The Box

I stumbled upon a box in my attic one day whilst cleaning out all my old crap ready for an asbestos inspection.

On closer look, it had a message: "Do not open until you are ready”. I thought that was not my handwriting, and I knew I had been through the attic before without ever seeing the box, so I wondered who had put it there.

I had no real time to think as the inspector was on his way and it was a large box. I wasn’t ready to check inside due to time constraints. 

However, due to the inspection, I thought I better clear out whatever is inside.

I opened the box, fiddling with the clasp for some time before finally opening it. As I folded the lid back a huge puff of smoke appeared, and a green goblin ghostbusters-like creature appeared from within the smoke.

“What the fuck!”, I exclaimed in shock, but the green goblin just materialised into what looked like solid form and just smiled a pointed tooth grin at me.

“Hello Rob”, it said in a deep husky menacing voice, “I’ve been waiting eons for you to release me”.

“Release you?”, I responded, instantly wondering whether I had done something stupid. Allowing a creature from another dimension to free itself to cause mayhem and destruction in the world.

“What do you mean”, I carried on, wanting to know this demon’s intentions with me.

The green goblin just floated above me and said in another toothy grin smiley voice. 

“As a reward for releasing me, I will do you a favour, I will grant you one wish, and one only, for your kindness in allowing me freedom.”

I stood back in awe as the goblin grew and expanded in size in front of me. Within seconds it had almost taken up the whole space of the attic in front of my eyes. 

I did not have time to think about the act I had carried out properly I  finally realised. Plus, I did not trust this creature in the slightest. I wondered if I gave it a wish whether it would come true, or he would trick me in some way. However, as the creature grew and expanded in size I thought, 2 fingers in a bucket and blurted out the first thing that came into my head, not having enough time to think of a wish, I truly wanted if I had any amount of time to think it through.

“Ok, I want to be living in the Bahamas with lots of money and no job to do ever again.”, the goblin smiled at me and said “Okay, your wish will be granted, and he closed his eyes for a few seconds before clicking his fingers.

The next thing I knew I was in a hot environment, but it certainly wasn’t the Bahamas. The smell of burning sulfur ripped at my nostrils, and the sight of red flames grew all around me. Plus there was no idyllic light blue sea to be found anywhere.

He had tricked me. I was in hell, and the sight of men in baby nappies stuck within huge big wheels that they pushed around and round constantly over and over again surrounded me. When I looked on the outskirts of the horizon I could see people being crucified on crosses dotted all over the place. This horrific sight of torture confirmed it for me. I was in hell.

I thought my life before was hellish enough, but this demon had tricked me and now I had been transported to the netherworld for eternity. 

Bollocks I thought, I really should have left things I didn’t know alone and lay back only to find my beach lounger was a bed of spikes, each pointy painful corroded steel blade stuck through my raw skin. 

This was not the sun lounger I had longed for, but as for money, I guess I would never have any use for it again.

Always leave things you don’t know anything about alone I thought. You will never know the consequences of messing around with things that weren’t yours in the first place.

Curiosity killed the cat, and the green goblin had certainly killed me.

© 2025 – All Rights Reserved - Robert Reid