The Box Sent by the Devil chapter 2

After some thought, Norma carefully placed this strange thing on the sofa and then went to the kitchen. At 8 o’clock, the doorbell rang. Norma immediately walked out of the kitchen. Her husband, Arthur, was sitting in the living room. He put down the newspaper and got up to answer the door, but Norma rushed ahead of him. Arthur looked at her in surprise.

There stood a short man outside the door. His beady eyes emitted a deep, unfathomable blue glow.

“Hello!” the man said. “I’m Mr. Stand.” Norma sized him up. He looked like a door – to – door salesman. Norma said bluntly, “What do you want? I’m busy.” Then she turned to go inside.

Stand said slowly, “Don’t you want to know what the precious thing I sent you this afternoon is? It’s very valuable.” Hearing this, Norma quickly turned around and asked, “Is it worth a lot?”

Stand nodded, took an envelope out of his pocket and handed it to Norma. “There’s a brass key in here. It can open the glass cover. Once you press the button, you’ll soon get one hundred thousand dollars. Of course, there’s a price to pay. When you press the button, someone somewhere in the world will die.”

Arthur walked out of the living room and happened to hear this. He frowned, took the envelope from Norma’s hand, threw it at Stand, and waved for him to leave immediately. Stand gave a cold smile, took out a business card and handed it to Norma. “Of course, if you need the key later, you can call me at any time.” Then Stand picked up the envelope on the ground and walked out.

Arthur tore Stand’s business card in half and casually threw it into the trash can. Norma sat on the sofa blankly. After a while, she asked Arthur, “What do you think of this?” Arthur looked at his wife. “Stop daydreaming, dear. It might be a joke or a psychological test. Anyway, his claim is sinful.”

After dinner, they went to bed. Arthur soon fell asleep, but Norma couldn’t. Her mind was full of that one hundred thousand dollars.