1914

Mother was crying again.

‘What’s wrong, Mamma?’ I asked her, putting my hand on her back as I’d seen Luca do.

She didn’t reply for a few moments, and simply shook her head at me.

‘It’s OK, Thomas. It’s OK,’ she repeated to herself, choking back tears.

‘Where’s Luca?’ I asked, and this prompted the wailing to continue.

I began to pat at her back.

‘I’m sorry, Mamma, I didn’t mean to make you cry.’

‘It’s OK, it’s OK, it’s OK…,’ she continued. ‘He’ll come back. He’ll-’

She stopped, looked at me with wide, reddened eyes.

‘You know where it is,’ she murmured at me. ‘Thomas, listen to me: can you take me to it?’

‘But you told me not to-’

‘Never mind what I told you,’ she snapped at me. I recoiled slightly, afraid that Mother was becoming angry too. ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ she whispered to me, putting her arms around me.

I said nothing, but grabbed gently at her hand, leading her towards the door. She unlocked the bolts, swung the door open, and allowed me to lead her out into the forested hillsides.

Through the woodlands we walked, up to the peaks where I’d first seen, and opened, this box. With every minute that passed, Mamma seemed to become more anxious, looking around her with fearful eyes.

As we approached the clearing where It was located, a number of wary soldiers came into view. While five of them stood at the very edge of the clearing, rifles at the ready, one stood not two feet from the box, shielding his eyes as he shuffled towards it. It was Luca.

‘Stop!’ one of the soldiers roared furiously at us when he saw us approach. ‘Step no further!’

Luca, surprised by the sudden outburst, pulled his face from his arm to look at us. Seeing Mamma, he simply shook his head at her, and turned back to face the box.

He clasped his hands around its lid, stared deep inside for barely a second, and then slammed it shut.

When he turned back around to us, we saw the expression on his face, and it was clear that the Luca we knew was not there any more.

* * *

2018

‘We have to find him, El, before they do!’

‘What? Why? They’re the army - isn’t this their job?’ El replied.

Around us, the squads were dispersing, moving house by house to identify any of those already overcome by the opened box.

‘No, no! You don’t understand - they’re not here to arrest anyone. Their orders are to eliminate.’

El’s eyes widened with realisation. ‘Oh. I see. I-’

Her voice began to crack.

She breathed a deep breath, steadying herself, and then continued, ‘We better find him.’

‘I think I know where we can start.’

I grabbed El by the arm and led her towards the treeline on the hill - to where the voice had last goaded me. As we walked up the slope, the last of the sun’s rays faded behind us, and it wasn’t long until we were enveloped in darkness.

‘Daniel…,’ El whispered to me, her voice beginning to shake.

‘Not long now. It will come soon,’ I replied, and took a seat on a nearby log. El joined me, and we waited a while, ears pricked for the voice that I knew was coming.

‘Come and see,’ it whispered, faint at first, but stronger with every minute that passed. ‘Come and see… come and see…’

I grabbed El by the arm once again, wasting no time with pleasantries, and pulled her in the direction of the voice.

‘You hear it?’ El asked.

In answer, I nodded.

We walked up the hill, through the damp trees, until, near its peak, we found a clearing.

In the middle of this clearing was a small wooden chest. It was nothing particularly impressive to behold; there were no golden adornments, there was no intricate design, it wasn’t even particularly large. But, as I stared at it - this little brown trunk that had sunk ever so slightly into the moss around it - I knew it was the source of the voice.

‘Is that it?’ El asked.

‘Were you expecting more?’ I replied, eyes glazing as I stared at the box.

Come and see...

‘I guess I was.’ She looked around. ‘I don’t think he’s here, Daniel.’

Come and see what’s inside…

As I staggered forward towards the centre of the clearing, I saw El turn to face me.

‘Daniel? What are you doing?’ she asked, simply perplexed at first. ‘I don’t think… I don’t think you should be getting any nearer to it…’

Come closer… Come to me…

I stepped forward again. And again. And again. As I walked, all I could think of was answering that one question that was posed to me by the voice: what is inside?

El yanked at the back of my top, sending me tumbling backwards to the ground behind me.

‘I think we should go.’

I got to my feet, still focussing on the box, but less so, my trance shattered by the fall to the ground. El, presumably sensing that I was not about to leave of my own accord, pulled me away.

As distance grew between myself and the box, I felt my obsession fade.

‘Thanks, El,’ I murmured - and received the smallest of smiles in response.

* * *

We walked down the hill in silence, neither of us really keen to talk about what had happened up there.

As we stepped out of the trees, on to the road on the outskirts of town, we found Hans.

He staggered towards us. With every step that he took, his shape became more clear. His arms were red with blood. His eyes were manic, with great black rings around them. His cheek wore three deep scratches - the size of which suggested that a human was to blame.

‘Hans, what have you…,’ El started, but then Hans began to bolt towards us, blood flying from his finger tips, drool falling from his mouth.

‘...Hans!’ El screamed.

Seeing that Hans was not about to slow down, I jumped at El, pushing her out of the way of her charging brother. We fell to the ground - El stopping where she fell, myself rolling a good way down the hill, picking up a few scratches as I went.

Dazed, I stood to my feet - just in time to see Hans lunging into the treeline behind us.

‘He’s…,’ El started. ‘He’s not himself. He’s…’

‘...corrupted,’ I offered.

She looked at me with sad eyes. ‘What are we gonna do? How are we gonna save him?’

I shook my head. ‘I don’t know. But there’s someone who knows more than we do.’

I turned and began to walk back down the hill to Mia’s house - where I knew Grandad was waiting.