2) Box

As I wiped away the dirt I could start to makeout what the object below was. It was rectangular in shape and was dirty but it looked to be made of gold.

There was a ring on the top so I tried to uncover it as much as I could with one hand and then I used my clawed hand alongside my good hand to try and pull it up. The box didn't move at all.

"Fuck.. more digging for me then." it wasn't that much more digging that I had to do, it was just the uncovering.

I started taking away the dirt around the box and I was surprised at how short the box was. It was now completely revealed but I still couldn't pick it up.

Not having any ideas on what to do I pulled out the paper again hoping the magic words would give me a hint.

Only one word was written on it in big red letters.

BLOOD

"Ah heck no, don't tell me this is gonna be some cursed object I'm unsealing or something like that. Blood seals are never good for business. Well I did dig the hole anyways might as well let the crazy take its course."

I pulled myself out of the hole which would better be described as a small crater at this point. It was now deep enough to have my head fully disappear when standing on the bottom of it.

I headed to the kitchen to wash my hands and then grab a knife. After all the paper only said it needed blood, and I didn't need an infection from a cut.

Alongside the knife I took some disinfectant and a thick bandaid before heading back to the crater I dug. I sat beside the box and held the tip of the knife to the flesh of my hand.

I whispered to myself "fuck this is insane." and then cut the muscle with my thumb. It wasn't deep but just a little bit more than necessary to cut the skin. "Ow! Shit!" I dropped the knife and left it where it fell. I gave it a nasty look and then grabbed the handle of the box with my now bleeding hand.

At first it didn't move so I used my other hand too and pulled as hard as I could with my now exhausted body. My hand stung like hell and my whole body ached but the box finally moved and when it did there was a sound of a sheet of glass shattering.

The sound wasn't particularly loud but it didn't seem to come from a certain location, rather it seemed to come from everywhere all at once.

************

Lyra was having lunch with her friends when they all heard the sound of glass breaking.

"What was that?" Lyra's friend Sarah asked.

"Who knows, could be some idiot throwing a rock at the window for all I know."

This rose giggles from the group of girls.

************

An old man was sitting on a rocking chair enjoying his pipe and the warm air. The sound of glass breaking startled him and made him drop his lighter. It fell down and slipped between one of the planks on his deck. "Those damn kids again! If they break another of my windows I'm coming for their heads!" The old man picked up his stick and set out to find the source of that sound.

***********

A group of druggies were all standing around in a circle when the sound of glass breaking reverberated around them. All 4 of them jumped like a group of scared cats.

"Dude who kicked the bong?" one asked "Not me man" the other three answered at the same time. One started laughing "we all said the spoke at the same time man. That shits funny."

"Not funny if we broke another one, that would make it the 5th one this month."

***********

A dude was lying on his bed alongside two others, all three of them were tripping on mushrooms. When the sound of glass breaking happened they all saw what was going on.

There was a thin film that seemed to be covering everything, the pieces of it began to fall apart. Beyond the film there was this blue substance that seemed to be like air that was starting to float around them and everything else. It began to seep into things slowly causing the guys to freak out thinking that some alien was trying to take over them.

*************

After the sound disappeared I continued to pull the box out of the ground. I pretty much ignored the sound, after seeing weird things that made me dig a giant hole and cut my hand. It wouldn't be too far-fetched if I was hearing things now.

The box came up from the ground and before my eyes it shrank down from the size of a really fat toddler down to the size of a child's shoe box. "What the hell?! What did I just do?"

"Screw this thing, I'm not bleeding on it any more." I walked back to where I set down my medical supplies and cleaned and dressed my hand. Afterwards I walked back to the chest and pulled out the paper.

"This thing better have some better instructions this time. If it tells me to drink some weird shit I found in the ground I better not become a vampire and I at least better get a super power or two. If I just wasted my day I am not gonna be happy! You hear me! Great, now I am yelling at a piece of paper."

The paper had words written on it once again and this time they weren't what I wanted to see.

OPEN.

DRINK.

"FUCK! Didn't I just say that I didn't want to do this!"

I crumpled the paper up and shoved it into my pocket. I bent down and pulled open the lid of the box. It swung open like a smoothly oiled chest, not like something that had been buried for who knows how long.

Within the chest, the lid was gold that was immaculately polished to the point its curved surface was like a funhouse mirror. The lower portion contained a blood red velvet pillow and resting on it was a small vial.

It was slightly longer than my pinky and twice as wide, the liquid inside was an iridescent white with what could have been sparkes or bubbles inside. "Man, now I have to drink Unicorn blood or something, I hope this doesn't make nature hate me."

I picked it up and it was surprisingly heavy, the vial shouldn't have weighed more than a bound at max but it was at least as heavy as the shovel. How would I know this, because with the amount of digging I did today I would recognize a shovel even in my dreams.

"Glory to all! All to glory! Bottoms UP! God, I'm such a nerd." I chuckled at my own antics and uncorked the vial before downing the contents. It tasted like chocolate for some reason. It was similar to the hot chocolate that a certain restaurant in Paris is famous for, but it was weird because it was cold.

It was like a nearly frozen thick hot chocolate which doesn't make sense but it was surprisingly good, it also had a fun minty aftertaste. "That was really good, I wonder if they could make a second one." I pulled up the cushion in the chest hoping for a second one but I was out of luck.

Underneath the chest was just more of that perfectly polished gold. I placed the cushion back and was about to close the chest when I heard my phone ring. It must be my sister I thought and ran out of the pit and headed to get the phone.

As I was running there was a tingling sensation like ants crawling under my skin but it was faint enough I could ignore it. I picked up the phone and got an earful of her nagging right away.

"Why did you go home? Did you write that test? Did you get gas?Are you still at home? Can you come pick me up now?"

"Slow down with all those questions. No I didn't get gas, there is still a quarter tank so it's fine. Yes I am at home, and yes I am coming to get you now. What were the first questions again?"

The tingling sensation changed to an itching sensation that was mainly focused on the bandaged hand.

"Eh it doesn't matter really, I'll see you at school. BYE."

"I'll never understand girls" I went into my room and put on a new shirt but it was far tighter than it usually fits. I pulled it off and checked the tag, it was a size L like it was supposed to be. "What the hell? These are normally baggy as hell like I want them."

I walked into the bathroom and was shocked by my appearance. I had always had acne scars and irritated skin for my entire life. I was never a fan of gym class and working out so I wasn't that muscular. I was your run of the mill bean pole who liked games, snacks and being left alone.

The person staring back at me in the mirror was chad. He had perfect unblemished skin, not absurdly large but well defined muscles and more abs than I thought a person could have.

I didn't believe it was me at first but as I moved around the man in the mirror mimicked my movements. And he had my hair too so unless my knowledge was completely wrong this was what I looked like. "What the hell was in this potion?"

Thankfully it didn't change my height or that would suck to have to go shopping. I hate shopping. "Shit I forgot about Lyra!" I threw back on the shirt I was holding and ran out the door.

It was only when I got to the car I realized I had forgotten the key to the car as well as my shoes. "Oh man, I am really losing it today."

I ran back inside, put on my shoes, grabbed the keys and ran back outside. I backed the car up and turned on the radio. They seemed to be talking about the sound I caused.

"Today there was a sound of glass breaking that seemed to be heard around the world simultaneously. Top experts have many differing theories about what the cause of this sound is. Some believe it is aliens trying to contact us. Others think that the tectonic plates experienced a break and a cataclysmic earthquake could be inbound. Some think that the military was testing a new weapon of some kind. Others think it is an effect of the new particle accelerator, the truth is nobody knows what the reason is. One so-called expert is saying that the world is experiencing the truth of the universe and the 5th element that hadn't been found before. Oh yes, see. Ignore that last expert. It has just been found out that he is currently on magic mushrooms and isn't an expert on anything. That is all for now, we will bring you more as we find out. Stay tuned for today's top hits."

I turned off the radio