Stephen King's Box Read online

  And it happened again.

  13

  They found Charlie with his mouth open and his tongue purple. His eyes were wide open. And he was as cold as marble. His mother and father couldn’t stand so much pain anymore. Too many deaths started to graze the point of insanity. But Danny knew and couldn’t do anything. Another burial with the same tragic end: a natural death. But Danny knew it wasn’t that simple. And when he mentioned the Boogeyman again, his father took him to a psychiatrist.

  ‘Danny has mental disorders that make him see and hear things that doesn’t exist,’ said the psychiatrist calmly. Father nodded and looked at Danny with the corner of his eye.

  He was crazy.

  14

  But that cold winter night, everything changed.

  15

  The Boogeyman looked at him like so many times before. Danny turned around but a cold boney hand touched his shoulder. Danny understood right away. This night wouldn’t be the same as the others. It wanted something. It wanted Danny.

  Danny turned around and looked directly at the empty eye sockets. The Boogeyman showed its set of sharp teeth and raised a hand with extremely long nails. Danny’s heart pounded inside his chest. The Boogeyman grabbed one of the sheets and tore it apart with one nail. Danny stepped away from it, cuddling in one corner of the bed, with his eyes open and then, he started to scream.

  The Boogeyman lifted its arms and showed some black claws and a grey skin. And the deepness of its empty eye sockets. It was smiling and Danny screamed more and more until he lost his voice.

  The room door opened making it squeak. It was his father with a very angry face and his fists closed. But his expressions changed in a second, going from red to absolute white. He had seen it. This time, he saw it.

  ‘FUCK!’

  The Boogeyman looked at him and ran away from the bed. Danny continued to scream and his mother entered the room. She was left horrified and mute. The Boogeyman was finally in front of them, showing itself as it was. A monster of claws like spatulas, grey skin and extremely skinny. And its eyes. They weren’t there. Panic took possession of them and Danny kept screaming on the bed, covered in sweat.

  Then, the Boogeyman threw itself towards Peter. Its long nails ripped his pajama in the right arm quite easily. Peter screamed and closed tightly his fist. He raised his fist and let it fall on the Boogeyman’s head, just like he did last time in Danny’s arm, for which he regretted deeply. The punch sounded loud as if something broke under his fist. Something hollow and dry. The Boogeyman stumbled and fell to the floor on its knees. Peter’s fist dropped again violently, with him screaming. Wendy was now crying in the hallway. With her face scratched by her own nails. The second hit sounded even hollower and something broke around knew length. The Boogeyman fell to the floor with its arms open and the nails extended like black wings. Peter, with his heart racing for the nerves, caught it by one of the arms and lifted it. It weighted so little. He looked at it for an instant and threw it with all his strength against the window. Pieces of crystal fell to the floor and the carpet. The crash went away with the Boogeyman. And suddenly, a cold breeze entered the room. Danny stopped screaming. Wendy got more scared but her eyes stopped crying and she knew it was all over. Peter breathed heavily. He lloked out the window for a while and then looked at Danny who had went silent. But not everything is what it seems to be.

  ‘Hi dad,’ said Danny smiling at him and raised a hand that looked like a claw with extremely long, black nails, like spatulas.

  Everything you have lost

  Steve is a magician in the art of storytelling, but he also is a magician in the most difficult art of keeping you on the edge reading a book of more than one thousand pages. But Stephen King, our dear master, started with stories and with over time he kept an assiduity writing short stories between his novels. Actually, every seven years he publishes another anthology of stories and let’s his imagination run free. Writing a story is way harder than writing a long novel. So, when Steve was little, he started with the most difficult of them. Writing stories. In the box he found when he was thirteen, there was a good collection of stories. King read them all and that was for all of our sake. I’m sure that if Stephen King chose one of the stories of this anthology, it would be the next one.

  A long trip in a carriage. A snow storm. The horses galloping while they breathe heavily. The bad luck and the destiny want them to have an accident and the boy Bart Lachance is trapped under the carriage. His leg hurt. His mother is dead and his sister is pregnant. But Bart feels a sudden appendicitis pain and his sister breaks water. William, his father and husband of the late Sue, has to face a difficult situation.

  1

  Tommy listened abstracted to the story his grandfather was telling him by the fireplace. Outside, the wind howled and crashed the snowflakes against the window making a constant crash. The year was 1980 but the story was from many years before, in which the carriages pulled by horses were the only transportation mean. What his grandfather was telling him happened in their own family many generations before. And Tommy’s grandfather inherited the story to his grandson. Just like his ancestors did before him. Tommy had his elbows placed on the rug on the floor, and his face was between his hands. He had a sparkling gaze and his cheek bones were red due to the heat of the fireplace. His grandfather was rocking in the rocking chair. He was thin and his skin was tight and had dark spots.

  ‘There wasn’t enough guarantees that in Placerwille to have a delivery in optimal conditions. Besides, all her family was in Boston and decided that it would be a blessing spend there the last two months of pregnancy in there. After that, they would add another three months to their stay to fall in love with the baby and then, they would come back to Placerwille, where nothing ever happened. Except for a thief that...’

  His grandfather’s voice was becoming a blurred sound getting lower and lower until it disappeared completely, moment in which Tommy was completely immerse with his words. On the background, he could hear the flames dancing in the fireplace. And Tommy’s eyes were closing but he continued to listen to his grandfather.

  2

  William was an excellent surgeon but he was in the wrong place. He lived in a small village called Placerwille, but he was thinking about moving to Boston, where he could work as a surgeon. Besides, his wife would be closer to her family. But, for now, William had decided take a few months off to be present in the last couple pregnancy months of his eldest daughter and, later on, after the delivery, he would decide if they should go back to Placerwille, where his parents were buried. His brother Maverick would cover him during his absence. He wasn’t a bad doctor, but he didn’t master the art of surgery.

  Shirley, his twenty two year old daughter was seven months pregnant and they didn’t know yet the baby’s sex. But they were happy. Maybe, Bart Lachance would have a little brother.

  Some lazy thief got her pregnant and then, abandon her. He went to the west. “A scoundrel” is what William had told his daughter many times before the inevitable happened. And she thought he loved her and that he was a good man. The decision to travel to Boston to visit her mother’s family was a good idea to forget the past, the facts. Yes, starting a new life would be the best. But only time would tell.

  William always wanted another child, because his daughter was an adult now and his youngest was almost an adult, but Sue was quite old for the task. However, they tried it.

  3

  Everything happened so quickly and they would make their trip to Boston in the worst winter so far, in a carriage pulled by two strong horses. All the family was inside, shivering from the cold but with their illusions were above all. Everything was going to be all right and finally, they were leaving Placerwille. And as soon they took their carriage and deepened into the woods following a road full of snow and ice, something happened. Something they weren’t expecting.

  4

  One of the horses slid off and, unfortunately, broke its leg, leaving the other ho
rse unstable. Both horses fell to the floor with their front legs open. Its snouts smelled the ice and the part that was holding the horses to the carriage broke. The carriage, which had two seat facing the other two seats and two doors with windows, started to move uncontrollably and it was launched like a projectile towards the ravine before the curve. One of the horses was left on the side of the road broken legged, stuck between two twisted trees. The other horse, neighing like crazy, was caught between the ropes and pieces of wood that hold it to the carriage. The horse was completely decapitated due to all the straps. The snow turned red because of all the blood. The force of the horse and the carriage was such that it fell through the ravine, under the snowstorm.

  5

  William Lachance woke up with his face a little bruised and covered in snow, and with the impression of not knowing what had happened. But a few seconds went by and he remembered it. The last image he had in his memory were the wide open eyes of his wife Sue and her mouth turned into a giant O because of the fear. That was a complete mess. The carriage was torn to pieces when it hit the bottom of the ravine. He remembered seeing splints all over the place and his kids moving like dolls on their seats. He saw his wife launched outside the carriage, into the darkness.

  He looked around full of anxiety and fear. He saw several boards covered almost completely in snow, as well as the open luggage spread around the area. “How long have we been like this?” he wondered scared. His heart was alive and pounding in his chest. He was bleeding from one arm and the blood stained the snow.

  It didn’t take long for William to find his wife. the decapitated horse was next to Sue’s body, who was sunk in the snow with a big pool of snow mixed with blood around her. William screamed with desperation and clutched his fists with anger. What was left, now? William started to look around.

  6

  He didn’t have to look for long; both of his children were near where he had woken up. Bart Lachance, his son, was caught under what was left of the carriage. At first, when William screamed his name, he didn’t have a reply for a while, but finally, a scream woke him up from the shock. He had a broken leg. His father came closer to him and watched as the tibia bone showed itself among the bruised skin. Bart started to cry like crazy and seconds after, his sister Shirley woke up. She was lying on the snow face up and almost completely covered in snow. Her forehead and nose were covered in blood. William had a big problem ahead of him. However, while it continued to snow, things got even more complicated.

  7

  ‘Does it hurt much, son?’

  ‘Yes...’

  ‘I’m going to place correctly the bone in your leg.’

  ‘What?’ Bart’s eyes opened in disbelieve.

  ‘It’ll be quick. I just have to find my tools.’

  ‘Will it hurt?’

  William chook his head.

  ‘I have anesthesia, son, don’t worry,’ he looked around searching for his briefcase and added: ‘If I find it, of course.’

  Bart made a gesture of pain.

  8

  It turned out that the case was near the carriage remains, next to the luggage spread on the snow. The briefcase was open and almost all of his tools were spread around the snow. William picked them one by one, with a strong pain in his left arm and shoulder. When he remembered Sue, he started to cry.

  9

  ‘Oh, father! It hurts!’ screamed Bart suddenly while his father approached him with the briefcase full of his tools.

  ‘Hang on, son!’ was the only thing William could say. He was feeling a little dizzy and started to show symptoms of hypothermia. He was full of doubts. His head was a mess. Bart had a broken bone and Shirley was lying facing up and he didn’t know what had happened to her, because somehow, he neglected to check her. Or maybe it was the wind, the snow, Bart’s screams, Sue dead, a mix of all of that made him think wrong but he had to have a clear mind and make precise decisions. He had to take the correct decisions, but he was confused with such mess. He didn’t know how to react.

  ‘Father! It hurts!’

  ‘Calm down, I’m coming.’

  William got to his son and noticed his face was turning purple because of the intense cold.

  ‘I’ll fix your leg so it doesn’t hurt anymore...’

  ‘It’s not the leg!’ screamed Bart taking a hand to the right side of his belly. ‘It hurts here...’

  William went blank. He couldn’t believe it. Could he have an internal bleeding due to the hit? They weren’t in an operation room, he thought with despair and anxiety.

  ‘It hurts so much,’ said Bart with tears in his eyes. William touched him with a cold hand. Bart screamed even harder. William felt his stomach and his leg.

  ‘I feel sick,’ added Bart closing his eyes due to the pain.

  ‘Appendicitis,’ whispered William turning red. ‘Fuck!’

  10

  It turned out that the priority was his son Bart, who suddenly had appendicitis. William had to use all of his skills if he didn’t want his son to die right there, suffering an extreme pain. But then, the unexpected happened.

  11

  Shirley had woken up and sat up in the snow. Then, she screamed taking her hands to her big belly.

  ‘Oh no! My water broke!’

  And William went still with a bottle of pain killers in his hand. Now, his head hurt and his ability to react disappeared.

  He had to make a choice.

  12

  He had to make a choice fast. He could operate on his son right there and risk him to an infection, or help his daughter Shirley with the delivery. A strange feeling of confusion and bewilderment clouded his thoughts. He had to choose between his two children. And he knew one of them had to die.

  13

  He directed his hand to the right side of Bart’s stomach and injected him with a calculated quantity of anesthesia. He hoped he didn’t inject more than he should. But then, he remembered that it was local anesthesia. It wasn’t inhaled or injected directly in his blood torrent. While his head cleared and Shirley’s screams filled the space around them, William stood up and ran towards his daughter, holding her gently.

  ‘Breathe,’ he said.

  He had decided to help both of them. His dead wife, Sue, continued in his mind.

  ‘Can you move, sweetheart?’ he asked Shirley. ‘I need you to come closer to your brother. I have to perform a surgery on him.’

  Shirley nodded at the same time she breather faster and faster.

  Her father held her by the armpits and started to drag her in the snow.

  She screamed louder.

  14

  ‘Does it hurt here, Bart?’ his father was feeling him right where he had injected the anesthesia.

  Bart shook his head with tears in his eyes.

  ‘I’m going to make a small cut here, my son. Trust me,’ William’s hand, which held a scalpel, was shaking. That could not be happening to him. He brought the edge of the scalpel to the skin. He kept shaking and finally, pressed a little, just a little. The skin torn in a clean cut and from the cut came abundant blood that covered the blade of the scalpel.

  Next to him, Shirley was sweating despite the intense cold.

  15

  ‘Deep breaths!’ indicated her father while he opened her legs with both hands.

  Shirley felt a mix of shame and fear in that moment, but she opened her legs.

  16

  While Shirley’s boy dilated, her father was concentrated in his job of remove her brother’s appendicitis, whose eyes were puffy and red because of the crying. Luckily, the anesthesia had calmed the pain and William’s finger felt more agile and quickly, found Bat’s swollen appendix. It was time to remove it. Bart was losing a lot of blood, between his broken leg and his now open stomach. Some snowflakes got inside the wound.

  17

  The baby was breech. A little foot peaked from Shirley’s vagina and William raised both hands to his head.

  ‘What is it, father?’ asked Sh
irley all sweaty, barely enduring her contractions.

  ‘The baby is breech. We have a problem.’

  And her eyes opened even more. And suddenly, she felt that the snowflakes were freezing cold.

  18

  ‘Am I going to die, Father?’ asked Bart with a pale face.

  There was a long silence. The blood came out of the wound constantly and there was a big pool of blood around him. The snow tinted red. William started to cry helplessly.

  19

  He pulled from the little legs as he watched the vagina dilate considerably and his daughter screamed her lungs out. The baby was almost out and he could see its little bump covered in fat.

  ‘Push, sweetheart,’ he said with a smile on his lips. But the smile disappeared when Bart called him. He was horribly pale. He had removed the appendix but there were feces from his bowels all around. William tried to clean the area as much as he could and then stitched the wound and the bowel.

  20

  Things could not go any worst. The snow storm was getting stronger with a shower of snowflakes that hit their faces and bodies, making it hard to see. Bart was shivering due to the cold and his pale face didn’t raise any hope. He still had a broken leg and the bone showed itself from the flesh. The pool of blood around the leg, which still was caught under the carriage, was getting bigger. And if that wasn’t enough, William noticed the baby had the umbilical cord wrapped around its neck. Mean while, Shirley pushed had screaming like crazy and sweet came out of her body, fact that contrasted against the intense cold. Things were getting out of William’s hands.

  21

  For a moment, and forgetting the strong pain in his left arm, William thought that cold winter night was their last for all of them. He was sure that everyone was going to die, like his wife, like the horses. At the same time, the snow was accumulating and it was covering their prints on the road.

  22

  Her vagina ripped and blood started to come out. But the baby had all of its body outside and the cold was sucking the heat in it. William saw perfectly the umbilical cord around its neck and the baby was purple, covered in fat. That’s why he pulled it quickly. When the baby’s head came out of the vagina, it made a sound like a plug getting out of a bottle. He saw its face. The baby had its eyes closed and the fists on its chest, also closed. It had an ugly purple color. Shirley felt a sudden emptiness and an inexplicable rest. Her baby was born.