[ WP ] A friendly co-worker that you do n't really know anything about ask you to help him move , when you show up to his house it 's completely empty apart from a single box and his no where to be seen .

`` George? Are you in here?'' 
 
 No sign of him. Typical. Just like George Crowley to shirk out of his own house move. 
 
 I knew George from work. Every time we had to work on a project together, George was always the one who somehow had to be somewhere else right up until the last moment when he'd breeze in and give the final presentation claiming all the glory from management. That was how he'd just secured his big raise and clearly new house. To top it all he'd asked me - in the middle of a meeting with my boss' boss no less - if I'd help him move into his fancy new place. 
 
 So here I am on a precious Saturday afternoon trying to find George and get this over with as quickly as possible. 
 
 I looked around, but the house appeared to be completely empty apart from a single box, about 2 foot on a side, sitting on the granite worktop in the kitchen. ( How did that sneak manage to afford granite? ). Stuck to the top was a hastily scrawled note. 
 
 `` Back in 30 minutes. George.'' 
 
 The cheek of it! He expected me to sit, well stand, around and wait for him just to pack up one single box. Was he crazy? No chance! I turned to leave and as I put my hand to the front door handle, I heard a child's voice coming from the kitchen - `` Help me!'' 
 
 My heart raced. In no way was there a child in the kitchen a moment ago. I turned and cautiously made my way back. 
 
 `` Hello? Who's there?'' 
 
 Silence. I reached out to open one of the fitted cupboard doors. The blood pounded in my ears. My mouth was dry. Palms sweaty. 
 
 Empty. All of them empty. 
 
 I called out again and this time I heard, a little muffled, `` In here!'' 
 
 Surely there could n't be a child in that box. It was far too small. Nonetheless, I stood over it, placed the note to one side and broke the taped seal holding it closed. I held my breath and peeled back the top flaps. 
 
 There was nothing inside. Just completely black. Not a painted black, this was a darkness that sucked all the light out of the world and pulled it into itself, forever to extinguish all that is good. I could feel myself slipping towards it. Drawn to look deeper and deeper. A small distant voice in the far reaches of my mind called to me to look away but I could n't. I wanted to fall into the eternal abyss and experience the bliss of nothingness. I leaned further forward. I could n't feel my feet touching the floor only my hands on the sides of the box. I closed my eyes and prepared to let go. 
 
 `` Stop!'' 
 
 The voice was immensely loud and contained a force that seemed to physically push me back. A moment later I opened my eyes to find myself on the other side of the kitchen. 
 
 George was standing over me. He looked more than a little worried. 
 
 `` Are you alright, Mike? Did it say anything to you? Did you speak to it? Quickly, man, answer me!'' 
 
 `` Er, I heard it call out for help, I opened the box and looked in and felt really weird and now I'm on the floor of your kitchen. What the hell is going on, George?'' 
 
 As I was speaking George had moved over to the box and sealed it up again. He turned to face me. 
 
 `` OK. I think you're going to be fine. You did n't have a conversation and I managed to pull you back before you began to slide. I doubt it's gotten a hold on you.'' 
 
 `` You're not making any sense. What is in that box?'' 
 
 George sighed. `` It's a portal to another world, Mike. A dark world that only wants to consume ours. It ca n't be closed and it needs to be watched. It's one of the lesser artifacts in my charge.'' 
 
 `` George, you work as software developer for a travel agency... do n't you?'' I was starting to question everything now. Including my sanity. 
 
 `` No, Mike, that's my cover. Ever wondered why I'm never around, and yet the bosses ca n't see through my charade with the presentations? It's because they've been paid to look the other way.'' 
 
 Suddenly everything was starting to make sense. I felt a little bolder. 
 
 `` So why not just keep it in a wooden create in a large warehouse in the middle of nowhere?'' 
 
 George smiled. `` Funny you should mention that, Mike. That's exactly what we're doing.'' 
 
 `` Why did you ask me to help you today? And why set me up to almost die?!'' I asked with more anger than I intended. 
 
 George leaned back casually against the worktop. He looked me in the eye. 
 
 `` I've been watching you, Mike. You're clearly fed up with your current line of work and I think you'd welcome a change. Now that you've seen that it's real, how would you like to come work for me?'' 
 
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 Edit: Minor corrections. 

