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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/Relative-Obscurity on 2024-11-01 02:30:07+00:00.

I remember the first time I saw it.

I had been walking my dog down my street, minding my own business, when something caught my eye on the other side of my next door neighbor, Mr. Carlson’s, lawn.

After standing there for a moment, unable to put my finger on it, I eventually noticed a key, just hanging there in the doorknob of his front door.

Not thinking too much of it, I went on with my walk and immediately forgot about it.

But then the next day, I saw it again.

As did I the next day after that.

And the next day after that.

Eventually, after a week had passed, I started to get worried.

See the thing is, I would have maybe written off the key as a simple mistake before going on a trip, but Mr. Carlson was quite old and frail, and had stopped leaving his house a long time ago, depending on caretakers for groceries and basic home goods.

Which brought me to my next conclusion… that it must have been one of his caretakers.

But then I remembered that they stopped by his house every few days, and surely would have noticed the key.

Finally, after two weeks of indecision, I worked up the courage to walk over to Mr. Carlson’s door, place my hand on the doorknob, the key still hanging from it, and turn the knob.

As I turned it, I couldn’t help but hear a faint echo, like the sound of a couple people shouting from a hundred yards away.

I stopped and looked around.

Nothing.

I turned back to the door… and opened it.

Fearing the worst, I braced myself, closing my eyes. Upon opening them, I simply saw an empty foyer, and let out a sigh of relief. But what I didn’t know… was that the “worst” thing that I feared, was nowhere near what I’d soon discover.

“Mr. Carlson.” I called out, before shutting the door behind me.

CLICK.

Suddenly, the lights went out, and I saw…

…Them…

…Mr. Carlson and Brenda, our neighborhood post office worker, sitting on the staircase together, a look of horror in their eyes.

Mr. Carlson! What a relief. And Brenda? I haven’t seen her in a week. I thought to myself, remembering the past week’s strange lack of mail that everyone in the neighborhood had been talking about.

Looking back on it, I should have put two and two together. But what possibly could the disappearance of our mail person and a key in my neighbor’s door have in common?

I was about to find out.

“Brenda? What are you doing in Mr. Carlson’s house?”

She simply replied. “They key.”

“Oh, it’s yours?” I asked, letting out a sigh of relief, after spending two weeks running through every possible reason for it being left in the door.

But before I could bask in the moment, she interrupted me.

“No. It’s not mine. Or his.” She said, before turning to Mr. Carlson, who looked exhausted.

“It belongs to him.” The old man said.

“Him?” I asked, confused by where he was going with it.

“The man who visits us.” Brenda said.

“Visits you? What do you mean?”

“Just wait. He’ll be back. Especially now that you’re here.” Mr. Carlson said.

“He’s right. I entered just like you did, after dropping off the mail and wondering if something was the matter, finding Mr. Carlson here and that I was trapped insidr. And within a few minutes, the man arrived.” Brenda explained.

“Wait, what are you trying to tell me?”

“That you’re trapped here.” The old man said.

“Trapped?” I laughed. “Yeah okay. Is this some sort of Halloween prank? What with the lights off and everything?”

That’s when I casually walked back over to the door and tried to open it.

CLICK.

But it didn’t budge.

I stood there for a moment, with my back to Brenda and Mr. Carlson, wondering if maybe there was some truth to what they were saying.

And that’s when I heard…

…Him.

“See?” A hoarse, disturbing voice called out from behind me. “They’re right. You’re trapped.”

Chills ran down my spine, as I realized that the voice couldn’t be coming from Brenda or Mr. Carlson.

I couldn’t bear to turn around. So I simply called back to the voice.

“Who are you?”

“I’m the keeper of the keys to your worst nightmares.”

I turned around, to find a man standing there in the darkness, his eyes glowing, and keychains dangling from every inch of his body.

“Let us out!” I screamed at him, pretending to be courageous, but terrified by the mere sight of such a thing.

He simply replied, “Certainly,” before looking at his body and removing a particular keychain with one key on it.

“Yes, this one’s for you.” He said, as he handed it to me. “This will open the front door from the inside. Go ahead, leave.”

I looked at the key, then back at the door, then back at the monster and smiled. “You idiot. Why would you ever give it to me? I’ll be back with the police. And you better not be here.”

Then, I walked over to the front door and inserted the key.

“Don’t do it!” Brenda cried out.

“He’s tricking you!” Mr. Carlson cried out.

But I was too compelled by my plan to listen to them, and turned the doorknob.

CLICK.

It opened.

“See?” I said, as I turned back to Brenda and Mr. Carlson with a smug look on my face.

They simply shook their heads in disappointment.

I turned back, opened the door, stepped outside, and shut it behind me…

…To find myself in a bedroom. My childhood bedroom to be exact.

What the? I thought to myself, as once again, chills ran down my spine.

Feeling unsettled by being in there, I opened the door and entered the second story hallway, where I heard the sound of someone being strangled in a nearby bedroom.

Normally, I would have been shocked to hear such s sound, but this was one that I had heard before. This…

…Was a memory. A memory that I was reliving in real life, now as an adult.

A tear rolled down my cheek, as I knew exactly what was happening in the other room, and despite my attempts to hold back, I couldn’t stop myself from rushing into the bedroom and trying to stop him.

But just as it had unfolded in real life, many years ago, by the time I opened the door… it was too late.

My father was dead. Strangled to death by my brothers for reasons I’d only later find out.

“Andrew, no!” I cried out. But he had already crawled back into the corner of the room, simply staring at my father’s lifeless body.

That’s when he looked up at me, and charged at me like a ravenous zombie, managing to claw away at one of my arms before…

…SLAM!

I shut the door and ran downstairs, expecting to find my mother down there, just as I had found her when the event had originally happened.

But all that I found… was Brenda and Mr. Carlson. Staring up at me with wide eyes.

“I’m sorry.” Brenda said, seeing the expression on my face.

“How did you know?”

“Because it happened to us. Over and over. No matter which key he handed us.”

“No, it can’t be.” I cried out, as I began to shut down, unable to believe what they had told me.

But I should have.

As I stood there, shaking in horror, I heard the sound of keys rattling, and I turned around to find the monster standing there again.

“What do you want?” I cried out.

But he didn’t answer. He simply looked down at his body and removed a particular keychain with one key on it.

“Yes, this one’s for you.” He said, as he handed it to me.

I looked at the key, then back at the door, then back at the monster, this time unable to smile.

I knew another horror lay before me. Knew that the key would not help me escape the house.

But for reasons I can’t quite explain… maybe I thought there was an inkling of a chance that the key would work… or maybe it was a desire to see my father again… I took it anyway.

Took it, and opened the door, only to relive the same horrifying memory and return back to the staircase where Brenda and Mr. Carlson were standing.

Once again, the monster returned, once again he handed me a key, and once again I disappeared through the door.

This went on and on, until I couldn’t bear to take it anymore, and eventually gave up on the keys being of any help.

When I finally declined the man’s key, he simply replied, “Have it your way,” before disappearing into the darkness.

I turned to Brenda and Mr. Carlson, who went on to explain how they, too, had tried the keys and experienced nightmare after nightmare from their respective past. Then we all retired to the living room where we slept on the couch, chair, and floor, respectively, reasoning that we should stay in the same room.

The next day, we huddled together, eventually coming to the conclusion that the house, its door, and the keys, must be some sort of twisted test, caused by the key in the home’s front door, and enforced by the monster that wore an armor of keyrings.

We tried everything, from scouring the home for exits, to attempting to make calls on its dead phones, to prying at its boarded windows from the inside out.

But after a week had gone by without a single lead, we eventually gave up.

That’s when… someone else arrived.

“Nooooo!” We all screamed, our voices surely echoing outside just as I heard them, as Officer Howe turned the key to the front door, and let himself in.

By the time the door had closed behind him, it was too late… and three… had become four.

Once again, the monster returned, this time offering Officer Howe a key, who took it and let himself out, experiencing a nightmare of his own, only to return from upstairs a short time later with a look of horror in his eyes.

After we told him our stories, he too, declined the monster’s next key, and we once again huddle…

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