The Keys

1- The Key To The Side Door

Jabril's POV

Present day

It was a rainy day; all Mondays should be rainy because it is like a sign they are crying because the weekend is over.

My umbrella broke on the way out the door this morning so I am currently being showered with little teardrops of rain as I rush along the footpath to my job, its just my luck things fall apart.

I normally repeat the day's events at the end of the day but my brain was sorting through the weekend's events before I could hold them off.

"You need to live a little" Jayson had told me.

I didn't like Jaysons type of living in particular it meant fast red cars, going through red lights and then red speeding tickets, in that particular order.

"You never think I am right but this time for once I am telling you, I believe I've got a point here, so care enough to hear me through it."

Sighing whilst not agreeing to Jayson going on and not telling him not to.

Jayson took it I had agreed to hear his little speech and proceeded despite my eye roll.

"Take how you got yourself ready for this evening." He speaks I swallow and try not to speak now he's a fashion guru. I hold my tongue. But without thinking about it I stare at my clothing choices.

Jeans, polo shirt, shoes. What's so bad about it I wonder? And for the life of me I can't see a thing wrong with it.

Jayson goes on

"You're an in control type Jabril."

"And you're out of control." I cut in.

"Ahh but I am but here you are all comfortable, all settled, never pushing the boundaries."

"Oh yea you'd know all about that." I nod.

"Well here is some advice," He pauses "from the other side of reality."

I sighed again and sip the contents of my glass.

"You seriously need to type her back, text her back here and now."

"I am not typing her back." I argue.

I see my other mate then Jayke coming over and I am about ready to leave this whole conversation behind.

"Is he pushing your buttons mate?" Jayke ask referring to Jayson as he approaches us with a jug of drink.

"Yea all the keys, he's sending them into melt down." I tell him nodding.

"He's probably got the right points though mate." Jayke tells me.

"Lets just stay out of it." I tell them both annoyed.

"Like what I was trying to say if your breaking and entering and you have a key your not breaking and entering." Jayson goes on.

"Nah Jayson, if you have a key to the front door, you break in through the side door." Jayke tells Jayson.

"That makes no sense." Jaysons says like anything he has so far has made sense, well he is sadly mistaken cause it hasn't.

"I hate to put the candle out dudes but I have to go back to my unexciting life and not live any more then I have to." I say pushing myself to stand out of the chair, and putting my empty glass down on the table.

They both blink at me.

"Nah you can't be leaving I was only trying to explain how to get back in you know." Jaysons says sipping his drink and waiting for me to do or say something.

I peel the jacket of the chair.

I glance behind myself.

"Here is the key guys I don't want to be let back in, I've been chucked out." I tell them.

I hear their combined voices behind me say "But you still have the key, you could still try the lock."

I ignore them and disappeared into the cool Saturday night back to my car, back to a life that's a little less then it was a while ago.

I stop in the middle of the street suddenly and people pass me by bumping into my shoulders and hitting me gently with their bags, and briefcases.

I stare into my reflection the glass front of a nearby shop holds my gaze as I seem to sink into the pane of glass before me as I tilt my head and take in my features of the guy standing on the street staring back at me, brown haired, and green eyes, tanned in colour and athletic built and tall.

I seem to find myself getting lost within the pane of glass like I am drifting further away, remembering a memory I don't seem to want to relive but am forced into anyway.

2 years ago

I am standing there looking in the exact same glass of a shop window.

There is a for lease sign in the window.

But more importantly there is someone beside me looking into that exact same glass window.

She's shorter then me but only by a bit, she has black hair and brown eyes, coffee/chocolate coloured skin and a big smile wide, almost making me smile.

She's holding the leased sticker in her hands.

"I can't wait to put this sticker on." Her voice echoes sweet and soft "I can't believe that's its ours."

"I can't believe we are doing this going, into business together." I nod in agreement.

I hear the jingle of keys as she gets them from her pocket she shows them to me.

"Lets do it." She says enthusiastically.

I take her hand and lead her to the front door but she pulls slightly back.

"Lets not go through front door." She says cheekily "Lets go through the side door, lets be daring, different, bold even." She has a twinkle in her eyes.

"Okay." I agree with her, I mirror the wide smile she has on her face on my own.

Present Moment:

I shake my head all of sudden and her voice stops echoing, her smile is wiped away like a picture going blurry, breaking into a million pieces and falling around my feet.

I look at the shop now, not our shop anymore; nobody has leased the shop since us. Nobody stood in this exact same spot which I am standing now and dreamed of filling it like we did, of activity like we dreamed would come through those front doors. No one has jingled the keys and been excited to enter it and start decorating it, start planning its future.

There it is was again the for lease sign in the window, seeking a new dreamer, a new person to hold the keys to the world they wanted to create and display through that shop front window. It was my job for so long running that business with her. But now I have a new job and I rush along down the street to catch up before I am to late.