Literature
THEY WERE ALREADY THERE
CHAPTER 2: THE ORDER OF THINGS (CONTINUED)
The pulse beneath my palm did not stop.
I stood at the window, my hand resting on the book, and counted. One beat. Two. Three. Slow. Regular. Not my heartbeat. Something else. Something beneath the cover, between the pages, deep in the binding.
I pulled my hand away. The pulse stopped. I placed it back. The pulse returned.
The book was not empty. It was speaking. I simply did not understand the language.
I left the book on the table and went to the cellar. The door was still open. The light was still on. The room was empty except for the wooden table. But the table was no longer empty.
A single object lay on it. A key.
Not the key from the display cabinet. This one was older, darker, the metal corroded. I picked it up. It was cold and rough. No label. No note. Only the key.
I turned it over. On the back, scratched into the metal, a single letter: K.
Keller? Küche? Kiste? I did not know.
I took the key upstairs and placed it on the kitchen
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