Back in the Box

“So she talked to you?” Ham inquired.

Josh nodded slowly. There was nothing in his tale that was really any different than those shared by the others. The gist was the same. They saw an amazing girl and woke up naked in this environment, room, or box, or whatever. A room with no apparent door or other means of access or egress. Three ‘holes’ punched into the roof or lid of the box. Strange or not, he knew he needed to get the hell out.

Crouching down, he ran his fingertips over the coarse fiber of the flooring underfoot. It felt like cardboard. Shoebox? If it’s a shoebox, or made to resemble one, the cardboard should be pretty flimsy compared to a regular corrugated box. Standing back up he walked over to the corner Ham had said was the piss corner. The horrible smell intensifying the closer he got.

“What are you doing?” Carver asked, falling in behind Josh and peering over his shoulder.

“Just checking on something,” he answered, dropping down to one knee and pressing his hand against the piss soaked cardboard.

“For?” asked Henry, appearing beside the shorter portly man.

“Dude, that’s gross,” Julian sneered. “There a little water dish in the corner opposite the panties if you’re thirsty,” he stated.

Josh ignored him, feeling the texture of the wet cardboard. Soft. Using his finger nails, he was able to tease some of the fibers away from the floor. A smile touched his lips as a plan began to formulate in his head. Wiping moist fingers against the dry portion of the floor, he turned to the others, “We need to get the fuck out of here,” he said.

“Easier said than done,” Ham replied, pointing up at the lid, “There’s no way we can get up there, let alone dislodge it,” he said.

Josh shook his head. “Not the box top, the pee corner, the flooring and adjacent side wall over there are soft. We could pull apart the cardboard fibers at the edge where the bottom meets the side, maybe create a big enough hole for us to crawl through,” he suggested.

“I don’t know,” Ham said, shaking his head.

“I’m with Ham,” Henry asserted, shaking his own head, “I don’t think it would be wise to antagonize her.”

“You are both morons,” Julian accused.

“Okay, say you get out, then what?” Henry questioned.

Julian shrugged, “Don’t really know until I get out there. What I do know is it’s a damn sight better trying to do something than sitting in here waiting to get picked,” he answered.

“We could all go together,” Josh offered.

“Fuck them,” Julian scoffed, walking over to the piss corner and grabbing his penis, urinating on the wall before dropping to his knees, fingers digging into the weakened surface of the cardboard.

“I just think if we do this it could get us into trouble,” Henry suggested, shaking his head.

Walking to the other end of the box, Josh grabbed a hold of the panties, dragging them back to the pee corner. “If you’re intent on staying, use these to cover the hole we make, you know, like the poster in Shawshank,” he offered, dropping in beside Julian and pulling at the pulpy mash.

Progress was surprisingly quick, the pair actually creating a small opening in the cardboard. Josh had originally though they would probably encounter concrete or cinder blocks, instead they found an open space and darkness with what felt like a floor on the other side.

Sitting back on his heels, Julian grinned at Josh, “Look at you! You’re a clever one,” he said, slapping the boy smartly on the back, pieces of mushy urine soaked cardboard under his nails.

Josh smiled at the compliment, noting that the light filtering in from above was starting to wane, thinking to himself night must be falling.

“I think you guys need to consider what you’re doing,” cautioned Henry, shaking his head from side to side.

Looking over, Josh grinned and shook his own head, “So you think we should just stay then? Is that what you’re saying?”

Henry nodded. “Honestly we have very little idea what’s on the other side of the box,” he offered, expression almost frightened.

Looking over at the older man, “Like freedom?” Julian queried.

“Or a cat,” Henry stated.

Julian’s smug expression slipped, “I hadn’t thought about that,” he conceded, turning his head to Josh. “Hold up a minute,” he said, raising a hand.

“What?” Josh asked, pausing in his efforts.

“Henry makes a very good point. What if the bitch does have a cat? I mean, Christ, we’d be like mouse sized treats,” he surmised.

Josh grinned and shook his head, “Right to the end eh? Sticking with the whole giant girl thing?”

“Listen, if that giant girl has a cat, that thing will be the size of a bloody tyrannosaurus rex,” Julian stated.

Josh shook his head slightly, “If you say so,” he replied.

“Dude, it’s the truth, whether you choose to believe it or not,” Julian replied, sitting back on his haunches. “The one thing we know for a fact is on the other side of this box is a chick at least a hundred feet tall.”

Josh shrugged, “I guess we shall see, either way, once we get that hole opened up enough, I’m going through,” he asserted, almost daring any of the others to try and stop him.

Julian appeared to be weighing the alternatives before nodding slowly, “Fuck it, stay and face the girl and whatever twisted fate she has in store for me, or take a chance on freedom. I’m going with Josh,” he said, with a half grin. “You fuckers are free to choose for yourselves.”

“Ham?” Josh asked, “What about you? Carver? You guys going to come or you want to stay with Henry?”

“I don’t know Josh,” Ham said, lowering his gaze, shoulders slumping forward.

“Why don’t the two of you go and scout around and come back and let us know?” Carver suggested.

Josh looked at Julian then back to Carver, nodding, “That is a good idea,” he acknowledged.