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.
Every story here is fiction. Any resemblance to real people or events is coincidental.