It seemed to appear out of nowhere, and despite it’s odd looking appearance, Milly’s step-mother hardly even noticed it. She asked if they could go in and her step-mother said ‘only for a few minutes’.
The two walked inside and were greeted by the older shopkeeper, as well as his teenage assistant
Lucia found herself drawn to the jewellery, various earrings, necklaces and other accessories. Her step-daughter on the other hand had her eyes immediately caught on a small silver key. She walked up to the shelf, but her small body was unable to quite reach it,
“Excuse me?” She asked the assistant, who quickly made her way over,
“How may I help?” She responded,
“I was…” Milly got awkward,
“It’s alright, is it the bottle? The gummies?”
“N-no…” Milly stammered, “t-the… the…”
“The key?” Another voice said from behind. The old shopkeeper revealed himself. He was very tall, especially at Milly’s young height, “not many customers are drawn to this key, but the few who are struggle to hide it,” he chuckled. He reached over and grabbed the key, handing it down to Milly, “you know, the key is not alone, it is accompanied by a particular book,”
“A book?” Milly asked, but was interrupted,
“Alright Milly, let’s go,” Lucia said, she caught the gaze of the old shopkeeper, “o-oh, sorry about this. Kind of on a tight schedule,”
“Of course,” the shopkeeper said, holding his hand out to take the key back,
“Oh…” Milly said, realising she had to hand back the key, she hesitated,
“Milly, seriously,” Lucia said, getting impatient, “what’s she got…” she sighed, “I’ll pay for it, as long as it’s not expensive,”
“It’s not,” the shopkeeper chimed in, “only eight dollars,”
“For a key?” Lucia replied, looking shocked, she huffed, “whatever, is cash okay?”
“Of course,” the shopkeeper replied,
“Great,” Lucia said. She reached into her purse and produced eight dollars, she handed the money over and quickly made her way out of the store with Milly. The shopkeeper and his assistant smiled as they left. Milly placed the key in her pocket, it felt… odd. Like nothing she’d ever felt in her life.
—
Milly placed the key in her bedroom, on her bed as she was called downstairs for dinner. She looked at it before she left the room, feeling odd once again.
At the dinner table she was met by her step-mother Lucia and her father Jakob, as well as her step-mothers children, teenage twins Willow and Corey.
Willow and Corey were inseparable. Together they were even more annoying, but separately they were tolerable. They loved each other, and sure they individually loved Milly, but when they were together they hardly showed it. Corey was always very tough on Milly, despite her being nearly six years older than her. Willow was gentler, but her words hurt a lot more. As much as Milly would never accept it, she looked up to her siblings… even if they pissed her off all the time!
Her step-mother was kind and loving, but lazy. She would often leave tasks until the last minute and arrived late, especially when it was important. She was a hard procrastinator, but since Milly hardly knew her biological mom, Lucia was a very supportive mother.
Milly was closest to her father, Jakob. He was a warm, loving man who supported everyone in the house. The twins knew their previous father unlike Milly, however they saw Jakob as their father. He cared for them as they cared for him.
Despite Milly’s frustration with the twins, she did love them. She just wished they weren’t so similar…
After dinner, Milly came back up to her room, she wanted to play some games before she had to do her homework. But as she entered her room, she found that the key was no longer alone. It was accompanied… by a book.
“What the…” Milly said. She approached the book, looking at it’s ominous leather case, engraved were symbols she couldn’t understand, but she couldn’t help herself from getting closer and closer. As the book came more into view, she was able to see a small, metallic padlock lock on the side. It seemed to be woven into the case of the book, and the keyhole looked perfect for her newly acquired key.
Not a single moment of hesitation passed through her mind as she grabbed the key and entered it into the keyhole. She twisted it, and a rusty sounding click was heard.
Milly touched the leathery skin and pulled it open. It’s pages looked worn, but very well kept. She read the first page,
“Journal of Caroline Tyra”
Milly opened the first page, it read,
“Dearest reader; this book has chosen you. You are to bare witness to my power. To the spells I have crafted to inflict torment, discomfort, pleasure to those unknowing. How you choose to use these spells is your own, and I hope you truly understand the power at which you possess. I encourage mayhem, insanity and chaos. Know that this magic is great, and untraceable. Act wisely, but cause mischief.”
Milly closed the book. Something about all those words felt… personal. It felt as if they were directed completely at herself. Like the writing was speaking to her. It couldn’t be, yet it didn’t make sense that a book would just appear out of nowhere.
“Mills!” A voice yelled out from behind. Milly quickly spun around, she heard a familiar click as the book seemed to have locked itself. She turned around to find Corey standing in her bedroom, “mom says you need to do your homework,”
“Okay!” Milly said, “I’ll do it in a minute,”
“She meant now,” Corey said, clearly trying to piss her off,
“I’ll do it!!” Milly said frustratedly. Suddenly, Willow stuck her head through the door,
“Like now now,” she said,
“SHUT UP! I’LL DO MY HOMEWORK!” She shouted. The twins seemed pretty proud of themselves. They were sweet… but together they just lived to piss Milly off. They disappeared into the hallway and Milly could hear them charging down the stairs. She wanted to look through this book more, but as she stared at it, she knew she couldn’t just leave it. So she took the book, slid it under her bed, and made the key into a necklace, putting it over her head.
—
A few hours pass, and Milly was finished with her homework. Her siblings had stuck their heads in and pestered a little more, during and after she was done with her homework. She now laid on her bed, playing on her DS. She could feel the necklace. It was like it was pulsing. Pulling? It didn’t matter. She could tell it was trying to make her grab the book.
It was dark outside, and she needed to go to sleep soon anyways. So she reached under her bed and pulled out the book.
She unlocked it, then began swiping through each page. Each one had a vague description of the spells, all written in an odd language. Strangely, they all felt familiar, like she was just a blink away from figuring out what each of them said.
She came across a page and decided to stop. There was an illustration of a man and a woman, both with their backs facing one-another. She imagined Corey and Willow, she could feel herself getting annoying just thinking about them. With a huff, she looked to the bottom to find what looked like an incantation. She decided to just speak it, see if it would do anything, maybe it’d make her siblings go away, or at least make them more tolerable. As she began to speak, she noticed the words seemingly moving… maybe it was just her eyes, but although they were written in an alien language, they seemed to convey meaning. Something about her brother, about Corey. She continued to speak. She felt the air around her changing, shifting and shaping, moving further and further away. By the time she was finished, the air seemed to shift back to normal. She felt… strange. Like she’d moved a muscle she didn’t even know she could move. Reading it felt natural, even if none of it made sense.
And Milly couldn’t make sense of it. She didn’t want to. So she didn’t.
She closed the book, hearing the latch click and slid it under her bed. She got changed into her nightwear and decided to lay back down, and put herself to bed.
As she dozed off, the same feeling came back. The feeling, so alien before, became more and more familiar.