Twin Box

From the Personal Journal and Factual Record of Events of and involving Stanly H. McGee Jr.

1 – Too Late

The doorbell rang but I did not hear it. I was too busy trying to find my keys. I was late. Not just a little late, but truly and terribly late. It was my first day at a new job and I was going to late. I felt like this was one of those things that happened in story, maybe some sort of sitcom, except this was not funny, not funny at all. If this were a sitcom, then some hilarious hijinks would ensue but, in the end, it would all work out. I would even walk away with a new love interest, a friendship that would be cultivated into something deeper over an excruciatingly long time. Like two or three seasons at least.

My keys were still missing and decision time was quickly approaching. Should I call for an Uber and look for my keys while I wait? Or should I throw caution to the wind and keep looking for the keys in the hope that something unexpected might happen? If I were in a sitcom, then maybe.... but no. Perhaps it would be best to just call the whole thing a wash. I could find another job; I was barely eighteen years old with a bright future ahead of me. This was not the first time I had lost my keys, no, but this was certainly the longest it had taken me to find them. Five minutes on average, usually. Yet it had been over twenty minutes and so far, nothing. It was terribly concerning.

“Stupid,” I said out loud as I realized that I must have dropped my keys on my way inside last night. That was obviously what had happened, I could feel it. I was even starting to feel better about the day as I reached out to open the door. As soon as I grabbed the doorknob, the doorbell rang. I could feel the sound deep in my stomach and something down there told me not to open the door. I often wonder what my life would be like if I had not opened the door. It felt like a sitcom back then, and now, it feels more like a string of movies. But maybe I was just being pessimistic. In the end, it did not matter. Because, I opened the door that day and when I did, I was no longer concerned with finding my keys or being late to work.

2 – The Box Twins

When I was kid, maybe nine or ten years old, I knew a set of twins, they were sisters. I always wondered how their relationship was different than those with brothers and sisters who were not twins. Did being a twin make you closer? Was it true that one twin could feel the pain when the other twin was hurt? Did they like all the same things? I had a million questions that I never asked the twins about. I contented myself with stories about other sets of twins, of which there were many. I heard legends of magical twins whose own lives depended on each other's survival. I have listened to tales of twins that can read each other’s minds. I have read the tragedies of twins on opposing sides of a war, inevitably facing each other on the field of battle. Twins are interesting; I often wish I had a twin, or any sibling at all. But as I sit here and write this, I can honestly say that no set of twins was as interesting as the twins I found that day. Now you must understand, I am no longer talking about people.

Normally, a package being delivered would not be cause for anxiety, but this was not a normal package. There was nobody standing there when I opened the door, no delivery man, no delivery truck. What I did find was a drone hovering at face height, holding a familiar package. At first, I could not believe my eyes, not because of the drone hovering in front of me but because of that familiar package. The package was too familiar, it looked like the exact same box that I had sitting in my closet at that very moment. But how was it here when it was supposed to be in the closet?

“What the fuck?” I grabbed the box and stumbled back inside without a second glance back at the hovering drone. I slammed the door behind me, locked it, and stood there for a moment. After a moment I quickly turned around and looked out the peep hole in the door. The drone was leaving, thankfully.

“Get it together Stan, get it together dammit,” it took me several minutes and a few slaps to my own face to compose myself. It did not matter why the drone had the box, what mattered was that it was back in my possession. I walked to my room and went right to the closet. I gasped when I opened the closet door. I had to stifled a nervous laugh. Maybe this was a movie after all. In the closet was a brown box wrapped with a blue bow. It was no ordinary bow, I knew that. It shimmered and moved like the sea. If you looked closely, you could see a ship sailing through the storm. It was a wonder and it was magical. In my hand I held a second box, the box that was just delivered. It too was a brown box with a blue bow. The bow shimmered and the waves crashed around the sailing ship. Two boxes, twin boxes. What did this mean?

3 – The Last Time

I kept my box in the closet; it had been there since the day I found it six years ago. There I had put it and there it had stayed except for a short time a few years ago. Until the second box arrived, I had planned on leaving it there until I could return it to... her. I had not seen Meralyn for years but I knew she would be back some day. At least that is what she told me, and I believed it.

I looked at the box in my hand, there was one thing different about this box. It had a tag attached which said, “Open Me”. I looked down at the box in my closet and thought about the last time I opened it. It was only the second time I had opened it, the first being the day I found the box and met Meralyn. That time, a whole mess of things came out of the box. I had asked Meralyn about the box when we had finally settled all the trouble. I asked if it was a doorway to another world. I thought it was a stupid question at the time but she looked at me and smiled.

“No, it’s not a door to another world. It’s more like a window. And it could go to any number of worlds. You should not open it again.”

Like she needed to tell me that. Although if I had not opened the box that first time, she would have been trapped there and for who knows how long. The second time, I went inside of the box. It was the last time the box was opened and, well, it was unpleasant but necessary and not something I wish to relive. Which begged the question, why in the hell would someone want me to open this new, twin box?

4 - Return to Sender

I put the new box next to its twin in the closet and spent the rest of the day trying to track down who had sent it. I had never heard of a drone delivery service, although it did seem to me that drones would soon replace delivery drivers. It was inevitable, the same old story as the world progresses. Man does work, man makes machine, machine does work, machine makes machine, machine replaces man. I called every delivery company I could find, big and small. It took most of the day and when the sun began to set, I was no closer to figuring out who delivered the package. It was not a promising start and I decided that a fresh start in the morning would be the way to go.

I did not sleep well. My dreams were filled with the memories of my trip inside of the box. I was not alone in my dreams just as I was not alone the day it happened. My parents were with me but they could not make it back. They were caught by some unknown evil and their screams were the last thing I heard before I came back through. Then I woke up. I was covered in sweat, my shirt clinging to me like a straightjacket. The shirt would not come off and the more I struggled, the angrier I became. Finally, I ripped the shirt off and threw it on the ground in triumph. I felt much better. Partly because the shirt was finally off, partly because of the satisfying rip of the shirt when it finally gave way. I made coffee and toast; it was all I could stomach, and sat down to look for more delivery companies.

It was not until my third cup of coffee that it hit me. If the first box was magical then it follows that this one must be magical as well. It seemed obvious after the thought finally occurred to me. The first problem I faced was figuring out who delivers magical packages. The second problem was figuring out who hired said delivery service. Any other person would be out of options at this point, but I am not one of them. When the box I found opened the first time, a lot of crazy shit came out of it. While most of that crazy shit was eventually returned to the box, there was one item that never made it back inside. It was a book. A very interesting book. I had not thought about it for a long time as for all intents and purposes, it was useless. But that day I could see clearly and realized that it was quite a useful book indeed.

5 - The Triurnal Book of Useful Information

The book was heavy with knowledge. It was heavier than it looked because the book did not just contain knowledge, but also, all of the potential knowledge one could seek. The book was thick, and the more you read the thicker the book would become. At first, I was not sure what to look up or even how to look something up in The Triurnal Book of Useful Information. So, I just flipped the book open and started to skim through the pages. Before long I found an entry for magical delivery services with a short but informative footnote.

* While it is quite uncommon for deliveries of magical origin to be made with drones, it is a useful work around when navigating old portals, cursed doorways, routes created by inexperienced builders, or otherwise dangerous passages, courses, or avenues.

The next page contained a list of delivery services which was extensive. It took the rest of the day to finally track down the information.

“Triple I delivery services. A delivery service of magical and non-magical items which specializes in drone deliveries to otherwise difficult or undeliverable locations.”

The three I’s stood for ‘Improbable, Impossible, Impeccable Deliveries’. Amazingly, there was a number to call for customer service, although it did not appear until I thought of looking. The conversation was short and particularly unhelpful.

“Triple I delivery, how may I help you today?”

“Umm, excuse me, yes, I would like to inquire about a delivery made to my house. Is this the right number?”

There was a lengthy silence on the other end of the line, I was starting to wondering if I had been disconnected when the voice came back.

“Yes, 2424 Crayfish Lane?”

“Oh wow, yeah that’s my address. But how did you...” The voice cut me off before I could finish.

“Delivery made successfully, as usual,” said the receptionist in a snarky voice. “Recipient is one Stanly McGee, confirmed in possession of the package.”

“Yes, I know. That’s me, but who sent the package?”

“Who sent it? How should I know? We don’t know where the packages come from. We just make sure they get to where they are going. Thank you for choosing Triple I delivery. We hope you have an improbably, impossibly, and impeccably good day! Goodbye.”

The line went dead and I stood there looking down at my phone, wondering what the hell I was going to do next. I briefly considered hiring a private investigator but the cheapest one I could find in the book was part of the tooth fairy guild, and I did not have any spare children’s teeth laying around to pay them. After a long night of contemplation, I decided there was only one thing left to do. Open the box.

6 – Meralyn the Witch

I do not know how I worked up the courage to do it, maybe it was the beer that I had been drinking since I called III Delivery. I took the box and set it on the ground in my back yard. Experience told me, the more room the better when it came to opening one of these boxes. I was going to do a countdown but when the time came and I started the count, all my plans went out the window. With reckless abandon, I ripped the top off the package like it was Christmas and jumped back. Well, jumped back may be a little misleading. Knocked back ten feet would be more accurate. The air left my lungs and wind rushed out of the box with the force of a hurricane, knocking leaves off of the trees, and ripping boards from the wood fence. Then there was a thud and the wind slowed, slowed some more, finally the wind stopped and there was silence.

I looked up from where I had been knocked down and saw someone standing over me, smiling.

“Meralyn, is that you?” I asked, coughing and trying to catch my breath.

“It is good to see you, my friend. You look terrible.” replied Meralyn the witch. “Now tell me, why the hell did it take you so long to open the box?”

“Wait, didn’t you tell me that I shouldn’t open boxes when I don’t know what is inside?” I asked, somewhat annoyed.

“If you find a random box laying in the middle of the street, then no, you probably shouldn’t open it. But if a box is delivered right to you, at your home, through your front door... then yes, why not open it? How long have you had the box?”

I was embarrassed now but I knew I could not lie to Meralyn. She could always tell. “A day and a half, maybe two days.”

“Seriously?” Meralyn was surprised but not angry “Wow, time is weird. You know that?”

I nodded. “Where were you, anyway?”

“That is not important. I got out alive and with no missing limbs. Now that is important.” Her stomach made a loud gurgling sound. “I am famished. I need to eat and then we need to talk about what’s next. Also, here are your keys.”

7 – Confusing Connections

After consuming enough food to make even the most seasoned competitive eater hang their head in shame, Meralyn lead me back to the strange, twin box.

“I am sorry about your keys, I needed to stall you until the package arrived so I stole your keys,” said Meralyn.

“Wait, I’m confused. You stole my keys so I would be here long enough for a package to be delivered into my possession, a package from which you appeared, with my keys?”

“Yes.”

“How? Why?”

“I would love to explain, and someday I will, but right now it would take more words than I have time to get out. What I need is for you to trust me. Remember the first time I asked you to trust me?”

“Yes,” I replied. “But I was kid then and it was easier.”

“Look at me, look into my eyes. Trusting may seem hard, but it’s actually quite simple. You just need to do it.”

I nodded and that was enough. Meralyn nodded back and then she opened the box. This time it was like a vacuum, the air was being sucked towards the box. Meralyn was smiling as she looked at me and nodded once more. She spoke to me one last time, almost yelling to be heard over the roar of wind.

“Trust me, all that has happened, has happened for a reason. When the time comes, you will understand.”

And then Meralyn pushed me into the box.

8 – The End is Just a New Beginning

I do not know for how long I was in that place or how I made it back, one day I was just... back. Although the arrival point was unfamiliar, this feels like the world I know. From what I could gather, I have been gone for many years. The world has changed and people I care about are no longer here. Dead or disappeared from what I have read. When I went into the box, I was young, but I did not age as the world I have come back to has aged. I have powers that I cannot explain and a note left for me on top of a first edition of the ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’ by Robert Louis Stevenson. The note reads: “Find Gideon Barrows”. Meralyn said I would understand, and I do. But not all of it. I need to find Meralyn, but first, I need to find Gideon Barrows.