Among the pile of kleenex lying on the bed, the box lights up her poster infested walls once more. She lies on the corner in her room furthest to the bed, curled up in her blanket. She dares not move for she knows exactly what she will do. The room is silent and the night will surely end eventually. The light fades slowly and she lets out a sigh of relief. Before it was spray-painted black and bored for air, the cardboard box used to be her shoe box. Without hesitation, she stands up and picks up the cardboard box. It seems to vibrate softly as  feels the dry paint on the lid one last time. With a long sigh, she heads for the trashcan. A blinding flash of light makes her drop the box. The lid comes off the box and lands on the insipid carpet.  

In the depths of his closet, the soft rumbling from last week had started again. This time, it has morphed into louder and stronger scrapes across the wooden floor. He drowns out the rumbling with his pillow to no avail, the scrapes grow louder. In a sudden, desperate attempt, he reaches for his headphones lying on his nightstand and presses play. It’s not in the first song, but the second - wonted - song that he begins to feel as the scraping has now turned into violent tremors capable of shaking his entire bed.

“No!” She reached for the lid, but the sound of it stuns her into silence. Mary, the scratchy androgynous voice taunts her, Mary it’s been a while. The box was now lambent, its glow so subtle yet it still caught her attention. Come on Mary, you know you can’t let go of who you once were, of who WE once were. A single tear drops from Mary’s cheek as she stares at the now pulsing box. Her eyes stare intently at the lid, she lifts her hand, but it is uncompliant. The voice chaffs at her once more, you and I both know what that hand is yearning for. Look inside me Mary. In a sudden movement, Mary shoves the lid on the shoebox and crawls back into the corner. The box, however, is growing coruscant. The tormenting remarks continue, you don’t learn, do you Mary? Except this time, she is dubious as to whether or not the voice is actually coming from the box or within her.

He unplugs the headphones from his phone and plays the song on full blast in hopes of infuriating the source of the tremors. The closet doors rattle brutally in response to the song.
“Saw the flame,” He sings offbeat and wistfully, “Tasted sin.”
The song, reverberating at each of the walls, is accompanied by the trembling of the room.
“You burned me once again.” He screams, his throat now burning and his eyes stinging. The shaking stops, but there is a faint burble inside the closet. With the music paused, he leans his ear against the door. It was a scads of voices all whispering to each other, he couldn’t make them out until he heard his name being whispered back and forth; Jack. Jack. Jack.
Jack holds the handle gently with one hand and his phone with the other, the voices get louder, there are too many for Jack to grasp what one individual voice says, but he senses the aggravation increasing within the voices. Jack can’t help but stand idly by as the voices grow louder and even more irritated. Annoyed by the noise they are causing, Jack whips open the closet door and the voices die off again. Beneath the pile of dirty clothes, Jack can see a lump roaming in the corner of his closet. With an uneasy grip, he lifts the dirty shirt off of the lump and sees it. The creature seems to be a mix of some type of symbiote with a purse chihuahua. Before Jack can react to it, the creature lunges at him.
You know you can’t get away, just go back to your corner and keep on sobbing. Mary stands up and grips the box with white knuckles, “You are not in control!” She screams at the box “I am in control and I have had it with you!”
Mary heads for the front door, What are you doing? The box remains hoarse and intimidating. You can’t get rid of me. Mary’s pulse races as she walks past her driveway and into the sidewalk. The cold pavement reminds her that she forgot to put some shoes on before she left, yet she walks through the streets as if she wasn’t wearing her nightwear outside at midnight.

Jack is pushed backwards by the creature, he dashes out of his room and heads downstairs, the creature only steps behind. Just as Jack reaches the last step, he trips and falls face first. The creature emits a tentacle-like substance from its body and flings it at Jack’s left leg, pulling him back up the stairs. Jack kicks the creature with his right leg while trying to pull himself away from the tentacle with the railing. The creature lets go of Jack and begins to descend the stairs, Jack uses this as an opportunity to sprint towards the front door. He opens the door to find himself face to face with Mary, holding an incandescent shoebox.

The box immediately returned to its silent, pulsing state once Jack opened the door. The creature that had once been chasing down Jack is now cowering behind his legs, keeping a close eye on Mary. They both greet each other with warm smiles.

“I missed you.”