Part 5

Turn left, then right, the shop is on the left side of the road. Left, right, left. He made her repeat this several times until he was satisfied, then with a gentle smile unchained the front door, unlocked it with the special black key from his back pocket, and gestured her out. She knew gentle did not necessarily mean gentle, and a smile was not always really a smile - a word is a word is a word - but she played the part, shy and grateful, dizzy with thankful love, stepping past on tiptoe to kiss him and promising to be super, super quick.

The street was overwhelming. It was devoid of people, and there weren't many cars at all, but there was too much of everything that there was. The world had split open to a monstrous sized reality. She became, as she walked hurriedly along, fixated on hedges, all the hedges of different colours and shapes and leaves and heights and sizes, found herself panting, repeating 'hedges, hedges' over and over under her ragged breath, trying to make the word like all the others.

She made it to the shop, with a blankened mind. Trying to think of other shops, shops before, to remember, what you did, what you said, what they said to you. She could only think of her Daddy. His face loomed tall inside her, all over. How pleased he would be if she could complete this simple task all by herself. Buying the milk at the counter, she said not a word, eyes down, handed over the exact amount of money she had been given, and rushed out.

As she walked, the light seemed strange, curling around the buildings and trees and cars like a gas. She could see the colour in the air around her, it was yellowish, sickening. Her panicked breathing returned as she realised that she did not know where she was. All of the houses, windows, hedges, rooves, all rose above her, the same everywhere she looked, crammed in and hiding everything. She turned and turned about, crossing roads, running faster, because she knew how very bad it was to be lost. She stopped at a crossroads, considering which of the identical paths consisting of houses and houses to take, when she heard the footfall behind her, slowly spun on the ball of one delicate foot. It was Daddy. She almost screamed aloud. In relief, she began to run, to run and hide in the heavy circle of his arms, bury her face in his warm chest. He took her in and held her, and then walked with her, smoothing her hair as she frantically blabbered.

It's everything, everything looks the same out here, I hate it, I didn't even realise I was lost until I just was, and then my mind just couldn't find the directions¦

He, silent, led her home.

From then on, the black key was returned to its original home, on a hook in the hallway. She looked at it, every day, with distaste.