I went upstairs to go to bed for tomorrow was Tuesday, a school day. I sleepily grabbed my worn out toothbrush (which I hadn't used for a while, yikes!) and brushed my teeth and rinsed my face with water in the bathroom next to my parent's bedroom on the third floor. I quickly went back down one floor and into my bedroom to change into some “pjs” which were really some old sweatpants and a camisole which I was probably going to wear tomorrow to school with my sneakers. I turned off the lights, and I slipped into bed and sat for a little bit looking up at the ceiling on the open bedframe of my bed. So much had changed in one day. Just last night I didn’t have Marylyn or school. I am so grateful me, and Marylyn became friends. I finally lay back on my bed frame.

“Ow!” I murmured. The open springs of the bed frame were hurting more than usual tonight, and something was poking my back. It was sharp and piercing, like needles. I shifted back and forth, but the pain wouldn’t go away. Finally, I lifted myself up to look at the bed frame and see if anything was there. But what lay there was anything but what I expected. I stared, and I could feel my eyes widen in the dark. Fear pumped in my blood and a high pitched scream hummed in my racing heart going so fast I could hear it like the trotting hooves of a horse. There, laying on my bed, underneath my back that whole time was a piano key, and not just any piano key. “You might have destroyed my piano,” it said, “but you haven’t destroyed me. Unless you don’t want your grandpa back, I suggest you find me.”

“Grandpa?!” That was why he didn't appear before! He was taken again. I tried to wish for him anyway, but no cigar. I watched as the gold letters faded from my sight over and over again. The piano wasn’t a team of one. It had a creator. A human so morbid and dark shadows covered his face. A human so morbid he kidnapped my grandpa. Or was whomever the creator was human? I covered my face with my hands and tried to comfort myself. Why are things this evil in the world out to haunt me? I quickly flicked the piano key to the side, off my bed. My dreams were filled with evil things that I think we're supposed to represent the creator, torchering grandpa. Each one was eviller and uglier than the last. I woke up that morning with dark circles under my eyes. Of course now when I need grandpa, he can’t be here. I sighed. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I was going to find the creator, and finish him off once and for all. I sluggishly brushed my hair and teeth, put on my sneakers, and walked downstairs to get my suitcase from where I left it yesterday. I ate a banana for breakfast, and soon after I ran to catch my bus. People on the bus still commented on my clothes, but I still had more important things to worry about.

I knew I needed to find the creator to save my grandpa, but where do you even find someone like that other than in your nightmares. I would tell Marylyn I decided. Maybe she’d have an idea.

I walked into school and quickly ran over to Marylyns locker to see her.

“Marylyn!” I said, ”the weirdest thing happened to me.”

“Ya?” she said, ”what?”

“So you know the piano thing I told you about yesterday?” I whispered smartly. She nodded. “So, last night I found a piano key on my bed, and it said you might have destroyed my piano, but you haven’t destroyed me. Unless you don’t want your grandpa back, I suggest you find me. That’s why my ghost grandpa didn’t come out yesterday. I need to go and find the creator of the piano and defeat him in order to get my grandpa back.”

“You sure someone isn’t pranking you?” Marylyn suggested.

“Yes!” I said a little frustrated.

“I’m sorry Rose,” Marylyn said, “but it's hard to believe you without any evidence.”

“Ok,” I said, “come over today, and I’ll show you the piano key. I don’t think the message will come back after it fades, but I’ll prove it to you, somehow.”

“Ok,” Marylyn answers, “I really am sorry it is just tough to believe.”

And from there we walked to our first class together. The rest of the school day I thought about Marylyn and me hanging out that afternoon. Lunch passed by, and soon enough the last class did too. I just hoped showing her the key would be enough to convince her to believe me.

We walked out of school together, and onto my bus like the day before. If anyone on the bus said one thing about my clothes, Marylyn would yell at them right off the bat. It felt good to win a battle. We came off the bus and into the house straight upstairs after dropping our bags off.

“So,” I said picking up the piano key from where it landed when I flicked it the night before, “here it is.” Marylyn picked it up hastily observing its scratches.

“Here's the thing,” Marylyn said, “if all that you have said is true I wonder why the creator gave you this message on a piano key.”

“I never thought of that,” I said.

“I mean couldn’t it have been on paper, or literally written on your bed frame, or anything?”

“Yeah, I guess, now that I think about it,” I answered.

“Well,” Marylyn said, ”again if all that you said is true, then that means this piano key is probably important to find the creator. It could be a key for a hidden door to where he lives or a special device that gives you hints if you say the right words, or,.....” Marylyn’s voice trailed off. She spun the key in her hand and rubbed it against her cheek.

“Marylyn,” I said as the key left a mark on her cheek, “you have a mark on your cheek.”

She felt her face as it then left a mark on her finger, “the piano key, it’s like chalk,” she said.

“Wait a minute!” she stormed up two flights of stairs, passing my mom and dad's bedroom and the bathroom, me trying to catch up. She ran all the way up to the attic that was now empty. “You probably have to outline something with the key to make a,....”

“Portal!” I said excitedly, “but what would we outline?”

“The piano! You say your piano was about here?” she asked pointing to the center of the attic.

“Yes,” I answered, and she slowly started tracing out the shape of a piano, using the piano key. When she was done, the white color turned into a lustrous gold. The color gold swirled into fill the middle of the piano’s outline to create a big gold hole. In the center letters formed the words, “This is the portal which will lead you to whom you shall seek. Its name, Death’s Home.”

My mouth hung wide open, and Marylyn smiled, but she seemed surprised too. Our eyes stared at the portal in wonder, yet we knew this was just the beginning of a challenging adventure.

“Now I believe you,” she said.

And from then on, I and she was the unstoppable team that was going to defeat the creator of the evil piano in the attic.