The Box
Relax... relax... relax... Sleep, Finnegan, Sleep. Concentrate on your breathing, in and out, feel your chest move up and down, feel the cold air enter your nose and the warm air leave it, in... and out... That's it Finnegan... relax... fall asleep...
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*
Like a **censor** thunder clap, that god damn alarm went off just as I was about to sleep. My eyes shot open like a reverse bear trap! The sun beams entering my room are a deathly reminder that again, for the second night in a row, I didn't get any sleep. All I wanted was the sweet embrace of slumber, the calm of dreamland, but nope, instead I get that **censor**...
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*
...alarm. **censor** this, I'm shutting it off.
*BANG*
There we go. That stopped the beeping but it didn't quite stop the day, if only. Ok, Finnegan concentrate, we need to get up, have breakfast and go to work. Clanson still wants me to do that change record, and I haven't got the quarterly report done even though they've told me to have it done by last week. I've been working for the last two nights and I haven't gotten anything done, god damn it Finnegan you're a **censor** failure, you should of just stayed at home and lived off your parents, at least life would be easier. You know what, **censor** breakfast, I don't have time, I don't DESERVE breakfast, I'm just gonna go straight to work.
*Finnegan gets out of bed, dreary and fatigued, he drags himself towards his clothes drawer and creaks it open. In it is just a well aligned row of identical gray suits. Giving a sigh, Finnegan grabs the first one he sees and slowly puts it on.*
I hate these suits, they're so stiff and hard, they're so difficult to put on. Alright, ok, we need to go for walk, no rest for the weary. Alright, uhhh do I have everything, Wallet, check, Phone, check, wait there's a notification? A text message from my mum, huh, what does it say... oh she had that hip operation she needed... wait what! It cost here $40,000! What! How the heck is she supposed to afford that... oh, she's asking me for money. How the hell am I supposed afford that!? Maybe I can get a bonus, no, no, no the way I've been shaping up lately, not likely, shit, shit, I have to think... wait what! It's already 9:30? How the, **censor** I'm late for work, alright I'll think about this later I just got to keep going forward.
*Finnegan leaves his house, the sky overcast with gray heavy clouds drizzling with light rain across the city streets in which our hero walks. Finnegan walks across Samuel street, takes a right at Rudolf Road and continues along Alison Avenue, as he did every day before. However, on this one day and occasion, a peculiar thing happened. As he tried to turn left onto Patrick Parade, as he did every day, he noticed the particular street had been closed, due to construction. Finnegan's only route was across a small, dark alleyway, which he had never noticed before in all his days of going to work. He enters the unknown...*
Ok ok, so maybe if I burn down my house, I can get some insurance money on it and maybe... this is ridiculous. Where the heck does this alleyway even go?
"Hello friend, Welcome"
What the heck, who the **censor** said that? I can't see anyone, I can just see the walls of the alleyway, wait... does this alleyway seem longer than I remember?
"Come friend, don't be afraid, just relax"
Seriously... where the heck is that voice coming from? Alright, I better ask... "Who said that?"
"Who said that? You said that, you're saying that right now, you've said that your entire life... don't you think it's time to simply relax and stop talking?"
...who the **censor** is this guy? Is he telling me to shut up!? "Hey listen here buddy, I dunno what your game is but I-"
"Game? Oh there's no game, all there is is simply a gift, a gift that I give to you."
...A gift... "I don't see any gifts around..."
"That's because you're not looking ahead, look again"
...Look ahead, what is he talking abou-... wait is that a giant concrete box in the middle of the alleyway? How come I never noticed that before, what the heck is it doing there? "Uhh.. is your gift the big box?"
"My gift is not the box, my gift is much more than a box. This is just a box like money is just paper, no this box is much, much more"
...Hmm this is sort of freaking me out, maybe I should turn around and... wait is that the concrete box again, how can it be behind me? I would of definitely noticed that when I passed it... Wait, where is everything? I... I feel weird...
"Come friend, come inside the box and all your worries, all your woes, they will simply disappear."
...worries... disappear... NO no, no what the **censor** is wrong with me? I'm not gonna go into some crazy box, who the **censor** is this guy! "WHO THE **censor** ARE YOU"
"I am your savior, I am your guardian angel, I am you"
...What... what is going on, why, why am I walking towards the box. I can't... argh... I can't think, I have to try and stop, moving, just, work... operation... money, come on, come on people count on you, don't let it take you, don't let it take you, come on come on. "I'm... not getting into that box you... **censor** coward!"
"We all go into the box Finnegan, every single one of us, there is no escaping the box. You just have taken the initiative to go into the box yourself, let it happen, it'll happen eventually"
...Let what happen, what... what is going on... wait... the box is opening... Oh...
"Do you see now Finnegan, do you see now that this box is truly your key to happiness. This box is everything you have desired"
This box is empty... nothing... a void... peaceful. Relax, Relax, Relax... concentrate on your breathing, feel the cold air moving into your nose and the warm air moving out, that's right, relax... drift off to sleep Finnegan... that's right... let it take you...
I'm inside the box, there's nothing in here... nothing, just me and soon I will drift away... The door is closing, I can see the light moving across me, the beams are getting thinner and thinner, the crack gets smaller and smaller the door gets closer and closer. I hear it shut... I hear it close... I see no light... I feel no breathe... I feel nothing. I will be stuck forever...
...I am happy.