Twisted Roads – Twisted Horror Stories by Matthew Tonks

Boxindul

“I guess you want me to start at the beginning?”

“Is that where you want to start?”

“Not really, but I think you need to know something, an overview, so you can see how we ended up here.”

“Well, then tell me, how did it all start?” he asks, leaning back in his seat.

“When Jenny found the box.”

“Where did she find it?”

“It was in her locker, just sitting there.”

“So you’re saying someone unlocked her locker, placed this box in there, and locked it again. Is that right?”

“That’s what she said, and before you ask, yes, I believed what she said. I was with her most of the day. If it was in there in the morning, she would’ve said something. So it must’ve happened later.”

“Okay, so what happened next, after she found the box?”

“Well, we didn’t know what to do. We thought maybe it could’ve been a bomb or something worse, so we left it there until we had time to think.”

“So you thought about it and then what? You decided you should just open it?”

“Well yeah, I mean, Jenny had no enemies, everyone loved her, and I honestly can’t think of anyone who would target her, to kill everyone else.”

“So tell me what happened after you opened the box?”

“There was nothing inside it, it was empty, or at least that’s what we thought at first. It looked that way, but that somehow changed when she threw it in the bin and then some weird light started going off. We looked in and the box seemed different, like it was I don’t know, it’s going to sound crazy if I say it out loud.”

“Try me, you’d be surprised what I believe.”

“Well,” he says leaning across the table. “Well, it seemed alive.”

“What, the box?”

“Yeah, it was. It was strange, like it was actually a living breathing thing, see,” he says, collapsing into his chair. “It sounds nuts. I mean, how could it be?”

“What happened next?”

“We fished it out of the bin and decided to get it to Mister Winters, our science teacher. He’s pretty cool, and we thought if anyone had a chance at knowing what it was, it was Mister Winters.”

“But everything didn’t go to plan, did it?”

“Of course not, that’s why you’re here, right?”

“Sort of, we’re here to determine what the next manoeuvre will be. Now, what happened to Jenny?”

“As soon as Mister Winters saw the box, he wet himself, like he knew what it was. Jenny saw her chance, so she tried to get the fuck out of dodge. That’s when the box grew those teeth, and the next thing I know she’s missing a chunk of flesh from her throat, convulsing on the ground in front of me choking on her own blood.”

“So what, you just stood back and watched while this happened?”

“I had no choice, I was holding the fucking thing, and it wouldn’t let me do anything.”

“Right, then what happened?”

“Well, that’s when Mister Winters started going on about some cursed box thing and told me all the stories that were going around school about him were true. How he was a homosexual wizard, and the box was a creature called a Boxindul. He said the Boxindul needed to be banished before it hurt anyone else, so he started mumbling something I couldn’t understand, waved his wand around. I swear I didn’t see him pull it from anywhere, and as he brought it down to finish the spell, this Boxindul thing launched itself from my hands and attacked him. There was nothing I could do, he died a hero saving us all I bet.” he says, looking up at him, tears in his eyes.

“Okay, I think you’ve answered all the questions we have at this stage,” he says, as he slowly gets up from his seat.

“So, I’m good to go?”

He sucks in a quick breath through clenched teeth and screws his face up, “I think there might be a problem with that.”

“What? Why? I’ve told you everything, I swear!”

“I know you have, it’s just that the video footage we have shows us a different account of what happened. One that doesn’t involve this Boxindul, just you, and the two victims.”