Roger's Box, Episode 3

Shane Arthur of Creative Copy Challenge has inspired me to stick to writing a series from his word challenges for each of his posts instead of writing a bunch of different stories. So here's a new entry for today's challenge. We learn more about Roger's dealings with the box, but still nothing of the box itself. Hope you guys enjoy!

Roger and Katie arrived half an hour late to the black-tie party. There was a woman playing a piano on a raised. The music she played didn't matter to Roger, though. He couldn't get his mind off his toy in the closet.

"That stupid mechanical box," he thought to himself. "Why did I go through all of the trouble to steal it from NefariCorps? I could have waited several months, but that one..." His box was the archetype. The first of many. And he wanted it all for myself.

He wanted to get it off his mind. He tugged at Katie's sleeve. "Hey, I'm going to get a cocktail of some sort. You want anything?"

"Some Merlot if they have any."

"Ok. I'll be right back," said Roger as he turned around. He took a step and looked over his shoulder. "Go and mingle with the crowd. You deserve it." And he was off.

After ten minutes, with a glass of Merlot in one hand and a rum and cola in the other, Roger found Katie chatting with several colleagues about the project she had been overseeing for the last three month.

"Everybody, this is Roger. He's one of the employees on my team. And he's also the reason why we were late." She reached for her glass of wine. "But I see he found me some Merlot. That's forgivable then."

Roger waved to everybody and took a sip of his cocktail. Coincidently, that is the same moment his senses began to slide. After a few more sips Roger glanced over his shoulders with a confused look on his face.

"Hey buddy, what's going on?" asked one of Katie's friends.

He shook the confusion away. "Nothing. Just thought I heard a pinprick from behind me somewhere."

"How could you hear that? It's so loud in here with all of the ruckus from the crowd and music from the piano," said Katie, who was starting her friend was lapsing again.

"I really don't know. I just heard it so I looked." Roger was getting a little nervous, so he decided to change the topic. "When are they going to cut the ribbon?"

"In about an hour," answered Katie's colleague. "Except I don't know what they're doing it for. Last I heard was that the prototype went missing. I still don't know if they've caught the villain."

Another colleague jumped in, "I didn't know it went missing. But I heard they were still going on with the unveiling tonight. I suppose they quickly assembled another one."

Roger looked over his shoulder again. He knew he could smell it. Its scent was too strong. They did make another. He smiled and looked at his watch. It was eight in the evening. If he was going to get his toy a new friend, he would have to do it before nine. He looked back up with a smile on his face.