Broken

17: The Box

Jordyn

I punch the bag effortlessly. I'm still tired from last night. I can barely keep my eyes open and I can almost feel the darkness that appears under them.

"C'mon," Aidan says, he too has dark circles under his eyes. "You can punch harder than that,"

I sigh and ignore him.

"Please?" He says.
"How about not?" I say a bit too sharply.
"Well if you aren't gonna listen to me, we might as well do something else," Aidan doesn't wait a response, and is already on the other side of the room.
"What do you have in mind?" I ask curiously.
"You'll see," Aidan says over his shoulder. "But you need to focus,"
"Why, are you gonna punch me in the face or something?" I ask sarcastically.
It scares me a little when Aidan doesn't even bother to reply.

"So," Aidan comes back a couple of minutes later, holding a small, fragile-looking box. "This is very expensive. I'm gonna leave this in the room with you while I'm gone-"
"Where are you going?" I interrupt Aidan without thinking twice.
"That's none of your concern," Aidan says, annoyed with me. "So make sure nothing happens to it, okay?"
"Fine," I say.
What can possibly go wrong? It's a box!

Aidan pulls out a foldable table from the corner of the room, and places it in the centre. He walks towards the door in long strides, but hesitates at the door.

"Remember to focus," He looks at me carefully as he says the words. Then pushes through the door.

***

I stare at the box, I don't know where Aidan is, but this is the most boring experience of my life. What's wrong with him? Is he just gonna leave me here and go eat lunch or something? I don't how long I've been here doing nothing, but it seems like eternity.

The box stares at me, I feel like I can make out its eyes, nose and mouth. I'm going nuts in here. Or this some sort of test? I sigh and stand up.

I walk directly towards the box and pick it up. I run my hands along each side of the box, searching for a switch or button, anything. I knock on it to see if there's something inside. Hollow. I scream in frustration. I run towards the door and try to open it; it doesn't budge. I look around for a fire extinguisher. Nothing. I run and grab a gun. I step back and fire. But instead of hearing the normal "bang" of a gun, I only hear a click. I check to see that there isn't any bullets in it. I look around for bullets. There's none. What the hell?

I shake my head, and without thinking, I smash the box on the ground. It shatters. Small tiny white pieces lay on the ground. I search the ground carefully with my eyes, trying to find anything. Nothing. What am I gonna do when- if -Aidan comes back?

I close my eyes. If only I can go back. Wait. That's when it hits me. I remember when Jeff told me that I'm Broken, when he gave me the real definition of Broken. But how do you do it, go back in time? I snap my fingers. Nothing happens. I nod. Wink. Stomp my foot. Nothing happens.

|Well, um... That was weird to write... Haha, not awkward. Right, so if you were wondering 'hmm tara_15 said that she posted a story called 'Shattered' but I can't seem to find it.' Well that's because I deleted it. Why? Because it was WAY too similar to Broken, and I felt too embarrassed when I posted it.
I also wanted to say that when I was writing this, I thought that I only had one reader (ahem, I think you know who you are ;)) but the other day, this story got added to other people's reading lists!!! You probably think I'm crazy, (but I'm just exceptionally ordinary) but I was very pleased to find out that other people (not many) actually READ my story! Thank you :)|

-Tara <3