Poetry & Creative Writing

The Lost Key

Prologue:

It was night. A lone torch stood out against the murky black sky. It was coming from the graveyard. The torch belonged to a man, a man who was searching for something. He weaved in and out of the gravestones, filing and foraging through the earth. The end of his leather boot caught on a hard shiny object. As fast as lighting he dropped everything and rapidly ploughed through the soil. He came up rejoicing, in his hand he held a key. Behind him, whistling through the air, came a dart, which neatly planted itself into the man’s neck. He stood there stunned, he fell to his knees then finally came down to earth. Emerging from behind a gravestone a tall thin figure drew near to the fallen body. He wrenched the key from the man’s limp hand and walked away. “That is what you get for underestimating the power of the Key…”

 

Part I: The Map

 

It was the middle of the night. I couldn’t sleep. I tossed and turned all over my bed. No matter what I did I could seem to close my eyes. Eventually, I went downstairs to get some water. Whoosh! Something shot past me. I could see black shadowy figures dancing around the windows. What was that? The cat flap was slowly rocking up and down, up, and down. I turned towards the cat bed, Mr Likes-to-snore was still there, snoring. A bang came from the sitting room, it was so loud it shook the whole house. Right then everything plummeted into chaos; plates came crashing down, spoons, forks, and knifes flew out of their drawers like homing missiles tracking me down. Whoosh! The lights went out. Everything was silent. Cautiously, I slowly made my way towards the light switch. I tried them, nothing. I tried again, nothing. I tried them again, this time some weak flickers of burning bright light flashed on and off. However, even those small flares were enough for me to realise the situation I was in. I was surrounded, surrounded by a dozen fully armed ninjas. I received a mighty thwack on the head then all went black…

 

 

Powerful white lights woke me from my slumber. I found myself strapped to a doctor’s chair and appeared to be in some kind of laboratory. All kinds of expensive apparatus were dotted around the lab. One of the most interesting was the one I was lashed to now. The chair had numerous hydraulic arms sticking out of the sides, they were arranged in such a way that all the arms were faced inwards towards the patient. A tall thin figure appeared on the balcony up above. He came down a narrow metal staircase.

“Good evening.” His rough voice sent a chill down my spine. I wriggled uncomfortably in the chair. My hairs pricked nervously like porcupine spines. The room had an eerie atmosphere. It was very cold; I could see my breath as I breathed in and out heavily. The man approached me; his cold Paddington stare rooted me to the spot. In his hand he held a syringe filled with a bubbling red liquid. Clouds of steam that escaped through the gaps filled the room.

“You will not remember anything!” His mighty voice boomed like a gorilla. “Go to sleep.” It was now deeper and softer, almost hypnotic. I had not noticed that whilst he’d been enticing me with his smooth talk he had already plunged the syringe deep into my forearm and swirled it around. It made me dizzy, the room started turning, the chair was rotating round and round. Crash! I was conscious enough to see the roof of the lab cave in. A grey airship hovered above the lab; dozens of men dressed in space suits emerged from within the airship. In all the commotion two things had happened: firstly, the man who held the syringe had fled from the lab through a secret passageway between two work benches. And secondly, I was still strapped to the chair when a man in a spacesuit knocked it over, the lashings came undone and within a few seconds I was gone…

 

I’d escaped through the same passage as the man with the syringe had. It was wet underfoot; the damp and murky setting described the man perfectly. A faint glimmer of light shone through the mist, at foot of the lamp, there was an old piece of parchment. It had absorbed the water that was running along the floor. Gently, I held it in my hands, a faded red X was slashed in the centre of it. It was a map! A treasure map! My heart soared and without a single thought, I continued to wade forward through the passage…

 

 

 

Part 2: The Lost Key

 

 

The passage opened out into a small white room. It had been ransacked. Desks were toppled, white documents strewn over the floor. Even the lamp suspended above everything was broken. There wasn’t a single exit, only a small window next to the lamp showed any sign of the outside. I could clearly see that someone had broken out of that window; there were scuff marks on the wall and a tower of cardboard boxes used as a “staircase”. I carefully ascended the mound, once I’d reached the window I immediately knew how I was to escape. Still clutching the map, I swung round to grasp a metal rung, which was protruding out from a brick wall. I underestimated how far the rung was from the ground. Precariously, I dangled. I noticed there was another rung about 10 feet below me. I heard voices coming from inside the room. “Hey look! There’s a staircase up to the window! Let’s go check it out.” Now was my chance. If I was going to do anything I had to do it now. With all my might, I found a sudden surge of strength and pushed myself off the rung. It seemed like I was airborne for a few minutes, the rung increased in size, when I reached it, the ground wasn’t too far away. I forced myself hard off the second rung and landed on the ground. Unable to keep my balance I tumbled backwards and fell into a thorny bush. A face appeared through the window. “Hey you! Get back here!” I forgot my pain and zoomed through an avenue of trees; I did not stop until I reached the other side. I listened tentatively… nothing. I observed my surroundings carefully; there was a circle of trees covering up the secret clearing I was in. I drew my attention to the map, which had drifted out of my pocket and landed on the ground at the foot of the tree. As I bent down to pick it up I thought I’d gone mad. In the middle of the map right next to the red X there was a symbol. An avenue of trees! And just beyond that a circle of trees and then there was the X! I dropped the map and rushed over to the foot of a tree then I dug like crazy! Shortly after, my nails clanged on something hard. Like a fox, I churned through the soft soil, it was almost as if it was air! My fingers grasped something metallic and cold. From the soil I revealed a key! My heart danced with delight, I leapt like a frog around the clearing. But something interrupted my joy. A voice so cold with greed that the trees began to shiver.

“Through here!” The trees shook with fear. I sprinted out of the clearing and hid in some bushes nearby. I could see large feet dart in and out of trees.

“STOP!”

Silence.

“Someone has been here all ready, someone else has the key!”

Numerous gasps occurred.

I snuck off through the shadows and crept around the back of the clearing. CRACK! I stepped on twig; hundreds of heads turned.

“Get him!” the leader shrieked. “He could still have the key!”

Hundreds of men were chasing after me, I ran until my heart ached. I was no longer in the forest, I was no longer in the white room, I was no longer in the laboratory. But I did have the key... I looked around; I was back home! I struggled to figure out what had happened. But it was getting late I decide to figure it out in the morning…

 

I am now at school. I tried to figure out what the key could open. I only knew two places in the school that were locked: the boiler room and the ICT room. During break, I went to the boiler room, I tried the key. It was a bit stiff but in the end there was CLICK! And it was open (I’ve got to say it was a lot less awesome than I thought it was going to be). Next I went to the ICT room. This was a bit harder, Mr Spinner, the ICT teacher, always sanitises the doorknob and lock. Eventually, the lock clicked, and the door swung wide open. I finally realised what powers this key held. It was a key, a key that opened all locks…

 

Here I am, now an old, old man. I have made a lot of use of the key that opened all locks. I have buried the key far away where only a person who is true to everyone can find it. And with this I give you a map, a map which will lead you to the Lost Key. I expect you to live a long happy life with the key. Farewell!