The Package

My name is Sam Loretski, I used to work in a small department store, and I love to invent things but I’m not very good at it. I guess you could say that I was soft-spoken; I hated fights and avoided them as best I could, but my wife was a very loud and brash woman who loved to yell. My wife’s name was Nadine, she was a woman that is hard to understand, I loved her with all my heart but our marriage has always been rocky. I grew up very poor, I never really lived in a house while growing up so our life was perfect to me; we had a small house and enough money to pay the bills. We had a good life until he sent that box! That box changed our lives, it ruined Nadine’s life!

It was only a year ago that I first heard about the box. I went out to get the newspaper and I saw a brown wrapped box on the doorstep, I thought that Nadine was sending out something so I left it out there. I went back inside for breakfast in time to see my beloved wife pouring herself some coffee; her brown hair in large curlers, some sort of green face mask on her face, and she was dressed in her pink robe and pink slippers. Nadine looked at me and scowled, she was never a morning person but I loved her with all my heart.

“Are you going to ask for that raise?” she questioned me and I sighed, she always asked me that every morning.

“I’m happy with the money I make already,” I told her gently.

“Some people like to go out to dinner or go shopping! Some people like to have money to spend!” Nadine yelled at me but I just shook my head as she ranted and yelled. I knew we were poor but we had all that we needed. Nadine continued to yell until I left for work at Jay’s Department Store.

The day was long and I was exhausted when I finally went home, I saw the brown wrapped package still on the doorstep. I picked it up and went on inside, I put it on the table and Nadine watched me carefully.

“What is that?” she asked and I sighed.

“It was on the step, it says that it’s from a Mr. Thanatos.” I told her and she watched me as I tore off the brown wrapping. It was a cardboard box with an envelope with it; the envelope had my name on it so I opened it and read the letter out loud.

“Dear Mr. Loretski, I am sorry to tell you that your great uncle, James Loretski, has died and his will has named you and your wife as the heirs of his fortune. The only condition is that you never open this box; you will inherit every penny of the 500,000 dollar estate if you do not open the box. I will come to see you in six months and if the box has not been opened then you will gain the estate left to you, however you must never open the box or grave consequences will fall on you and whoever open the box.

Charon Thanatos”

“$500,000? Just think what we could do with that money,” Nadine said and I could hear the greed in her voice.

“Uncle James? I haven’t ever heard of him before.” I said to myself.

“Who cares? He’s offering a shit load of money! But what could be in the box?” Nadine said and I sighed, I loved Nadine but she was not the same as when I married her.

“We should open it.” Nadine said and I stopped her.

“The letter said not to or we could lose the chance at the fortune.” I had to quickly remind her.

“Who cares about what the letter says? I say we open it!” Nadine said and she reached for the box.

“No, Nadine!” I told her as I took the box out of her reach. “Uncle James was always a bit weird but he always had a reason for his orders.” I said as I had walked into the kitchen and I put the box on the highest shelf in the cupboard. I could reach it but Nadine was so much shorter than me, she couldn’t reach it unless she stood on a chair.

“You asshole!” she yelled at me and I just shook my head.

“Uncle James’ estate won’t come to us if we open the box so let’s just leave it up there until Mr. Thanatos comes.” Nadine sulked for a few moments but nodded, I knew that she was pissed off but I thought she would let it go after a few days.

The days blurred into weeks and before I knew it, it had been almost six months since I got the box from my Uncle James. I realized it when I came home after a particularly long and hard day. Nadine was in the kitchen and she glared at me when I walked in, I never did ask for that raise and I knew that I would never ask for it. The one thing that was different about today was the cupboard was open and the box was on the table with Nadine looking at the box. The box was still wrapped in the plain brown paper but I still felt uneasy.

“Nadine, what are you doing with that?” I asked her and she looked at me, her greed and curiosity plain to see in her eyes.

“I’m going to open the box, Sam; you got to do what you want! Give the orders, not obey them.” She said and she reached for the paper.

“Nadine, no! We have no idea what could be in there!” I tried to protest but Nadine never listened to me, why would she now. She tore off the paper before I could stop her and I saw that the box was still taped close.

“Damn it! I need a knife.” Nadine said and I could only feel disappointment in my heart.

“Nadine, you do what you want. I’m going out; I don’t want any part with this.” I told my ‘beloved’ wife. And I walked out the door.

I went to the bar down the street; I had never been in a bar before then. I had a beer or two, I can’t really remember. I do remember walking home a couple hours later, I wasn’t really drunk but I had a little trouble walking and the night air was cold. I just walked in the door because Nadine never locks the door. I walked into the kitchen and saw that Nadine had opened the box, but I could not find her. I looked inside the box and saw some kind of pink slime and green pieces of something. An egg?

“Uncle James did like weird things.” I reminded myself and I heard something chattering behind me.

I turned and I saw something move behind the chair, all I saw of it was a black tail; it looked like the tail of a very big snake. I think my fear was starting to sober up my slightly tipsy mind because my head was starting to clear. I looked around but I couldn’t see whatever it was.

“Nadine?” I call out, trying to find my wife.

She didn’t answer me and I looked around the kitchen, nothing looked out of place but then I saw the bedroom door. It was half open and I saw why, Nadine’s slipper covered foot was being used like a doorstop. Fear ran through me like a wild fire in a forest, I looked around wildly and tried to find something to defend myself with. I had no idea what was in the house but I did not want to end up like Nadine. I got one of the good cooking knives from one of the kitchen drawers, it would not have been much but if anything attacked me then I would have a chance. I watched for whatever had killed and torn Nadine apart, I walked slowly and carefully through the kitchen. I heard some chattering in the kitchen, it sounded like the monkeys at the zoo but I could not see whatever was making the noise. I tried to step around but my foot hit something. I yelled out as I fell to the floor and I dropped the knife as I fell, I hit my head hard but I did not pass out and I did not feel very strange. I looked to see what I had tripped over; it was a stupid pot that Nadine had left on the floor. I almost had a heart attack because of a stupid pot that I had tripped over. Then I heard something scratching on the floor, like when a rat is crawling on the linoleum floor. I looked all around as I sat up on the floor, I shook any fuzziness out of my head and I looked around to try and find the thing that may of killed my Nadine. I did not see anything but I heard a knock at the front door.

Whoever was there only knocked once then they opened the door.

“Mr. Loretski. I am here.” Said a man’s voice, I had no clue who it was but there was something deadly in this house and I had to warn him.

“Get out! There’s something dangerous in here!” I yelled to him but he did not seem to listen because I heard heavy footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

I stood up as the loud footsteps got closer; I had to warn this man about whatever it was that was in my house and convince him to get out before it killed him too. The footsteps stopped at the doorway into the kitchen and I looked up, in the doorway was a very tall pale man dressed completely in black with a very wide brimmed hat on his head and a briefcase in his hand.

“Mr. Loretski.” He said bowing his head to me.

“Mister, you got to get out of here. My wife released something into the house, she’s dead sir.” I tell him and he nodded.

“So she has hatched then, I came just in time.” The man said and I could only look at him in confusion. What did this man know about whatever was in the house, why was he here, and how did he know my name? I looked at the man for the answers to my questions.

“Who are you?” I asked him and he just chuckled as he pulled out a seat at the small table.

He sat down and took off his hat, he was bald underneath and it looked like he never had any hair on his head, he put briefcase on the table and his hat on top of his briefcase. The man motioned for me to sit across from him and I did but I was wondering who this man was and what did he know about the thing that was in my house. The man just watched me for a moment and I asked again what his name was, he just got a small smile of some sort on his face before he decided to answer.

“My name is Charon Thanatos. I was the lawyer for your Uncle James. You received my package and I have come to see it but I see that the box has been opened.” He said as he looked at the box in the center of the table.

“Sir, what is going on? What came out of that box and killed my wife?” I asked, I was scared to know but I had to know what this thing was. Mr. Thanatos just waited for me to stop talking before he started.

“Your uncle, James Loretski, wanted me to test you and your wife to see if you were worthy of his estate. He told me to send you a package, in that package was an egg of one of James’ beloved pets and he wanted me to see if you could follow the strict rules that your uncle’s pets required. As you can see, your wife failed but you actually have not yet passed or failed your uncle’s test.” Mr. Thanatos told me and I was shocked that Uncle James sent this thing.

“What did he send me and why did it kill Nadine?” I asked, I almost didn’t but I just had to know.

“James sent you an animal, an egg that would hatch six months after you received it. It is a very rare animal and there are only four of them left in the world, five now that this hatched.” Mr. Thanatos said as something flew from the cupboard behind me and it landed on Mr. Thanatos’ hat.

I jumped away in surprise, my heart was racing and I thought it was going to burst out of my chest. My heart slowed down as I took a good look at the creature, it was a reptile like a snake but it had two wings and a pair of small legs that must have been more like arms.

“What is it?” I asked; my fear was disappearing into curiosity. I wanted to know what this strange animal was; I had never seen anything like it before.

“This is a wyvern, a kind of dragon. Your uncle loved these kinds of animals and he was hoping that you would take over his work but you have neither passed nor have you failed your test. Your ‘lovely’ wife has failed; she tried to kill this little one so Nadine was dealt with.” Mr. Thanatos told me and he let this all sink in before he continued. “You will get a choice; do you want to continue your uncle’s work with animals like this wyvern?” Mr. Thanatos asked me and I hesitated.

The offer sounded wonderful and I had always been curious about animals but I had no clue about these strange beasts or what they needed or what they did.

“Mr. Thanatos, as much as I want to, I don’t think I am the man for this.” I told him and he smiled.

“That was the right answer, if you had said anything else; I would have eaten you like I did your wife.” Mr. Thanatos told me and he stood up. I watched in awe as the wyvern flapped its small wings to fly up to the man’s bald head, the wyvern curled itself on top of Mr. Thanatos head and then the man put his hat over the small dragon type creature. He picked up his briefcase then looked at me, “Come. We have a plane to catch.” Mr. Thanatos said and I just followed him out the door. I was in shock and I was trying to figure out what he had meant by what he said about eating Nadine. I just followed Mr. Thanatos out and I found that I really didn’t care about the life I would be leaving but I did have one question.

“What about the house and what’s left of Nadine?” I asked and Mr. Thanatos just smiled that small smile of his.

“Do not worry. There is not enough of Nadine to identify and your house will be cleaned out by the end of the day.” He told me and I just stared at him in wonder, I had no clue what I just got into but I think I knew that I would enjoy it.

The package did change our lives: Nadine lost her’s but mine is full of wonder now.