Victim Of Pandora's Box

• Zehra Hamid, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2011

It all started when the door bell rang on June 19th 2004. A Saturday. The street-lights lit the empty street as Sadie Carter, a young twenty-one year old girl was getting ready for a late night party; putting on a tight, red cocktail dress with countless sequins and glitter on the body of the dress. Silver heels laceds up her legs, to the middle of her shin. Ding Dong. The bell rang and Sadie raced down the steps (struggling with one of her earrings) to the timber door, expecting the ride she was awaiting had arrived.

Imagine her shock when all she found was a box. A very well hand-carved box, but still a box. Sadie stared at it curiously with her crystal blue eyes and with a sigh, picked it up. What’s the harm in it? She thought. Oh how very wrong she was!

Sadie set it upon a glass table and inspected every detail of it.It looked metal from the shiny bronze-gold colour that reflected from the moonlight, but its touch felt sharp and prickly, yet it looked smoothe as a baby’s skin. The carvings themselves were night-like black with a gold pattern spread throughout the sides. It reminded her of Pandora’s Box “What, does it have Hope trapped inside it?” Sadie mused, recalling the Ancient Greek legend about Pandora.

The box small latch that could easily make the lid pop open, but every time her eyes even glanced at it, two compelling thoughts arose in her mind, one daring her to open it, the other trying to stop her. It is not yours. How do you know what is inside it? Do not risk it. The latter grew fainter and fainter until it could be heard no more. Open it. I know you’re curios, just lift the latch and see what is inside. Without any control from herself, the right arm raised up and opened the unlocked lid.

Inside, the box was outlined in goldensilk. Suddenly a gust of wind raced through the door. Some small yellow dust that was camoflaged from the silk lifted from the bottom of the box and into Sadie, as she accidently inhaled it. Her vision blurred until all there was, was darkness. The young adult’s foot gave way and her head collided with the floor, and she knew no more.

When her eyes did open, she was in an entirley different setting. Bit by bit, the pieces of the scene fell into place as she pulled her dress a little lower and sat and watched, gazing at the baby blue car infront. It drove foreward on the the road when a loud thundering horn of a truck burst the moonlit street. The car sped and crashed brutally with the enormous, giant-sized truck. Both auto-mobiles vaporized and reformed in their original position. Sadie’s head cocked to the side curiously and her eye-brows burried confused. The car started it’s engine and repeated what had happened. Again it crashed and again they reappeared until She could take it no more. “Stop! Your going to crash! STOP!!!” she screamed, yet the car kept going. Sadie lept up and ran towards what she thought was the end of the road. As she panted and ran, trying to escape the horror, the car would simply appear by her side once again. And again it resumed the aweful scene. Defeated, she crouched on the ground again.

A swarm of bees floated through the air when Sadie realised that they were, infact, the yellow dust from the box and not bees. They colected together until the form of a person appeared. Slowly it became a real peron, a girl. She wore a t-shirt and jeans. Her creamy brown hair fell over her shoulders and her chocolate eyes sparkled.
“Wh-who are you?” Sadie stuttered.
“I,” The girl paused, “am a messenger from the gods.”
“Please. Please help me. I don’t know how to get out. The road goes on forever and I need to escape!“
“You opened my box. Now you must face the consequences.” She stated.
“Yours???”
“Yes, my box.” This girl-Pandora-said simply.
“Please. Help me.” Sadie begged once more.
“I’m sorry, but you must suff-face the consequences.” Pandora repeated.
“What are the consequences?” Sadie asked slowly, not noticing Pandora about to say ‘suffer’.
“Your mind will replay this scene over and over until the end of time. Trapped in your own mind. Your body will die but your mind will never.” Pandora gave a sadistic laugh and disappeared.
Sadie screamed. “NO!” She slumped onto the ground and cried.

To this day no one knew what had led to Sadie Carter's unfortunate death. It was a mystery that puzzled even the best of detectives. As for the box, it disintergrated at reappeared at another unfortunale, unlucky victim who was cursed with too much curiosity.