The Peculiar Box

What’s in this box that’s wrapped in a silver leash? With a silent dog with a gray and black coat biting its own tail just to guard whatever is inside. Perhaps it’s a hand that was cut off, certainly not. For the box is too small.

It could be diary, but what diary could fit in such a box like this? Perhaps it’s empty and was created to waste time, but why go through the trouble of setting the silent dog with its leash to guard it? Then another question came down like an anvil in a cartoon: “Where’s the ‘bone’?” High and low, the search for the ‘bone’ was on.

As the search for the ‘bone’ continued, the search was briefly stopped when ominous whispering was heard. The ominous whispers were overlapping one another, cries of agony would be heard after every incomplete sentence. Questions flooded their minds and went out their ears, being forgotten immediately.

Then the whispering just stopped, the search for the ‘bone’ didn’t resume as discomfort filled the room more than the swaying flickering light on a string could do. Staring at the box created mixed emotions. From fear to curious.

Maybe there’s a severed head in the box. Surely they’re jesting, no head could fit in this box, unless it was once a doll’s. Perhaps in the box is nine fingers that were cut off a hand and stitched together to make a ball. Would it bounce like a rubber one? Probably not.

They exchanged looks all clearly puzzled but concerned. If they were able to get the silent dog free from its leash, would they be ready to see what was inside the old box? They looked down at the dog and let out a deep sigh and resumed their pondering in the meantime.

Their guesses became darker than the night that was coming in a matter of minutes. They attempted to open the box by jabbing the dog with a twisted paperclip but did no good, then they noticed an outer pocket with a folded piece of paper.

One of them took it out and unfolded it carefully with their mouth. They skimmed through it and folded it back up and put it back where it belonged. They then told the others that only the ‘bone’ can free the dog much to their dismay.

They then all gave their angry glares to the guarded box. What was inside? Did they want to know? Doubts at first, but now they are certain of their objective. They want to open that box and see what’s inside despite lacking thumbs.

The one with the twisted paperclip that was resting on their tongue spat it out and smacked the leash a few times hoping to loosen it. The other two of the group gave shifty eyes and twitchy ears.

Is it possible that in this box is an iron bell? Doubt it, but maybe a sleigh bell. Definitely not a cow bell, what if it had dead vermin and the box was a coffin? No, certainly not. They’d smell the vermin’s aging cheese.

One of them gave the box a rub like a genie’s lamp to see if it was made of porcelain or glass. When it was soft like a pillowcase, they gave it a shove while the another one from the group caught it with their back. They then headed out to find someone with thumbs and the key.

On the way, they continued to ponder what was inside this mysterious box until they bumped into someone. Maybe in the box is a small animal’s skeleton that’s covered in cobwebs, surely not. Perhaps then, there’s nothing inside because it’s a music box. Certainly not, there’s no windup knob.

They came across a towering man that in their eyes looked at least 6”2. Then, one of them poked the man with their nail, hoping to get his attention. The man let out a sneeze and saw the three of them. He shooed them away like a swarm of gnats before sneezing again.

As the trio fled from the sneezing man, they bumped into another man wearing a dapper red suit who picked up one of them and rubbed their back much to their discomfort.

The man then noticed the box and raised his bushy red eyebrow. “A box with a lock and chain, hm? Curious about what’s inside, Ted? Would you be able to lay in bed if you found out what was inside? Would you be able to get it out of your heads?” He asked the three.

The three exchanged looks to each other before looking back at the man with doubt in their eyes. “Of course, every lock has a key and I’m afraid I don’t have what you seek, Ted.” He said as the three then hung their heads down in defeat.

“However, if you take me to where you received this box, Ted, I just may help you three for just being adorable.” The man then said causing their ears to perk up. The two on the ground headed off with the man holding their sister following behind keeping up effortlessly.

As the four of them continued to run for the house where the box was found, out of nowhere a storm came and began to rain hard. They continued to run until the man in the red suit got distracted and dropped the two boys’ sister.

Miraculously, the sister landed on her feet gracefully without breaking them. The man in the red suit took notice to a critically damaged van from its rattling and sputtering engine. Inside the van was his crush and a young man wearing a red dress, which baffled the trio enough to make them halt.

The man in the red suit turned to face the trio only to find them resuming their run toward the house as the storm got even worse. He gave a shrug then quickly left to chase after the van. “You won’t escape me again, Ted!” He called out.

The two brothers and their sister were getting tired of running, but didn’t give up. Suddenly a bolt of lightning came down and struck a tree catching it on fire and to fall in their path. The rain extinguished the cackling flames almost instantly.

The brothers struggled to leap over the thick trunk in their path. Their sister however saw another way across and went around the tree then looked back at her brothers who were oblivious to her accomplishment. She then continued to run only to bump into a leg.

She looked up and saw a man in uniform looking down at her and grabbed her by the back of the neck causing her to wiggle frantically since her nails were clipped down. She cried for her brothers who heard her cry too late as the man in uniform drove away with her in the back of his truck.

The brothers looked at each other and nodded then chased after the truck that had their sister in the back. Though they weren’t as fast as a distant family member, their determination to save their sister kept them fueled without a doubt.

In the truck’s driver’s seat, the man in uniform was on his phone. “I swear Martin you have to stop reading that story about the girl going blind that finds a red bead that turns out to be a—“ he began to say with his gruff voice and southern accent visible.

“I didn’t read that far, don’t spoil it for me, Vince!” Martin whined from the other end. “You must’ve because ya keep claiming that you’re seein’ phoenixes!” Vince snapped. As the two argued back and forth, the sister was full of melancholy until she saw her brothers.

She then perked up as her brothers helped her escape, unfortunately they forgot about rear view mirrors and Vince hung up on Martin without warning and slammed on the brakes then headed outside the truck to stop the brothers from saving their sister.

The truck however rolled downhill due to Vince’s carelessness and forgetfulness of setting his truck to park. The trio let out a strange noise of terror as the truck went down the hill rather quickly whizzing by three red lights causing men in a different uniform to pursue.

The van that was seen by the man in the red suit drove by quickly shedding leaves. Its driver, Fredrick Tucker, saw the driverless truck heading straight for him and the young man in the red dress.

They screamed in perfect unison even after the young man, Beau, hugged Fredrick by the neck in fear. He worried that the truck would collide with the already damaged van.

One of the two brothers leapt through the back window of the truck and scrambled his way to the driver’s seat and gave the brake pedal a head butt. His lone strength wasn’t enough, but he continued to try and halt the truck at any means.

The truck was almost close of colliding with the damaged van and his siblings were cowering in the trunk. The ambitious older brother of the three continued to ram the brake pedal with all his might. He lost his balance when the truck rattled and halted.

The brother then leapt onto the driver’s seat and saw the needle’s tip pointing at a big fat “E”. He then made his way back to the trunk only to see Martin and Vince with his siblings and the box who laughed in triumph as they walked their way to Martin’s truck.

The truck soon left with the duo laughing as the older brother gave chase. He was fueled with determination and continued to run as fast as he could. Luca, the older brother, saw his sister, Dillan, and his brother, Duncan, leap up and down to get his attention.

Luca continued to run after the truck though he started to slow down from exhaustion, but he saw the van that he nearly collided with earlier. He then ran over to it as quickly as he could. He saw a hole underneath then leapt through it when the van reached a red light.

Lucky for Luca, the van was heading for the same destination as the truck that took his siblings. The driver of the van, Fredrick Tucker, looked furious. “I’ll show that son of a female dog for nearly crashing into this van!” He screamed. The man in the red suit was there and was clearly lovesick from Fredrick’s anger.

The truck was all over the road due to Martin trying to drive with his feet while he tried to open the box that him and Vince took from Luca’s siblings using his crooked teeth. “Stone wall to prevent floods, man! Give me that box!” An irked Vince shouted.

“No, no, I almost got it!” Martin insisted before he chipped his buck teeth. “Oh man, Eloisa ain’t going to be happy! She told me not to use my teeth anymore unless it’s for eating or cracking open peanuts!” Martin then whined. Vince shook his head in disbelief.

“Face it, you idiot, we need a gosh darn key to open this thing! It ain’t rocket science y’know!” Vince said angrily at his friend who continued to drive with his feet.

“At least give me the box so you can focus on the road!!” Vince added. Martin then managed to hand over the box before leaving the road and entering a field of fresh corn.

Vince, Martin and Luca’s siblings were bouncing up and down as they drove over the corn they knocked down. Vince eventually lost his grip on the box and out the now broken window it went.

Dillan tried to pursue it, but was interrupted by an angry and dangling Vince who put her back in the trunk. Suddenly, the duo felt something ram the back of the truck. Martin foolishly stuck his head out the window and saw Fredrick’s van and a vein on Fredrick’s forehead.

“Now, Ted, although I find it annoying that you’re not wearing red, I find it attractive that you’re seeing red.” The man in the red suit said to Fredrick. He then turned his attention to the young man in the red dress.

“As for you, I see you’re wearing my gift.” He said with a grin. “The only reason I’m wearing this is because you took away my other clothes! Including my precious bow tie collection!” The young man cried out.

The man in the red suit merely shrugged with a smirk. “Now you’re seeing red and wearing red...sort of. If only you were a few years older, boy.” He then said while stroking his own goatee with a grin on his face. He then saw Luca. “Hello little Ted.” He said rather casually.

He knelt down to Luca’s height. “Looks like you lost your box and your siblings, we’ll find them. Hopefully your siblings aren’t wearing red yet, that would be tragic...for you, nothing personal.” He said with a shrug.

Luca then looked outside the van, seeing his siblings for a brief moment when they ended up in the air due to the truck mimicking a bounce house because of Martin driving over knocked over corn stalks.

As Fredrick’s van got close enough to the truck, Luca managed to get out of the van and into the trunk thus reuniting with his siblings. He then gave his brother Duncan a confused expression not seeing the box with them.

Duncan then informed Luca that the driver ‘threw’ it out the window in their own language. Luca then peeked through the glass seeing the irked Vince yelling at Martin.

Martin used the radio to drain out Vince’s yelling. The music made Luca and his siblings cringe in discomfort from the terrible and loud music.

Before they knew it, the siblings were once again separated and behind bars. Outside the building, Fredrick parked his van and started to wreck Martin’s truck. The man in the red suit on the other hand was looking for the box. Beau, the young man in the dress if you forgot, looked annoyed as he waited in the van.

Vince was oblivious to the car alarm that Martin’s truck let out as he walked into the building to find a baffled and concerned Martin. “Is that my truck?” He asked Vince. Absentmindedly, Vince leaned on a big red button to shrug. The button released Luca and his siblings. Martin then turned to Vince. “And you call me the idiot!” He exclaimed.

Vince smacked Martin with his trucker’s cap causing him to rub his head. “It takes a real idiot to let those three to escape!” He thundered. Outside the building, Fredrick saw Luca and his siblings scatter out. He was very baffled at how the three got through the door without a special, smaller door installed.

He then quickly rushed to his van carrying the trio in his arms. The man in the red suit was in the passenger’s seat with the box on his lap. He then turned to Fredrick to inform him that he knows where Luca and his siblings live causing Fredrick to give him a look full of disbelief once they were at a red light.

On the way, despite Fredrick’s hesitance about trusting his passenger, Luca and his siblings passed the time thinking about what could be in the box. They knew bits of corn was now on it, not just the lock and chains anymore. They wondered if a scarecrow’s disembodied head was inside.

Doubt rained in their heads after the thought, recalling how small the box was compared to a scarecrow’s head. They continued to guess in their own heads. Duncan hoped it was fish due to becoming hungry. Dillan disagreed and pointed out that they would’ve smelled rotten fish outside the box.

Luca watched his siblings argue and fight. He yelled at them to make them stop fighting to no avail. He then managed to break them up by grabbing the scarred Dillan by the back of her neck using his teeth. He then set his sister down gently then glared at Duncan in which the latter hung his head down in guilt.

Luca then consoled his brother showing him that he forgives him then hinted him to go to their sister to apologize. Duncan nodded and did so while Luca turned his attention to the box. “We’re well on our way to your home, little Ted.” The man in the red suit said patting Luca on the head.

They drove by many interesting people who were waiting for the bus. Including: a girl who had bandages where her eyes would be, a man who looked like he had a midlife crisis, and Jared’s nephew Sullivan. Luca then decided to take a cat nap with his siblings.

The bumpy road and the moving van made them think of their mother who gave birth to them in the backseat of a van that wasn’t critically damaged. They soon woke up on a railroad track much to their shock and disbelief. Luca saw Frederick’s van drive away as the sun began to set.

They then saw flashing red lights, four to be exact. Below their feet, they felt the ground shake. They heard a loud and mighty whistle that made them cringe and a light so bright, it nearly got rid of their sight.

Miraculously, they were small enough to go under their wooden obstacles. Luca lead the way out, but heard his sister cry for help as her foot got caught. Luca acted quickly and freed his sister barely. Dillan ran off, her brothers following behind. They got out of the road and into the tall grass.

They managed to catch up to Fredrick’s van that was at a red light. Luca managed to help his siblings get on board, but the light turned green before he could join them. Luca was full of melancholy, until he saw a ‘red fairy’ appear on the road.

The ‘fairy’ lead Luca to a mustang where he was grabbed an unfamiliar woman, who’s hair was black with some dark purple highlights. In The backseat, was an unconscious Vince and Martin. Luca felt very uncomfortable with the woman who was capable of summoning ‘red fairies’.

“Time to take out the trash.“ she said as a malicious and sadistic smirk formed on her face. The unconscious Vince and Martin had holes in their uniform at their heart was and a big, red, drying stain surrounded the hole. The woman then parked her car, threw the two men off a cliff, and headed back to her car.

Moments later, two splashes were heard. The woman smugly adjusted her jacket then went back in her car where a very traumatized Luca sat waiting. “ they had it coming. Now, where are you hoping to go?“ She asked Lucas who answered in his own language.

Seemingly understanding Luca, the woman typed in the location, she then drove off following Siri’s directions. Loco hung on for dear life Using his sharp nails. The woman was driving surprisingly fast. The cars and trees were blurry, even the cars’ lights.

The wind was Rushing through their hair and then a cop began to chase the red mustang. “ just put it on my brother’s tab!“ she called out to the officer knowing the cops adored her brother who was seven years older than her. She then giggled in her hand. “Humans are so gullible!” She said once they were out of hearing range.

Soon, they arrived at Luca’s house where they saw Fredrick’s van parked in the driveway. The woman then revealed to be a cat from another dimension before dropping off a baffled Luca and taking off in her red mustang.

Luca soon heard a familiar voice echo. He blinked his eyes a few times finding himself back home with his siblings. The three of them are on their backs. A pair of wrinkly hands picked up the box from the floor and closed it. “ you got into the catnip again, didn’t you?” The elderly woman sighed shaking her head.

The elderly woman then chained up and locked up the box and set it on the shelf. “I’ll have to hide this key where you won’t dare enter.” She said to Luca and his siblings. She then put the key in the pool where it sank to the bottom.

That’s when their adoptive decided to buy catnip scented toys. She vacuumed up the mess when her adoptive children fell asleep in their basket until winter came and played with their adoptive mother and their new toys. Luca then watched the bare tree branches catch snowflakes.

His family joined him in watching the snow from the very warmth of their home filled with love and joy, even laughter from their adoptive mother and the rest of their adoptive family.