Weird Noise

 

"There it is again!” whispered Abigail Ahsum as she signaled to her two comrades to duck down in the grass. The three friends slowly crept through the tall grass and towards the odd sound they were hearing.

The other girl, Claire Mayniyac, reached into her dress’s pocket and pulled out a knife, “Do we even know what it is?”

“Of course not, Claire, that’s why we were investigating it!” Abigail tugged on her dress trying not to trip over it as the three crawled toward the unknown noise.

The last of the threesome, a young man named Rood Hyumon, sighed, “What sound are we trying to find again? There are so many.” As if on cue a dog barked in the distance while a blacksmith hit a piece of metal making a loud clanking noise. Far to the west they heard kids playing square-hop and a lamb bleating in the field.

"Just come on, Rood."

The grass abruptly came to an end, giving way to a small clearing. The three came out of the grass and slowly stood up, keeping their eyes on the strange thing in front of them. It looked like a big black box next to a smaller, flatter box. Claire began slowly fumbling about in the folds of her dress and retrieved a knife, she now held two.

Abigail held her palm towards the knives, “Be careful Claire, if it's alive, we don’t want it to feel threatened.”

“Or do we,” Claire gave her friend a smirk and Abigail suppressed giggles.

The young man slowly crept forward, curiosity getting the better of him. “Rood, what are you doing?” Abigail hissed.

He looked back, “Just investigating like you said.” He kept inching forward till he was about an arm’s length away from it. He slowly reached a finger toward a tiny red glow on the front of the small box. He pressed the small circle that was glowing and it made a clicking noise. Suddenly a small door on the side of the box was pushed open and a flat square with a circle indent slowly extended out of the box.

“Rood!” the girls yelled. Claire dropped her knives in surprise and Rood jumped up and backed away. The small platform stopped once it was a few inches out and as it did that, the front of the big, black box lit up, showing a grey square with odd writing in the corner.

Claire Mayniyac reached behind her back with both hands and pulled out two more knives to replace the ones she dropped, again pointing them at the boxes. “Abigail, Rood," she whispered, "we should go. We aren’t wizards, we have no experience with these magic things.”

“But-” Abigail started to protest but Rood cut her off.

“She’s right. Come on Abigail, we shouldn’t be messing with this stuff.”

Claire grabbed Abigail’s hand and started to pull her back in the direction of the village.

“Wait! What’s that?” Abigail yanked her hand a little to loosen it from Claire’s grasp and ran toward a small, thin, circle on the ground. “Look how shiny it is, there are rainbows in it!” she turned it in her hands and watched as the rainbows moved back and forth.

Claire grabbed it, “Maybe it’s a magic discus!” she swung her arm back and forth, preparing to throw it but Rood snatched it before she could let go.

“Maybe a wizard found a way to trap rainbows in this thing!” He held it up and then walked over to the small box, “this um…”

“Disc?” Claire offered.

Rood Hyumon nodded, “-disc is the same size as the indentation on the platform.”

Abigail knelt down next to the box and held a hand toward the disc, “Here, I’ll try it.”

Claire knelt down as well and reached into her boot, pulling out a knife and pointed it toward the box, “Just be careful, we don’t know how the wizard magic works.”

Slowly, Abigail placed the disc on the platform, “it fits into the circle perfectly!”

After a few seconds Rood asked, “Now what?”

Abigail Ahsum sighed, “I don’t know… any ideas?”

Rood shook his head while Claire took out her braid, letting a knife fall from it and into her palm. She pointed it at the light on the box, “Rood pushed that light which opened the door with the platform. Maybe there’s another…” she knelt down and used the tip of the knife to gently poke random indents, raised circles and lights on the front of the box. She was about to push one that had an arrow symbol on it when Abigail grabbed her wrist, staying her knife for the moment. “Claire, wait, that one has an arrow on it, what if it’s a weapon or something?”

Rood Hyumon shifted and looked at the big box, then back at her, “Abigail, I don’t think a bowman is going to come out of the box and start firing arrows at us.”

Abigail rolled her eyes and shrugged, “fine, try it, but everyone be on your guard.”

“On the count of 3,” Claire glanced at her two friends then back at the box, “1…2…3” she quickly poked the arrow with the end of her knife. Immediately the platform went back in, and the door closed.

Rood slumped, “It ate our only disc.” 

Suddenly Abigail jumped up, “Claire, Rood! Get back! The big box is doing something!” 

The three quickly backed away from the boxes. Claire dropped two knives out of her sleeves and handed them to Rood and Abigail then pulled two cords on her belt, revealing three hidden pouches holding who knew how many knives. She grabbed two more out of them and pointed them toward the boxes, ready to defend them. Abigail did the same, and Rood Hyumon yelled, “How do you have so many knives?!” 

“Is that really what you’re worried about right now?” Claire yelled back at him. 

“Sort of!” Rood screamed back but Claire didn’t have time to argue back because all the sudden the front of the big, black box turned back to black, instead of grey. Then it spoke. 

“The world is changing.” 

“Who said that?” Abigail Ahsum yelled, in a voice that demanded an answer. None came though, the voice just continued.

“I feel it in the water”

Rood looked around, “I don’t see anyone, it must be coming from the box.” 

“I smell it in the air” 

“Stop!” Claire Mayniyac yelled at the box. 

“Much that once was is lost for none now live that remember it”

“Did you really think it would stop?” Rood Hyumon asked her. 

“Did you really ask how I had so many knives while our lives were in danger?” Claire retorted, still glaring at the box. 

“Hey, our lives weren’t in danger, the box just turned black.” 

“And then it started talking!” Claire now glared at Rood. 

Abigail nudged Claire, “Guys, stop, look, the box is changing colors again.” 

The screen remained black but odd gold lettering slowly appeared through the black. Then a fire appeared.

Abigail cocked her head to the side, “It is like we’re watching someone pour gold but we’re watching them through someone else's eyes.” 

Claire shifted, “Should we be here? This box doesn’t seem safe. We don’t want to meddle with wizard magic.” 

“We’re just going to watch the ‘wizard magic’,” Rood walked a little closer to the box and sat down on the soft grass, “we won’t touch it or anything.”

“Yeah, Claire, it’ll be fine.” Abigail went and sat down as well. 

“Well… ok.” As Claire sat down she asked, “What should we call this?” 

They sat in silence for a while as they watched the play in the box and thought. Then Abigail spoke up, “The Two Boxes. Or the T.B. I suppose.” 

They thought over her idea in silence for a while again then Claire answered, “That makes sense.”