Bedtime

Chapter 5
New Reality

Chapter Description: Jessica tries to get to the bottom of what the box is doing to her life.

If this was Andrew pulling a prank, he had gone beyond too far. This was beyond kicking him out; neither of them really knew anyone with kids, at least, not well enough to lend their newborn out for a prank. Jessica picked up the child, cradling it in her arms, completely unaware that it was her boyfriend in a different form. Jiggling the boy, she called out, “Andrew! Andrew!!! This is far enough! Sorry that I don’t feel the same way about your hobbies, but this is beyond too far!” She didn’t get a response. She picked up one of the sheets, figuring that to be the cleanest fabric there, and wrapped the infant in it.

Upon investigation, she found that the entrance to her apartment was undisturbed. It was locked and bolted, and the windows were still locked. This told Jessica that Andrew never left her apartment since he didn’t have a key and couldn’t leave since one would be required in order to lock the bolt after leaving. Jessica sighed and continued to jiggle the baby in her arms. “Andrew! At least tell me where this kid’s clothes are! His parents must be worried sick!”

Tired of her conversation with the wall, Jessica began to scour every inch of her apartment, starting with the kitchen. She was worried that if she set the kid down he’d start to cry again, so she didn’t put him down for her investigation, even though that meant she’d only have one free arm to use for her search. She opened all the cupboards and found no one. She looked under the table. She searched the living room, the bathroom and her room. Andrew was nowhere to be found. Nervously, she looked at the baby she was holding and found that he had the same birth mark on his neck that Andrew had. Now that she thought about it, he did look very similar to the boy present in all the baby pictures of Andrew she had had the fortune of glimpsing...

Jessica smacked her face. The black box! She ran over to it and found that it was shut. If Andrew had been the one who shut it... and left the apartment... he would have had to have taken the key that was sitting on her bedside table since it was far too early to get one from the apartment manager.

Her keys were still on the table, she discovered upon investigating, so Andrew never left the apartment, she was holding him! Those moans were from him getting younger!

Jessica set Andrew down and tried to open the box. It was sealed shut. It was as if someone had glued it shut with very strong glue, or it didn’t open at all. Knowing that it couldn’t have been Andrew since he would have made a big mess with the glue, Jessica fished the instructions out of her handbag. They mentioned nothing about the box sealing itself shut, or even about this scenario she found herself in.