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| It looks so simple and safe. Doesn't it? |
Tanya smiled up at her new husband. They had gotten back from their honeymoon only yesterday and Brett was giving her a tour of her new home. She hadn't come from much, but Brett clearly had a lot of money. As they walked through their house, Brett would pull out keys on his massive key ring and tell her what they opened. There were the obvious ones like the front door and the garage. Then the locked cabinet where Brett kept his car keys. He had far too many cars to try to keep all of those keys with him. Each cabinet had a key and each safe had a key, a combination, and sometimes a biometric lock, which they agreed to add Tanya to later. The security system was impressive.
"I can't even see the cameras!" Tanya said.
"I paid a lot of money for that," Brett said proudly. "That way they can be inside and outside the house."
"Wow," Tanya replied.
When the tour ended back in the front of the house, Tanya said, "Was that all of the keys?"
"Very good. There is one left," Brett replied. "However, this key opens a closet I never want you to go into."
"Oh?" Tanya asked.
"It is important to me that you never use this key." Brett held up a small and dainty key, easily distinguishable from the rest.
"Very well," Tanya replied. "Are you ready for lunch?"
Brett smiled and followed her to the case of car keys. "Of course! Then I'll have to pack for my business trip tomorrow."
Tanya made a face.
"I won't be gone long, I promise."
Tanya nodded. "I understand," she said.
The next day, Brett gave Tanya the key ring and a kiss goodbye. "Remember, don't open that little closet with that little key."
"I won't," Tanya promised.
Brett smiled, kissed her again, and left.
Tanya looked around her new house. Her friends were probably all at work. She had had to quit her job to go on their honeymoon and she wasn't ready to start looking for another job just yet.
Tanya took herself on a tour of the house, stopping to watch a movie in their in-home theater, and play a game in their bowling alley. It was odd that there was no one to help around the house, but Brett assured her that he had enough robots to take care of that. The robotic chef on the cutting edge of AI was certainly a marvel. Eventually, Tanya went to bed and set the keys down on her bedside table.
Over the next week, Tanya barely walked by the small closet and when she did, she rarely looked at it. Eventually, Brett came home again.
"Honey, I'm home!" he called into the house.
"Welcome back!" Tanya replied, giving him a kiss and a hug.
Once they were done, Brett asked, "Do you have my keys?"
"Of course," Tanya replied, handing them over easily.
Brett looked through them for a moment and looked briefly annoyed.
"Did your trip go well?" Tanya asked.
"Yes. It was fine," Brett replied distractedly.
"Come into the living room and sit down. We can talk about it."
"Sure," Brett replied, but he was distant the rest of the evening. For the next week or two, he was home, but spent such long days at work that sometimes Tanya forgot he would be coming home that night.
After awhile, Brett had to go on another trip. Once again, he handed the keys to Tanya and reminded her not to open his small closet. Tanya agreed and they parted.
That night, Tanya had a video chat with one of her friends.
"So, how is married life treating you?" Marie asked.
"It's great," Tanya replied. "I'm taking a break before I go back to work."
"Nice!"
Tanya nodded and smiled. "The only weird thing is Brett keeps telling me to stay out of this small closet in our house."
"That is weird."
"Yeah. He always gives me the key when he leaves and reminds me not to use it."
"Maybe it will be different on his next trip,"
Marie told her, there was a hint of something unsaid, but Tanya acted as if she didn't notice.
Tanya shrugged. "Maybe."
When Brett came back from that trip, he seemed even more annoyed. After trying to help, Tanya backed off to let him sort himself out. The next day, Brett had an urgent trip come up that he had to leave for straightaway.
"And remember-"
"Don't go into your closet. I won't," Tanya promised with a smile. "Won't you tell me what's in there?"
"No! It's not something you need to worry about."
Tanya's eyes widened. "Okay. Have a good trip, honey."
Brett sighed. "I'm sorry. I will."
Tanya still did not open the closet while Brett was gone. She amused herself by swimming laps in the pool and watching increasingly strange shows online.
Finally, Brett came home again. When Tanya handed him the keys, he seemed to be almost shaking with rage.
"What's wrong?" Tanya asked innocently.
In answer, Brett grabbed her arm and dragged her through the house to the closet he had forbidden her to open. "Open it!" he snarled.
"But you told me not to," Tanya said, drawing back from him a little.
"Now I'm telling you to open it!"
"No. You're entitled to your secrets. It's your right as a husband."
With a growl, Brett grabbed the small key, rammed it into the lock, and pulled the door open, roughly shoving the keys into Tanya's hands. Inside the room were the dead bodies of three women. Now that the door was open, it stunk, and Tanya took a step back.
"Yes. This was my secret. Now you've seen it."
However, as Brett was talking, Tanya pushed him into the room and slammed the door shut. Taking the small key, she locked it.
"Let me out of here!" Brett yelled.
"You never thought your first wife had friends, did you?" Tanya asked through the door.
"Open this door!"
"You knew Dawn was a witch with enough magic to make this room that could hide a body and a key that would never let the blood wash off in the usual way. Yet you never thought she had a coven."
"What are you talking about? Let me out."
Tanya ignored him. "Do you know how hard it was to pretend to like you? Every time I saw you, all I could think about was how you killed my friend." She took a deep breath. "Fortunately for me, you don't really care about your wives. You just want to make sure no one will come looking if they disappear. Right? That's how your other two wives were. I'm just sorry we lost track of you while you were murdering them "
"I'll tear you limb from limb!"
"I'm sure there's no way out of that room if it's locked. Dawn was very good at her spells. When we figured out what you were doing, the rest of them argued about what justice would be right for you, but none of them was sure what would be fitting. I was the one who suggested locking you in there."
"You vile woman!"
Tanya laughed. "I'm going to finish Dawn's spell now so no one will be able to hear anything in that room or find this door unless they have the key. After you're gone, we'll give your wives a decent burial, but I think we'll leave you in there to rot."
Tanya put her hand on the door and murmured a few words. Her hair began to stand up and a purple light was cast over everything. Then, Tanya stopped talking and her hair drifted back to normal and so did the lights. Tanya took the small key off the key ring, put it on a chain, and clasped it around her neck. She walked away whistling and all that was left behind her was a bare wall where a door used to be.
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