Your Heart on My Sleeve

The Box

       "Happy Birthday!" 

      I smiled and blew out the candles. Mom took a picture which made me look like a chipmunk with severe issues, and then cut the cake. Chris and Jaxon took out a little present and set it on the table. I grinned and opened it. Inside was a little keychain and the movie 'Pearl Harbor'.

     "This is so awesome!" I exclaimed. I was a World War Two nerd. I loved everything about it. Of course the death and everything was sad. But I liked the stories. It reminded me that ordinary people could be heroes in their own way.  Nobody needed a superpower to be a hero. I turned to the gift Mom and Dad had gotten me. It was a pretty big box, and I had no idea what it could be. I tore off the wrapping paper, and opened the gift. Inside was a book, another little box, and a suit. My eyes grew wide. I knew exactly what this was. 

     "A suit?" I asked in awe. I was excited, but I also felt my stomach drop. This meant I was officially a superhero. Was I ready for this? I opened the little box and found a little remote, a cellphone, and a bracelet. I looked up my parents, wondering what on earth all this was for. Dad gave a slight nod towards Jaxon, so I guessed that I wouldn't get an explaination until he was in bed. I set everything aside, and we started chomping down on cake. 

    "Can we watch Pearl Harbor?" I asked. I so badly wanted to watch it. There were a few adult scenes, but I still wanted to watch it. I'd just close my eyes for those parts.

   "Sure." Mom said, looking at Dad for conformation. He nodded. 

    As soon as my cake was done, I thanked my family for their gifts, and sat down to watch the movie. I loved it. And, as any person with a heart should, I cried and cried at the end. I even cried a little bit later when no one was watching because I knew there were so many stories that ended like Danny's. Also, he was my favorite character so obviously I was sad about how it turned out. Jaxon went up to bed at 9:00, and I immediatly went to Dad. Mom and Chris were already there, with the gift. 

    "Alright." I sat down on the bed. "I'm ready."

   Mom pulled out the suit. It was a shimmery red and gold material. It looked like spandex, but shiny. 

   "This is your suit. You will wear it everytime you go into The Box." 

   "What box?" 

   Chris stood up. "She doesn't even know about that."

   "Oh? I thought she wouldn't seen it since she was on the stairs on the night of Mom's accident." Dad said. 

   I shook my head trying to think. I didn't remember any box being in the basement. 

   "Well, I guess we'd better show you." 

   I was led downstairs to the basement. It looked exactly the same, except we went into the storage space instead. It was a long room with a very cold concrete floor. Surprisingly, the lights were very bright, and there were no cobwebs or anything. Of course there were a lot of boxes and extra stuff that we didn't need. Which box was the box? We walked to the very end of the room where there was a big machine that looked a bit like a vending machine, and one of those magician's disappearing boxes mushed together. 

     "This is The Box?" I asked. 

    "Yeah." Chris said.

    "You couldn't have thought of a better name for it?"

    "We never had time to think of one." Mom said. "It was just The Box." 

    "What is it?"

    "It's uhhh..." Dad fumbled for words. "It's like a time-travel machine, but instead of traveling through time, we travel through places in North America."