The Music Box (Creepypasta)

My name is Johnathan Westley and I live in a small quiet town in the borders of Tennessee and Alabama. My family is known for their strange ways in traditions, not weird as in a horrific sense, but weird enough to separate us from the people in town. For starters, we listen to only our oldest family member which was my grandpa Carlson.

We do of course listen to our fathers and mothers but mostly the elders because they were much more wise than the rest of us. When the elder dies of old age, they give the family heirloom to who they chooses to be their successor. If the child is chosen, then when he is older he will lead the family.

My grandfather died days ago, and chose me to be his successor...I wish he didn't. On his death bed, he gave me the families heirloom which was a wooden music box with old foggy steel plates on the surfaces with a silver key placed on the side. It was dented and looked like it suffered from water damage, and when I looked inside, there was a mirror under the lid and old rusted gears inside. I was quite surprised that it lasted for so long by how old it was.

When I took the box, his final words to me was that I do not play the music box for any reason what so ever. I asked him why but he didn't say, by the looks of his face when I asked him why he looked like he was staring into space behind me. I'd just thought that it was just one of those things old people do from time to time.

After my grandfathers funeral, I was up one night as my curiosity started to sink in. Before my grandfather died something was rather...off about what he said about the music box. It was not as though he was telling me not to play it, but warn me not to. But curiosity got the best of me and I took the music box and began to turn the key several times till it couldn't twist anymore.

As the key slowly started turning, the music box began to emit a weird tune. I'd thought that most music boxes usually carry something like Ring-A-Round A Poesy or some other nursery rhyme, something that would make a baby fall asleep. With this music box, it was rather disturbing like something from a horror movie or a song that you think up when you read a horror novel.

All of a sudden, the music stopped playing in the middle of the song. I opened it up and looked to see if any of the gears were off and hoping I didn't break it. My parents would've killed me if I broke the music box, now I wished that it was broken. As I opened up the box, I looked in the mirror and was startled to see what was standing at the far end of my room.

At the end of my room, was a tall and thin figure wearing rags with needle like fingers. It had this long dark hair that had dirt in it, and worn a white and cracked mask. The mask didn't had anything but two shaded eye holes all cracked around the edges. It just stood there with its head tilted to the left, and looked at me as I looked at it through the mirror.

I turned around hoping it was just me tired from a lack of sleep, but it was still there. It just stared right at me, not moving at all like it was waiting for something. Before I got the chance to ask what it was, the music box suddenly started to play again. I was startled by the sudden noise and turned to the music box while that thing just stared at the back of my head. What the hell is that thing I kept asking myself while I tried to turn the music box off.

When the music finally stopped playing, I closed the box and turned to see the creature, but it wasn't there anymore. I looked around my room to see if it moved, but it was nowhere. I'd finally decided to get some sleep and hope it clears up, and hoping what I just saw was just an illusion of my mind.

The next day after school I went back to my room and started on my homework. I had a little problem concentrating after what happened last night but I managed to get by it. I spent an hour doing my homework, and I haven't written a single word. My mind was just focused on playing that damned music box of mine. Without a moment to think, I quickly grabbed the music box and began twisting the key. As soon as it played, I looked behind me and see it was back again but this time sitting on my bed and looking down on the floor.

As I looked at it, its head began to slowly turn to my face and stared deep into my eyes. I could hear the cracking of bone as it turned its head towards me. I then began to ask it questions like what it was or how did it get in my house, all it did was just stare at me and lift its long finger to point at the music box.

Maybe it was some sort of spirit trapped in the box, maybe it was an angel or a demon trying to give me a sign about the music box, I didn't care. The thing creeps me the hell out and I was doing my best to find a way to get rid of whatever it was trapped inside the box.

Everyday I played that music box, everyday I kept hearing the same song, everyday it comes. And you know what, I think it's moving towards me? Every time I play the music box, it just stands or sits at one part of the room and stares at me, but for each time I play the box it slowly moves inches closer to where I stand.

Thanks to my constant music box playing, I now remember that song, and every time I even think about it I can feel it watching behind my back. It didn't bother me at first but now I cant go one day without feeling that cold chill on my back and feel as though I was being followed and now it's even more closer than before I got the chance to play the music box.

I know what you're thinking, why couldn't I just get rid of it. I tried, and I couldn't. It wasn't because my family status or anything, that didn't matter anymore. It's some sort of a want, a need to play it like an addiction. No matter how much I try, I have to play the music box to hear the song. It was nerve wrecking, I was stuck with this music box and each passing day that thing keeps getting closer and closer.

What did it want, what does it want? Does it want me, my blood, my life? Does it want me to do something? I keep asking what it wants and it keeps giving me the same answer, just pointing at that music box of mine. Maybe it just wants the music box, I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

When it appeared again after I played the music box one more time, it stood over me from like two feet away from my face. It did the same routine it always does, stare at me till the song is over, I didn't care because I knew how to get rid of it. I offered the tall figure the music box and hoped to dear god it takes it. It did, but it wasn't what I hoped for.

Instead of vanishing, she took the music box and began to twist the key over and over again. I watched as this creature twist the key over and over again, more times than I could. I didn't even knew that it could be wound up so much. After feeling like half an hour passed by, it stopped twisting the key and placed it back in my hands as the song continued to play and continued back starring at me.

I didn't understand, I thought I did what it wanted me to do. I gave it the music box and now it wont stop playing! It went on all night and continued in the morning, even when I leave the house I can still hear the ringing of the song play in my head, and now it's even more closer than before.

After a miserable day at school I just flopped onto the couch and just laid there in my torment, listening to that song. That was when my mother arrived and asked me my day was, I told her that ever since I got that music box I kept hearing the song it made over and over again. She told me that the music box haven't worked for over hundreds of years, that it was incapable of making any sort of music.