name plate that read:

Hugo Ricardo

Rank: Master Assassin

October 5, 1797 - July 3, 1850

Fredrick read the nameplate's of some of the other statues out loud. They were all a lesser rank than the first. "Dude," said Fredrick, "I think you're related to assassin's."
"Yeah," said Kevin, so quietly Fredrick almost didn't hear him.
"That's awesome," Fredrick smiled, but Kevin didn't. He couldn't believe it; how could his parents not tell him about this, his own history!
Kevin walked slowly around the room, looking at all the statues and reading the nameplates. When he got to the last statue, which looked to be the oldest, after reading the name, he noticed a door hidden in the shadows. He waved Fredrick over and with one hand saying, "Over here! Did you see this?" he parted the cobwebs and stepped through; Fredrick shook his head and followed.
Kevin grabbed the dusty handle and pushed the door open. Through the door was a small room, inside by the back wall was what looked like a coffin. It was made of marble, carved in the middle on the side facing the door was a crest, Kevin recognized it to be his family one. Neither of them could believe what they were seeing. All around the room there were little treasures. Gold statuettes, expensive cloth's, and treasure chest's. Kevin crept over to one of the old dusty wooden treasures, he opened it using all his might; inside was full to the top with shining gold chips. Kevin sat amazed for a moment, he just discovered what could be millions of dollars. Knowing he couldn't take it, he closed the lid and stood up.
"This is crazy," stated Kevin, he put his hand on the pedestal he was standing next to.
All of a sudden they heard the same loud rumble from before. The two men looked at each other in panic and ran out of the room and up the stairs. When they got to the top the wall had closed back up. They stood, breathing hard, panic on their minds; they had been left to die. Horror was evident in both their eyes; it was so dark that they could barely see anything. Left with nothing else to do they walked back down the stairs, into the waning light from a hole in the roof.

Here's another story from the same prompt by my sister, Teacher, at her blog.

Forbidden Room

            The hallway was silent. George crept out of his bedroom and tip toed down the long passage. When he reached the door at the end he stopped and looked all around. The 12 year old new he shouldn't be doing this, but he couldn't help not knowing. He had to know. Know what was beyond the door. He had been told to not even look at the door, but he couldn't help it. He was too curious. “What was that saying?” he wondered, “Curiosity killed the cat? Yes, that was it. I don’t care, I just have to know!”

            He slowly lifted his hand to the knob on the door, quietly turning the handle, it swung open easily. “Unlocked! Fantastic!” he thought. There was an old desk in the middle of the room; behind it sat a chair covered with a large furniture cloth. When George turned to close the door, he heard another door opening at the other end of the hall. “That’s Mother’s room!" he thought, "She’ll kill me if she sees me in here!” He left the door open as he panicked; his eyes ran around the room, looking for a suitable hiding place. To the right of the door was another door, George crept as quickly and as quietly as he could to the closed oak door. He jiggled the handle, it was locked! He could hear footsteps coming closer. Hiding behind the desk was impossible, she would see him before he even got there, “The window!” he thought. He could hide behind the long curtain, it would suffice long enough.

            George ran over to the window and hid behind the long blue curtain; he tried to calm his heart and silence his breathing, but he was filled with adrenaline and he couldn’t be silent. He heard the footsteps stop at the doorway, they didn’t move for a minute but then took a few more steps into the room. George held his breath. The feet walked out of the room after what seemed like minutes, closing the door behind them. George let out a huge sigh of relief, he moved out from behind the curtain. Proud of his hiding skills he took a second to congratulate himself, like every 12 year old does after he accomplishes something.

            Most of the rooms in his grandfather’s mansion were modernized, but this room seemed to have missed the renovation. It was dusty and smelled old. An antique rug was lying on the wooded floor under the desk. George lifted the cover on the chair to reveal a small wooden one with a small cushion on the seat. He dropped the cover, allowing it to fall back in place. On the desk there was a small lamp with a chain to turn it on, George pulled on the little chain, but nothing happened, there was no bulb. “That’s odd,” he thought, “why would you have a lamp that didn’t work?” By the moonlight George could see the headline of the newspaper article sitting by the lamp. America Officially joins WW11. There was a huge bookshelf the covered the length of the left wall; it was covered top to bottom with old books, a small globe, what appeared to be a whole shelf a journals, and a couple awards that George had never heard of. Opposite the lamp on the desk was a figurine of a horse head, there was an engraved plate on the bottom but it was too dark for George to read, he tried to pick it up to get a better look. It wouldn’t move. It seemed to be stuck to the table, he twisted it, checking to make sure there wasn’t anything keeping it there; as he twisted, the bookshelf creaked. George jumped and stared as the middle of the bookshelf turned, revealing a secret room behind the wall. Little George, amazed and excited, crept into the little room.

            It was furnished relatively the same way as the office, bookshelves all around it, no windows, however. Instead of a desk in the middle there was a small stool facing an easel. Upon the easel was a painting of a lady, one he’d never seen before. He’d never known his grandfather to be creative at all, this couldn’t be his painting. “Who did this?” he wondered aloud.

            “It’s mine,” said an old voice. George jumped around, terrified, he saw his grandfather leaning against the wall in his pajamas, holding his cane in one hand.

            George tried to speak, but nothing came out, he was too stunned.

            “Don't worry, I was a curious lad once too,” his grandfather walked over to George, limping with the cane. He brushed off the stool with his free hand and sat down.

            “Who’s the lady in this painting?” asked George.

            The old man patted his good leg with his hand, “Sit right here, let me tell you the story of the most beautiful girl I've ever met…

They had nothing to say to each other

They had nothing to say to each other. The two 6 year old boys sat in little chairs facing each other in the small living room; which was a mess. Kevin and Artie received a huge lecture about how fighting was wrong from their mother, who was standing over them, waiting for the two to apologize.

            I couldn’t help it though, thought Kevin, he took my favorite truck. I had to beat him up! Kevin was the oldest of the twins, and by his standards, the cutest, which gave him a big ego. Artie disagreed though, He thinks he so much better than me because he’s older! I just wanted to play with his truck but he wouldn’t let me!

            “Come on boys, apologize!” their mother demanded.

            They stared at their feet, unwilling to say anything. Their mother then commanded them to stand up, she turned their chairs around to face opposite walls and said, “Now, you both can sit there until you are ready to apologize,” the boys sat down and she walked into the kitchen. They crossed their arms, refusing defeat. 

Cinderella

Cinderella's step sisters were giddy with excitement when the prince was at their door. He wanted them to try on the glass slipper that his assistant carried on a red plush pillow. If the shoe fit, the handsome prince would take the lucky girl to his castle and marry her. They screamed with anticipation to see if it would fit their rather large feet. Drizella went first. She sat down in a chair and lifted up her skirt just enough for the prince to see her hideous feet. She rarely washed them as they stank miserably.

Prince Charming winced as the stench reached his nose. Drizella was smiling idiotically and Anastasia stood off to the side, smirking, knowing that her sister's huge feet would never fit in shoe that small.

Cinderella was peeking out from around a door, she saw the prince, and remembering the events of the night before, she wanted to run up to him and say, "It's me! I'm the girl you're looking for!" and throw her arms around his neck as he kissed her passionately. But who was she kidding? She was the stepsister/servant of Drizella and Anastasia and the stepdaughter of Lady Tremaine. He rags had rips in them and she looked nothing like she did the night before. Prince Charming wouldn't give her the time of day. He would take one look at her and say, "Why does anyone like that even exist?" She thought it better to stay behind the wall and watch.

Everyone's breath was held as Prince Charming slid the shoe onto Drizella's foot, only her heel fit; she curled her toes, making them as small as possible, but her foot was simply too big. The prince sighed with relief and pulled the shoe away from the stinky ankle attachment. Drizella cried with disappointment, "NO! It'll fit! Try again!" she grabbed the shoe from Prince Charming and stuck her toes in first, slamming her foot to the floor, trying to shove her obnoxiously huge foot into the tiny shoe. The prince's assistant ran up behind Drizella, grabbing her by the waist, he pulled her away from the shoe. She screamed so loud the ears of every one on the street rang. Lady Tremaine said sternly, "Drizella, control yourself!" she turned to her other daughter, "Anastasia, your turn." 

Anastasia glided over to the chair her sister had recently vacated. She sat down with an elegance suitable for a princess. She smiled at Prince Charming, who grabbed the slipper off the floor. 

Cinderella had grown anxious behind the door. Watching Drizella make a fool of herself, she decided that if the shoe didn't fit Anastasia, she would go out and meet the prince. She hoped it would fit her sister only because she didn't want to have to face the man she loved and explain why she was the servant of the worst family in town.

Prince Charming gently took hold of her ankle and slid her toes into the glass slipper. They were all amazed when her heel slid perfectly into place. They all sat and stared at her foot for a moment, processing the fact that the prince had just found the girl he was looking for. Or at least he thought he did. Anastasia and her mother yelped with glee as she jumped up from the chair, showing off her shoe. Drizella, who was standing off to the side next to the princes' assistant, screamed, "NO! IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME!" and she fell to the floor like a pile of dirty laundry and wept. Cinderella's eyes teared up, this was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to waltz in after the shoe was too small for both of her sisters, just before the prince left, put on the shoe and have everyone see that it was her that the prince had met at the ball.

The prince stood up, still stunned that a girl with a personality like that could be the girl that he fell in love with at the ball. Anastasia threw her arms around Prince Charming and kissed his frozen face. The assistant stood by the pile of Drizella and smiled brightly, he was just happy he didn't have to go to any more houses filled with girls that would do anything to get their foot into a shoe too small for them.

The prince took a step back and Anastasia stood confused. He said, "No, there's no way YOU are the girl I met last night!" she asked confused, "Why not? My foot fits perfectly!" he replied, "Your personality is all wrong! The girl I met last night was incredibly nice, humble, and shy. She had beautiful blond hair, not red! And she had the face of an angel, not the result of inbreeding! I have been tricked!" He turned to his assistant angrily and added, "Come, we must go to the next house!" Cinderella couldn't let this opportunity go to waste. She stepped out of the door as her sister and stepmother cried out in anguish. "Wait!" Cinderella shouted, the prince turned around, "you haven't put the shoe on me yet."

Prince Charming laughed, "and I'm sure your foot will fit, just like all the other girls say. Goodbye," he and his assistant walked out the door; Cinderella stood in her rags as a tear fell from her eye. Both her sisters were on the floor in tears and her mother comforted Anastasia. Cinderella never saw the prince again, and the prince never found his true love.

Thoughts from the Librarian

    Why is it so hard for anyone nice and social to come to the library? I mean, it's really not that hard. All they need to do is walk in and say, "Hi Miss Scott, I need to check out a book," and then we'd get to talking and what do you know? I'd have a new friend. But no, no one comes in here. 

    That's me by the way. No one. The poor librarian, Miss Scott. The days here seem to go on forever. The only kids that I see coming into the library are the awkward geeky kids that only talk to themselves. It's really quite irritating. What I really want is for someone to come in and talk to me, whether it be student or teacher. I really don't have very many friends here. I guess that makes sense though because this is only the third week of my first year teaching here. "Here" is McGraw High School located in North Idaho. The teachers here seem nice, but I have yet to get to know them, which would be so much easier if I wasn't an introvert.

    I just moved here from a slightly larger town an hour south of here, so I don't have any friends at all. Look at me, such a sad sack. But don't worry, hopefully my life will get better. I like to think it will. My regular day is wake up ridiculously early, go to school, and go home. Sometimes I'll get crazy and go to the grocery store. But something about today feels different, maybe I got enough sleep, or maybe someone slipped me some drugs; either way, today was going to be different.
    I walk into the library and as per usual the same geeky boys sat at the same boring table. I began to have doubts about today being great. Just as I thought that, a teacher walked through the door; a handsome teacher. He walks right up to me, and I lose all control of conscious thought. I'm pretty sure I look like an idiot. Do you know what he said to me? Neither do I, but I'm pretty sure he asked about signing up to reserve the computer lab today. I gestured to the list to the right of me, still daydreaming about him, the next thing I know he's walking out the door. 

    I can't believe I just did that! Why can't I just be a normal person and speak to really cute boy? It's ridiculous. I sit the whole day, minus lunch and when someone was talking to me, thinking about him. His gorgeous blue eyes, short brown hair with longish bangs, his tall stature, and his smooth voice, or at least I imagined a smooth voice. 

    I walk over to the fiction section to the left of the front desk, eyeing the books. All of a sudden, last period of the day, thirty students shuffle noisily through the front door, talking and laughing loudly. Last through the portal to the real world (which is what I call the door) comes that same teacher. He kind of awkwardly shuffles through his messy folder and pulls out a stack of papers.

    "Okay guys, I'm going to pass out your assignment, follow the directions exactly, I will not answer questions so if you have one, ask the person next to you. But remember, this is a library, and we don't want to heart the book ears," he says. This last statement really catches my attention. 

    On my way back to my desk I glance at the computer lab schedule, and what do you know? there's a name in the seventh period slot. Mr. Cain. So that's his name! I had to get to know him so looking at his hands already tells me he's single, or at least not married, which is good for me. He starts humming a song I don't know. In an effort to make it look like I'm not staring I sit down at my computer and open to Facebook, plug in my headphones, and turn on some music, it's not like I have anything better to do. 

     Oblivious to me, he walks over to the front desk while I'm mouthing the words to my favorite song. Out of the corner of my eye I see him leaning on the chest high table, elbow on the wood and face resting on hand. He clears his throat and I look up, startled. As my face turns bright red I pull out my ear-buds.

     He says, "Hi, I'm Luke," and he extends the hand he was leaning on.

     I shake it and say awkwardly, "I'm Jane."

     "Well it's nice to finally meet you, this morning you seemed..."

     "Out of it? Yeah, crazy morning," I really didn't want him to know I was day dreaming about him. 

     He laughs, "yeah, out of it. I'm the choir teacher, by the way." 

     "Oh, I guessed that; I saw these kids in the back to school concert."

     "Yes, well we will get better, I promise," he smiled to reveal his beautiful slightly crooked teeth.
     "Oh, they really weren't that bad," again I smiled, not knowing what else to say. You see, I get awkward around boys that I'm not related to, especially cute ones.
     He laughed, "You don't have so kind. They were horrific," he said that just loud enough that the students in the row of computers closest to the desk overheard.
     One of them remarked, "Hey! we really weren't that bad!"
     Mr. Cain replied, "You weren't bad for the first concert of the year, but you WILL get better." 

Pirates 2: The Confrontation

    It was hard to believe that it was only six short months ago that Adam and Jenny left England and arrived in America. They had gotten a small cabin in the woods just outside New York City. On their way there they had spent three months together in a small room. Love was bound to happen, and it did, only Jenny didn't feel the same way. She just wanted to be friends and focus on the next couple years. Adam's feelings, however, did not go away. He has been in love with her for the past five months, and that wasn't going to go away any time soon. Adam hoped and hoped Jenny would come to see how much he cared for her, and eventually care for him the same way; for now Adam was forced to hide his feelings, and treat her like a sister, as that's what everyone thought they were.

    They both knew that it was only a matter of time before Captain Rogers and The Scavengers found them. Adam had been formulating a plan in case they did find them. He had created a "go bag" that they could grab along with some clothes in the event they had been found.

    Today was especially worrisome because a boat was arriving from England in the morning, and Adam knew there might be a pirate ship not far behind. The go bag was ready by the door just in case. 

    Jenny had gotten a job at a local seamstress shop. She was learning to make dresses, and consequently, there were many crudely sown dresses laying around the cabin. Many of them were missing arm holes or having holes where they should not be. Adam was worried she would never be good. 

    He walked into town that morning after breakfast, headed to his job. He conveniently got a job working at the harbor, this way he would know when another group of people would arrive from England. He also heard all of the gossip from boat captains. Adam learned there was an unidentified pirate looking ship headed here, the reason way the long time residence of America hated the British, and how to properly load and unload boxes from a ship. He just arrived at the docks when he overheard some crew from a docked shop talking about the British ship arriving that day. They were saying someone said they saw it being attacked by pirates the day before; when they saw it they raced back here to warn everyone. Seeing as how they were an unarmed shipping vessel, they would have been of no help. The ship, badly damaged. was easily seen now, headed to the third row of docks.The sails had cuts and holes in it, the deck was destroyed and blood was splattered on the wood. Because of the damaged sails, the crew, and probably some passengers were rowing the large ship with oars below deck. No one was standing on the top deck, waving and staring bright eyed at their new home; in fact, the only man anyone could see was the captain, who was steering the massive broken vessel. 

    The people at the dock stood in awe, mouths open, at the mutilated ship. Adam, however, was more interested in the what, if anything, came after. He was staring past, trying to make out the distant figure through the fog, trying to discern whether or not his eyes were playing tricks on him. In minutes the figure became a ship. Adam recognized the ship to be the unmistakable pirate ship that he used to pillage on. He ran of the dock, toward his home. He ran through town knocking into people, pushing, shoving, and shouting. He jumped over barrels, wagons, and any other obstacle that was in his way. Throughout the town, people yelled at him as he pushed through.

    Once he reached the cabin, he grabbed the go bag, some more food, and ran to his bedroom for clothes. Jenny ran in the door, having heard Adam digging through his closet, she ran into his room, at the door she exclaimed, "Adam!" out of breath she stammered, "did you see?"

    "Yes, now go grab some clothes. 

    She ran to her room and flung open her closet doors. She started grabbing and cramming clothes into a small bag that she grabbed off the top shelf of the closet. Adam ran into her room, and nagged, "We need to go, NOW!" 

    She finished shoving clothes into the bag and quickly walked into the kitchen, confused and out of breath. "Did you know this was going to happen?" she asked him, as he put his jacket in a suitcase.

    "I suspected it might, why?"

    "You were all ready for it. You knew exactly what to do. And the means you anticipated this."

    "And?..." Adam was confused about the significance of this conversation, "you can't tell me you didn't at least wonder if they would ever find us."

    "I preferred not to think about it."

    Adam stuffed Jenny's coat into the suitcase as well and handed the lighter one to her, "Well luckily I did. So let's go. We have a long journey ahead of us." 

    They walked as calmly as they could out the front door. This was the last time they would ever see their home again.

*****

    The town was in chaos. People were running ans screaming; the items people carried scattered the ground. Groceries, clothes, and papers lay waiting to be trampled on. 

    The pandemonium seamed to be emanating from the docks. They both knew why. one of there friends came running by, she stopped and said in horror, "There's pirates, MURDERING people on the dock!" 

    "What?" Jenny was surprised; she thought that they would just come looking for Adam; their friend ran r away with a face of horror.