The Laughter Box

7.00 a.m every morning Tim woke to the irritating but effective sound of his alarm clock. This was followed by brushing of the teeth, the combing of what little hair he had left and putting on his sportswear for the morning walk. 

In two years since he was left go from work he done the exact same things every morning, and this morning started off no different. He stepped outside, smelling the fresh air, filling his lungs up in doing so, before turning right and heading on down the path in that direction. 

Across the small, narrow road was a cat, a black cat sitting there looking at him. Tim never seen this cat before but noticed it had a collar on her so it must of belonged to someone nearby. As he was walking, the cat was doing the same, not directly behind him but close enough to make him feel like he was being followed by the feline.

Around the third corner he normally waves to Mr.Connors but today he wasn't there to wave back and make a what's meant to be a humerous comment, instead, Tim was greeted by a swarm of mosquitoes. They also, like the cat, started to lurk behind Tim as he was starting to feel a bit uneasy with the situation. 

Over on the next street there had formed a gathering of people. These were all people he recognised as living nearby but none of them recognised Tim, they just stood there staring at him with a blank look in their faces while Tim nervously picked up the pace to walk past them.

At this point he was really starting to freak out. He stopped for a minute and took out his phone to ring his neighbour but his phone was frozen on the generic screensaver. Then he glanced at his stepometer which had also froze. In his right hand he had a bottle of water, which he poured over his sweaty head and then drank what remained, before deciding to take the closest way possible back to his home.

At his door, he put in the key and looked behind him again, as he did all throughout his walk home, but there was nothing following him anymore, the cat or the mosquitoes weren't there. Inside he decided to take a shower, the water was fresh and after drying himself off he got dressed and had a little giggle to himself about what he seen outside. 

While downstairs he tried again to ring his neighbour but the phone still wasn't in use. So on his shoes went and he gave a couple of knocks nextdoor. After the fourth knock and still no answer, he went around to the side of the house and took a look through the window to try catch someones attention, but the only attention he had got for himself was the unwanted kind in the form of dozens of rats and mice. They were all over the furniture, floors and counter tops, the house was took over by a large mischief of the furry rodents.

He quickly dashed back into his own home, slamming the door behind him while anxiously dialling number after number, trying to get through to anyone in the area. In his kitchen he stood by the sink counter top, but he could hear a purring noise coming from the front of the house. When he went to check it out, there was the same cat he saw earlier, again just sitting and looking at him.

Tim walked closer towards the cat and as he did so he noticed that the black fluffy creature wasn't the only thing inside his house. Mosquitoes came flying down the stairs, rats and mice came through every gap in the house, insects of all sorts came through the woodwork and all of his neighbours bloody faces were seen projected onto the walls with the blood dripping like wet paint.

Over by the backdoor, Tim noticed a box laying there while desperately trying to pull the door open. A sudden wave of energy came from the door, flinging Tim to the ground in the process. He now couldn't get up, whatever had thrown him was now invisibly pinning him down. The box next to his face now started to open.

Nothing was seen to come out of the box but a girl laughing could be heard. As the laughing sped up, all the creatures inside the house now hurried over to Tim, biting and gnawing at every once of his body. In total pain, he was powerless to do anything but lay there and endure the slow agonizing death of been eaten alive, inch by inch.

The faces on the wall now turned to faces of happiness, the sound of the laughter grew and grew as Tim was fading, that sound and feel of having your flesh being eaten wasn't something anyone could handle for long, especially as they had just advanced from the legs upwards. 

His last visible memory was of the cat jumping onto his chest, bending down getting ready to pounce at his face, flesh hanging from its mouth, when he could just about see the wording on its tag. It read "Property of Pandora".