SHORT AND WEIRD FICTION

Don’t Take Your Eyes Off The Box

The box sat on the table looking at me.

“I’ll be back with the money. Don’t take your eyes off the box.”

A lullaby drifted from the box. My eyes were getting heavy.

I screamed and the lullaby stopped.

Then a dull thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. The box crept towards the edge of the table.

I slid it back to the middle and the thuds stopped.

The flaps on top of the box started moving like a mouth.

“Do you know the time?”

“It’s 7:15.”

“Do you think she’ll be back with your money by 8:00?”

“?”

“Look at your hand.”

I put my hand in front of my face so I could watch it and the box at the same time. My hand was turning blue. Then white.

A trickle of blood came from the box.

I shook my hand and the blood was gone.

“What does loyalty mean to you?”

Then it was like a Super 8 movie was being projected on the side of the box, but there was no projector.

My friend was in the movie. Leaving the apartment. The building, meeting a man. They talked. Japanese subtitles.

“I can’t read Japanese.”

The movie stopped.

7:34, 7:35,…

The box screamed.

I sang a lullaby and it stopped.

“She’s not coming back with your money.”

7:43.

7:59.

The door flew open, she threw my money on the table, grabbed the box and fled. I never saw her again.

Three days later I sat at the bus stop, looking at my hand. I could hear the bus coming, it pulled up in front of me.

I looked up. It wasn’t the bus, it was the box.

The four flaps of the box unfolded and an apparition escaped.

The box tilted gently towards me.

“Get in.”

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