The Box Read online

  “I don’t know. It was that room. Something about it.”

  Brandy pulled away from his embrace and covered herself again, this time covering all of her, useless as it was. “Where are my clothes?”

  “I don’t know. I didn’t see them.” He gave her back her glasses and she revealed her body long enough to slip them onto her face, both hands trembling so badly that he was afraid she might poke herself in the eye with one of the earpieces.

  “Fucking hell!” She leaned back against the hard stone wall. “I couldn’t control myself in there.” She growled with a self-hatred that nearly broke Albert’s heart.

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Good,” she spat. “You’re sorry. Wonderful. Like that changes anything.”

  “I guess it doesn’t.” Albert turned and walked to the tunnel he had not taken before.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Just looking.”

  Albert stood with his back to her now. He was afraid he was going to cry and he did not want that. If it happened he certainly did not want her to see it. He could think of much worse things that could happen to them than a freak humping. Being mauled by whatever took their clothes was not last on that list. Nevertheless, he felt a deep shame at having lured her into such a thing, and an even deeper hurt at the thought that she may never forgive him for it.

  There was no movement ahead of them in either of the tunnels. Everything was as he’d left it. Of course, whatever was in here with them probably possessed enough sense to stay well away from the light. In many of the passages they’d traveled, their flashlights did not nearly reach the other end. Anything could have stood right out in the open and watched their every move, completely unobserved.

  “Where’s our clothes?”

  Albert wanted to lie, but there was no way around it. “I don’t know. They’re gone.”

  “How the fuck are they gone?”

  “Somebody was in there with us while we were…whatever it was we were doing.”

  “We were fucking!” she spat. “God damn it! What was that place?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Brandy made a noise that was half whimper and half groan and cursed.

  Without turning back to her, Albert said, “I saw something when we were…” he started to avoid it, but saw no point in it, “…fucking. I couldn’t do anything. I was out of control.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.”

  Albert bit his lip and closed his eyes. After a moment, he went on. “When I woke up it was dark, I followed the light through that tunnel over there. I found your glasses just a little ways up and the flashlight was farther ahead.”

  “I didn’t see anybody.”

  Albert turned and looked at her. She was sitting on the floor with her back to the wall now, hugging her knees in front of her and shivering. She was terrified and ashamed, he could see that in her face, but there was something else there as well, something much colder. “What?”

  “I didn’t see anybody. I woke up and you were gone.”

  He wanted to argue that logic, but he honestly could not. “I don’t—”

  “Why did you want me to come down here with you?” she asked, cutting him off.

  Albert stared at her. He knew she didn’t fully trust him, but now that he was under the gun, he could hardly believe it. “Because this is half yours,” He replied cautiously. “It’s your key.”

  But her cold eyes never left his.

  “Do you think I could come up with something like that?” he asked suddenly, lifting a finger toward the doorway of the sex room. “I’m a fucking Computer Science major! Last I checked that didn’t include fucking with people’s heads!”

  Brandy flinched with each word that he spoke. “I didn’t say you made it,” she said, her voice shakier than before.

  Albert’s anger was sudden and furious, but it melted away as he saw the fear in her eyes. In a calmer voice he said, “You think I led you here on purpose.”

  She said nothing. She only stared at him with those same cold eyes she’d fixed on him in the second floor lounge of Lumey, except this time those eyes were wet with tears.

  He backed up against the wall and closed his eyes. “I didn’t know anything about this. If I had, I wouldn’t have come like this. I’d… I don’t know. I’d have found another way.”

  Brandy stared at him. None of this made any sense to her, but she did know that he was right. There was no way he could have made something like that. That didn’t mean, however, that he hadn’t discovered it before.

  Albert sighed. “What do you want me to do?”

  “What?”

  “Tell me what you want me to do. I can’t make you trust me. You have no reason to. I fucked up, probably ruined your life. I might as well have raped you. So it’s your game now. What do you want me to do?”

  Brandy stared at him and said nothing.

  He held the flashlight out to her. “You want the flashlight? You can be in charge. You can just go if you want, leave me here.”

  “Leave you here?”

  “Yeah. Go ahead. Good luck getting back through that room, though. And as for these tunnels, from what I’ve seen they’re a maze.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I don’t know.” He sat down against the wall opposite her and stared down at the floor. “I didn’t do anything. I just did what the box told me. I solved the puzzle, that’s all. I didn’t know anything like this was going to happen or I wouldn’t have. You were right. I should’ve just thrown the damn thing away.”

  Brandy lowered her eyes to the floor as well and remained silent.

  Albert felt the silence drag on for nearly a minute before speaking again. “I am sorry. I couldn’t control myself in there either, you know.”

  For a moment he did not think that she would reply, but then she did. “I know.”

  “Good.”

  “What do we do now?” she asked so softly he almost didn’t hear her.

  “I guess we push on.”

  She looked up at him with fear in her eyes.

  “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to go back in that room.”

  Brandy lowered her eyes again and slowly nodded. She couldn’t argue that. Besides, their clothes were missing. If he was telling the truth, he found her glasses and the flashlight up ahead. Maybe there’d be a trail to lead them to the rest of their things. Hopefully it wouldn’t lead them to anything bad.

  “There is someone in here with us,” Albert said after a moment. “I swear to you it’s not me. I didn’t come here to hurt you and I won’t let anything else hurt you. I think I’ve done enough damage already by talking you into coming with me in the first place.”

  “You didn’t talk me into it,” she said. “I came because I wanted to. It’s like Grandma’s basement. I never could resist the adventure.”

  “I’m really sorry.”

  “I know.” She looked up at him with eyes that were now more hurt than hateful. “I want to believe you so bad. I need to believe you. If I can’t, then that means I’m all alone down here.”

  Albert nodded. “You’re not.”

  “But all I know is that you brought me the box, you figured it out, you solved all the puzzles and brought me here and… And when I woke up just now, you were gone and so were our clothes.”

  “Yeah, I guess that does look pretty bad for me.”

  “I thought for a minute that you’d just left me there.”

  “I’d never.”

  “But I thought you did. I couldn’t think straight. My head hurt. Everything hurt.” She glanced to the side as she said this, embarrassed, and Albert knew what she meant by that. His genitals hurt after the furious sex they’d shared. Her womanly parts probably hadn’t fared much better. “I didn’t think about the reasons,” she went on. “I just knew that something strange happened and I was naked and alone.”

  “I meant to be back before you woke up.”

  Brandy said nothin
g.

  “You can have the flashlight. I meant that. Yours broke when you dropped it. If it makes you feel better, keep it.” He placed it on the floor and slid it over to where she sat. She grabbed it and clutched it against her. “If nothing else I guess you can club me with it if you feel like you have to.”

  Brandy gave him a humorless smile. “Maybe I will.”

  “Good.”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Me too. But remember, just because we’re not alone doesn’t mean we’re in danger. Whoever it was had the opportunity to kill us both in there, but didn’t.”

  “Maybe he’s playing with us.”

  “Maybe.”

  “I’m not a virgin.”

  Albert looked up at her suddenly, shocked at this sudden confession. She was staring at the flashlight. He could still see the wet trails her tears had left upon her cheeks.

  “I mean I wasn’t before, you know.” She looked at him now, her blue eyes shimmering. “Please don’t think you took that from me. I gave that away when I was fifteen. I regret it, but I can live with it. Just like I can live with what we did in there just now.”

  For a moment Albert could only stare at her. She didn’t hate him. That was what she was telling him. She did not hate him and, at least for the moment, she did not blame him. Whatever happened in there was no different than rape, but at least it hadn’t robbed her of her first time. It was one small shred of comfort that she was allowed.

  “I’m not a virgin,” she said again, as much to herself as to him.

  Albert looked down at his hands, not wanting to look into her eyes. “I was.”

  Brandy forgot the chill she felt. All of the tension that filled her body rolled off of her in an instant. She forgot about trying to hide herself. She stared at him as he sat there, his muscular legs bent only slightly, his belly softly folded by his posture, his shoulders slack. He looked very pale in the shadows. She suddenly felt very selfish. “I’m sorry.”

  But he shook his head. “Don’t be. Strange or not—intentional or not—it was kind of nice. I mean, weird. But you know. Nice. I guess I’m glad it was someone like you. I honestly can’t think of a nicer person to... You know… Randomly fuck.” He could feel himself blushing now.

  She forced a smile through her fear and anger. “You’re nice.” He was too nice. Suddenly she felt like such a bitch.

  “I think the flashlight might have been pointing the way we’re supposed to go up ahead,” Albert said after a moment. “I think our clothes might have gone that way.”

  “And if not?”

  “Then we’re screwed. Whoever it was took my backpack and the box.”

  A sudden realization struck Brandy like a slap to the face. “Shit! And my purse!”

  “Yeah. And my wallet.” He stood up and turned to the passage on the left. “How about I lead and you follow with the light?”

  Brandy stood up and wiped her face with the back of her hand. “Okay.”

  Chapter 11

  Beyond the point where Albert found the flashlight, the corridor did not branch off. It went straight about a hundred yards into the darkness and then made a sudden left turn and went on for another forty yards before turning back to the right again. Albert walked several paces ahead of Brandy, squinting to see into the darkness. He wished he was still carrying the light, if only so that he didn’t have to follow his own shadow through the gloom, but he’d promised Brandy she could have it and he meant it. He needed her to trust him. She’d said that without him she’d be alone and it was no different for him. But the limits of his courage were being tested. At every turn of the tunnel, he expected something to be there, something dark and sinister, something monstrous, something with teeth and claws and appetite and hate, but turn after turn there was nothing. Their progress remained unhindered, but their anxiety grew. He felt as though they were walking through a carnival funhouse and waiting for the next monster to leap out and startle them. He had to keep reminding himself to breathe.

  After perhaps ten minutes, although it felt like hours, the tunnel made a sharp right and brought them face to face with a waiting figure.

  Brandy screamed and stumbled backward, even as she recognized it as another of those faceless statues.

  Albert too was startled, but more by Brandy’s scream than by the sight of the sentinel. He gazed at it, taking in every detail. This statue was on its knees, the smooth surface that was its face turned up to the ceiling, its hands upturned and lifted as if in offering. From its long fingers hung his backpack and Brandy’s purse.

  “I’m sorry,” said Brandy, meaning for the scream.

  “It’s okay,” Albert assured her.

  “What does it mean?”

  Albert shook his head. “Good question.” Behind the statue, the tunnel continued on, but its floor began to slope downward, ever deeper into the earth at a shallow, but discernible angle.

  “A peace offering, maybe?”

  “Or a trap.”

  Albert stared at it. “I don’t know. Seems too easy. After all, I’d call that last room a trap.” He stepped toward it, beginning to reach for them.

  “Be careful.”

  He was touched by her concern, even if it was only because she would be alone down here if something happened to him. “Stand back, okay?”

  Stand back she did. When Albert looked again, she was standing all the way against the wall, her eyes wide with worry. She was clutching the flashlight nervously in front of her. She’d entirely stopped trying to hide herself by now, and he could see her breasts and the lovely tuft of soft, blonde hair where her torso vanished between her thighs. In the dark surroundings, her skin was like the moon in a dark sky, radiant, flawless, glowing gently in the gloom like a beacon. He could see gooseflesh on her arms, thighs and breasts from the coolness of the room, and her small nipples stood fully erect.

  He saw that her expression had melted into one of puzzlement, and then realized that it was because he was staring.

  He turned away from her and reached for their belongings.

  “Be careful. Please.”

  Albert took the strap of the purse and one strap of the backpack and lifted. Nothing blew up. No lethal darts flew from concealed slots in the walls. No giant boulder—breast-shaped or otherwise—came rolling toward him. There was no poisonous gas, no flames, no spikes anywhere in sight. He was not crushed, maimed or decapitated. This wasn’t Indiana Jones. This was something far different, far more real, and if he was going to die, it wasn’t going to be now. He took the bags down and held the purse out to Brandy, who came toward him, her hand held out to take it and an expression of great relief adorning her face.

  Nothing was missing. The box was still inside the backpack. Brandy’s wallet was still in her purse, as were her keys and cell phone. After a quick inventory, Brandy confirmed that everything but their clothes had been returned.

  Except that Albert’s wallet and keys were still in his jeans.

  Unable to do anything about it regardless, Albert dismissed his missing property for the time being and slipped the backpack onto his naked back. He then turned and studied the statue again.

  Without the items dangling from its hands it looked less like a pose of godly offering than a pose of worship. And yet, what was there to worship in this empty corridor? He wished the damn things wore faces.

  “Well,” said Brandy, “we have our bags.” She poked a cigarette into her mouth and lit it.

  “Yeah, but not our clothes.”

  “Yeah. I feel so weird walking around like this.”

  “Me too.”

  “Do we keep going?”

  Albert nodded. “I think we should.”

  He began to walk. Brandy drew the strap of her purse over one arm and her head and then followed, their combined wardrobe consisting entirely of a purse, a backpack, a pair of glasses and the jewelry they wore—two watches, four rings, a necklace and a pair of earrings between them. The two of them descended into the next
tunnel, hand in hand, wielding a single flashlight between them.

  Albert wondered how far they had traveled and if they were still under the Hill. He thought that they must be at least beyond the limits of the campus, and possibly even outside of the city, but they very well could be right back where they started, hundreds of feet beneath the entrance to the service tunnel. He wished there was some way of knowing just how far down they’d gone, how much rock and dirt was between the two of them and the world that knew sunlight.

  Albert stopped before they had walked thirty feet. He almost didn’t notice the subtle shift in the color and angle of the stone. The path ahead lay under water, and the surface was as still as a pane of glass.

  Once more Brandy uttered her preferred four-letter word, but Albert barely heard her. He turned, suddenly very nervous, and looked back the way they’d come.

  “What?”

  “Whoever took our clothes didn’t come this way.”

  “What?”

  “That water’s as still as ice. Nothing’s disturbed it recently.”

  “Are you sure?” The fear in her voice was unmistakable. He wished he was better at keeping his concerns to himself. He was sure this would be much easier for her if she could just believe that they were alone down here. “How is that possible? The bags.”

  “Whoever it was,” Albert explained, “must have come this way, dropped your glasses and the flashlight, then hung the bags and backtracked. Probably while we were still sleeping.” Albert remembered fumbling around in the dark after he awoke in the sex room and wondered if whoever was doing this to them passed by him there and then, close enough to touch, but unseen in the darkness. The thought made him shiver.

  Brandy squeezed his hand and drew close again. Another of those sick noises escaped her throat. He knew how she felt.

  Albert stared back up the path, wishing he could see through the darkness. Then an idea struck him. “Stay here.” Without waiting to see if she would actually stay, he jogged back up the tunnel, removing his backpack as he went.

  But the thought of remaining behind and letting him run off into the darkness was unacceptable. She ran after him, desperate not to let him out of her reach. “Wait up!”