by Joost Steffensen

Created on: September 09, 2010

The box was put there long ago. Hidden under furniture and bags of clothing. The remnants of an estranged uncle's disputed estate. But now the spoils had been divided. New light came into the house. Voices of children in the bedroom under the attic. Just a ceiling away. Yet the box remained dark.

 A woman pulled down the ladder and climbed into the attic. Burly men followed her moving the furniture and the bags of clothing. Until just the box remained. The box was beautiful to look at, colorful and well-made. The only discrepancy a heavy lock. It seemed too bulky for a box so delicate.

The woman was a locksmith's daughter. He had given her a key, a special key, that could unlock any door. He had warned her to be careful. Not every door holds treasure. But what evil could lurk in a box so small?

As the lock clicked a scream was heard. The woman, now a mother first, rushed down the ladder, to find a child cradling a lifeless arm.

It was a long time before the attic was visited again. The broken arm got infected, fevers spiked, death followed. At the funeral the daughter coughed for the first time. This time it took six months for death to follow. The husband went a week later, driving a car with no destination.

She climbs the stairs to the attic again. Her skin is sallow now, an unpleasant Grey. She knows something is not right, but that no doctor can fix her. Maybe no one can. That's why she's back where it all started. The little box in the attic.

Whatever was in the box is gone now. It's insides are empty and dark. All that remains is an inscription on the inside of the lid in beautiful letters, 'This box belongs to Pandora'.

She thinks back of her son falling down the ladder. His needless infections. Her daughter's long Illness. In the bathroom she looks at the bottles she never touched. She remembers the doctors shaking their heads. Her husband who had told her they would make it together.

She looks in the mirror. Some places have no lock. Her name is Pandora. Something is wrong with her no Doctor can fix.  

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