Paranormalcy

The Box

"Grab the shovel and help me rebury this thing," Kyle said just as dusk set in.

"Babe, we're supposed to open the box before reburying it. That's the whole point, isn't it?" Jasmine teased. They spent the better part of the day geocaching and finally discovered the treasure: A beautiful intricate blue box and Kyle didn't even want to open it to view the contents.

"Whatever is in there, we're better off not knowing." Kyle said. "Can't you feel the evil emanating from that box Jass?"

"How could that box be evil, it's so pretty?"

"Just humor me?" Kyle sighed tossing the box back into the hole where they found it. It was a far cry from when Kyle picked her up for their date night. The original plan was to go to the movies but Kyle learned there was a new geocache that nobody discovered yet and he wanted to be the first person to sign the cache logbook.

Jasmine lifted the shovel and dipped the tip into the soft sand. It really was too bad that they would never know what was inside the box, she thought as she noticed a gem on the top glinting in the moonlight.

She picked up the heavy shovel and allowed the dirt to fall back onto the mound. She needed to open the box whether Kyle approved or not. That is why she had to do it.

She swung the shovel. A crack sounded as the metal shovel struck the back of his head painting his ebony curls red.

Kyle never knew what hit him. "Oomph," he softly cried as his body crumpled into a pile on the ground.

Jasmine stepped over Kyle's limp body and scrambled to the edge of the hole pulling out the crystal blue box.

She caressed the Amber and Sapphire gems adorning the top and sides of the box. The box was so pretty that she forgot to breathe.

Reverently she lifted the lid of the box to expose its secrets. Tingles traveled down her spine and warning bells sounded as her heart beat faster. There was no doubt that the box housed something otherworldly, or evil as Kyle would say. Jasmine didn't care.

An orange glow illuminated the inside of the box. Jasmine reached in to pull out the contents and laughed. It sounded sharp in the night air. She half expected Kyle to sit up and laugh as well. All this trouble over a silly set of playing cards.

They were just as beautiful as the box they were housed in. The back of each card was bejeweled with sapphires, emeralds and crystals. Jasmine turned the card over. The image on the front of the card wasn't what she expected.

There were no hearts or spades. It had swords, pentacles, wands and cups instead. The first card she flipped through was called the fool. The card depicted a man holding a satchel, not paying attention to his surroundings stepping off a cliff as a dog barked a warning to him. They were not playing cards at all. They were tarot cards.

Jasmine never used a tarot deck before but instinctively she started laying five cards out in a cross pattern. The lovers card represented her past. Jasmine smiled at Kyle who didn't stir. She loved how adventurous he was. If not for him she would have never found the tarot deck.

The next card she flipped over was present represented by death. Though she never used tarot cards before she knew that in a typical tarot deck, death rarely represented a literal one. It was more of an ending. The deck she used wasn't typical.

The future was represented by the judgement card. A blindfolded woman held a set of scales. The three of swords was her message from above. A large heart filled the card and was pierced by three swords. Jasmine felt the message of heartbreak.

The ace of swords, the message from below. One sword filled the card reaching into the clouds. The message from below meant victory. The small smile on Jasmine's face widened. She found the devil's tarot cards and now she could mete out judgement.

She began to walk away but stopped. It was against the rules to take items from the geocache without replacing it with something of equal or greater value. But what could she possibly have that was of the same value as the Devi'ls own tarot cards.

She looked at Kyle and realized exactly what she had to do. She grabbed the shovel and dug the hole bigger. It had to be people sized to fit the only thing she had that was as valuable as the cards. He was a good sacrifice.