Twenty-one Twenty

Twenty-one Twenty

By Brittany Scardigno, 1st Year ETA

2-1-2-0*

The keypad lock on your apartment door beeps with rejection for the fourth time, setting off the alarm.

Even though it is an alarm, and its purpose is to let others know that someone is trying to enter a space that is obviously not theirs (because if it was their own, they would know the code), the sound only lasts for thirty seconds.

When the alarm stops, your fingers press:

2-1-2-0*

Again.

2-1-2-0*

You know this is not the correct code, yet your fingers keep pressing the same numbers. If you try the same numbers two more times, the useless alarm will sound and echo through the empty apartment’s stairway.

You know this is not the code, because when you first moved in, you thought to yourself: “This code is so similar to the numbers my father used to use for his passwords.”

You remember thinking this; so why do you keep pressing 2-1-2-0*?

Because it is the correct code. There must be something wrong with the lock.

It is the lock, not you.

2-1-2-0*

Can a mind be conscious and unconscious at the same time? A mind can be conscious of a mistake being made while it unconsciously instructs the body to perform the
mistake. Consciously, you are sure this is not the correct code because it is not the same numbers your father used to use for his passwords. Unconsciously, your fingers push the keys:

2-1-2-0*

There is an intruder trying to enter this space.

Defeated, you walk up to your landlord’s door on the top floor. She becomes worried, asks if you are okay.

You pay ₩200,000 for a man to drill into your metal door and replace the keypad lock.

[Featured photo by Victoria Thiem]