Slide and Lock Puzzle Box

I love haunted items and objects, not because their haunted but because of the brilliant detail each one has. I've always proved that the items that I bought are not haunted by doing every test there is to prove there's no such thing as the paranormal. I don't believe in the supernatural, but I have this love fantasy about the many creepypastas and urban legends. I've even done countless so-called haunted rituals because I hoped something might happen, but of course, it all ends up being untrue. This has never stopped the love I had or the subject though, in fact, they inspired me to tap into my darker side and publish some of my own creepy stories and rituals on Reddit. It was around the time that I've gotten a pretty nice 500 following when I stumbled across this page called "Ebay's Haunted Basement". The page was runner by a man named Gary and he wrote about the different haunted items that he buys from eBay that are supposedly haunted. He also included his customers' experiences and any updates he gave them whenever he bought a new item.

I followed him and started to read some of his reviews until I came across one of his ongoing series. It started about a week ago telling about some strange Chinese puzzle box he found on his doorstep one day, titled "Strange Puzzle Box". I started reading through to the comments, there were more than a thousand, and they were all telling about how creepy and eerie it was but also for him to try and solve it. He was not on part three and looked a little bit off in his update photo. With every update on his page he'll post a picture of himself with the item he is reviewing. from looking at his old and more recent pictures you could see a slow but noticeable decline in his health. he looked tired like he hasn't slept in a couple of days, but he still looked well so I chalked it up to him spending allnighters trying to solve the box.

I'm now reading his most recent post. He started out talking about his night, he said he was sitting on his couch with the box in front of him, and described the box stating that it was a beautiful piece of work, but had a dark aura about it. And then he goes on to describe the unnerving thoughts that were running through his head. He said that the box had a glare to it that he couldn't look away from. It was like his eyes were being pulled to the box and couldn't breakaway. After he felt that he had stayed in his position for too long, he got up and went to bed defeated, he hoped to try and get a good night's sleep and try to solve the puzzle in the morning... as I read, however, his sleep was anything but good. He experienced a terrifying nightmare about the puzzle box, it was as if the box itself was right in his dream. And he described himself waking up in his dream to a loud rumble, not like thunder but more like an earthquake. It lasted for about 10 seconds and then everything froze in place, and then the world was unnatural. It was dead silent, nothing moved, not a thing. And then he heard a faint whisper or like the sound of wind in his ear. He couldn't make out what it was saying, but it whispered, "The clock is ticking, he will be free, come and play", and then in a flash he was back in his room laying in a bed soaked in sweat. When he looked up at the clock it was 4:00 AM. He is ending the post there until he could get some proper rest and make some kind of progress on the box.

That last post was two days ago, just when I was about to call it a day the page refreshed and showed that he had a new post on his page titled "problem solved. seeing as I had nothing else to do today I started to read eager to see what he found. In the updated picture of him holding the puzzle box in one hand and a small device in the other, it looked like a small timer or clock.

I scrolled through the page to find out what really happened in the laps of time...

He took a shower, got dressed, sat back down on the couch, and stared at the box again, the same thought went through his head but began to solve the puzzle for the last time. He said that after about 6 hours he was able to finally solve the box and open it only to find a three-day count-down clock inside. It's just a paperweight, a pretty paperweight but nothing too special. He told himself that he had tricked his self into thinking otherwise and that the experience was a mere dream or nightmare.

After I finished reading, I have to say I was a bit disappointed in finding out it was just a little clock. some part of me always knew that nothing major was gonna happen just like with the other fake stories and rituals. After being semi satisfied I shut down my computer and head to bed…

The next morning I woke up to the sound of my phone going off. I got up and grabbed it only to see a text from Gary saying that he had solved the box and that he unlocked something and is going to unlock something more in the next three days. Thinking it was one of my friends trying to scare me with a throwaway number I quickly deleted the message and forgot about it.

It's been a few days since I was last on Reddit so late one night I decided to scroll through and see if I could find any new horror posts. Around 11:25 PM, I came across "Ebay's Haunted Basement". Curious to see what new items he's come across, I found his Latest and apparently the last post titled "I'm sorry... Goodbye". I began to read the last few pages of the story about the small brown paper package. Some people believed the whole thing was a hoax. Others believed the entire story was true. This was about 1 day before the person's time ran out. It was now about 1 hour and 15 minutes until the time ran out.

I then read the last paragraph of the story.

"My time is almost up. I do regret solving that box, I did not know what I was getting into. I do wish I did not have to leave this world. I have no regrets other than opening that box, knowing its contents have stolen my everything. I feel as if I have no control of my life anymore. I guess this is my last post. I hope you can all take what I have said and keep away from that small box. Stay safe and be vigilant. 10 minutes until the time runs out."

After that last post his account went cold, most of the people thought it was all a joke or a hoax until someone commented on a missing person's report with an article about a possible homicide crime scene. The article was saying the police were looking for a man who drove a pick-up truck. The truck was found abandoned in the same area as the crime scene and security camera footage showed the person matching the description in question standing by the truck. The person in question... was the person who posted on the Reddit page about the puzzle box. The man was never found and life moved on as everyone forgot about the post and buried it in Reddit's archive.

It's been about four months since the last post and I have completely forgotten about everything about the box... that is I did until I got home from my friends' house. I am home alone as my parents are nowhere to be found so I'm sitting in my room typing this out. I came into my room and there was a little brown paper package sitting there with a white note on my bed. This is not a hoax, I am leaving this page here to let people that what happens here is real. I will be posting details and information that I find about the puzzle box in hopes to either help me survive this... or help the next unlucky soul that receives this cursed package. I've tried getting rid of it, but it seems to always find its way back... it needs to be solved and any resistance to do so or destroy it results in whatever force associated with it to be... unsettling. So I am typing it out as a warning to everyone and anyone who comes in contact with the box after me. Don't let my chronicles get buried under posts pass this around, upload it, share it, do whatever it is you have to do to spread the words of my findings. I just hope that solving this mystery... doesn't forfeit my life.