"You all have heard of Cro-Magnon Man," began a scientist. "Cro-Magnon Man has lived here for thousands of years."

Allan sighed from boredom and rubbed his forehead free from sweat. He felt the heat of the sum beating down on him, his neck felt like a fried piece of food. He had the urge to tear his shirt off from his back and splash cool, refreshing water upon his burning body. He knew that he had sunscreen on, feeling some of the oily residue left behind on his forearm. Derek sipped silently at his bottle of water; looking down at a new geode he found near a cliff. Allan blinked; the heat from the sun made him tired.

"This site is over 3,000 years old," the scientist continued to the tired, bored class. "The Native Americans that lived here came across the land bridge between Asia and North America. 20,000 years ago, this place was different..."

"This is lame," whispered Eddie to Karen. "If only I could go somewhere and you will go with me."

"Shhh!" hissed Karen.

Allan felt a snarl coming on him as he saw Eddie forcefully gathered Karen to his side. He clenched his teeth, curling his lips. Then, he turned from Eddie and Karen, glancing back at Derek.

"When is this over?" Allan asked.

"We have a half an hour left before we go to the museum," informed Derek. "Soon, we will be there."

"I hope so," said Allan. "I’m getting fried out here."

Derek chuckled and proceeded to admire his beautiful geode.

"You should marry that geode, Derek," said Allan. He chuckled at Derek. "You are the world’s question of living."

"I love to learn," said Derek. "And I do know how to entertain myself."

Allan shook his head and sighed, sitting down on a rocky ramp. Derek sat down beside him.

"Stop thinking about her," said Derek. "You’re wasting your time. He will crush you like a snail! He is the world’s remaining Neanderthal."

Allan turned his head away from Derek and looked back over to Karen. She was pretending to have a good time with her boyfriend. Allan felt his heart fall from the heaven that was Karen’s glow. He turned from the light of her glow and sat down on his rock. He knew that he would never get her, but he fanaticized all of the joy if he did. Allan looked up at the teacher as he talked to the guide about the many rocks that were around here and what the people who lived here before used for tools. Boredom was all too much for Allan. He wanted to get out of the hot sun. Then, Mr. Loves called them to get up and follow him on down. Allan looked around before he got up. He saw something glimmer in the sun. His eyes spied the golden shine from his rock. He glanced around as he went to the glow of the golden, shiny thing that was on the ground. Allan knelt down to pick it up. He studied the object in his hand. It was a key, a golden key with a dragon carved into its handle. The key looked old, yet it shined like it had been cleaned just recently. Allan placed the key into his pocket and ran to catch up with the class.

Allan was still looking at his key that he found on the ground at the site. He studied the intricate design of the dragon carved on the handle. It looked almost alive, its body almost moving and coiling around the handle. He felt mesmerized by the hypnotic coils of the golden dragon on the key. He looked up from his object and looked over at Derek. He was still gazing at the geode that he found at the site. Then, Karen walked over to Allan. She sat down beside him and caught his attention.

"Hi," she said.

"Hi," he said back to her. "What’s up?"

"Oh, nothing much," Karen shrugged. "I just hate this trip."

"Why?" asked Allan. "It’s great that we’re not in school. What made you come over here? Aren’t you worried about Eddie?"

"Eddie is a bastard," she snorted. "I wish that he was more like you. You’re a nice person, Allan. What’s that?"

She pointed at his key that he was holding.

"I found it lying on the rocks," he said. "It’s made of gold."

"Cool," she said. "You better hide it. Eddie sees it; he’ll take it away from you. I’ve better go."

She got up from her seat beside him and walked back over to Eddie and his friends before the football player noticed she was gone. Allan sighed; his dreams were coming true. He actually had a conversation with her. That was what he wanted—to talk to her. He wanted to ask her another question before she walked away, like why is she going out with a jerk like Eddie Shark. Allan stared back at his key. The key began to illuminate with a dull, orange aura. He could feel a small pull on the key as if someone was trying to pull it away from him. Allan pulled gently at first; the pull of the key became stronger as the illumination brightened. Allan felt a force over coming him, leading him away from where he stood. The pull led him to the entrance of the museum. Allan felt a jerk from the key as it slid into the keyhole of the glass door. Allan stood back in amazement as the golden key turned the lock on the door.

How the hell did it do that? He asked himself.

Allan tried to pull the key out from the slot, tugging on it hard. The key remained in side the hole, refusing to budge. Allan tried to turn it, grappling with the dragon handle. He cocked his head in curiosity and gathered his breath. Then, an idea came to him. He took hold of the door’s handle and pushed it open. It opened with ease. Allan stood silently and dumbfounded as the door opened. He saw the outside. The outside was not the parking lot of the museum, but a forest of luscious trees. Allan smelled the air from this strange outside. The air was strangely sweet. He never smelled air as sweet as the air that flowed into the museum. Allan remembered that the area of the parking lot was a desert with little to no life around it. Where did these trees come from?

This is not the parking lot, he thought. What happened to the parking lot? Where’s the desert? Where’s New Mexico?

Allan closed the door before anything else weird happened. The key turned again and popped out of the door. Allan blinked in bewilderment as he picked up the key. Then, with some courage, he opened the glass door again. The scene changed. He saw the parking lot of the museum and the desert of New Mexico. Sighing, Allan closed the door. He did not know what exactly happened to the beautiful scene of the green forest. He could not tell just what happened when he opened the door with the key in the lock. Allan wanted to try it again to see if he was not hallucinating the whole thing. He attempted to put the key back into the keyhole. It would not go in. Allan felt another force at work, preventing him from placing the key into the slot. He turned around to find that the rest of the group had moved on.

The key he held had something to do with the forest that he saw, only he could not understand what. Allan’s eyes widened when he found the word for it.