The Magician’s Accidental Key
Shortly after, a closeup magician halfway across the world vomited up the key to Pandora’s Box.
Fourteen years before, Kenny the magician bought the key in an antique shop outside of Barcelona. It was a simple metal key with several overlapping infinity symbols shaping its base. Notably, it didn’t have a magical vibe. (You would think the key to Pandora’s Box would at least sport a few vibes.) So, while Kenny didn’t think the key was actually magical, he thought its vintage look would look cooler in his act than the old apartment key from Eagle Drive he’d been using.
Two months before this photo was taken by a passing tourist, archeologists Violet Calder and Darren Black were on their way to the island of Crete for an unprecedented excavation of this very section of the Palace of Knossos. While Violet watched Inception and Darren played Polytopia 40,000 feet over the Atlantic, Kenny the magician was practicing for the most important gig of his life, a headliner spot at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. His final trick involved “swallowing” the key, and “finding” it in an audience member’s wallet.
On the night of Kenny’s gig, halfway across the world, Violet and Darren held in their hands the greatest discovery of their careers: the legendary Pandora’s Box. It was a simple box, with a simple lock, and no magical vibes. Or so it would appear. In actuality, the magic stretched across the Earth at the speed of light to its only key, which Kenny had accidentally swallowed for real when his nerves got the best of him.
Shortly after, the key, sensing the long-hidden vibes of the lock to which it belonged, violently turned in Kenny’s stomach, thrusting everything in it outwards.
This was written for the “Shortly After” challenge from The Obsolete Pencil and was never meant to be read 🩶
