Testing out the formatting for my story for the monthly writing contest

The Box
By: Bryce Dillard (aka: roadguy2)

Feb. 4th, 2013

Dear Journal,

It's just been one month back at school and I am already sick of it! There are too many assignments, I don't have any time to write anymore! I'm supposed to be writing an essay right now actually, for history. Why do we even have to write essays? They are so stupid! Especially history essays! The teacher tells you what happened, you take notes, type them up in complete sentences and organize them, give them back to the teacher, and somehow I'm suppose to learn something!

'But you're so good at writing Jenny, you should enjoy essays" Like hell I should enjoy writing essays. I want to write about pirates who get lost at sea, or a hero that saves the day, not some boring essay that will only get read once, graded, then thrown away.

Ah, whatever, I guess I'll just have to wait for summer again.

-Jen

*Bloop*

Jen looked up from her desk, startled by the noise. She looked around her room, looking for what could have made it. Thinking it was probably just the faucet from the sink in the bathroom; she shook her head and closed her journal. She hasn't written in her journal for almost a month now that winter break is over. She used to love writing in her journal. Even as a little girl, Jen would carry around a book and a pencil everywhere she went, writing anytime she had the chance. But now that she is in high school, she has little time to write.

She shoved her journal into her backpack and took out her laptop. Jen placed her laptop on the desk, opened it and searched through some folders. She found the folder marked 'HistOfAmericaWilsonEssay' and opened it. Ugh, she moaned as the file opened. She has only written one paragraph so far, and she needs at least 5 pages by Thursday. She sighed and then started to type.

"Jen! Dinner!" called Jen's mom from downstairs.

"Mom, I'm busy!"

"If you wait it'll get cold!"

Jen frowned. She hated it when her mom interrupted her while she was working, but now that she realizes it, Jen is hungry. Reluctantly, Jen saves her paper and goes downstairs.

*Bloop*

There's that noise again, thought Jen as she made her way down the creaky steps. All of the sudden, a loud noise shot through the house, and Jen stopped moving. She lifted her foot off the step, assuring herself that it was just the old wooden stairs that were making the noise. She slowly put her foot back down on the step and - nothing. She stepped on that step a few more times, only getting the faintest creak out of it.

Confused, Jen reached the end of the stairs and realized that no lights were on downstairs.

"Mom, why are the lights out?" Jen asked as she walked along the hall. There was no answer.

"Mom?" Jen walked into the kitchen, but with all the lights out it was impossible to see anything. She felt along the wall for the light switch. She finally found it and flicked the switch, but the lights didn't come back on.

"Mom where are you?" asked Jen, beginning to sound a little scared. She walked back down the hallway. She remembered that were was a flashlight in the living room. She reached the living room and looked around. The windows in the living room provided a dim light for her to search around in.

"There it is" she mumbled to herself as she grabbed the flashlight from the coffee table.

She made her way back into the kitchen, using the flashlight to guide her. When she reached the kitchen, she looked around for any sign of her mom. Her flashlight landed on a piece of paper on the counter. Jen walked up to the counter, but before she could grab the note she felt something on her feet. She shone the flashlight on the floor, revealing a large pool of blood.

Jen was extremely scared now, her flashlight shaking in her hands. She slowly moved over to the counter and picked up the note.

*Bloop*

Jen jumped this time; she had heard the noise again. Still trembling, she shone the light onto the paper. It read: 'I dropped the tomato soup on the floor, going to the store to buy some more. Be a dear a clean it up please. Be back soon. <3 Mom.'

When Jen finished reading, the lights popped back on. She jumped again, but now she could see everything. Sure enough, there was a big pot on the ground where all of the tomato soup was spilled from. She thought how silly she must've been thinking tomato soup was blood. She sighed and took off her socks and threw them into the laundry room. She got a mop and began cleaning the soup. She laughed a little at herself - how could she have thought this was blood? But what about the lights? Could have been a power outage I suppose. Jen continued to mop up the soup.

When she was done she went into the living room and turned on the T.V. to pass the time waiting for her mom to come back. As the ads started playing, she looked around the room and noticed that the rug had been moved. Having nothing better to do, she got up and pulled the rug back into position, but, when she was moving the rug she noticed something. She looked at the rug to see if there was anything different, then, in the middle of the rug she saw a little bulge. She pulled back the rug and found a hatch!

She gasped. She had lived here her whole life and never known about this! Immediately she grabbed the hatch and opened it, revealing a ladder leading down into darkness. She jumped up, turned off the T.V., grabbed the flashlight and started climbing down.

Jen hadn't felt this excited since her little 'adventure' in the zoo about 8 years ago! She climbed down the ladder carefully; it was very old and felt as if it was going to break at any time. She reached the bottom of the ladder and jumped off. She looked around and quickly became disappointed. It was just an old storage area, nothing interesting. There were some chairs piled up in the corner, with a table to go along with them. A couple of old lamps, but not old enough to look cool or antique, and just some pieces of what looked like an old bed frame.

Just as she was about to climb back up, her flashlight reflected off of some shiny metal. Curiosity flashed across her eyes as she moved over to inspect the metal.

She had found that the metal was a lock, a lock that was attached to a box. Excited, Jen picked up the box and tried to open it, despite the fact that the lock was keeping it closed. She thought that maybe it was old enough it would just fall open, but closer inspection of the box revealed that the lock was a shiny new masterlock, like the kinds they use at school for their lockers.

Huh, Jen thought, this is strange. She turned the box over, and saw a kind of symbol on it; it looked like a shield with some fancy lines drawn around it. Just then, she heard her mom's car pull into the drive way. She grabbed the box and climbed up the ladder, moving the carpet back into place just before her mom opened the door.

Panicking, she held the box behind her back as her mom walked in with a large bag of tomato juice.

"Oh, thanks for cleaning that up honey, I needed to get to the store before they closed so I didn't have any time to spare if we were going to have tomato soup tonight."

"Oh, yeah. No problem mom." said Jen, hiding the box behind her back.

"Hey, why don't you help me make this soup, it'll go faster" insisted her mom.

"I, uh, I've got to finish my essay now actually" replied Jen.

"Oh alright" said her mom, walking into the kitchen.

Jen immediately ran into her room and put the box down. She was so excited to find out what was in the box. She tried using her locker combo on the lock, but unfortunately that didn't work. Hmm, Jen thought to herself. Ah-ha! She would look on the internet for it!

After about 10 minutes of trying to describe the box she finally found a picture of the symbol she was looking for. She clicked the link and it took her to the site of a private investigator. These guys still exist, thought Jen, I thought they died out in, like, the 70's or something. She looked at the address on the site and saw that it was in her city. She entered the address into Google maps and found out that it was only 4 blocks away from her school. Great! She could take this box there after school and found out what it is!

*Bloop*

I looked up from my desk. Strange, I thought I had heard something. I shrugged it off and looked at the file on my desk. I smiled to myself. Another case solved by P.I. Johnson.

I took the file and turned around to put it away, when all of the sudden the door to my office opened.

I turned around, and standing there was a teenage girl. Strange, usually the women walking through that door are over twenty, seeking revenge on their late husbands' killer.

But this girl didn't look like she was seeking revenge for a murder. She said 'Hello" and the sat down in front of me. She told me her name was Jen, and then she pulled out a box.

That box looked familiar, and sure enough it was the same one I had been searching for over 25 years now. She showed me the carvings on the box, and I knew for sure my search was over. She asked me what I knew about it, so I showed her the file.

She looked through it; I could tell she thought it was a joke. I took the file back and asked her what she wanted. She said she wanted to open it, but she didn't know the code.

"Code? What code?" I asked her. She turned the box around to reveal a combination lock. Damn, and I thought it was going to be easy.

I took the box from her and tried a few combinations I had remembered for a case where I had to break into a locker to find a murder weapon. It didn't work, but the girl seemed to be hopeful for a second, so I guess it looked like I knew what I was doing.

When I handed it back to her she was disappointed. "Where did you find this?" I asked. She told me about a secret storage room in her house filled with chairs. I asked her where she lived and she told me 328 Maple.

328 Maple. I remembered that address. It was a house that belonged to one of the people I was investigating for this case long ago.

*Bloop*

I was getting so bored listening to this P.I. Johnson guy talking about whoever lived in my house or something when I heard it again. That weird noise seems to be following me now. Whatever, just after the P.I. stopped talking about that person, he pulled put the file again. Ha! That thing is a joke! He says he spent 25 years of his life working on this because it is said to have something magical inside of it!

Don't get me wrong I love writing about magic, but only as a fictional topic. This guy was talking about it as if it was fact! I would have started to laugh, but just then the box felt like it was getting warmer. I looked down at the box and the shield design thing started glowing blue! I stared at it in disbelief, and then P.I. Johnson stopped talking and was looking at it too! He grabbed the box from me and put it on the table, and it just started to glow brighter and brighter.

*Bloop*

P.I. Johnson and Jen both looked at each other. They had both heard the strange noise. Their faces, now glowing in a deep blue light, turned back towards the box. Johnson reached his hand out to touch the lock, but pulled it back immediately, shaking his finger as if it touched a hot pot. Just when Jen was about to stand up, the light immediately vanished and the room was normal again.

Both shaken by what just happened, they just sat there for a minute. Then, the door to the office opened and an attractive lady of about 26 wearing a red dress walked into the room. Confused, she looked at the P.I. and the teen, who were just staring at a box. Unsure of what she should do, the woman slowly walked out of the office and closed the door.

Snapping out of it, Johnson said, "You have to take me to where you found this."

Jen just looked at him and nodded, still amazed at what had happened.

The P.I. stood up and put on his hat and coat, then grabbed the box and put it into his coat pocket. Jen stood up after him and followed him out of the door. They walked down the hallway and out of the building. Johnson led Jen to his car, and was just about to open the door when he saw a hooded man in the shadows. The man pointed at them, and Johnson's eyes widened.

"GET DOWN!" he yelled as he dove at Jen, pulling her to the ground just before a red flash of light whizzed over their heads. The red bolt of light hit the building behind them and exploded in a great ball of fire, scorching the air.

"Get into the car!" yelled Johnson, who was now throwing open the car door and vigorously trying to start the engine.

"What are you waiting for? Go!" screamed Jen, now in the back seat.

Finally the engine roared up and Johnson stepped on the gas. The car flew down the street and around the corner. Five blocks later Johnson let up on the gas and they could finally relax.

"Did we lose 'em?" asked P.I. Johnson.

"Yeah I think so" said Jen, "Who was that?"

"That was Drake Malfey. Legend has it he's been searching for that box for a long time."

"A long time? Like, hundreds of years or so?"

"What? No, no one can live that long, that's silly. He's been looking for like 50 years or so."

"Oh, well at least we lost him. How did he shoot that fire ball think at us?"

*Bloop*

"No, no, no, no! What is this crap! One fireball!? Is that all the action here? They are in a freaking car! Let's have a car chase!" yelled the Director.

"But, sir, there is no car chase in the script," said the assistant.

"What? Who puts in a fireball with no chase scene?" asked the Director.

"Well, sir, you did say you wanted to keep it as close to the original book as possible" said the assistant.

"Well forget what I said! Let's see now... lets have, uh, that cloaked guy, what was his name...?"

"Well, sir, the P.I. calls him Drake Malfey...", said the assistant.

"Drake Malfey? I don't like it, it's too sinister. Let's call him Gary" said the Director, "Oh, and lets put him in one of those cool sleek black cars to match his cloak."

*Bloop*

"Okay, what the heck is that noise" said P.I. Johnson.

"I'm not sure, but I've been hearing it since yesterday" said Jen.

P.I. Johnson was wondering about that strange sound when he looked in his rear-view mirror. In it, he saw a cool sleek black car. The car's color perfectly matched the cloak of the person driving it.

"Hold on to something kid, Gary is following us" said Johnson.

"Gary? Who is..." Jen looked back and saw the cloaked figure in the car, "Wait, isn't that that Drake dude you were talking about?"

"Yeah, Drake Malfey, why what did I say?"

"You said Gary" said Jen.

"What? That's odd..."

All of the sudden there was an explosion and the back of the car was on fire. Jen screamed and Johnson was trying desperately to stay in control of the car."

"Jen, you see that box underneath the seat?" asked Johnson.

"Yeah," said Jen, picking up the box.

"I want you to open it up and be very careful with it."

"Okay," said Jen, opening the box to find a revolver. "Ah! Why do you have a gun!?" she screamed.

"I'm a P.I., what did you expect, a magnifying glass? Just stick your head out of the window and shoot at him; I'll drive as smooth as I can."

Just when Jen was about to roll down the window, another fireball exploded and the car spun out of control. The car crashed into a lamppost, the back end of the car was in flames.

The black car pulled up next to wreck and the cloaked figure stepped out. He approached the car and looking in the window. There, P.I. Johnson was recovering from the shock of crashing and bleeding in many places. The cloaked figure opened the door and dragged Johnson out. He searched Johnson's pockets and found nothing.

"Where is the box?" demanded Drake Mal - er um, Gary.

Johnson felt his pockets but couldn't find the box either. He looked at the car to find Jen, but he couldn't see her. Gary followed his gaze and saw an alley behind the car with a girl running around the corner on the other side. He pointed at Johnson and a bright light started to shine out of his finger.

*Bloop*

Jen had just turned the corner and continued running up the street. She held the box in her hands and she had heard the strange noise again, only she was too terrified to react to it. Behind she heard a BANG so load it sounded like a gun going off. She gripped the box tighter and ran even faster. She got to the end of the block and turned left. She didn't know where she was going but she knew she had to get away from there.

She reached the end of that street and looked around. There was a completely empty intersection, and everywhere she looked was deserted - no cars, people, or even animals out on the street. She turned around and heard heavy footsteps running towards her. She turned and ran as fast as she could.

*Bloop*

The last bell rang and Rick was ready to get out of school. It had been a long day for him - he had two tests to take in math and biology and was assigned a crap ton of homework. But what really sucked was what he was looking forward to all day, or maybe what he was avoiding all day. He was planning on asking Jen to the dance, but every time he saw her he just stopped breathing and looked the other way. He couldn't bring himself to ask her. He took a big breath and let it out. "Maybe tomorrow I will ask her" he thought. In fact, that was what he thought nearly every week now. If not the dance, he wanted to go see a movie, or have lunch with her, but every time it was the same.

Rick went up to his bike and unlocked it. He wondered if he would ever get a chance with Jen. When he was taking his bike out, he noticed Jen again, but was too shy to even say 'good bye'. He noticed that Jen was walking a different way than she normally goes.

Rick decided to take the long way home today, he was thinking about how to ask Jen. He always thought of the same ways, he just could never bring himself to actually ask her. He was thinking about that when all of the sudden he heard an explosion! He got off his bike and looked around. In the sky he could see some smoke appearing, so he biked towards it.

On his way to the smoke he heard another explosion, and then another, this time closer to him. He quickly started biking towards the sounds to see what was happening. Then all of the sudden he heard a huge crash! It sounded very close, and when he turned the corner he saw two cars - one black one parked next to one that was crashed and on fire. He saw a cloaked man get out of the black car and search the driver of the crashed car. Rick slowly moved closer to the two cars.

Very close to the cars now, Rick saw on the ground a revolver! Ho looked at the man who was on the ground. The cloaked man was now looming over him and pointing at him. The man on the ground saw Rick, he looked at him, then he look on the gun on the floor in front of Rick. Rick looked at him confused. The man nodded, so Rick picked up the gun.

Rick pointed the gun at the cloaked man, and pulled the trigger. Now, Rick has never shot a gun before, and he was very nervous, he might even have been closing his eyes, so it is very understandable that he missed his first shot. The shot rang throughout the street and the cloaked man looked at Rick. Rick was scared to death, but the cloaked man just ran into the alley.

Rick ran up to the man on the ground and looked at him. He was bleeding badly.

"Are you hurt?" asked Rick to the man.

"Yes, of course I am hurt! Do you think I just bleed for fun?" replied the man.

Rick looked down and saw that the man was clutching his side, and that there was blood seeping through his hands.

"I shot you! Oh god, I'm sorry!" said Rick, desperately trying to find some way to help.

"It's O.K. kid, I've been shot before..." said the man, who was clearly in more pain than he was showing, "Just go save that Jen girl, she ran down that alley."

*Bloop*

Jen heard the sound again, she wasn't sure what it was but she didn't like it. It seemed that it made things worse when she heard it. She was hiding in an abandoned house now. She was sure that the cloaked man couldn't find her, but just then the door to the house exploded with a flash of brilliant purple light and the cloaked man stepped in. He instantly walked into the room Jen was hiding in. Jen was terrified.

"Give me the box" said the cloaked man in a raspy voice.

Jen stood up and started looking around for a way to escape. Almost as if he knew what she was doing the man said "You are trapped, girl, now give me the box"

The man point his finger at the box and it began to heat up, but Jen still help onto it. Just then a loud BANG filled the room. The box cooled down and the cloaked man gasped. He grabbed his heart, dropped to his knees and then vanished into a puff of black smoke.

There stood Rick, who saw Jen and dropped the gun. He ran over to her and hugged her. She dropped the box and tightly hugged him back.

"So, you want to go to the dance with me?" asked Rick.

"Yeah, okay." replied Jen.

-End-