"So what is it?" asks Charlie.
"I have no idea, but it's pretty cool."
Tia is a friend of Charlie. They have been together through thick and thin, and right now Tia is showing him an artifact that the college just got delivered to them for study. Tia eyes the strange object up and down, trying to figure out what she is even looking at.
"You're studying history, and you can even figure out what it is this?" Charlie laughs.
"No one can. That's why it's here, so the historical body of the school can find out any clues about it origins. All we know about it so far is that it originated somewhere in the US, meaning it might have been around even before the English discovered the new world."
Charlie nods, following along, he himself is going to music, but even he can't deny that Tia's field of work is incredible. Unlocking the past and finding secrets that none even knew existed. It makes him almost regret not going into history himself.
"Tia, if you ask me, I would say that it almost looks like a music box."
Tia laughs. "Yeah, I guess you're right, it kinda does look like one."
"No I mean... look at it, just look at the little crank underneath it."
Tia turns it over and looks at the bottom of the artifact, and sees a small T-shaped object on the underside."
"Huh, I guess it does look like one."
They pause for a moment, staring at the box as if it would reveal its secrets any second now. The box itself is made of some kind of stone, showing symbols of stars of many different sizes. The most interesting of these markings is that some of the stars have wings and hexagonal patterns on them.
Charles speaks up. "So... what would happen if we tried to twist it?"
"We are not twisting it."
"What? Why not?"
Tia sighs, "If this is legit, then this thing is more than likely nearly 500 years old, it will snap the very second you try to move it."
"Oh come on, I want to know what it sounds like."
"Okay sure, and once you break a priceless artifact, I will make sure I dig my own grave as the school blames me for your dumbassry."
Charlie chuckles. "Yeah, okay, fair enough."
Tia gets up from her seat with a huff.
"Look, I am going to get some tools to help me figure this out. Please don't touch the artifact while I am gone."
"Gotcha don't touch the artifact."
Tia squints at Charlie for a second, before going through the door and leaving. Once the door clicks shut, Charles instantly grabs some gloves and sits down at the table. He picks up the artifact, staring at the potential crank.
"Now I just need to be careful..."
Charles knows that Tia will kill him if he breaks the artifact, but he just can't help himself. He needs to figure out what will happen, what it would be like to discover a secret from a past no one knew existed.
What if it was the discovery of the century?
With a shaky hand he puts his fingers on the crank, it feels like cold metal. He begins to twist the crank as slowly as possible, terrified that he is going to break it, he pushes and pushes until...
Click
He sits there frozen. He hopes to God that was a good sound. He looks at it to make sure it wasn't broken while still holding the crank. Once he is sure that the box is fine he pushes a little harder.
Click Click
It seems to be working! He keeps twisting the crank a little faster now, hearing the sound of the box winding up, he goes until he feels absolutely sure he has reached the limit. While holding it still for a second, he takes a deep breath and let's go of the crank.
A slow melody begins to play from the box which then rapidly gets faster. Charlie stares at the box wide-eyed. He can't believe what he's hearing. The music... it sounds... jazzy, like it has a swing to it, sour notes, the whole package. Yet it's nothing he has ever heard before.
As a musician, Charlie is able to comprehend the sheer impressiveness of the music, its intrinsic diversity in its chords and rhythm, its incredible flow; Everything about is perfect. How could such an ancient artifact be able to produce such music in the first place?
He even begins to tap his foot to the rhythm, feeling the notes slide into his ears, feeling the pulsing of blood rushing through his body, as he continues to listen to the incredible sound. He feels his vision begin to cloud. The more he engages with the music, the more he becomes unaware of reality and his body. He fails to realize that as he listens to the box, his member pulses within his pants.
And just about 2 minutes later, the music begins to slow down, and the song seems to end. Charles snaps out of his haze, contemplating what just happened. He never knew music boxes could have an ending to their songs. He guessed this was just another thing that made it different from the rest.
Right when the box stops playing, he hears the door open and sees Tia walk in.
She looks at Charlie and stares at him as she sees him doing the exact thing that she had told him not to do just a few minutes ago.
Charlie stares at her. He didn't know what to say.