Darkness fell. The late Autumn night had not only muffled sound, but also light. Leaves swirled through the streetlight’s murky pool onto the road’s surface. Some swept past two shadowy figures far down the street. Slowly, Joseph and Melina traversed each streetlamp’s glow and subsequent shadow. Each unlit area was unfathomable; the couple seemed wiped out of existence when they walked away from each cone of light. Apart from the minimal sound of their footsteps, the wind’s bleak howls roused unseen dogs to growl and bark as Melina and Joseph made their way back home. After another daily torture from working together, boredom and exhaustion swept away any civility.
“Melina, can you hurry and open the door?” Joseph sighed deeply. As he leaned against the brick wall, Joseph’s eyelids flapped up-and-down, his mouth was half open after finishing his sentence. Just as sleep which almost overcame him was about to realize, the yell from Melina broke out over his ears.
“I know! Don’t you think that I want to get in house and get to bed? And keys should be in your pocket.” Melina shouted, her shouted words pulling him from the edge of sleep. He wildly opened his eyes and looked around with temporary strangeness to the surroundings. More or less, Joseph was half-drunk on exhaustion. “Come on, is it beginning again? All these shouting, screaming, complaining? And now, she doesn’t know I am tired and sleepy?” Joseph thought, frowning sharply with arched eyebrows. He slowly took his keys out of his pocket as his urge to rest grew. The hugely-stretched couch, as soft as sand on the beach and the warm comfort of his chandelier’s lights, just like the shining sun above a huge expanse of coast, would quickly banish this argument, Joseph thought. As he thought about relief mere inches away, Joseph finally pulled out an unknown key from one of his myriads of pockets and put it into the keyhole with an assuring snick.
But as these two dark figures fixated on their trivialities and fantasies, the keyhole put up a fight, not loosening a bit.
“Goddamn it, the key doesn’t fit. Why can’t I unlock this door?!” Joseph said, with false self-blame and a purposeful backward glimpse to Melina, hoping he could attribute his incapacity of unlocking the door to her. Joseph’s anger lingered in his piece of mind in a relatively calmer state. His voice rose and cracked with anxiety, “It should be this key. I unlock the door using this key every day! How can it be wrong?” Joseph yelped back, letting out all possible impatience and misunderstanding.
“What the hell? Just get the door open!” Melina also let out a deep outcry. Yet again, the two argued. Yet again, Joseph shied back, but said nothing while Melina continued her barrage. Yet again, the door was stuck. It was their original, most common state. Melina, used to taking control and authority, would vent her fury impetuously, especially when anxiety threatened to overwhelm her. Her desire to control was beyond her comprehension, but every lowly creature, fluttering leaf, inanimate street, and of course, Joseph, could feel her forcefulness. Joseph weathered her relentless verbal barrage. Remembering the last time Melina had shrieked like a lion over his ears simply because of loss of the keys, Joseph inhaled in fear of potential reproach. She could scare off your mind and give out thunderous criticism. Glancing at infuriating eyes, he stopped thinking immediately.
This time, Joseph paid more attention to looking for the real key. He went through all his pockets and got all the keys as many as he could find. Keys tinkled in the air and reflected their sparkles when lights shed on them. Accompanied by the frightening darkness, rings of keys travelled between flicker and abrupt darkness. As darkness shaded more on this terrifyingly quiescent ground, the keyhole got more darkened and more imperceptible in Joseph’s eyes. Additionally, the desolate and chilly wind blew increasingly heavily on the fragile bodies of them two. A soaring amount of leaves trailed disorderly to their bodies.
“See, the wind is blowing now. And you haven’t unlock the door. What’s the problem with you? You want me to freeze to death?!” shriek from Melina came afresh. She shook her body while wind was travelling past her body. Frustrated by present depressing situation, Melina leaned forward her body to the antiquated wall of house. Then, a deep sigh. In sight of this, Joseph exhibited more helplessness in his unclear complexion.
“Come on, come on, can this key work? Just make this door unlock. There’s no time to wait any further!” Melina kept shouting, but her voice was much higher than her first voice. Joseph was definitely freaked out. Twofold rebuke has forced his hands to quiver incessantly. Of course, words were turned into forced nimbleness. Joseph put all his effort to insert the key into the hole. Keys were twisting against the pivot point and kept clattering. Needless to say, if permitted, he would go to all lengths to plug the key all through the keyhole.
“Come on, come on...” Joseph prayed inaudibly. Beads of sweat lined his wrinkled forehead. His hands shook violently. Other keys addressed in the same ring kept tinkling and made rhythmic beats. The key bumped against all sides of the keyhole. Even now, sweat edged along the middle dents of the key. What little light highlighted Joseph. In the distance, Joseph’s back looked like a huge reflective surface. The spotlights made sweat developing more quickly. On the contrary, what he had held in front of his chest was a small expanse of darkness as well. All at once, he was divided into these contradictory aspects. In the back, agitation of Melina seemed never to shut while in the front, sudden appearance of lights in obscurity made the unlocking task much more arduous.
Then, everything was so quiet until a sonorous unlocking sound shattered the long-lasting silence. The opening sound was so loud that Joseph was shocked severely. This sound permeated through night’s dense and stinky air, to the neon lights far afield, to the city buildings emitting various colors, to the city’s dormant souls of the beast until it would fully awake.
“Yes, the key finally fits.” Joseph exhaled with great relief. “Come on, Mrs. Melina. That’s what you waiting for.” With great sarcasm, Joseph had fed up with overmuch complaints from his wife.
As he opened his eyes again, he saw Melina’s arms ram against with an unbelievable momentum and the speed was so fast that her hair was swiftly stretched straight. In a flash, she plunged into the direction of the door once the sound was heard.
“What the hell? What’s everything going on in my house?” Melina almost pronounced every word with a higher decibel. Her face was suddenly turned into a mixture of intricate emotions: bewilderment, anxiety, amazement. Her hands started to shake, just as the same way Joseph once did. Her mouth was stretched into a considerable size and her body was bent backward seemingly by invisible power of the scenario before her eyes. At that specific moment, she was a psychopath originated from the antithesis of former despair and present astonishment.
“What are you talking about?” Joseph was baffled by Melina’s seemingly irrational reaction, but it also, of course, evoked a tremendous curiosity. Once he took a peek inside, he could not believe his eyes. “What the…”
A world of Utopia! Heaven! The Lost Garden! Seagulls were stretching in the sky and sunshine went down directly onto several trees. Shady spots were created for the perfect enjoyment of lying. No clouds gathered in the sky and huge expanse of sky had penetrated into the vision beyond reach. Right under it, seas reflecting golden waves flapped overhead and gently patted the side of the beach. Palm trees were surrounded in the backward direction. Once got a touch from delicate breeze, trees would exhibited in a far more refreshing posture. When Joseph and Melina withdrew their sight to the remote scenery, they found soft and comforting sand stuck to the bottom of shoes. The beautiful view of nature could not be better. “Joseph, what are you waiting for? Get off your shoes and have a try of the sand, the sea, the everything!” On the spur of the moment, shoes seemingly went off his feet spontaneously and all his hate towards Melina died out in the instant. “The sand is a bit hard and cold. But, Yes, this is amazing. This is the fantasy land. Melina, Jesus Christ. How could we not know that there was a fantasy land before?” In the meantime, they got themselves dancing and chanting, just like kids scampering and grinning. “Whoa, Whoa, wait a second, is there something hidden in the palm forests?” Melina asked with a sudden pause of delight. Foliage of palm trees reached out and flowed by breeze. it turned out that far in the distance, there was a specially-designed wood door. The carving texture of the wood door seemed extremely refined. Furthermore, the door seemed more magnificent and bigger than any other door they have ever seen. More importantly, at the upper part of the door, words inscribed went like: “Entrance to The Ultimate Relaxation” a multitude of spectacular scenes strengthened the misbelief: This is their house!
“What happened? What has God given us?” Melina questioned with the confusion and overpowering mirth. The initially gloomy face of Melina had already been revived. Gee, in retrospection, the tedium and monotonousness of life has worn Melina out. The lifeless and seemingly frozen face of Joseph caused her great repulsion. And his stupid gesture and his goddamn keys, the nightmare has all been faded out. The discouraging scenario of everything has all gone, gone, gone! There are only beaches, great skies and sea. There are only the entrance to the “Ultimate”! I don’t have to care whether this is my house. I just want to have a good time! Melina started thinking, bursting with a spontaneous laugh. “This is the Heaven! No more boring jobs with Joseph, nor more tiring travel and stress. Here lies the end of repetition. This is the start of new era! Melina repeated her mantra affirmation.
“Well, I don’t care what had happened to our house. I just want to get myself comfortable!” likewise, Joseph’s words just fit Melina’s desires. Soon, they have reached the “land of happiness”.
“Hey, what don’t we go into that other door? It marked ‘Ultimate’!” Melina proposed clapping her hands and opening her eyes wide. Happiness beyond imagination has penetrated through her every gesture.
Joseph hurried to that door, keys tinkling in his left jacket pocket, “but how do we open it?”
“Use your keys, idiot”. Melina’s words were inarticulate and pronounced with rapidity, and her breath came in short intervals.
“Alright…” Joseph began digging for the right key again, with regained contempt towards Melina, “The key doesn’t fit.” Joseph nerved with unexampled disorderliness. Even he now doubted the key’s accessibility to the “door”.
“Wait, let me try again!” “Let me try.” “Let me try.” “Let me try!” Joseph complained with growing impatience, “the key doesn’t fit! Why! Why! Why! Why the key doesn’t fit?!”
Unable to accept the disheartening situation yet also indecisive, Joseph slapped the keys around his hand, nudging the door with uneasiness.
“Keep trying. I can’t wait.” Melina said her word crazily while inner desire is about to explode, “Ok, ok, what are you doing? Let me do it!”
As the sentence ended, Melina kicked the door as hard as she could. Instead of a hollow sound, a fracturing sound rang out. Melina fell down because of immense counterforce of the wall. The face of incredible vigor turned to unmeasurable paleness. Eyes were fixated on the direction of dark and imperceptible ceiling. Vibrant colors and seemingly sensible entertainment shifted to dimness. Instantaneously, the original shape of the house again fitted into her eyesight. The archaic staircase stained piled with ashes presented diagonally. The kitchen room in her left hand was occupied with all types of groceries. Piles of dishes and bowls abounded the sink of unknown depth. Mess came back and everything came to dilapidation.
“Melina, Melina, what’s going on?” Joseph said. His face was contorted with worry as he tried to wake her. But her body seemed frozen, not at all intended to revitalize. Great anxiety came back.
As Joseph looked around for help, his surroundings turned dimmer and dimmer until there was only a single beam of light, creeping into the house through their ragged curtains. Everything in the house only left profound darkness as original. Joseph sat, immobilized by his own indecision. This is their house.