CHAPTER 3: DAD’S STORY

"Can you read me a story before I'll go to sleep, daddy?" I said with my innocent expression. Dad chuckles as he sat down on my bed.

"Okay, sweetie. Lay down now, I will tell you a story." Dad said while smiling. I lay down as I waited for him to begin.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in a mansion. She was living all by herself ever since the day her parents passed away--

"Poor girl, what was her name, dad?" I curiously asked.

"Her name was Ysabel. Let me finish first." Dad said forming a genuine smile on his face.

One day, Ysabel went inside her room to get her book, when suddenly, she saw a glimmering light behind the door. She tried to open it, but it was locked. She became curious. So, she searched for the key. As she was searching, a man suddenly appear out of nowhere. Ysabel was startled.

"Who are you? What are you doing in my house? Are you a thief?" Ysabel successively asked the man a question.

"Relax, I'm Augustine and I'm here to tell you that the key of thYat door is already long gone." The man said pointing his finger to the door. Ysabel had a queer feeling about him.

"What are you talking about?" She perplexedly asked. Her eyebrows creases when he stared at him.

"Are you looking for the key?" Augustine asked her with his earnest look.

"Yes, how did you know?" She feels strange as she query.

"You need to make the key again for that door to open once more." Augustine divulged. "And you shall not lose it." He added.

"How can I make the key?" Ysabel become more confused.

"There is a black tome inside this house's library. You can find it there." Augustine said as he instantly vanished like a bubble. Ysabel's eyes widened when she perceived what just happened. She slapped her face to see if she is dreaming, but she's not."

"Wow! That man is so cool daddy! I want to be like him." I cheerfully said. Dad laugh in a breathy and go on with his story.

Ysabel starts to find the tome inside the library. When she finds it, she directly looked to what Augustine told her. Just as soon as she discovered it, she started to read.

"Locksmiths can make keys for locks without the original key using one or more methods, cutting keys from a code, scoping the lock cylinders to read the depths, disassembling or decoding a cylinder, or by impressioning a key." Ysabel abruptly remembered that his father was used to be a locksmith. She went into the basement while holding the large and heavy book.

When she arrives at the basement, she placed the tome above the table and open it again. Ysabel seek for his father's old belongings and she managed to find his old materials for making the key. Then she begin making it by following all the instructions written on the book.

She keeps on failing at first. She was about to give up making when she recalled what his dad told her.

"Making a key is hard, but you shouldn't give up." And that makes her more determined to success. Also she wanted to find out what's inside that door.

"I'm excited to know what's inside that door, dad." I excitedly speaked.

"Well, she's about to find it out." Dad say.

After an hour, she finally made the key. After making, she rushed back inside her room. Then she tried to unlock the door using the new key she made. The door made a creak sound as it opens. She slowly opened the door, and she saw a portal. She stepped on the portal and it lead her to a abandoned place, it is sort of a land-- Dad suddenly stopped talking when he heard me yawned. "Are you already sleepy, sweetie?" Dad asked as he chuckle.

"Yep. But please continue, daddy. I want to know what happened next." I sleepily said along with rubbing my eyes.

"Okay."

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Ysabel shouted, but no one answered. She wander and wandered around, yet she didn't see any people. She thinks that she's alone.

"What is this place? Why am I being led here? Where are the people?" She asked herself. She keeps on strolling around, however she thinks that she's just walking in circles, until she gets tired. Nevertheless, the tiredness didn't stop her from looking for some answers.

Ysabel continue to trudged across the sand to find some clue, up until she's at her wit's end. She ceased from trudging. "Now what am I going to do?" She asked her self again, completely puzzled and perplexed. "It is too late for me now to go back and give up." She added with her disappointed face. As she was roaming her eyes around, she caught a sight of a white rock and it was all alone nearby. Ysabel smiled when she saw it, seems like she finally found a clue. She quickly ran towards the rock, then unexpectedly she stumbled upon a skeleton. Ysabel stare open-mouthed when she noticed that it was a human skeleton and it is not the only one. She perceived that there are lots of skeletons laying on the soft sand, some were being covered by the sand. She don't know if she will be amazed or be scared.

"I probably be scared if I were her, dad." I uttered and attempt to close my eyes. I'm now really sleepy.

"Sweetie, should I continue?" Dad asked me with wonder.

"Yes, daddy." I replied. So, dad carry on with his story.

Ysabel were about to stop making an effort to look for some clues and call it a day. But all of a sudden, on the north, she discern an odd line of skeletons, in which going to the same direction. Ysabel stride towards north. As she passed the ten skeletons, the trail just ends.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" Ysabel frustratedly talks to herself. She pulled her hair together while tramping because of exasperation. But then again, there's this last skeleton, laying alone beside a dead tree with no leaves. Ysabel walked slowly towards the tree and when she finally came closer, a radiant smile form in her face when she descry the skeleton holding a map. She moved closer to try and get off the map from the skeleton, yet it was holden tightly by it. Ysabel don't have any choice but to cut off the fingers of the skeleton one by one until she finally lay hold of the map. She jumped happily when she surmise that she can finally moved in to the next location of the land.

"And that's what happen after a long adventure that Ysa--" Dad stopped from talking when he noticed that I had already fallen asleep. He stood up, trying not to wake me up. He turn off the lights, then he uttered, "Goodnight, sweetie." He slowly closed the door when he came out from my room.

It was years ago when I lastly heard dad's amazing story. Everytime I asked him to read me a story, rather than reading from a book, he was telling me a story that it isn't from a book and I actually believed him back then. I want to be Ysabel, who's so much persistent to find out what's behind the land. But what if the story is true? What if the door Ysabel discovered is the door that I'll open right now? What if Ysabel is the owner of the key? What if she's Alecia?

I shook my head and breathe heavily. As I unlocked the door, it made a creak sound as it opens.