“Open my box,” a gravelly voice whispered as a decorative box on the mantle started glowing.
Pandora sighed. “You know I can’t.”
“Turn my key and set me free,” said the spirit in the box. Pandora ignored it and went back to her reading.
“I’m bored! Let me out!”
“You’ve caused enough trouble for all eternity.”
“Please, I promise I’ll behave,” the spirit pleaded.
“I’ve heard that before! Like when you killed so many with the Black Plague and the San Francisco earthquake, or when you infected the world with AIDS. Never again!”
“If you let me out I will allow you to have one day’s freedom from watching over me,” the spirit tempted. “And I promise that Zeus will never know you set me free.”
Pandora, who had been gifted with curiosity and weakness when she was created, looked at the glowing box again, considering the offer. It was so tempting—a day of not having to sit in that room would be so nice. But Zeus had told her if she opened the box ever again she would join the evil spirit that was trapped there.
“No, I can’t,” Pandora resolved. She tried to go back to her reading but her mind was filled with thoughts of what she could do on her ‘day off’.
“You swear Zeus will never know?”
The spirit smiled deviously. “I swear it.”
Pandora raced across the room and turned the key. The box glowed brighter with each turn. Suddenly a flash of lightning shot into the room. Pandora screamed as she was transported across the dimensions into the box.
“Curiosity killed the cat, and ended my loneliness,” the spirit chuckled as Pandora appeared next to it in the box.