Sorry for the delay in continuing any of my previously posted work. Here is something I started a few months ago. Hopefully it will tide you over until I can get a moment to breath and finish up the second chapters of my other stories.
All characters depicted in this story are 18 years old or older.
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Mindy couldn't help it. Ever since she was a little girl, she had always been afraid of the childhood toy: Jack in the box. Her older brother had laughed at her when she would scream and hide at the laughing clown that bounced back and forth, a leer painted on his plastic face, his small, cloth hands spread wide in surprise. She felt there was something more to the man hidden in the cube, the mechanical laughter drawing shivers up and down her small spine.
Fortunately, for Mindy, childhood quickly passed and adolescence began. Her parents got a divorce and she moved away with her father while her brother stayed with their mom in their original house. Her room was kept the same for her even after she moved away; keeping the pale lavender wall paper and the lace fringed white curtains that looked over the meadows and single lane of the country road. Her father moved to the city and she stayed with him most of the year, only visiting her mom for a week every six months, her brother coming to visit for the same time with their father.
Adolescence moved to teen years then finally to college. Robby, Mindy's brother, stayed mainly on campus while Mindy usually stayed with their dad, making use of the apartment as he left more frequently for business trips. It was during one of these trips that Robby called Mindy, explaining that with both of them living away from home that their mother was selling the house and renting a condo down near the Gulf Coast. He explained that mom would be shipping all of Mindy's belongings to her and it was her choice to do with them as she pleased. Thanking Robby, Mindy hung up the phone, thinking nothing of it as she went back to her studies.
Several weeks passed with the finals for her class passing in a flurry just before the Christmas season. After completing her last test, Mindy returned to the apartment to find the delivery truck unloading several boxes, Christmas presents mixed in with the things her mom had sent her. Mindy signed the paper held before her then hurried to bring the boxes inside, ripping the tape off and looking through the boxes. With her studies taking up so much of her time, Mindy hardly gave much thought to the holiday season. As a student, she was dedicated to her work, trying to get towards her goal of being a biochemist with a minor in molecular biology. It was a hard major yet a subject she was quite interested in, easily explaining her lapse in time, with the addition of her paternal parent's absence.
The presents were set down on the couch, Mindy far more interested in the objects of her childhood, things that might bring a few bittersweet memories of innocence. In one of the boxes she found the age worn cube with the tiny metal handle connected to a side. Mindy was well aware what the toy was, a jack in the box, yet the horrific childhood memories of her fears with the toy were long gone. Just then, the phone rang and, disengaging herself from the mess she had made, Mindy ran towards her bedroom, tossing the toy down towards the bottom of the bed as she caught the phone just before the answering machine picked up. Hearing her father on the end of the phone, Mindy smiled, giving a bright cheery greeting.
"Hey Daddy, how's the meeting going?"
"Great, sweetie. We're all done. Pro's Tec will be out this next summer. It will be the latest in professional organization. I swear, every major corporation and company will have it and will be using it to its limits!"
Mindy giggled at the sound of her father's excitement, getting excited herself with the knowledge that he was finished with the business, usually meaning his return. "So, you'll be home for Christmas then?"