Emily and the Stolen Life-Key

Emily and the Stolen Life-Key

© Copyright 2000 by P. June Diehl


“I know that key has to be here!” exclaimed Emily, throwing clothes left and right. Her dark, curly hair whirled around her face and shoulders, threatening to follow the path of the flying clothes.

Putting her hands on her slender hips she surveyed the disaster. It’s not in here, she thought, trying to decide what room to attack next. With a sigh, she returned to the living room.

She stopped short. What? She almost said the word aloud. Standing in front of the table was that dreaded prehistoric winged monster dog, Ozmos! Emily watched as the creature picked up a comb from the table and put it into a small pouch hanging around his furry body.

“Oh, so now you’re a thief?” she shouted at Ozmos.

Whirling around Ozmos faced Emily. “Ozmos put back comb!” he said, pulling the item from his pouch and placing it back on the table. Emily’s face was red with anger.

“Now ok?” Ozmos asked.

“No, it’s not ok,” responded Emily. “What else do you have in that pouch that belongs to me?” Emily reached towards the bulging pouch as Ozmos backed up, his tail hitting a low table, knocking the contents onto the carpeted floor.

Emily shook her head and stooped to pick the items off the floor. “How come you can suddenly speak English? We had ourselves a merry chase. First me chasing you and then you chasing me. What gives?” Emily stood up, once again eye to eye with Ozmos.

Ozmos hung his furry head. One large tear flowed from his eye, becoming lost in his fur. “Ozmos mean no harm,” he stammered and then sniffed. “Ozmos good boy.”

“No, Ozmos is a thief!” shouted Emily. “Now, come clean. Empty that pouch.”

Ozmos, head hung, unfurled his wings and sat on the floor. He reached into the pouch, pulled out a small golden box, and handed it to Emily. Emily snatched it away from the extended paw and laid it aside. She crossed her arms, changed her mind, and extended her hand toward Ozmos.

Ozmos sniffed again, for good measure and pulled out a round watch on a silver chain and a necklace made of silver and mother of pearl. Emily set these items aside, continuing to stare at Ozmos. “No more tears and stop that sniffing,” Emily demanded. “I want answers.”

Ozmos moved only his eyes to look straight into Emily’s green orbs. “Yes. Ozmos will answer. Ozmos not mean to hurt nice girl-human. Nice girl-human have pretty things. Ozmos have nothing. Ozmos help Ozmos.”

Emily once again shook her head. “Why have you been chasing me?”

“Ozmos play chase game with girl-human.”

“Chase game? You mean it’s just a game to you?”

“Ozmos like play chase game. Like tag. Ozmos chase. Then girl-human chase. Emily not having fun?”

“Fun? You’ve dragged me through countless worlds! You call that fun? Actually, it’s been quite an adventure and I found a special treasure, which I seem to have misplaced, but what’s the purpose of all this chasing?”

Ozmos looked up at Emily from his spot on the floor. Suddenly, a huge smile erupted on his face. Pushing his paw into the small pouch, he produced a golden key. Emily took a surprised step backward. “My key!” she shouted, moving toward Ozmos. “I’ve been searching everywhere for that key!

As Emily tried to snatch her golden life-key from Ozmos’ paw, he was gone. Emily quickly stepped into the spot he had disappeared from, letting her feet go invisible. With a twist of her body she followed.

***
Emily untwisted to find herself engulfed in darkness, not the blackness of a winter’s night, but darkness so deep that she could not feel the ground under her feet. She waited a few minutes to see if her eyes would adjust. Nothing changed. Suddenly, she felt her feet go cold and her body wanting to twist again. Allowing her body to twist for a second time, she wondered where she would immerge.

***

Standing in the middle of a flower-filled field, she turned in each direction, trying to find Ozmos’ trail. Her flowing garments pushed gently against her body, as the wind seemed to shift in the direction she turned. “Where did he go?” she questioned, not expecting an answer, but the wind once again shifted and she followed, staring at the mountain chain before her. Emily’s intuition told her to go toward the mountains and her feet followed.

After several hours of walking, first through the field and then following a well-worn path, she arrived at the top of a hill. Below was what appeared to be a deserted village. Shrugging, she started toward the village, thinking that Ozmos might be hiding there.

Emily knew that Ozmos would not want her to get too far behind or the game of chase would not be fun. She shook her head, thinking how she had misjudged him, not realizing that he was like a child. This was all just a game to him. “Right,” Emily snarled. “Just a game. A game with my life-key at stake!”

Arriving at the village, she realized that it had been deserted for some time. There were no domestic animals to be found and no footprints on the path inside the hut area. Pushing open the door to the nearest hut, Emily peeked in and then stepped through the opening. Her feet kicked up the dust on the wooden floor and she coughed. The shutters on the windows had been left open, letting in the afternoon sun. Only a table, a couple of chairs, a bed, and some pots near the fireplace occupied the room. Everything was covered in filth. Walking over to the table, she noticed an imprint in the dust. “A key print! My key!” she shouted, loud enough to wake the dead in this lonely place.

Hearing a rustle at the door, she turned. Ozmos!

The creature, ducking to enter the doorway, collapsed onto the floor. Emily was confused. Was this another one of his tricks? Or was something wrong?

Emily stepped the couple of feet to Ozmos and stooped down. Ozmos raised his head. “Ozmos no like darkness. Please take Ozmos away.”

To her surprise Ozmos raised his paw and extended her the stolen key. Emily snatched it out of his paw and put it inside her flowing garments, in a secret pocket. The life-key seemed to warm her body and she could almost feel that it was pulsating to match her heartbeat.

“Ozmos want to get away. Please take Ozmos away.” The large creature had his wings tucked close to his body.

“Nothing is going to happen to you as long as you are with me,” Emily said, trying to be motherly. “I’ll protect you, but what are you afraid of? The darkness is not here.”

Ozmos said nothing, only looked toward a window that faced the direction they had traveled earlier. Emily turned and looked out the window. She gasped, “Oh, Goddess!”

In the distance, in the direction where she had initially entered this world, was darkness. It must have followed them here! As she continued to watch, she could tell that the darkness was moving toward the village, as trees, flowers, and the rocks along the path were swallowed up by the encroaching darkness.

Emily turned from the window, shouting at Ozmos, “Quick! Get up! We have to get out of here!”

Ozmos curled himself tighter, pleading, “Ozmos want to go home. Please!”

“You silly creature. I don’t even know where your home is! Now get up! We have to leave! NOW!”

Stepping over to the creature, Emily tugged on his front leg, trying to get him moving. “Move it! Ozmos, if you don’t get up now I’m going to leave this place without you!”

“NO!” Ozmos exclaimed. “Emily not leave Ozmos here! Ozmos keep key safe for Emily.” Rising to his feet he unfurled his wings, stretching them to their fullness. “Emily use key to take Ozmos away.”

Yes! Emily realized she could use her life-key to save them. She tore the key from its hiding place and held it up. Never having used it before she wondered what to do. How was she to make it work?

Ozmos moved close to Emily, folding his wings around them. “Please! Go now!”

Emily glanced out the window, only to see darkness. She held the key in both hands and thought about her warm cozy cottage. She willed her feet to disappear. As the darkness engulfed the hut both Emily and Ozmos twisted, as one, and disappeared.

***

Emily pulled the blanket around her body, trying to get warm. The though of the darkness had made her cold all over. She could hear Ozmos gently snoring, asleep on a blanket near the door. Here, in her bed, she began to feel warm, her life-key pulsating her toward dreamland.