Instructions On A Box

Me and my wife are adventurous people. We’re the kind to spend an irresponsible amount of money on those ‘mystery packages’ you can get online, we do this often. They more or less are rip-offs, but occasionally you’ll find a gem. For example, I found a £2000 Rolex in a £1000 box, so I guess they’re not all that bad. My wife has drawers stacked with scarfs and bracelets she finds in these boxes and I have to say, the smile on her face when a mystery package pays off more than makes up for the price.

Not long ago we decided to ramp it up a little. You see, we’re big fans of those shows like Storage Wars where people buy a storage unit without knowing what is inside. We’d wanted to buy one for years but could never justify the price. However, that changed as we began to earn more money when my wife finally found a job after years of unemployment. We were finally earning a good amount that would allow us to give it a go. Looking back on it though, I wish we hadn’t.

Our 5-year-old son, Horatio, loves the mystery boxes. I think it’s just his adventurous nature he inherited that makes him so curious because it’s not like there is often kid-related stuff in there, yet; he’s fascinated by it. We always let him unpack the boxes with us and take part. I feel like it helps us all bond. So, we did some digging online and found some auctions in the local area that were taking place the next day. We asked Horatio if he wanted to come and check out the auction with us, through which he responded with intense excitement. Horatio never seemed to fear the unknown but instead was captivated by it. He never feared the unknown like most people did. Yeah, he got scared sometimes, but his curiosity seemed to suppress it.

As we were on our way to the auction we strapped Horatio into the back seat of the car. It was then he softly spoke, “I hope there’s something cool in there.”

To which my wife responded, “Well, half the fun is not knowing, right?” Horatio responded with an eager nod. On the journey, we all discussed the kind of things we would like to find. Horatio was hoping for some toys and candy. I hoped for a new tie and my wife wanted a new necklace. We all giggled at the idea of finding old stale candy and broken furniture.

When we arrived at the storage lot we noticed a distinct lack of activity, only a few people waiting outside the units. We asked an elderly couple where to sign in and they gestured quite timidly over to a small booth with a stubby looking man behind it. He was plump and seemed irritated. As we approached he grumbled, “Signing in?” My wife nodded, so he handed her a form to fill out. I decided to take Horatio over to look at all the different coloured doors each container had. “Alright, which colour do you like best?” I asked him in an unusually upbeat tone.

“Purple” was the only response he gave. I looked over to the container with the purple door and I saw what I can only describe as gaunt woman locking it up in a hurry. I decided to rush over and ask her, “Excuse me, do you know anything about this unit? My son likes the door colour and I thought he might like to know a bit more.” What happened next was… unusual. The woman gave me a look of absolute terror as if I’d just killed her husband or something.

She stuttered, “I. No, s…sorry.” and walked away at an impressive speed for an older lady.

Soon after she left, my wife told us we were all signed up and were ready to bid. Horatio was adamant that we must have the purple one. My wife was sceptical as she had her sights set on the unit with a pastel brown door. They began to have a small argument over what unit to choose, eventually, my wife began to shout, “Horatio, we are getting the-"

I cut her off and forcefully stated “Right! Lets do this fair then. I’ll flip a coin.” I took an old rusted 1p coin out of my rough jacket pocket and placed it on my hand “Okay Horatio, you are heads. Suzy, you are tails.” They both nodded in agreement.

I flicked my thumb and sent the coin soaring through the air, each flip would reflect the sun right into my eyes, periodically blinding me. The rusty old coin landed on heads, Queen side up. Horatio jumped with glee as my wife gave me a withering stare as if I was able to fix a coin flip. Before she had a chance to speak, the stubby man from before came into the small crowd and spoke: “Alright ladies and gentlemen, it appears there is less of you than there are containers so we're calling off the auction. If you wish to outright purchase a container then it’ll be £6000 each.” To my surprise, my wife was happy about this. She reminded me that our budget was £12,000 and expressed gleefully that we could buy both. Horatio was jumping in anticipation, his jet-black hair flopping around as the wind caught it mid-jump.

We wasted no time in purchasing both units and busting them open. We did my wife’s first. The stubby man came over and unlocked the decrepit padlock on the door and hoisted it up. Dust came flooding out into our eyes and mouths. It was a thick greyish colour and smelled of wet cardboard. My wife took off her rose-red scarf and wafted it around making the dust disperse quickly. Horatio took off his coat and did the same. Once the dust cleared we were greeted with a small pile of wet cardboard boxes.

However, inside was some of the most enchanting jewellery me or my wife had ever seen. There were pearl necklaces, gold earrings, sapphire bracelets and the most notable of all, a real diamond ring. My wife and I looked at each other in utter disbelief. These things were worth a fortune. As we stood in awe of this discovery Horatio just blurted out, “Boring.” Well, at his age how was he to know how valuable these things were?

I asked my wife if she’d get the jewellery packed up and ready to take home while I took Horatio over to the unit he wanted. Horatio grabbed my arm and dragged me over to his unit before I had a chance to say anything. As he dragged me I signalled to the stubby man to come over. The stubby man shuffled over with a penguin-like waddle in his step, his fat bulging out of the holes in his tight white shirt wobbled as he walked. “What?” he uttered in a rather hostile tone.

“Could you open this for us?” I asked politely, trying not to start an argument over his rudeness in front of my son. He grunted and unlocked the padlock, which seemed new and hoisted the door up then waddled away. I tried to look at him as he walked, but his shiny bald head was reflecting the sun onto my eyes.

When I turned back around I saw Horatio was already inside. He was kneeling next to a pile of boxes with a massive number of vintage toys inside. He was in awe of all the model planes and old racing cars he found. Even some first-generation Pokémon cards were scattered in there. Before I took a step inside I gave the unit a good look over. It had a very oppressive smell lingering, though I’m not sure to this day what it was, rotten meat maybe? Anyway, the walls were scratched, but not like a scratch from moving boxes, I’m talking huge, long marks across the dirty grey walls, massive dents in the ceiling and the floor had huge chunks taken out of it. I wanted out of there fast, so I told Horatio to help me drag the boxes outside onto the path.

My wife had finished packing her jewellery into the car and came over asking, “How’s it going, anything good?”

To which Horatio responded, “This is soooo cool, look Mom look.” He gestured to his boxes full of vintage toys and picked up a red and blue model car. The satisfaction in his eyes was enough to make me forget about the price for a moment.

Just as we finished moving all the boxes and were about to close the unit I heard my wife say, “Wait! Wait! What’s that?” she sounded curious. She pointed to one of the massive craters in the floor. At first, I didn’t see anything, it was so dark in the back of the container. As my wife kept pointing I began to make out the corner of a small box poking out from the crater. “Go get it then,” she growled at me as if I was at some sort of fault. I meekly walked over and picked it up. It was incredibly small. It was made of smooth polished oak wood with some gold hinges on the back. I couldn't see the whole box though as there was paper wrapped around the middle of it. So, I just pocketed it and left the container and my wife slammed it shut behind me.

After this, we just packed the toys and returned home. Nothing was out of the ordinary that I remember. We just drove home, picked up some takeaway food on the way and set up all the boxes in the living room ready to be properly unpacked.

We all sat around and poured the contents of the jewellery boxes on the floor, so my wife could sit and separate everything out the way she wanted. I helped Horatio unpack his toys. I was amazed at the things in there. There were collector’s edition model cars, one of a kind toy teddy bears and a plethora of little soldier figurines. I let him decide how he would sort them out.

As I lent back in my chair I felt a sharp poke in my thigh. I felt around in my pocket and pulled out that box. I’d completely forgotten about it. I realised that a strange smell was coming off it. It smelled of rotten meat, I seem to recall. I looked over the paper that wrapped it and found some tape holding it together. I promptly removed it, unravelled the paper and as I did so a chill seemed to descend on the room, this was odd as the fire was roaring. “Anyone else feel that chill?” I asked Horatio and my wife in an inquisitive tone.

“No,” responded my wife in her usual soft voice, flicking her light brown hair aside as she said so. Horatio just shook his head, he was encapsulated by all his new toys.

I reached over to retrieve my glasses from the glass coffee table next to me, promptly burning my hand on the fresh cup of tea my wife had recently made. I opened my glasses case and put on my glasses, I hated these glasses, I didn’t suit these big chunky things, but I needed them, so I didn’t complain. The paper was rough and as I looked at the paper I realise there was something written on it, well, scrawled on it I should say. It read “Keep close to the toys and do not open. Keep out of reach of children or anyone who may open.” I didn’t know what to think. I was brainstorming thousands of reasons as to why someone would have left this in the unit in the first place.

Then I remembered the woman we met. I remember the gaunt look on her face, a look of terror and sadness. I glanced over at my wife and son, they seemed fine. My wife was almost finished organising her jewellery into piles, each pile being a specific type of jewellery, one for necklaces, earrings, bracelets and so on. Horatio was separating his toys into piles of cars, planes, action figures and more. This is when I noticed something odd. From a pile of toys, a shadow was cast. Nothing unusual except that from my angle it looked like a face. I assumed at the time that because of where the fire was placed in relation to the toys that this was just trick of the light, you know, how people always say the human brain always sees faces in things that don’t have one.

The more I looked at it the more I realised the room temperature getting cold... very cold, though the fire was still roaring it was like all the heat it had just vanished. My wife had just about finished when she turned and asked if me and Horatio felt it. We both gave a cautious nod. My wife decided that was enough sorting for the night and that they could finish it up in the morning. I placed the box and the note on the coffee table next to me and turned on the TV.

By the time my wife had taken Horatio to bed and was getting ready herself, I was still downstairs. After they left the warmth seemed to return. However, the normal atmosphere didn’t last long. I was watching TV when the fire abruptly went out, the only proper light source in the room. I understandably got a bit nervous as now the shimmer from the evening news was the only thing lighting the room. I can’t explain exactly why what happened next happened, but I know now that it was something I probably shouldn’t have let go. I decided to start getting out of my chair and go to bed when the fire burst into life. This fire was an old coal fire so to light it again somebody would have needed to go over to it and turn it on. As the fire cracked and illuminated the room, I felt an intense feeling of dread, like something, wasn’t right and I was supposed to know what it was.

Then I noticed it.

One of the piles of toys my son had arranged was casting a shadow that did not match the pile at all, it looked like a contorted figure, something that resembled a human but bent out of shape. At this point I was just about done with this nonsense, I reached my foot out and booted the pile of toys, scattering them across the floor. As I did this, the shadow dispersed and the fire went out. I had no idea what to think at the time so I just quickly turned off the TV and stood up. This is when I lost my cool and ran to the bedroom. The moment I stood up an intense cold hit me like a brick through a window, my tea had a slight glaze of ice on the top of it and I began to shiver uncontrollably. I bolted up the stairs, not even considering the noise I made when slamming my feet down on the way up.

When I reached my bedroom door I had a second thought. I abruptly turned around and speedily snuck into Horatio's room to make sure he was ok. It was ice cold in his room, like, way too cold for a child, yet there he was, sound asleep. I gave the room a quick once over, scanning the floor, the walls, cupboard and ceiling all the while dodging the toys that littered the floor as to not impale my feet on the likes of a rogue piece of Lego. Nothing seemed out of place though. All I could hear was Horatio's soft breathing. I decided to head to bed after calming down knowing Horatio was safe, but just as I shut the door I caught a glimpse of the glass of water on his race car bedside table…It was frozen on the top. I decided it best to grab an extra blanket from his cupboard as I was not risking him waking up with a cold. It was the summer holidays, after all, I wanted him to enjoy it, not be sick. By the time I had tiptoed back over to his wardrobe the ice on the water had melted. I wasn’t taking any chances so I grabbed his favourite spaceship blanket and reached over his bed and lay the blanket over his duvet. This time I made a faster effort to exit the room and as I shut the door once again, before I did though I looked at his water and this time it seemed fine.

After this I decided to just shuffle into bed, I didn’t even think about using the bathroom or acknowledging my wife, I just needed to sleep.

A few hours before dawn I was woken up by the faint sound of laughter. My wife wasn’t disturbed though, she was a heavy sleeper unlike me. I sat for a moment and just listened, every once and a while a little chuckle could be heard from outside the bedroom door. Now, had this been a few months earlier when we moved to here I would have put it down to the house just being old and ‘breathing’ as people say, but I’d never heard this before. We had the odd creak and bump in the night but nothing out of the ordinary, usually just a floorboard shifting or a window rattling. The more I listened the more I could separate the laughter, at first I thought only one voice was laughing but there was, in fact, two voices, similar in nature yet one sounded…off. I had no idea how to respond at first, I was still in a sleepy haze but after a while I glanced at the time and realised there was no point on going back to sleep, I needed to get to work early. I pulled myself out of bed quietly as to not wake up my wife, I don’t know why I was so careful because not even a jet engine could wake her up. So, I shuffled my way over to the bedroom door and stopped, this was because at some point while I was getting up I didn’t realise that the laughing had stopped. I just stood in silence for a few moments, waiting, listening for any noise. Nothing.

I clicked open the heavy wooden door and as soon as the door left the frame I was hit with an almost arctic level of cold. All the hairs on my body shot up and an intense shiver rattled my entire body. I was forced to grab a dressing gown off the back of the door and put it on as it was so cold I couldn’t bring myself to move without one. Then, I immediately remembered what happened the night before. The fire, the shadow, Horatios room and the water. I hurried over to Horatio's room, flung open the door and what I saw was enough to send a parent into s frenzy. Horatio was lying face down on his speedboat mat on the floor in a pile of vomit or something. The room was filled with an intense odour of rotting meat, the temperature was almost like walking into the sun and Horatio was pale, almost blue. I wasted no time in racing over and picked him up while shouting for my wife. Obviously, no response. So I took him over to the bathroom to get him cleaned up. As I was rushing down the hallway Horatio started to grab my dressing gown tight with his freezing cold hands. Before he could even say anything I had already dropped the toilet seat and sat him down, ran both the cold and hot taps and put on a bath. It was during this time that I must have had tunnel vision because when I was getting everything ready in the bathroom Horatio asked me “Dad, did you see the scratches on the floorboards in the hallway” I immediately froze and took a second to snap out of my haze. I asked him to repeat the question, to which he responded “Did you see the scratches on the floorboards in the hallway” I didn’t even respond, I just rushed to the door and peaked my head out into the hallway. The floorboards were scratched in places, not just a grazed, like proper deep scratches all down the hallway leading to the stairs from his room.

I’d had about enough at this point. I got out a wet cloth from the cupboard and ran it under the taps to get it damp. I lightly wiped all the dry vomit off Horatio and got him out of his puke covered pyjamas and binned them immediately. Both me and Horatio just sat for a moment and just as I was about to ask him what he remembers happening last night, My wife comes shuffling into the bathroom with a terrified expression on her face, her fair brown hair flopping over her shoulders. I sarcastically remarked “nice for you to join us” to which she replied with an unamused stare before asking “what on Earth is going on” in a stutter in her voice. All while she said this she knelt next to Horatio and put her hand on his face. I decided to come clean about what happened to me last night, the fire, shadows, temperature, the water and the note. Moreover, I alerted her to what happened to Horatio. Then it struck me. Just as I finished explaining all this I quickly said: “give Horatio a bath, I’ll be right back”. I bolted out the bathroom door and flew down the stairs into the dimly lit living room, I gave the room a quick once over and flicked the light on.

As soon as the flash of the light sparked and the darkness lifted I was struck with immense panic. I looked over to the coffee table the box was on. My tea for the other evening was still there, except, It was in a different cup, It was still steaming…this wasn’t my tea. Then, I cast my gaze to the location of the box. The box that now lay open on its side, the box the note said to not open and keep close to the toys, the box that inside apparently had the severed little finger of a baby in it that now lay on the coffee table with a note attached. I timidly walked over to the table and almost vomited at the up-close sight of a decomposing baby's finger. I held my dressing gown over my nose and wiggled the note off the finger. As it came loose there were bits of flesh coming off the finger as the string that attached the note rubbed the skin. I wasted no time in unfolding the note and reading it. The paper was rough, stained and smelly but I dealt with it and read the note. “If you opened this box by yourself then you ignored my instructions. If you did not open this box and it has opened by itself then you have not kept it close to the toys. Either way, I’m sorry for your loss.” I had just finished reading this when a hand grabbed my shoulder lightly. I heard my wife say “where are the clean towels? I need some for Horatio” At this moment I was still in shock, I was asking so many questions in my head about how it was right next to the toys and about how nobody could have opened it because I would have heard if someone was downstairs and what does ‘I’m sorry for your loss mean’.

I turned to my wife and asked “why is this open?” completely ignoring her question. She replied “oh, your spooky little box. I don’t know, It’s just a bo-“ she stopped abruptly after her eyes shifted from my face the coffee table behind me. She let out an almighty scream as she saw the finger. I looked dead into her eyes, grabbing her shoulders so her petrified gaze met mine and said in a stern tone “look, the towels are on the couch right there, grab them and do not leave Horatio's side” She didn’t say anything, grabbed the towels and ran up the stairs.

In the very short time frame between her leaving the living room and me reading the note again and noticing a drop in temperature that froze the coffee right in front of my eyes, it was like hours had passed. I scrambled to put the finger back in the box and shut it. I thought of nothing else other than keeping warm in this dressing gown and getting back upstairs to my wife and Horatio. I wrapped the note up and put in the dressing gown pocket. Then I started to rush towards the stairs, that’s when I heard my wife scream. Now, this scream was not just a scream of terror, it was a scream of pure, unfiltered sorrow and pain the likes of which are almost unimaginable. She screamed my name over and over. She screamed for me to get up there right that second. Of course, I ran like I had never run before. The adrenaline was surging through me, I felt like an athlete I was going so fast.

As I slammed my feet of each step I kept hearing her screaming and sobbing. I ran down the hallway, following a fresh trail of scratch marks that lead to the bathroom. My heart felt like it was about to explode. My fear grew exponentially. When I reached the bathroom the door was shut over, so in my adrenaline-fueled fear frenzy I grabbed the edge of it and swung it open. I swung it so hard it snapped back and came off the hinges completely, going flying down the hallway. When I went into the bathroom…I saw a sight that I will never, ever be able to erase from my memory. My wife was hunched over the bathtub screaming and crying. All the water was frozen and Horatio was face down in it…dead. His back was exposed above the ice and was scratched to the point his spine was visible. The Ice was slowly turning a sinister crimson as the blood from his back seeped out. I just stood there for a moment, no idea what to do. There were so many emotions having a brawl in my head that I just seemed to shut off for a moment, a moment that felt like an eternity. It’s not like I could call the police, what would they do? Probably lock us up for killing our own child. It’s not like we could explain this to them, even we didn’t know what did this.

I fell to my knees. I dug my fingernails so deep into my knees so hard that blood oozed out. The feeling in my chest was like I was being crushed by the worlds strongest man. Tears began to course down my cheeks as I crawled over to my wife and lay on her back, embracing her, sobbing with her. Neither of us could look at Horatio's body.

We sat here for maybe an hour? Two, three, four maybe? I don’t really know, I was just so out of it. After however long it had been anyway, I stood up, still in pieces and walked into the hallway, leaving my wife to just take it in for as long as she needs. It was like I was drunk or something, I was stumbling and had blurry vision. I shuffled to Horatio's room, stood in the doorway and looked at the pile of vomit still sitting there. I almost couldn't feel my body, but I remember going completely numb when I noticed something on the floor near where I found Horatio. A small model plane lay on the carpet. Horatio had many model planes which is why I didn’t think much of it when I found him, but this better look made me realise that it was a world war 2 model, a model Horatio did not have prior to getting a bunch after the storage unit sale. I was still dazed but I managed to put it together. Yet, I don’t know how he could have hidden that from us when my wife took him upstairs, they agreed to come back to the piles of toys and jewellery the next day. Either way, it didn’t matter now.

As I was gazing into Horatio's room I heard my wife tell me from behind that she was going for a lie-down and locking the door. Her exact words were “I’m going for a lie-down, I’m going to lock the door, do not try and get in. I need to be alone. I need to think. “her voice was that of a defeated woman, a broken mother. I was still so dazed that it just replied with a nod, not even turning around to make eye contact.

When I heard the door shut and the lock click behind it, I think I collapsed. All I remember after that is waking up on the floor where I had previously been standing. I looked over at the 24-hour clock in Horatio's room and saw it was quite late the next day. It took a moment to get on my feet as all the emotions of this situation hit me again. I staggered over to my bedroom door and tried to open it as my wife must have come out by now, It had been almost a day at this point. I reached my hand down and gripped the cold round doorknob and twisted. Locked, still. This is when I started to panic again. I needed to see my wife, I needed to be by her side, I needed her comfort. These old doors were weak, so, with a hard enough kick, I was able to bash the door off. And there she was. A dark silhouette illuminated by the window behind her. Swaying side to side gently from the old robust ceiling light. She used the belt she got me for our anniversary. The belt had the words ‘Never give up’ etched into the fabric, this belt was from a time in our lives that we struggled through. Her skin was almost purple, her fair brown hair was tied up in a bun. She also wore the dressing gown I bought her for Christmas, it’s frilly pink fluff was the only thing covering her limp body.

Trust me, I wanted to cry, I really did but I just didn’t have any left in me. I stood there for what felt like years, her body softly swinging from side to side, rotating slightly. I had nothing without her and Horatio, I’m a nobody without them. I was so numb at the time it felt like I had no emotions left. I lifted her down and lay her on the bed, arms across her stomach. I pressed my hand to her face and I felt nothing, no cold, no texture, like I was unable to feel anything. So, I picked up the belt, read aloud the engraving “Never give up” and I promised I wouldn’t from then on. I packed a case full of only necessary items. Took my dressing gown off and got into some jeans and a t-shirt…the t-shirt Horatio had gotten me for Christmas ‘World’s Best Dad’ It had on it. I grabbed my case and walked out into the hallway, eyeing up the scratches as I did so. Moving down the hallway towards the stairs, I gave a glance into the bathroom. He was still there, frozen. I felt nothing. I dragged myself downstairs and stood at the foot, looking across the living room, at all the piles of toys and jewellery my family never got to use, at family photos from our wedding all the way to Horatio's most recent birthday. I started to feel something, my chest was tightening up, my eyes were filling up. I weaved my way over to the coffee table where the box sat, shut, just how I left it the last time. I picked it up and launched it into the fireplace. Then, I walked over to the fire, turned it on, It’s sinister blaze roaring at me. I stood and watched as the box burned, the wood crackling and charring. The smell of burning meat filled the room, an assault on my senses.

After a while just standing there, I walked to the front door, grabbed the freezing metal handle, flung it open and slammed it shut with all the might I could muster. I slammed it so hard the windows rattled. I caught a taxi to the nearest hotel, booked a room and here I am. Sitting in complete misery writing this. I don’t know what to do, what to tell people when they start asking questions. I just don’t know if I can go on. I’ve got the belt right next to me, I keep glancing at the words “never give up” but I’ll be honest, I don’t know if I can keep my promise.