The Infinite Box

The Infinite Box: On the Inside

The dark opened up and swallowed her whole.

An eerie silence followed. What could they do? Sharp teeth and jagged claws protruded from the darkness once more, slowly closing in.

Tick, tock.

The sound became louder and closer.

Tick, tock.

It was driving them crazy.

Tick, tock.

Suddenly Marla froze as she felt tiny pricks of a hand slowly rubbing along her spine. Beads of sweat ran down her face dripping onto a surface yet to be seen. Darkness surrounded them but all they knew was that they were in a small enclosed space like a broom closet. The slow rub gradually turned into a painful piercing of her skin by thousands of large needle-like objects. She screamed in agony.

Amanda turned to her friend, punching and screaming at the girl's attacker but felt nothing. The four teenage girls were in the darkness seemingly alone. It was obvious who would be next.

Marla, a voice whispered from everywhere but nowhere.

Marla continued to stand stock-still. Her heart pounded intensely against her ribcage.

Step outside, the strange voice said.

She was confused. There was no outside. They were trapped in an endless darkness.

Step outside, the voice taunted.

"Don't do it," Anna whispered trembling in fear.

STEP OUTSIDE, the voice boomed all around.

"I can't," was Marla's faint response.

Instantly, Marla was separated from her huddle of friends and knocked forward by an unknown force further into the darkness. She felt grimy, calloused hands clamp around her ankles then slowly, they dragged her downwards. She could feel herself being dragged over the edge, away from her friends.

"Help me!!!" she screamed.

"Ayudame!" she finally cried in desperation before being pulled under the cover of darkness.

With suddenly no sound, Amanda's fear finally took over. The fear and stress had moved past the point of overwhelming. Amanda collapsed onto a soft slime-like surface, dark as night. Her convulsing movements were slowed by the soft jelly substance underneath her. As she shook, she slowly sank into the darkness never to be seen again. Her screams became muffled as the dense fluid blocked her airways. If anyone were to see the space which the girl occupied only mere moments ago, they would see only a wriggling group of maggots on the now hardened floor. Unfortunately, due to the immense darkness, the remaining two friends were as blind as bats.

Their hands clung to each other as if their lives depended on it. Maybe it did. Maybe it didn't. Nobody knew what was happening nor why it was happening. All they knew was that they were being picked off one by one.

The space was becoming even more unbearable as it suddenly felt like they were in an oven and someone had turned it on to bake them as dessert. Their palms became sweaty and slippery.

Tick, tock.

There was that sound again.

Tick, tock.

They knew that it meant someone would be taken now.

Tick, tock, the strange voice chimed in.

The sound started to come from every direction possible. It was driving them insane.

Still holding hands, they began to drop to the floor but halfway down, decided against it as they remembered how Amanda had disappeared after collapsing onto the pitch black "ground". Amidst the confusion of clocks, they heard a chant: