KEYS

Chapter 5: The Shed of Green Light

Ross stood there for a while and tried to figure out what he just had been told. Why on earth would this man, this strange man with who he had never even spoke to before tell him a story as strange as this one and trust him to take his instrument from a lady in the shed? What instrument was he talking about, what lady is this he mentioned in his story?

"I do not seem to understand sir?" Said Ross finally after a while of staring at the gardener. "When you say victims, does that mean this mister Papendorf you speak of, does that mean he... he murdered his family and the town's people in this house?" The gardener stared into Ross's emerald green eyes shining in the sun light.

"My dear boy, this man was evil. I never understood why he would do all of these sort of things to people who cared about him. They never suspected the wealthiest man in Germany to do such a thing. I spent countless nights in a mad man's hospital when I spoke to the magistrate about what I saw and they all thought I was crazy and a lunatic. Some people even started to blame me for the disappearances around town, but they never knew what really happened. They were all fools who did not believe the truth!" The gardener turned his back on Ross and walked away towards the green house once again. Ross wanted to know more about Mr Papendorf and what he did, but was relieved to be rid of the old man because the stench of unions and dirt was becoming overwhelming.

They were sitting at the dining room table late that same afternoon, having lunch and waiting for York to arrive from work. Mona had just finished to clean the house and was heading out to town. Ross was busy fiddling with his bowl of soup. He could not stop thinking of the story the gardener told him.

"Are you all right Ross?" Said Rochelle ad rose to her feet.

"What? Oh yes I am fine." Ross leaned his head on his palm and pushed his bowl of soup away from him.

"Not hungry I suppose?" Rochelle asked.

"No Chelle it is just that..." He sighed. "I had a little chat with the gardener today and he kind of scared me with this stupid little story he told me about the house."

"What was it about?" Rochelle leaned herself against the wall and looked Ross curiously.

"About a guy that lived in this house a few years ago before we moved in and probably before we were born and some crap about him murdering his wife and kids along some of the people in town, and not too long ago, some lady not too long ago whose husband wanted her dead I guess, because apparently he assisted the man in murdering her." Ross told her and looked up.

"And you believed his story?"

"Well I kind of did, but what puzzles me is that the gardener said something about witchcraft that the previous owner used to dispose of his victims' bodies, and his instrument. He asked me to take his instrument from a lady that still lives somewhere among the ground, I just do not understand, it sounds extremely weird."

"Maybe the gardener is drunk or something, but do not let it bother you so much, dad said this place had been empty for years, I hardly think ghosts would still be wondering around after the renovation of this place." Rochelle walked over to the tabled to pick up Ross's half full bowl of soup and headed off to the kitchen.

The sun was still shining bright in Stuttgart. The afternoon air smelled like Pine and Jasmyn trees. Ross was standing on the top section of the yard looking out at the forest. He thought of how beautiful Germany was and forgot completely about what the gardener told him. He counted the trees that was neatly aligned along the fence. His eyes stopped when he reached the twenty-fourth tree and he noticed the little black spec he had seen earlier. He jumped over the hedge nearly tripping over his feet and made his way down the steep hill towards the black speck. He reached the bottom the hill shacking of leaves and twigs from his jeans. He was looking up straight into the rusty door knob off a broken down shed. Could this be the shed the gardener told him about, the shed containing his instrument, the shed where the ghost off the lady remained? Ross moved forward and reached for the handle. His stomach tightened and his breathing increased. The door creaked as it slowly went open and Ross stood there quite still while looking at something very strange.

An old brown piano was standing in the middle of the shed. The leaves on the floor blew away as the door creaked open a little bit more. The sun light was shining through the small openings in the roof and wooden walls. Ross moved a little bit closer towards the piano. He moved his fingers along the broken and dusty keys. 'This was probably the instrument the gardener was talking about' Ross thought. He sat down in front of the piano looking for a template with a name on it, but saw nothing whatsoever. He was looking at the keys again when something caught the corner of his eye. At the far corner of the shed was a dark dog-sized hole. Ross stood up and stared at it for at for a while then finally moved forward towards the hole. He crouched down as he approached the hole and a rush of cold air brushed his neck. He was on his knees now still staring into the darkness. He could hardly see anything at the end of the hole because it was pitch black and a little bit cold. Ross thought he was imagining it because at that exact moment, a tiny green light started to glow at the end of the hole. Ross felt his leg and arms go numb when he saw the light appear. He felt, amazed and scared at the same time.

It seemed that the lightgrew bigger and bigger with every breath he took. Everything was quiet at thatmoment and the light continued to grow bigger when suddenly without any notice,it flew forward with the speed of light toward the end where Ross was bendingdown. Ross thought he heard the scream of a woman as the light collided withhis face and his eyes illuminated a bright shade of green even brighter thanhis own and it disappeared into thin air.