Box

This is for the Vocal Word Hunt Challenge that you can read about below.

The Prompt

Write a story that incorporates three words from the provided word search puzzle.

The Box

It was so hot. The fan was on but made no difference to the temperature. He was in a room with a sea view, he had needed to get away from everything. He told people he would call when he got here but he had no intention of doing that. He needed isolation from everyone he knew.

He never wanted to go back, although he knew he should. They would eventually try to find him, but he had left no trail. He was not going back to his job, he had closed his bank and savings accounts and he had withdrawn all his money and stuffed it in his rucksack.

In this digital age, it was amazing how many people were suspicious of folk who presented them with actual hard cash.

He wanted out!

Not suicide, just out of this world, out of society, out of his life.

He wanted another life, and he knew he could not stay in this one.

Someone had told him he needed to get a box, and a magical box that would give him the opportunity to pass out of this world into a parallel world, and this seaside town was the place to do it.

He didn't know why he believed them, but he thought it was worth giving a try.

He wandered out and looked for fortune tellers and clairvoyants in the hope that they could put him on the trail of a box for him.

He spent three days exploring backstreets and the kiosks on the piers, and seafront as well as the circus that was in town, and finally, he found the one that he had been looking for.

The clairvoyant was androgenous and he really did not know whether he was speaking to a man or woman, as they seemed to flow between the two in an almost physical demonstration of gender fluidity.

A price was agreed upon, and he went back to his room to get the required money.

The clairvoyant gave him a box and instructions on how to use it.

"You must wait til the full moon on Saturday. After midnight strikes, twist the handle as far as you can and then let it go. The box will then start to unravel and it will open the door to your new life. You must sleep while this goes on. Take it now and I will say goodbye as you will leave this plain of existence for your rebirth"

That sounded very intense but he went back to his room and placed the box under his bed. He had time to kill until Saturday night and wondered if he would need his money where he was going.

Saturday night came and he listened to Radio Four but it was just a sound in the background. The local church struck twelve chimes at midnight, slightly before Radio Four said it was midnight.

He turned the handle on the box, grabbed his rucksack and then lay on his bed and let himself drift into sleep as the box whirred and clicked like a wooden insect, but the sound was hypnotic and in no time his was in the realms of Morpheus.

The Awakening

"Wake Up, Wake Up"

Someone was shouting at him, there was something around his neck and he felt someone pulling him up.

"We've got the sheep to round up"

He tried to say "Where am I?" but it came out as a bark.

He looked and saw a long furry nose in front of him

He got up and realised he was walking on four legs.

He walked past a mirror or rather was pulled by the lead attached to his collar.

He saw himself. He had been reborn or reincarnated as a sheepdog.

This was not what he had planned, but how the hell could he get out of this?

He was a dog and all he could do was bark, and his new life was herding sheep.

He howled and was immediately hit by his owner, he knew how he would have to obey and keep quiet, but he suddenly wished he was back in his old job with his friends and family, but barring a miracle he was stuck on this farm for the rest of his life.