THE PANDORA BOX

A blaring sound of a siren woke me up, eyelids pushing themselves hard to show me the place where I never expected to be. The darkness around scared the shit out of me. Trying to move my legs and arms,I don’t know why I imagined myself as a snail, moving at a leisure pace. I soon realized that my hands and legs are tied down. I am not aware how many days or months would have passed me dropping off here.

I gathered myself little energy and moved my body slowly.I got myself hit to a metal and my legs trashing to hardwood. My palm tried to touch the surroundings showing me that I have a cylinder nearby and a box around in which I got confined. I realized the person who kept me hostage doesn’t want me to die so setting up an oxygen cylinder keeping me alive. A thousand questions wandered in my mind like bees around the beehive.

Suddenly I heard distant voices murmur mixing with the siren. After a while, that too died and a complete silence occupied the place. I wanted to shout my heart out but can’t able to. The only thinking in my mind is to escape from this place as soon as possible. My moves created a creaking sound,not bothering about it I continued best to untie myself. I don’t know how many hours passed doing this,is it a day or night I felt completely clueless.

I restricted my movements when I heard footsteps approaching me. Smile pepped out at the end of my lips thinking they are going to unshackle me. The footsteps stopped and I now hear unlocking the metal lock and opening the lid.

A glimpse of light came flashing on my face, making me blind. I hardly opened my eyes and saw a man with curly hair. His eyes barged out watching me staring at him. Before I could see his face properly, he bent over untied my legs and hands, pulled me out of the box. I gathered the courage to run but even moving legs were difficult maybe it is because of lying inside shrunken.

I looked around to discover the place but the place was covered with blackness. I can only see a well-built man turning his back at me and was holding a small kerosene lamp, restricting its beam to a small space.

He started to walk straight dragging me forcibly with him, I silently followed him as I didn’t have any other option. The path led by him was very narrow it’s like walking inside a cave or underground tunnel with low roofing. He walked like a pro of routes in dark. He didn’t utter a word but kept drawing me with him.

On all four sides, I can see only the darkness. I could hardly walk. The low roofing led us to a small cabin where he made me sit on a chair and in no time he vanished into the darkness. I missed seeing his face till the end. My mind was thinking about how I can escape from this place? Will he kill me? Memorizing beautiful moments with my family I closed my eyes, and tears rolled down my chin.

When I opened my eyes suddenly a face peeped out from that dark, the face was so close that I can feel the breath, a ray of light from the lamp brought by this person showed me who that was? By watching his face I could not able to utter a word as fear stitched my lips. It was Aunt Sarah.

What the hell is she doing here? Her voice came softly, which made me shiver.

Aunt Sarah: Hi honey, Hope you had a nice sleep? I am sure your stay in the box went well, no complaints right?

Miss Sarah joined our neighborhood three years ago. She is a very sweet and loving old lady. Kids in our neighborhood loved her peach cupcakes as she runs a bakery downtown. She lost her family in an earthquake. She calls me Christy it sounds feminine compared to my real name Christopher but I don’t know why I use to accept everything she does. This is not only my view but of everyone.

Maybe it is because of her welcoming smile and funny innocent talks.

I am in my final year of graduation now, but to her eyes, I am still a kid. Me and my friends and my sister use to hang out in her basement when my mom restricts me from boozing at night. She stays opposite my house and my parents love her. She helped my mom a lot of times. Miss Sarah became Aunt Sarah in no time.

Christy: “What the hell are you doing here”? “Did you do all this”?

Aunt Sarah: “Hold your horses, Darling”. “How is my surprise, did you like it”?

Christy: “I still can’t believe that you did this”?

Aunt Sarah: “Yes dear. Hope you enjoyed my hospitality?. I kept you alive tied in a box waiting for this day where you wake up and ask me why your favorite Aunt is going to kill you”.

Hearing that word made me agitated, I can’t believe she said that. I very well understood that she trapped me inside a Pandora box of revenge, and now pulled me out to kill me. Chillness ran through my spine. I felt like fainting. I gathered courage and spoke softly

Christy: “You are going to kill me? Why? What did I do? What is this place, from how many days you kept me confined”.

 Aunt Sarah: “It’s been four days darling, an injection and an oxygen cylinder made you sleep like a baby. This place is my dark kingdom.

Christy: Crying and Shivering “What you want from me? You would have killed me on day one, why lock me inside?”

Aunt Sarah: I did this to see you suffer and one day you wake up to death. Meanwhile, as I expected your missing case has also turned cold.

Christy: “What kind of a devil you are. Gaining the trust and breaking it. I trusted you and we loved u. why you made me suffer”?

Aunt Sarah: “As you made my son Robert suffer, forced him to hang himself, it is because of you and your friends he died”.

Christy exclaimed, Robert! Who is that? I don’t remember anyone?

Aunt Sarah: “Robert Karl the one who studied with you in high school? Whom you people tyrannized and forced him to commit suicide. He trusted you, he loved your friends. You remember now?

Christy mind recalled the pages of his high school period where Tom, Henry and himself made a great team.

Robert joined the school in middle. He looked nerd and he was avoided by everyone but we three use to speak with him some times.Students including Tom and Henry used to tease him. But the incident Aunt Sarah mentioning about which nobody expected to happen.

I heard that Tom and Henry were teasing him so badly telling him that they have taken his naked photos and they will poster it all over the way to school. It was just for fun. But soon fun turned into horror when Robert hanged himself in the school hallway. Our principal expelled both of my friends after that incident.

I was in my class at the time of this incident. I think students who saw us three together a couple of times, conveyed a wrong message to Sarah. Tom and Henry went missing two years ago, their families found belongings of their sons in the lake, but their bodies were never found.

Aunt Sarah: “Hope you remember now. I have something special for you. You will not feel any pain during your death and after you die I will make sure your body will never be found again”.

Christy: "Each word from her gave me a hard blow,I gathered courage and started “Yes Aunt Sarah, I remember everything. And I also remember that Robert had only a brother, they both grew up in an orphanage and he doesn’t have any mother So Who are you”?

When Christy uttered his last word he saw something unanticipated before him. Aunt Sarah started to peel off the skin on her face, it was a horrific gesture to watch her do that. Christy can’t able to believe his eyes, he shouted.

ANDY!!!

Andy: “You are smart Christy. I got tried disguising as this old lady and behaving nice. Thank you for giving an opportunity to kill you as Andy than Aunt Sarah as it will be a huge dedication to my brother Robert”.

Andy took out a poison filled syringe from his pocket and approached Christy. Andy looked cruelly happy as he is going to kill his prey. When he was moving forward Christy felt a butcher approaching his animal. When he approached near, Christy stabbed Andy with a small sharp metal object which he found in the box. While he was crying in pain Christy tried to get up and run but his legs froze. He bent down started to crawl searching for a support to hold, as he made a contact with the wall he got up kept on moving. He had no clue where his path leading to, the only thought in his mind was to break free.

The wall lead him to a room, when he entered it and kept moving slowly taking each step at a time as it was dark. After few inches, his legs strikes something, by touching it Christy face turned blue and his throat chocked of fear. It was a dead body lying there.

Above it he saw a thin ray of moon light descending inside from a broken window. He dragged the body to the light and to his shock it is Tom,tortured brutally and killed and nearby he found Henry’s body too. By seeing them both Christy lost his confidence, but he wanted to try till his last breath.

He heard footsteps approaching him, he dragged one of the body kept it perpendicular to the entrance. When the person tried to enter he went unnoticed the dead body and fell on it.

Christy then approached him with his tiny weapon he got to know that he is not Andy by the light coming from the window, it must be the stranger. When Christy attacked him with the sharp object, that stranger was smart enough to escape the swing of a weapon but started to attack back. After a small tiff between them. Chirsty managed to grab the lamp which the stranger brought and was thrown at the corner of the room during the brawl,and tried to look at the stranger face.

The face of the stranger is not new to him “WARREN BLUE” he exclaimed. Warren is Christy Gym mate.

Christy: “Why you want to kill me Warren? We are friends. How you got involved with Andy”?

Warren: “Poor Christy I had worked a friendship only to kill you. Everything is for my best buddy Robert.

Christy: You know Robert?

Warren: “Yes we both were friends since childhood. You three killed him so I joined hands with Andy and started this killing spree, we have reached half way, our last target is you. It will be my happy last gift to Robert”.

Christy: “I was not there at the time of assault. I got aware of it only when Robert took his life”.

But Warren was not his good senses to listen, he approached his prey. Christy kept moving backward searching for his weapon, at the same time his hand felt something hard like a long rod, he took it and smashed at the head of Warren several times with heavy force. He fell down unconscious.

Christy came out of that room and followed the wall again, banging slowly with his fist and foot finding the way to get out. Suddenly his foot thumped on a cardboard down the wall. Hitting force of Christy made a small hole in it and a tiny ray of light entered through it.Christy started to tear it apart by all his energy.

Suddenly someone dragged him from behind. It’s Andy. Christy kicked him several times with his legs but Andy was tougher than expected. During their skirmish, they kicked the kerosene lamp, it swirled and banged the wall and fire from it started to spread.

Christy bent Andy’s hand which was holding the injection and forced the needle into Andy’s neck. Then Andy pushed Christy, he made a quick act of breaking the cardboard and escaped out.

Before pulling out his head for the last time Christy turned and saw Andy’s face. He gave a roguish smile which made him wonder. Not thinking of it much, he led himself out through the cardboard opening and saw a metal plate with handle at the side of the teared cardboard.

When he opened it and peeped out, to his at most surprise the secret annex was present at the corner of Aunt Sarah’s abandoned garage. Moving forward towards the exit, he felt drowsy with the pricking pain on his leg, immediately Andy’s smile flashed before him. Unfortunately Christy blacked out on the grass when he stepped out into the SUNSHINE.