Of Nowhere and Everywhere

Roland has a special key that unlocks a secret door. This door will take you to nowhere. But not the nowhere you know. See, this nowhere is actually somewhere and everywhere, while still being nowhere. That’s just how things work sometimes.

Roland keeps this key in a special place. Like most special places, it is secret and safe. If you were to ask Roland where it is he would tell you it is somewhere. If you pressed him, he would say the key is somewhere dark, somewhere safe and somewhere between his shadow and his soul, because that’s where special things belong. Roland doesn’t go to nowhere very much. He rather likes being in this somewhere, where he has made his home.

Of course the truth is that Roland gets rather lonely in nowhere. Roland would like to take someone from his somewhere into nowhere, so they can see how perfect it is, even if it’s just his old lady neighbour, who wouldn’t say a word he’s sure. But nowhere doesn’t like people from somewhere, even quiet lady neighbours. Nowhere only likes Roland, that’s why he has a key.

Roland doesn’t remember how he got the key, one day he just had it. And he doesn’t remember how he knew how to get into nowhere the first time, he just did. He just took the key in his hand and stretched it out into nothing, and with a turn and a click, he found nowhere.

When Roland’s somewhere started to fall apart, he spent more time in nowhere. When the days got hotter and the nights got colder, and his old lady neighbour got killed by teenage thugs, Roland almost never came back to somewhere. Suddenly, being nowhere was nice and calm. Being nowhere was safe.

One day Roland decided that somewhere wasn’t meant for him anymore. So with a turn and a click he unlocked the secret door to nowhere, and just before it closed behind him, he tossed the key out, back into somewhere. Nowhere didn’t stop it. Roland supposed it didn’t think anyone would figure out the secret.

So Roland moved to nowhere. But now he knows that nowhere is never lonely, because it is full of somewhere and everywhere, and all the people who get lost in different places end up in nowhere. And because Roland is a part of the someones and the everyones, he feels very much at home in nowhere. He even has his neighbour back.

But if you do happen to find a key without a lock, and when you pick it up it feels heavy, like it’s holding onto a secret, don’t throw it away. After all, one day your somewhere might be falling apart, and you might be in need of a nowhere to save you. If it does happen, just put your hand out into the nothing, and Roland will be waiting to pull you in.