Brown Paper Box

Igashu gets up and steps towards the barn with the painting of a package wrapped in brown paper. He opens the door and some unknown force pulls him in and straight down into a dark abyss. Igashu screams until he hits the ground and becomes unconscious.

When Igashu opens his eyes, he’s in an ordinary living room, but he doesn’t recognize the place. He tries to move around, but he is not able to nor does he feel or see any arms or legs. The only thing he can do is look at what’s ahead of him and talk. From his viewpoint he knows he’s on the ground.

“Help!,” Igashu yells out, but no response.

He tries again and he hears a door creaking from a distance. He sees light shining on the walls of the dining room across from him. The room lights up.

Igashu sees a woman placing a plate of food on the table. He desperately yells to get her attention, but it doesn’t work. The woman walks back to the other room.

Suddenly, Igashu hears loud footsteps behind him and it’s approaching him. Preparing to brace himself for what’s to come, Igashu closes his eyes slightly. He opens his eyes and looks up. Igashu sees a man in front of him, holding wrapped presents. The man crouches down and moves Igashu to the side to place the gifts down. Igashu is now at an angle where he sees other presents and the other part of the living room. He sees the man plug in a green cable and walk away. Using the picture frame, he notices the Christmas lights on the tree turn on and Igashu realizes he’s a present as well.

Igashu suddenly hears yawning and in front of him, eyes and a mouth pops up on a gift.

“Hello?,” Igashu says quietly.

“Hi..,” the snowflake wrapped gift, with a woman’s voice, responds, “Ugh,” as she takes a glance at Igashu’s wrapping.

Her eyes and mouth disappear and Igashu can hear chattering among the other presents that woke up.

Igashu overhears bits and pieces and hears someone say, “Who’s the suspicious package wrapped in brown paper?” and “Yeah, he looks gross.”

“Hello? Can anyone help me?,” Igashu says.

Their chattering continues.

A little annoyed, Igashu speaks in a stern voice. “Excuse me,” he says.

The other presents stop talking.

“Do you know what’s going on?,” Igashu asks the other presents.

Before anyone could answer, the doorbell rings. The woman opens the door.

“Oh my gosh! It’s been so long. Come in! Come in! How are you?!,” the woman says excitedly.

“I’ve been good! How about yourself?!,” another woman replies.

Some teens enter as well and they hurriedly run to the tree to drop off more presents. The teens look at the gifts in awe and eventually run off. The new presents were placed between Igashu and the other gifts. This time, Igashu is faced away from all the gifts. Not being able to see anybody, he doesn’t try to socialize.

“Hey!,” a present with a man’s voice says.

“Who’s talking to me? I can’t see you,” Igashu replies.

“Take a look around and imagine your surroundings. Then, close your eyes and let your soul float out of your body and try to see yourself from your soul’s viewpoint. Rotate where you want to look and open your eyes,” the present says.

Igashu does every step and opens his eyes. To his amazement, he faces a present wrapped with a Santa design. He is so excited that he changes his viewpoint a couple times to get a better look at his surroundings.

“Woah.. How did you know how to do that?,” Igashu asks.

“We had a long drive here to figure it out,” the Santa present says.

Throughout the day, Igashu, the Santa present, and other presents talked with each other to understand why everyone is gathered together. They were giving their own theory and their backstory, hoping to find anything that could prove helpful.

Igashu, still remembering his time as a human, saw the smiling, little children running around and the adults laughing and having a good time. This made him feel happy and he told everyone to not worry and that everything will be alright despite not knowing the occasion, so the presents minded their own business and talked amongst themselves; trying to enjoy their day.

Time passed and evening came. All the humans gathered around the Christmas tree. The presents were a bit anxious, having all eyes on them.A little girl approaches the Christmas tree and grabs a present that has her name.

“Oh my gosh, I’ve been selected! I wonder what’s going to happen!,” the snowflake wrapped present says excitedly.

All the presents look at her in excitement.

The little girl smiles and starts tearing the Christmas wrapping off.

“Ahhh!!! She’s tearing my clothes off!!! Don’t look at me!!,” she yells.

Lust took control of the male presents’ minds, including Igashu. Despite having memories of being a human, Igashu couldn’t look away. He’s attracted to females of the same species; it just happens that the same species are Christmas presents.

The little girl screams happily when she sees that the present, still in its packaging, is a princess doll.

The once snowflake wrapped present, now packaged princess doll, embarrassed and shocked by what just happened, cries beside the happy girl.

A little boy stands up next and heads towards the piles of presents. The little boy picks up the wrapped present with Santa design. Igashu's jaw drops, seeing a present he knows gets carried off.

“Oh no.. Oh no… Not me!,” the wrapped present with Santa design yells out.

The little boy enthusiastically tears the wrapping paper off, looking forward to his gift. Igashu and all the other presents look away.

“Ahhh!!!! No! Stop tearing my clothes off!,” the wrapped present with Santa design yells out.

The little boy lifts his gift in the air with both hands and jumps up and down.

“It’s a toy car!,” the little boy says.

The male gift shudders and sniffling could be heard from the female gift.

“What is this...,” a wrapped present with reindeer design says, not believing what she’s witnessing.

All the presents, uneasy of the situation, begin talking. Some begin to cry. Others panic.

Igashu notices the little boy trying to open the packaging in order to play with his toy car.

“Aghhh!!! What are you doing to me!! It hurts!! Stop it please!!,” the once wrapped present with Santa design, now packaged toy car cries out.

All the presents look in his direction.

The little boy struggles to open it. An adult aids the little boy by cutting up the package open.

The male gift screams in pain. All the presents are horrified. They’re witnessing a murder. The male gift’s scream dies out once the toy car is out of the packaging.

The presents continue to watch the smiling little boy as he plays with his new toy, moving the car back and forth on the floor.

“What the.. He’s smearing his soul on the ground..,” a wrapped present, with candy canes designs on it, says weakly. “They’re monsters! They’re enjoying every moment of this!,” he continues, as the little boy is happily playing with his new toy.

A wrapped present with striped wrapping paper says, “This is hell…We’re all going to die!”

All the presents start panicking and screaming, finding ways to get out of the situation. However, there’s nothing they can do to escape.

Another wrapped present with snowman designs, placed near Igashu, yells, ”Is this really our fate? What did I do to deserve this?!”

Igashu thinks back to when he was a human in the barn with the painting of the chocolate cake. He recalls that he was a sloth in that life.

“Did I sin in that life to deserve this?,” Igashu murmurs to himself.

The wrapped present with snowman designs starts screaming.

Igashu, too busy in his thoughts, doesn't realize that a man picks him up.

“No! No! Not me! I don’t want life to end like this!!,” Igashu yells.

The man tears away the brown paper wrapping.

“No! No! Don’t look at me!,” Igashu continues yelling.

The man opens the box and takes out a watch. He wears it on his wrist.

“Thanks honey! I love it!,” the man says to his wife.

With what little life force he has, Igashu watches the other presents in a hectic state, screaming and panicking.

The man throws Igashu, the brown paper box, into the black trash bag. All Igashu sees is darkness and his eyes slowly close.

When Igashu wakes up again, he returns to the place with the white sky and seven barns with the paintings.

- Not everything is as it seems.