Horizon: File 006 (The Box)

BEGIN REPORT

FILE 006: THE BOX

Sometimes it's easier to camp out in more public spaces, and sometimes it's better to remain totally off the grid. Right now I'm in a Premier Inn just north of Sheffield. It's a Wednesday evening in the middle of November. It's cold and I'm watching repeats of 'The Chase' on Challenge TV. Oh, and the coffee is pretty crap as well. Still, it's got a bed and is as safe as anywhere else at the moment.

So, the box that I found in Bunker X087G/22... 

It was an ordinary, creamy-brown coloured, padlocked box. A little rusty perhaps, but pretty sturdy. I'd had a quick search around the debris inside the bunker but had found no evidence of a key. Who leaves a box for someone to find and forgets to leave the key? Idiots.

Regardless, I grabbed the box and made my way as quickly as possible out of the bunker and back along the trail to the car. Darkness descended during my journey, but the pathway was clear enough for me to follow. I don't scare easily either. I might not look at but I'm a pretty tough cookie. People always used to underestimate me at school. After all, I was five-foot nothing, blonde with big green eyes and barely any weight behind me. But I was determined. When all the kids at school had been spooked the night we slept in the old sports hall, I was the only one left standing after they'd all fled. I was the one who faced down the fox that had squeezed itself in through an open window. I'd lost my parents at an early age and was brought up by my sister. I had learned to look after myself. So I wasn't going to let spooky old Viking Wood get to me.

I was still living at home when I'd visited the woods. I never for the life of me thought I'd ever be in any danger. So I returned back home at gone midnight and proceeded to try and pick the lock. I don't know what I was hoping to achieve. I've never picked a lock in my life! Instead I headed to Jeff's next door and borrowed his bolt croppers. It only took a couple of minutes to get inside.

And then I lifted the lid...

I'm not sure if I felt disappointment or confusion at the time. Probably a mixture of both. All that sat in the box was a dusty old, E180 VHS video cassette. Nothing special. It wasn't even in a case and it had been rewound to the beginning. I've attached a photo for those of you too young to remember them (and I'm not old by the way. Thirty-three isn't old, kids!)

The video had no label on the top. Nothing. And the tab that allows videos to be recorded over had been snapped off. But on the side label, written in faded black, felt-tip pen letters was:

"CASE 8760: INTERIOR (23/06/1993)"

I had a number of thoughts. Firstly, how was I going to play the video? I had no VHS player. Jeff would probably have one. Secondly, who the hell had left it at the bunker for me - or someone else - to find? And thirdly, what the hell?! Case 8760? Was that the amount of cases they had dealt with up until 23rd June 1993? I'm assuming that was a date.

I swallowed hard as I picked up the video tape, and then I realised something was taped to the bottom of it. It was a piece of paper. It was a letter.

And part of me wishes I'd never read that letter...

Okay. Something strange is going on. The lights are flickering and Bradley Walsh has just frozen mid-question on 'The Chase'. I'd just got bloody comfy as well. Off I go again. Back soon!

END REPORT

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