The keys to number twelve
Among his grandmother’s things he found keys tagged with an address demolished in 1998. The paper on the tag is new.
- YouI was going through my grandmother’s things
- Found keys tagged "8 River Street, flat 12"
- ThemGo and have a look
- You8 River Street was demolished in 1998
- ThemThen it is just a keepsake
- YouIt is her handwriting, but in ballpoint
- And the paper is new
- pause 1.5 s
- ThemShe passed in March
- YouIn March
- ThemWhat is at that address now
- YouA new block. There is a flat 12
- pause 1.2 s
- ThemDo not even think about it
- YouI am already in the courtyard
- ThemVlad
- YouThe entry door opened with her key
- pause 1.8 s
- ThemGet out of there
- YouIt smells of her perfume
- They stopped making it thirty years ago
- ThemI am calling you
- YouDo not pick up
- ThemWhat
- pause 1.5 s
- YouNot you. A phone is ringing in the flat
- A landline, on the wall
- ThemDo not answer it
- pause 1.2 s
- YouIt will not stop
- I answered
- ThemWho is it
- pause 1.8 s
- YouMy grandmother
- She is asking whether I brought the keys
- ThemTell her you came to the wrong door
- pause 1.5 s
- YouNo time
- She is already opening it
How it works
There is not a single jump scare: a tag, a smell, a telephone on the wall. Each piece is explicable on its own; only together do they leave no version standing.
How to make it yours
For your version take three or four everyday things that belonged to someone close who has died, and do not make any of them frightening by itself. Mention the death once, flatly, with just a month. Keep the mix-up over the ringing phone: it is the only second of relief, and the real call scares more because of it. End on a door being opened from the other side.
Every story here is fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental.
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