Brown Box and Shadow

Walking alone down the old cobblestone streets during a hazy dawn. A woman in a brown shawl sets herself on auto-pilot, sipping on her mug that is partially full of coffee. The streetlights flickering on and then off as the clouds overhead covers the rising sun, and then they slowly drift away. As the woman sees her destination, she notices a box sitting in front of the door.

Wondering what it is, she picks up her speed towards it. When she makes it, she notices that the box is covered in brown paper, without any addresses on it. Her eyebrows furrow, confused and slightly concerned as to why this brown paper box was sitting in front of her shop. She takes her keys out, fiddling with them until she finds the correct key, and opens the doors to her shop.

Then, she turns around and picks up the box off of the ground and she notices it was fairly light. Her concern growing more, but she did not want what ever it was to be left outside. Instead, she decided to bring it to the backroom of her craft store. Setting it down on her desk, she gives it a final look over before she walks out of the room, closing the door on her way out, and continues to open up her shop.

Throughout the day, her regular customers come in. Either to purchase sewing supplies, yarn, or paper and blades for their craft machines. Which nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. Everyone was just doing their typical business. Either browsing to see if anything was new, or grabbing supplies that were needed. The only problem was the store owner, and the nagging in the back of her head. Reminding her of the random box that was in her office.

Once it hit 05:00pm, it was time for her to start closing up. There were a few customers that were left, but they were slowly making their way to the register. She went to the front door to flip the open sign to close, so then no one else would start to come in. After the last two customers left, she locked the door.

Then she proceeded to go around her shop, tidying up, and making sure that everything was where they were meant to be. Thump. She turned around and notice that a few rolls of yarn had fallen off the shelf. Her eyebrows furrowed, confused as to how that had happened. Picking up the rolls, and setting them back onto the shelf, she felt a breath on the back of her neck. Turning around, there was no one there. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, but she knew she still had her paperwork left in the office to do.

Hurriedly, she opened the cash register to bring it into the back. Feeling like someone or something was watching her, her hands fumbled to open the register. On her fifth try, she managed, and as she looked up, she saw a shadow that looked like it had fur, and glowing red eyes staring at her. Her body stiffened, as she stared back. Sweat going down her back, as her hands tighten onto the register tray, and then the creature vanished. Her breathing becomes rigid as she rushes to the back room, and notices that the box had disappeared from her desk.

Frantically looking around her office, she tries to find her keys that she leaves in there during the day. Wondering what she had seen, and if it had any ties to the mysterious brown paper box. Finally, she found her keys, though they were where the box was. Ka-thump. She hears a noise behind her. Body shaking, she slowly turns towards the sound, and sees the box tipped over onto its side. Pressing herself against the wall, not wanting to be near it. She stares it down, gripping tightly onto her keys.

SHHHHHHHHHHH. The box begins to shuffle to her feet. Feeling the swelling inside her throat, she screamed as loud as she could. Thwack. Pain in the back of her head, she feels it, just to see red liquid. Her hands tremble, looking behind her, wondering how it could happen. Just to see that she wasn't against the wall, but instead the creature from the main area was behind her.

Its red eyes staring deep into her emerald eyes. Then it grinned at her and wrapped its hairy arms around her. Happy Birthday, princess. A hiss rang in her mind, and she wanted to cry just to have the box hit her leg. On the top, a letter had the words, “We Found You”. Then box began to open up, first there was emptiness, then a purple light shone through. Smoke coming from the opening, surrounding her body. Feeling of her body beginning to shred. Before she could scream, she disappeared, her keys on the ground. The brown paper box, turned into a pebble. Small tracing of the store keepers blood left over.

Days went past, people wondering what had happened to the store keeper. Though the store itself had an ominous presence since her disappearance. Anyone who would try to purchase the store, complained of crying and screams, though no one would be there. Sometimes even faces in the mirrors, or a shadow in the corners of their eyes. When the owners would decide to leave, a random brown box would appear in the office. Before they could open or check what it was, it would vanish. Leaving behind a letter, “We found you.”