Subj: THE BOX Part Five
Date: 5/19/00 10:03:16 PM Central Daylight Time
From: N.E. Collins

"MOMMA! MOMMA!" Nora Collins ran and giggled as she yelled for her mother down the corridor. Judith was at her writing desk in her bedroom. She was so absorbed in her correspondence that she did not even hear the three year old child's cries.

Three years. Three years had passed since the child had come. Three years had passed since they found Angela Stone dead of apparently a heart attack. Three years since those gypsies had first wormed their way into her grandmother's good graces. Judith was writing a letter expressing her continued concerns over these wandering vagabonds to her brother, Edward, who was away on business in London. She wrote, "And now, Grandmother has consented to allow these horrible people to actually live in the Old House! That Magda creature comes and goes at her leisure as she pretends to tell Grandmother her fortune! It is such nonsense, Edward! When, oh, when will you be home?" She put down the pen and put her hands over her face and sobbed quietly.

Strange things had also been happening these last three years, and the people of Collinsport and the nearby surrounding villages laid the blame on Collinwood and those who dwelt there. An unexplainable famine had struck the surrounding area first! Almost all that years harvest was lost and there was no visible sign as to why! It wasn't due to a sudden upheavel in the weather and there was no rash accumulation of destructive animals that could be pin pointed. No, it was as if a foul cloud of disaster had descended from the great house and literally poisoned the district's farmlands.

That wasn't all. There was a sever outbreak of cholera in the area, but the only ones not affected were the members of the Collin's family and their servants on their lands! That was when the population of the surrounding areas began to point a finger at the great and powerful family. And all sorts of rumors of strange and unexplainable happenings were bandied about concerning them. Tales of unspeakable horrors, most of them purely fiction, but reason did not sway the mobs. Magda kept telling Edith that there was a great evil at Collinwood and that if it were not found out it could well destroy them all! But even at Edith's insistence Magda could not put her finger on exactly what it was.

Carl Collins had been sent away to boarding school. Actually, he was in attendance at his second boarding school after having been expelled for viscious pranks at his first one. The important thing was was that he was not underfoot and Virgina Semple no longer had him under her wing. She now was the governess and nanny of Jamison and Nora Collins. Which would explain why the two children were running loose and unattended on this rainy Wednesday afternoon.

The children were playing hide and seek. Jamison was it, and Nora was looking for a good hiding place. She came upon Quentin's door and found it slightly ajar. She pushed it open and stepped inside the dimly lit foyer. Quentin was away and not likely to thwart her efforts. She quickly looked around the room for a place to hide from her brother when she spied the box in the corner. She moved over to it and lifted the lid as easy as you please!

She peered forward and looked down into its depths and suddenly her eyes grew wide with wonder! Something caught her attention. She reached her right hand forward into the box as if to grasp something.

Jamison had no trouble in locating his sister. She was screaming bloody murder as he dashed into his uncle's room! Judith heard the child's cries this time and arrived on the scene. There she found Jamison trying to comfort Nora who apparently had somehow burned her right hand! It was all covered in puffy blisters, and the little girl screamed in such pain!

Virginia Semple came running into the room. Judith gave her a silent reprimand as she thrust the terrified child towards her nanny. "Attend to her injury immediately! I will summon the doctor!" She swept past the girl in fury. Virginia coaxed Nora to come with her and Jamison followed.

The lid of the box was closed, again.

Dark Shadows is a Dan Curtis Production.