skylight, from where it shot straight up to the sky outside, miraculously leaving the skylight completely in tact. When the beam reached the sky, the box once again erupted into a deafening roar. It was even louder than the previous one had been and this time, the boys fell over backwards onto their behinds.
“Aaarghh!!! Christ, I can’t see!” yelled a terrified Ben.
“Yeah, me too!” replied Jake, rubbing his eyes in a hurried attempt to clear his vision. “It’ll be that flash, it shouldn’t last long. Yeah, that’s better. I can see a little now, it’s all blurred and everything’s a little red, but it’s coming back. How about you?”
“Yeah, pretty much the same, thank heavens for that! I thought I was blind for a moment. Oooh that was loud. My ears are still ringing.” said Ben, as he shook his head and banged his hands against his ears in turn.
“Ditto. Cor, my head’s pounding.” Jake shouted. He moved his jaw around to try to ‘pop’ his ears. “Wow! Bloody hell mate. What a rush! What have we done? What was that?”
The palms of his hands were sweating, he rubbed them on his jeans. His heart was beating so furiously that it felt as if it was going to come out of his chest. Adrenalin was coursing through his body and he was shaking all over. Ben went quiet, the realisation of what had actually happened having just dawned on him. He couldn’t speak, he just stared back at Jake with the same astonished expression on his face and shrugged, before immediately returning his gaze to the stones, and the now slightly diminished light.
After a short while though, Ben recovered himself and the power of speech. He turned to face his friend.
“Phew, come on then, Einstein,” he said, with his customary sarcasm, “explain that one!”
Jake shrugged. He had no answers to give. He was equally as stunned and amazed as Ben. As he continued to peer anxiously into the box, waiting to see what else might happen, his mind was in complete turmoil. Something amazing had just happened, that much was abundantly clear. But he really didn’t know whether he should be feeling excited, or scared.
“I don’t think I can explain it mate.” he answered truthfully. “But I tell you this; there’s one thing I am pretty sure of.”
“Oh yeah? What’s that then?” asked Ben.
“This ain’t no music box!”
Chapter 2
14th August – Harry West’s Garden – Lichfield
“Oh my God!” shouted Harry, as the ear-splitting roar that resounded once the boys opened the box made him lurch forward and drop the plant he was holding. He raised his arms instinctively to cover his head, ducking down as low as he could. The earth shook violently for a split second and Harry recoiled as if he was under attack, curling his entire body up into a ball. For the briefest of moments he panicked. Time seemed to stand still, sweat began inexplicably to bead on his forehead, and his hands began shaking uncontrollably. His mouth was so dry it felt like he’d been chewing sand. He tried hard to swallow but he couldn’t.
A few terrifying seconds later, everything seemed to have returned to normal in the garden and he raised himself slowly and cautiously to his knees.
Harry West was no stranger to fear. It should have been like a reunion with an old friend to him, he’d experienced it so many times before. But that was all a long time ago now, in what seemed like another lifetime. Then he had been a young man, fit and eager, prepared for everything that came his way. But now, things were completely different. He knew immediately what the heart-stopping, deafening noise meant. He understood fully the dangers associated with it. And the thought of them now ‘scared him to death.’ This was the last thing he’d expected, or ever wanted to hear. He was in shock. It had taken him completely by surprise. And Harry hated every minute of it!
“Oh no!” he screamed, as a second almighty roar made him turn around sharply to look at the top of the house. “No, no, no! The box. They’ve opened the box!” he shouted in dismay.
An awful sense of dread and foreboding consumed his being when he caught sight of the light that was now emanating from the skylight. It confirmed that his worst nightmare had come true. “Damn! No! It’s all my fault.” he raged. “Why did I let them enter that attic? No! They should