My little sister Annie is hanging in my wardrobe, her lifeless head hanging to the side. I notice by her feet that the Jack in the box that was on my bed, is now on the floor beside her. Placing my hands on my head, I walk backwards away from the wardrobe. The light from my phone still highlights the horror in front. In my mind it feels as though I am screaming out but in reality, I am stuck in complete silence. Nothing of what has happened so far has alerted my parents, normally I can drop a pin and my dad would hear it.
"Keep it down" he would shout at me. Usually from downstairs in his study, wouldn't want to interrupt Monday night football.
Standing frozen to the spot, my eye lids are stuck open. Staring in complete horror at the lifeless body of my kid sister, how did this happen? My heart is trying to escape through my chest, the blood is rushing up to my head. I begin to get light headed, blinking several times to clear what vision I have. I can see the light trained on the wardrobe is shaking, my hands can hardly hold this phone for longer. Stumbling further back I collapse once again onto my head; my arms drop by my side limp. The light from my phone has now also dropped, a small beam highlights the Jack in the box. Like a creepy spot light, Jack sits there taking centre stage. I lower my head to stop me vomiting over myself, a lump in my throat is making it difficult. Lifting my head back up, I begin to take some long slow breathes. The emotion finally makes itself known; a snort is followed by uncontrollable sobbing. I am crying so hard, I run out of breath. I cut the crying only to take a hard-long breath, I am going to pass out otherwise.
Something else takes my attention, as I notice that the box has moved. It jolts me upright, like an instant shot of adrenaline. I instantly stop sobbing, sniffing any last snot into my nasal passage. In an attempt to clear my vision, I wipe my face, the sleeve of my t-shirt now wet. Through utter fear it is not just my hands shaking, my entire body is convulsing. In a mad dash I jump off of the bed and over to my bedroom light. The switch is right next to my bedroom door, I swipe at it to avoid getting caught. With my irrational fear that somehow the bogey man is waiting for me, my blood runs cold at the thought. The light beams on, illuminating everything in my room, especially the horror scene that is my wardrobe. The damn box has definitely moved, but how, it's a fricking toy. I spin around on the spot, hoping to find a clue, who could have done this. Finally turning the flash off on my phone, I attempt to call the police.
"You have got to be kidding me" I exclaim. I have no signal what so ever.
I put my phone back in my pocket, it has temporarily served its purpose. As I do so I hear footsteps, it sounds like they are running down the stairs. Pure curiosity pulls me out of my room, I collapse grabbing the bannister. It curls around the edge of the landing, and bends like a dog's leg. Leaning over the bannister I look at the bottom of the stairs, can't see a damn thing. The landing now carries the same chill as earlier, my breath visible in front of my nose. The hairs on my arms stand on end, a violent shiver rises up my spine.
"Mum, Dad........" I yell. My cries only find a hollow silence.
Where the hell are they, I don't remember them going out?
I am totally on my own in this damn mess
Wanting to just make sure the whole house is canvased; I walk around to the left towards my parents' room. I slowly shuffle down the carpeted landing, my feet moving inches at a time. I stop suddenly in the middle of the landing, about two thirds of the way down.
That damn tune again
"Jack in the box, Jack in the box, quiet and still"
"Will you come out, will you come out"
"Maybe I will....."
How is this getting around?
"Who are you, what do you want?" I scream. The words scratching my throat as they leave.
A pressure crushes my chest, knocking the wind right out of me, I stumble backwards. Feeling the wall with my hand, I have to prop myself up against it. A thump is heard from my parents' room, followed by a scurrying sound. Sheepishly I clamber across the narrow hallway collapsing against the door to my parent's bedroom. Normally I wouldn't dream of entering their room but in the circumstances, I have to. Lifting my left hand up to the handle I turn it to the right, the door opens ajar. Taking in long deep breaths, I suck in as much air as I can. With whatever courage I can muster, I enter my parent's bedroom. Of course, as I soon as I enter the curtains are pulled shut and the light is off. Adrenaline is replaced with fear, a terrible feeling courses through my veins. The first thing I bring myself to do is switch on the light in their room. It beams on like a floodlight in a football stadium. I wince in response, shielding my eyes from the burning light.
I cannot bring myself to say anything, I am frozen in fear. My body feels heavy whilst my legs are about to give under me.
The pure horror in front of me once more is gut wrenching. Bile instantly rushes to my mouth; I am helpless in stopping it from exiting. My parents lay there, the bed sheet pulled right up to their necks. A blood stain drenches the middle of the sheet, it has expanded out from the middle. Their faces dawn a sinister grin from ear to ear, black rings surround their eyes. The grins have been painted on in red lipstick, the Chanel stick is sitting on the night stand. Tears flow from my eyes like a tsunami, I can't even try to contain my emotions. My head drops into my hands, my shoulders jolt up and down from the release.
"Who the hell is doing this" I scream at the top of voice. The first thing I can bring myself to actually say.
Part of me is hoping that whoever it is hears me and answers. Instead all I hear is more scurrying, this time it is coming back up the stairs. In an attempt to cut them off on the landing, I run out of my parents' bedroom. It is fairly ill lit with nothing coming from the various bedrooms. That god forsaken jingle echoes across the landing, but this time I can't tell where it is coming from.
"Jack in the box, Jack in the box, quiet and still"
"Will you come out, will you come out"
"Maybe I will....."
The echo causes me to turn around in every direction, where is this music coming from. It could be behind me or above me at this point. To remove myself from the landing, I try to compose myself. I run down the stairs away from the landing and wait at the bottom. Normally in this situation the helpless victim would be running up the stairs. This almost always leads to impending doom, maybe I can change the odds? I walk away from the stair case, and aim for the front door. Definitely the most obvious place to go, so I will check if the door is at least unlocked. As I step away from the foot of the stairs, something catches my eye. The light in the cupboard under the stairs appears to be on, are they hiding in there? Tip toeing, I make my way over, trying to be as silent as possible. As if whoever it is knew my plan, that damn jingle plays again. However, this time it is much louder than before, the child like singing is far clearer. Through complete and utter fear, I wipe my hands on my clothing. They are sweating so much; I don't want it to hinder grabbing a weapon.
What the hell am I expecting to be in this cupboard, there are no bodies to find.
Through my blasé approach to finding my entire family dead, the realisation hits me hard. I stumble backwards with the thought, the weight of the loss is over bearing.
I get snapped out of it rather abruptly, a sinister noise is heard from the cupboard. This time it isn't the damn song, its........it sounds like..........
Getting somewhat annoyed I step closer to the door, the light beaming across the floor. Steadying myself I lean forward to grab the door handle, slowly twisting it anti clockwise. As the mechanism clicks, there it is, that damn song.
"Jack in the box, Jack in the box, quiet and still"
"Will you come out, will you come out"
"Maybe I will....."
Throwing the door open, I stand in shock.
How the hell did that get there?
Looking down at the floor, in the bottom of the cupboard I see it. The metallic box, brightly painted in blues, yellows and reds. The brightly coloured handle on the side, with the stupid smiley clown on the front. I crouch down to grab it, destroy the damn thing. As I do the handle begins to turn on its own, the song plays. However, this time it is slow but loud.
"Jack in the box,
Jack in the box,
quiet and still"
"Will you come out,
will you come out"
"Yes I will....."
The End
Hey guys, so there it is, the third and final chapter of the short story Jack. I hope you enjoyed it?
How do you think it ended? Was it a prank, was something more sinister happening?
Please let me know what you think?
Thanks, Cal