The Key

The Key: Two

"Unfortunately," she said in a monotone voice. "A plane coming into the local airport from London has crashed." I bit my lip. It could be any plane coming in from London, not necessarily my Dad's. "So far, no survivors have been found. Only lifeless bodies. The reason the plane crashed is so far unknown, but it is thought that one of the main engines burnt out. More investigation is being done on this case as we speak." Her face looked solemn, serious. "I'm terribly sorry to all of you that have lost loved ones in this terrible accident this evening. I myself lost my aunt. A list of names on the screen below listing the deceased will now be shown."

My mouth was dry and a cold sweat was beginning to form on my upper lip as I leaned forward even further, as a small horizontal box came on screen, scrolling through the names of dead ones. I kept my eyes trained on the box and held my breath, not that I could breathe. Gerald Meyning, Shannon Hasting, Bonny Frank, Charlie Heles. The list just went on and on, nearly thirty names had scrolled by when what I hoped was the final one that came on screen and Helena Worthy. I gave let out a huge breath and gave a little laugh. As if. What on earth could be the odds that my Dad, my silly old Dad who can’t even handle cooking himself breakfast, could possibly be in a plane crash?

A knock on the door made me smile and I got up and made my way to the door, a grin on my face as my shoes plodded along the wooden floorboards. I twisted the door handle and swung the door open and my smile quickly disappeared. "Oh, hey, Carl." The newspaper boy stood at my door, newspaper in hand. 

"Good to see you too," he smiled. We were kind of friends- nice to each other most of the time. "I was sick this morning, so I'm just delivering the papers now."

I realized I was being rude and smiled again. "Sorry, thought you were someone else. That's nice, thank you." I took the newspaper from him, exchanged a quick goodbye and shut the door. Biting my lip, I chucked the newspaper on the table and wandered back into the lounge room where Piper, the weather girl, was giving us an evening forecast. "-a huge storm tonight. So get those candles out, everyone in Crimsondale!" Great. 

The main lady came back on screen, "Thanks Piper." Her face fell grim again. What this time? "We have just had another body found at the plane wreck, the one that crashed near the local airport on its way home from London." I sat up straight again and leaned in close to the TV. "The body is badly burnt, and a little mangled, but we've just managed to find the ID of William Blackwood."

Dad.

I was unable to react- unable to move, unable to breathe, unable to think. Dad? No. He could not be dead. No. Definitely not. This was a mistake. I sat on the couch, lifeless, unmoving, and waiting for the lady to come back on screen and tell me that she'd read her screen incorrectly and it wasn't William Blackwood but William.... Orangewood. On the TV, at the lady, who was now showing my Dad's burnt, destroyed, mangled body live from the wreckage.  “I don’t want to see that!” I screeched at the screen, looking away.

I crawled into a little ball and lay there, on the floor of the living room, the TV still on, the main lady moving on to another topic. I just lay there. I didn't think about what would happen now, seeing as both my mum and dad were dead, what I would do. Where I would go. I couldn't think about it. I wasn't going to. I didn't think or cry or move. Just stared into space, occasionally blinking.

Outside, thunder bellowed out across the sky and lightening struck, but I paid no attention to it. I think several times, the lights flickered on and off, and eventually the power went out, but I stayed there, crawled up in my little ball, disturbing no one, being disturbed by nothing.

After that, I think I must have fallen asleep, because I don't remember much else, just waking up to a sunny sky the next morning, my dad still not home. On the floor, my back was hurting from staying in the fetal position for so long, and I needed to pee, so I got up, stretched my legs, used the toilet and took a quick shower, changing into some fresh clothes when I was done.