Author's Notes:

This was part of the PANIC! FICTION! speed fic writing challenge over at GaPJaxie's discord server. Prompt was A Fucking Cardboard Box, 34 minutes to write, and no time to edit. 500 word maximum count. It was knocked out the first round.

The server has all kinds of writing challenges that happen every week. Curious? Come on in and join us! Just have a reddit account ready, cause that's how we submit stories.

https://discord.gg/JHfTJx3 Touch the link. Do it now.

There it was. Just staring at me. Glaring. Watching. Waiting.

A fucking cardboard box.

It had been sitting there for a while now. In the middle of the street. I wasn’t sure when exactly it appeared, but I knew that it was waiting for someone.

And of course, I was the one to stumble upon it first.

Seriously, no one else had walked down this street in hours now. Where did everyone go? It’s not like this was a dead end street, in a dying city, in the middle of a mitten shaped state.

So why was it I that came here? Taking my usual path, that wasn’t at all assumed in the sense that I’d never been here before. Why was it me that had to walk past that box, possibly investigate it, and see the horror that lay inside?

I fucking hate boxes.

Slowly I began walking. Small steps to begin with. Like the song, Put One Foot in Front of the Other. It was from a Disney show I think.

Every step that box was closer. The lid was partly open, and I couldn’t see what was inside from a distance. But I know, damn it I knew, that something was in there. And I was the one chosen to see what lay inside, and have to grunt the burden for the rest of my life.

It was less than twenty feet from me now. If I wore size 12 shoes, then it would be exactly twenty steps, but I wore size 11 ½, so who fuckin’ knew how many that was. Probably, a lot more.

I could see the box more clearly now. It had a bunch of black writing on it, but the obvious thing was Solo Plastic Cups.

Could have this been from a college kegger party? Why wasn’t I invited? Of course I know why, because I’m a deadbeat loser who has no friends. Why would-

I stop before the box, looking down inside.

It’s empty.

Of course it was empty. What was I expecting? A baby like version of a fictional cartoon character? I mean, really, how laughable! I was worried for nothing.

“See!” I said out loud, pointing down at the empty box. “I was worried about nothing.”

I placed my hands on my hips, a triumphant smile upon my face.

There was a femenine, awkward like cough beside me. “Uh, yeah, that’s cool and all but… can we go home now?”

I look down and to my left, at the colorful blue pegasus with rainbow like mane and tail. I patted her head, and took the liquor store grocery bag from her muzzle.

“Yeah, of course Dashie, let’s go home.”