The Christmas Box From Hell

"Where, in the hell, did you get that freaky looking package?" John asked as he pointed at the box, his wife, Mary carried into the house with her and the big bag of groceries she'd just purchased from the market.

"Frank, gave it to me just as I was climbing into the car from the parking lot." She tossed it onto the table as she spoke. "He said someone tossed it to him at the mall as he was getting into his car."

"He said Merry Christmas as he drove away," she informed him.

"And that meant he should toss the ugly looking thing to you?"

"Who knows," Mary replied offhandedly. "I just took it to avoid standing out in the cold parking lot trying not to take it."

"Taking it was faster," John reasoned. "I see," he nodded his head in agreement. "I'd more than likely do the same," he thought but said nothing to his wife about it.

"So what do we do with it now?"

"I was thinking I'd just toss it in someone's car when I get to work," she answered.

"I know I'm not gonna open it," she thought, "Who knows what kinda hell might be in it."

"We could just toss it in the trash," John suggested softly.

"I suppose we could," Mary shrugged. "But, John," she replied, her eyes looked at him terrified. "What if it's something bad?"

"Bad?" he questioned. His face and eyes agreed with his comment.

"Yea, like something that might explode," he thought. "Didn't I see something on t.v. about Christmas boxes being left in people's cars?"

"You know... something that," she looked at the dirty box laying on the table, "that we might never be able to get rid of..." She stopped talking.

"Look it's been kinda ripped open." She pointed to the paper on the top where the paper had a small hole in it.

"Yep," John nodded as he replied, "I bet that happened from all that tossing around."

"Let's just fix that little hole," he suggested as he moved across the room to the tape they kept in a drawer by the sink. Gently he moved the package towards him on the table and carefully placed several pieces of tape across the hole.

"There now," he sighed, "That's all taken care of."

"I'll just toss it into a car tomorrow and that will be that," Mary replied, feeling rather relieved.

Tossing it into the trash just wasn't something she felt safe doing. Yet, why did tossing it into someone's car feel safer?

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"You won't believe what I found in my car!" Susan shouted as she walked into the office carrying the box Mary had tossed into her car just that morning.

"Someone put this ugly Christmas package in my car!" She tossed it onto Mary's desk.

"Can you believe what some people will do?"

"No," answered Mary in a soft voice. "Why don't you just throw it away?" she asked.

"Can't be done," Susan answered loudly and firmly, "It's like one of those chain letters people get... only this time its a package!"

"How do you know that?" Mary innocently asked as she shuffled papers around on her desk just for something to do to keep her hands and her eyes away from the box and Susan.

"I heard it on the news," Susan replied. "After the box has been shuffled around for like five days it will open on its own."

"What's inside?" Mary asked. She could feel her gut tightening up for fear of the answer.

A new voice entered into the conversation. "I heard it could contain just about anything," Julie answered as she stepped up to Mary's desk to drop off some paperwork. "Someone in California got one and it contained nothing more than a one-dollar bill."

"Well that's not so bad," Mary softly replied feeling better now that it seemed to be just a joke someone found funny.

"Not really," Julie answered. "The bill had poison on and the person who touched it died." She walked away, seeming not to care in the least about what happened to the individual.

"What happens if you open it?" Mary asked.

"I think it explodes," Susan answered. "However, it's not my concern." She walked back to her desk to answer the phone.

"Great," Mary thought. "Now I've got that damn Christmas box back again."

Days passed as the box lay on Mary's desk unopened and untouched. Everyone gave it plenty of room when they walked by Mary's desk.

On the seventh day, something strange happened. The box moved!

On the eighth day, some of the paper on the box began to disappear. Little bits and pieces of it littered her desk. Mary took out her gloves and pushed the pieces into the trash can below her desk. Then she took the trash can to the recycle bin and dumped everything into it.

"Is everything okay?" Susan Inquired of Mary as she passed her desk from a long distance.

"Everything is peachy keen! you bitch!" Mary thought but replied, "Everything is fine." She smiled and kept working as if nothing was happening.

The next morning, when Mary walked into work and glanced at her desk she was surprised.

Laying, on her desk, just where the box had been, were stacks of bills all bundled up with bands. She looked at the bills on top of each stack. There was a pile of fives, one of tens, one of twenties and one of just plain old ones. Mary didn't touch anything. Who knew, they could also be poisoned.

Susan came in several hours later. "Hey, Mary, did you get those forms done for me?"

Mary glanced up at Susan who was now standing by her desk admiring the stacks of money laying on Mary's desk.

"So the box had money in it... I see," she replied as if it wasn't a big deal. "Well," she kept talking. "Since the box was in my car the money is mine," she told Mary and anyone else who was near enough to hear her.

Mary said nothing. She just handed her the forms she requested and watched as Susan picked up all the money except the ones.

"You can have that stack," she pointed the ones, "since you kept the box safe for me."

"Oh, you mean the ones," Mary chucked, "that could be poisoned?"

Susan smiled, "Wear gloves when you pick them up," she replied, as she walked away.

Mary just left the ones on her desk exactly where they were. She had no intention of touching them.

Susan seemed to be overly happy as she counted the bills and made phone calls ordering things she knew she could pay for with the money she'd taken from Mary's desk.

At the end of the day, Susan came running out of her office screaming. Her hands were covered in blood. The bills had been poisoned. Everywhere on her body where she'd touched herself was breaking open and bleeding. The emergency truck was called. However, before Susan was taken away she carefully locked up the bills in her safe.

Mary just sighed and went back to work. The adventure was over. She needed to get rid of the ones so no one else could be poisoned. She placed three pairs of hospital gloves on her hands and with a desk broom and a pan she brushed the bills into her trash can. As they fell in she saw hundred dollar bills, thousand dollar bills, and five hundred dollar bills. The only one dollar bill in the whole stack was the one on the top. She'd have them inspected. Perhaps, it was a good thing not to be greedy. Perhaps, the bills would melt away like the paper the box was wrapped in. She didn't know and she didn't care. The important thing was 'she' had not been hurt from the package...

Money was just money, it couldn't bring back the dead or cure wounds like those that were now all over Susan's body.

Greed... She decided to toss the lot into the dumpster and get back to work.

Outside, a poor homeless individual stopped to rest by the dumpster. On the ground beside them they saw the tip of a bill. They pulled it free from the dumpster to find that they'd been gifted with a one hundred dollar bill. Quickly, they ran to the nearest restaurant and purchased a meal. The bill left their fingers and was touched by the clerk handling the money.

Days passed and reports about people either dying or breaking out in bloody hives spread across the news.

Mary sighed...Was it the money she'd placed in the dumpster. She'd never tell...She shivered in fear...

A few more days passed and low and behold she found yet another box sitting in her car just waiting for her...