Two weeks after Daniel disappeared, people started telling me to move on.
"You are young."
"You can marry again."
"Forget him."
But I couldn't forget the key.
I kept it with me all the time. Sometimes I felt like it was warm, like it was alive.
Then I met Marcus.
Marcus was the opposite of Daniel. Loud, confident, rich, always smiling. He talked a lot, laughed a lot, and made everyone like him quickly.
He asked me to marry him after only a few days.
I don't know why I said yes.
Maybe I was lonely.
Maybe I wanted to forget.
Or maybe… something was pushing me forward again.
We got married quickly.
Marcus loved parties, music, and expensive things. But sometimes, when he thought I wasn't looking, his face changed. He looked serious. Cold. Like he was hiding something.
One night, he asked me a strange question.
"If one day I disappear, would you wait for me?"
I felt my heart freeze.
"Why would you disappear?"
He smiled. "Just answer."
"I don't know," I said. "Maybe."
He nodded slowly.
"That's enough."
He disappeared three days later.
Just like Daniel.
No noise. No broken doors. Nothing.
Only one thing on the pillow.
A black key.
Number 2.
That night, I didn't cry.
I just looked at the two keys in my hand and felt something break inside me.
This was not coincidence.
This was not bad luck.
This was something else.
Something big.
Something that had started long before I understood it...