Packages - GT

2

Christian looked over to the alarm clock that read "12:12 A.M." and groaned. He blamed the mailman for waking him up at four, surely that was why he couldn't sleep anymore. But no, it was time to wake up anyway and he knew that, so he sat up and looked down at the strange little package that had been beside him. The flaps were loose--was it opened? He didn't recall it being open before he fell asleep, but then again he hadn't looked too closely at it, either.

"Alright, let's see what we've got, here," he mumbled. It really wasn't a very big box, small enough for him to grip the side from the top to the bottom without trouble. But when he lifted it from the bedspread he could've sworn there was a squeak as the contents shifted with the slight tilt. His brows furrowed in confusion. "What is this, a squeaky toy?" he muttered. "Who mails someone a squeaky toy?"

The floor of the box leveled out again and something slipped noisily inside, hooking one of the flaps. Dim light filtered in, just barely illuminating the inside of the cardboard. The woman's eyes widened and she let out a soft gasp of surprise as their eyes met.

He stared at the contents with a blank, tired expression, a few seconds passing before he spoke with even tone. "I'm dreaming," he decided aloud. "I must be." And he set the box down beside him, hand flat over the flaps to keep them closed again. "There's no person in the box, I'm just hallucinating. I'll just go back to sleep, wake up, and open it for real."

Instead he continued to sit there, eyes still on the spot of his lap where he'd had the package. They turned to the small cardboard container again, his hand still covering the top. If he was just dreaming then why should he hold it closed? As he considered looking inside again something pushed against the weight of his hand and he jerked back his arm. There was something alive in there!