HOLLOW EARTH
EXPLORATION CLUB

Thought I was done going through the footlocker.

I wasn’t.

Found a key laying loose in the bottom underneath some old papers tonight.

No envelope. No label from my grandfather. Nothing dramatic.

Just a small brass storage key with a faded plastic tag attached to it.

Most of the lettering is worn off but I can still make out:

“North County Storage”

and maybe:

C-19

Could be wrong about the unit number. The tag looks ancient.

At first I figured it probably opened some toolbox or filing cabinet that got thrown out twenty years ago.

Then I noticed something else.

My grandfather almost never kept loose objects in the footlocker.

Everything else inside had some kind of organization to it. Folders. Labels. Rubber bands. Handwritten tabs.

This thing was just sitting there by itself.

Which somehow bothered me more.

Going to see if the storage place still exists.

Fuck my curiosity.

Why am I even going down this rabbit hole anymore?