Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark

Music Box Paranoia

He was now in a full blown panic. He spun panting, franticly looking for the source of this madness. Damon looked down at the music box watching the spinning ballerina slow down. Then it stopped and all the lights went out.

His mother woke him. Apparently Damon had passed out in the hallway. Concerned for him she told him just to take himself back to bed; she would call the school and tell them he was sick. He nodded and made his way back to his room to lay down.

For weeks he would have the same dream, it was blurry and all he heard was the faint playing of that stupid music box. He wouldn't get a full night's sleep, he started getting more irritable at school, even the bullies started avoiding him. He regretted opening that stupid box; he should have left it outside for someone else to steal.

He loathed the idea of going home, every time he stepped into the house he had always felt something off. It felt like something was watching him, waiting for him to make the wrong move and attack or something. He thought of telling his mother but what the hell would she care. Ever since his father left she likes to pretend there is no such thing as a problem.

He decided though today he was going to get rid of it. Maybe if it was out of the house it wouldn't bother him so much. Perhaps all he needed to do was to leave it outside and nothing would happen; none of this creepy bullshit that kept haunting him day in and day out. Yeah, that was probably a really good plan, seeing how the girlfriend idea flew out the window because of this madness. What kind of a sick guy would he be if he had actually given it to a girl he liked and she suffer like this.

The bell rang and the kids flooded the front doors. He waited in the hall; ever since that song's played for him he's been very hesitant of large groups. Public places are probably the worst. That's where he starts seeing shadows and creatures hiding in the mounds of moving people. It's terrible. After he watched the last of the group diminish he walked out then turned left to make his way home. Three blocks down there was a stop light, he stood at the corner waiting for the light to turn green. Right next to him stopped an ice-cream truck. The tune it played was light and happy, which was normal ice-cream truck music. It played normally for some time until the sound started warping. It slowed and just underneath the tone he heard Greensleeves.

He broke into a small sweat, his chest feeling tight. His gaze went from the road in front of him to the truck, from the speaker on the top a deep crimson liquid dripped. The light turned green and the truck drove off. As he crossed the street he saw the figures in the cars contort and darken. The environment around faded in colour and with every step he heard the growls and roars from the cars. In a panic he sprinted home not looking behind himself once.

Once inside he locked the front door and ran to the closet. He pulled the box out glaring at the sleek design of this monstrous music box. The boy turned to throw it at the wall in hopes of breaking it, unfortunately for him he saw a shadow creature in the hall. It stared at him with its glowing blue eyes. He screamed stumbling backwards. It moved closer making him franticly scoot into his room. He locked the door and held onto the box in a panic wishing it would go away. After hearing it huff and claw at the door it left. He sat trembling. Wondering why it left.

Did it just get bored of him?

Or...was the box protecting him...?

He glanced down at the box in his arms; perhaps as a test he should carry it with him. If it doesn't work out he could just throw it away. Anything to keep those creatures from getting him.

Everything was going okay for a while; although, ever since he started carrying around the box he found it even harder to sleep at night. His apatite had diminished as well as his need for social interaction. Not that any of that bothered Damon. He had protection from those monsters. He had the box so they haven't come near him once. He was happy. Even in his lonely, meal less, wake he was happy. He sat in his room and wound the knob. He was starting to like the tune it played.