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The Day the Box Came

As told by Chrissy

By Kei'Jei BerettaPublished 3 years ago 9 min read
6

I remember the day the box came to us. All of us. It was the year 2026. Sixty years ago. I was 5 years old.

Things had gotten really bad back then. Soon after news broke out about the existence of a new strain of coronavirus in 2024, an anonymous group of skilled computer hackers decided they had had enough. They chose to join forces and find a way to change things. This group ultimately gained access to every nation’s deepest, darkest secrets. For the next few weeks, new intel was daily released to the world. This intel was irrefutable proof of the existence of cures to every fatal ailment previously known to be incurable. That’s when the Sick Wars started.

Every day since then, there was news from every nation of armed fatally sick people trying to force their way into each nation’s buildings of government, hospitals, and advanced medical research establishments. There were many casualties. These radicals were dubbed the Incurables.

For the next two years, things seemed to spiral more and more out of control. Blame had begun to be thrown this way and that between nations. The word war was starting to be heard from the lips of the world leaders. Hell was coming to earth and we could find no way to stop it.

Then the box came.

My mother and I were sitting on our living room couch when a news report appeared on the TV screen. It was the first time since the Sick Wars began that anything other than the Incurable attacks was being shown. I noticed it first and pointed at it saying, “Look, Mommy! Look!” There on the screen was a confused man holding a suspicious package wrapped in brown paper. The camera zoomed in on a small note attached to the package as the news anchor’s voice was heard reading out the words written there:

To All of Humanity.

To be delivered on September 23, 2086 at approximately 9:00 P.M. EST.

“Oh my God...” my mother said softly as she stared at the screen.

The news anchor continued, “The man you see here holding the box is the Postmaster General. When one of his associates brought him this package, the General said the guy seemed, and I quote, ‘frightened’. There was no return address and nobody had seen the sender as the package had been dropped off after hours. Needless to say, this left the General shaken as well.”

At this point, a clip of the Postmaster General himself appeared onscreen. “I gotta say I’m flabbergasted,” the old man said, scratching his bald head. “Being in the mail business as long as I have, I’ve definitely seen a thing or two, but this one takes the cake. I mean an address as odd as that with special instructions to deliver it sixty years from now at a specific time? And, on top of it all, I’m receiving it during times like these? That can’t be a coincidence. I mean seriously, at this rate, I wasn’t even sure mankind would make it another sixty years. But this...somehow this gives me hope.”

The news anchor returned to the screen. “There you have it, folks. A mysterious box of hope. Seeing as it’s apparently addressed to all of mankind, the Postmaster General has declared that it should go to the leader of the free world, the president himself, to hold until the date of delivery. But who sent this box? Why did they send it? What mystery does it contain? I guess we’ll find out in 2086. See you in sixty years.”

After that, the screen suddenly went black. I looked over and saw my mother frozen, staring at the dark screen, arm still jutting out with the remote aimed. I’ll never forget her face. The sheer terror. I remember asking her, “Mommy, what happens now?”

She slowly turned to me, blinking away her look of shock, and replied, “I don’t know, Chrissy baby.”

In the years that followed, the strange package became a media sensation. The internet quickly flooded with questions and theories about it. People started calling it the Hope Box. Some theories were sensible while others were highly improbable. The main two that people were leaning toward were “It’s a gift from the aliens” and “It’s a message from the future”. Neither of these really made any sense though so the theories kept coming.

Whenever a president’s term came to an end, the whole world watched as the box was passed from one president to the next. Each time, the next president would accept it with a vow to keep it safe until his term’s end. It would then be locked away in a vault that would descend into another vault deep underground. But seven years in, though the violence lessened, it still hadn’t stopped.

One day a president came along who, upon taking on the responsibility of the box’s protection, decided to add to the vow of tradition. “I vow to keep the Hope Box safe until my term’s end, and I further vow to end the Sick Wars.” This blew us all away. The media went crazy. What did the president mean? How would she end the wars?

Our answer came within the next few weeks. The president’s very first executive order was for all known cures to made available to the Incurables at no cost whatsoever. She signed this order stating, “If any of us are going to make it to 2086 then we’re all going to make it. And in order to do that, we have to stop fighting and give our people what they need.”

Within the next few months, Incurables were lined up at hospitals throughout the nation getting cured of diseases they had, until recently, believed would ultimately bring their lives to an abrupt end. It had started with America. But after seeing their citizens seeking their cures in another nation, the other nations of the world followed suit and had a change of heart as well. In time, it was made clear that whatever cures one nation was missing, the others had it. So, a system of sharing was born. It wasn’t long before there was not a single Incurable left in the world. Earth was a much happier place.

But that was just the beginning.

A few terms later, soon after a war almost broke out between two nations over something trivial, another idealistic president came into power. This president, also inspired by the Hope Box, used his term to fight for world peace. He stated, “The only way we’re going to make it to 2086 is by doing it as one. We can no longer be separate nations. We must be one world.” This dream took a few terms to make a reality, but we eventually got there two presidents later.

Now it’s been sixty years since the box’s arrival. Long after all the nations came together to create a unified world of peace. I’m currently sitting here at home on my couch at 8:59 P.M. EST on September 23, 2086 watching the Hope Box Opening on my T.VR. It’s as if I’m sitting right there in the audience at the Washington Monument waiting along with everyone else as it should be. On stage ahead of us, the leaders of the World Council have gathered around the mysterious box that started it all and are preparing to open it. I can almost feel the anticipation in the air as the whole world watches this very moment. A long speech had been made telling of all the achievements towards peace that mankind has made since this box had come to us. Musical performances had occurred. There were many guest appearances and fireworks. This was the grandest celebration the world had ever seen! All of humanity had waited six decades for this moment and now it was finally here!

The clock chimed 9:00 P.M. The world rejoiced! A council leader was handed a magnificent knife. She very carefully cut open the box. A hush fell over the world. A silence so pure I felt as if I could hear a butterfly’s wing flutter in another country overseas if I really focused. The leader opened the box’s flaps and each of the World Council members peered inside. At once, all of their faces slowly scrunched in confusion.

Suddenly my T.VR went black.

No, there was no power surge. No, they didn’t cut the broadcast. It was me. I turned it off.

Why, you ask?

Well, sixty years ago, during those dark times of the Sick Wars about two weeks before the Hope Box first appeared, my mom and I were sitting on our living room couch watching the news. Being five years old at the time, I was really bothered by the things I saw onscreen. I got so bothered that one night that I asked my mother, “Mommy, why are things so bad?”

She replied, “Because humanity often has trouble agreeing with one another. It makes it hard for us to come together.”

“Well, what would bring us together?” I asked.

My mother thought for a while. “I guess...there would have to be something we all agree upon. Something we all have in common. If that existed, I suppose it would unite us.”

At that point, I dropped my head and shut my eyes really tight.

My mother chuckled. “What are you doing?”

“Trying to think of something to unite humanity.”

She laughed again. “Well good luck with that. Let me know as soon as you come up with something.”

Later that night, soon after I was put to bed, it came it to me. I ran to my mother’s room and threw open the door. Jumping on her bed excitedly, I shouted, “Mommy! Mommy! I got it!”

Before I knew it, we were at the dining room table going to work on the box. I was prepping the box, and my mother was writing on the tag. “So let me get this straight,” my mother said. “You want me to write what date?”

“September 23, 2086!”

“Okay...okay. But why? That’s like sixty years from now,” my mother very rightfully inquired.

I shrugged. And to this day, I have no idea why I chose that date.

My mother shrugged back. “Okay. And what are we putting in the box?”

I thought for a moment then ran to grab my pink ballerina notebook and a crayon. When I came back, I paused and said, “Wait. I'll still be alive in sixty years, right?”

My mother feigned a moment of calculation. “Uh yeah. I don’t see why not.”

I smiled. “Good.” And I proceeded to write a small note before tearing out the paper and tossing it in.

That same note, written in green crayon on pink paper styled with many dancing ballerinas, is what those World Council leaders found in that Hope Box today. It was a note that I knew read:

Did it work, Chrissy?

To which my now 65-year-old self finally responded with a smile, “Yes.”

Mystery
6

About the Creator

Kei'Jei Beretta

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