Unknown Lock
by mizdor
· 25/02/2026
Published 25/02/2026 17:08
We cleared the drawer in twenty minutes flat—
dead batteries, a coupon for a store
that's been a parking lot for years, a pen
that left a ghost line, nothing more,
a birthday candle, used, still with the wax,
and then the key. Just sitting at the back.
No ring. No tag. Brass going green
at the bow, the small deliberate knack
of something made to open something once
that no one now can name. My aunt
had moved already to the hall.
I turned it over. Felt it faint—
or I felt faint—or neither.
I dropped it in the bag. She tied the top.
The house sold fast. We signed the papers.
There's nothing left to find. There's no more stop-
ping at that drawer, no more asking
who cut this key and what it fit.
Just a lock somewhere still waiting,
or already gone, not knowing it.