The Keys

This is a follow-up to “The Numbers” that you can read below, and the final part of the sequence that started with “The Typewriter” which is linked at the end of this story.

He had typed “John Rowley was involved in a serious car accident, resulting in his hospitalisation for six months. At that time he lost his job and was unable to keep up the rent payments on his apartment and the hire purchase agreement on his car.”

Now it was wait and see. Would the typewriter come through and how would he feel?

Two weeks later on the Monday, Rowley didn’t turn in. There was an announcement that Rowley had been in an accident.

“Yes, Yes” he quietly thought to himself

The announcement carried on, that Rowley had fallen downstairs and badly stained his ankle and suffered some bruised ribs. He had spent a night in the hospital but had been discharged and was expected to be back at work within a week.

So it hadn’t worked had it? Or had it? Rowley had had an accident but it was nowhere near bad enough to put him in hospital and keep him off work long term, so there would be no job opening for him and he started to get annoyed.

Why hadn’t it worked? What had he done wrong? Or were the original deaths just coincidences? Although the prediction documents were dated, there was probably no way of proving that they were written before the deaths. If they were just commentaries then he had been totally stupid in thinking that the typewriter had some kind of mystical power.

Once work was over he was going to go home, get the typewriter and sell it at some antique shop, either that or just drop it in some bin, but he could really do with the money. He thought about typing lottery numbers again, but he knew that would be a total waste of time.

When he got home he had a coffee, then looked up a couple of antique shops and asked if they would be interested in the typewriter. They all seemed interested and made similar offers based on seeing the item and trying it out.

He got in the car and the one he had chosen was about half an hour's drive, which was fine, but now with the price of petrol, was a very expensive journey, but the typewriter sale would still leave him with a tidy profit.

He got to the antique shop where the owner took the typewriter off his hands, tried it out and said that it was in excellent condition, then proceeded to count out the notes for the sale of the typewriter. This was not the sort of place that took cards.

He then started to drive home tired and depressed, but at least he had some money and would get a Chinese or Indian takeaway to treat himself. He was thinking of food as he ran the red light and the articulated lorry smashed into him totalling the car.

The police, ambulance and fire brigade were called and it took four hours to cut him out of the wreck and put him in the ambulance. His whole body was a mass of pain, but he couldn’t move or speak, but he was awake.

In the hospital, they did various tests which showed he was fully awake and aware of his surroundings, but the consensus from all the physicians was that it was unlikely he would ever move again. He knew he would not be going back to his job and his mind was screaming.

He heard the doctors say that this could be years, even if he could move again.

Someone would not be going back to work, possibly ever.

And the typewriter sat in an antique shop………..