Writing Prompt: There was a box in the cupboard.

Morning all, ready to start a new day with a new prompt? Fabulous, lets jump in. Timers set and off we go.

I kind of like the unintentional snooping leading to a strange discovery.

Thursday, October 2^nd: There was a box in the cupboard.

There was a box in the cupboard.  Anna knew it was there.  Saw Harold put it there when he thought she wasn’t home.  She also saw him check it when he thought he was alone.  He added to the box mostly, at least when she saw him.  Occasionally, he would take something out. 

She believed everyone had a right to their secrets.  She had hers and she and Harold always had a good relationship, built on trust.  Part of her was certain that he didn’t check on any of her secrets because he thought they weren’t worth checking on.  ‘In the grand scheme of things they probably aren’t.’

Her secrets mostly involved Christmas and birthday presents.  She tended to shop year round so she could get the best items and the best deals as well as spreading the cost of the holidays out throughout the year instead of spending a chunk of cash in one go.  There were always last minute things, which is why she put money aside each month for the Christmas fund. 

The past few years much of that Christmas fund had gone to fund the Thanksgiving feasts.  Not only had food costs risen but more and more dishes were becoming her responsibility.  The others offset their holiday costs by coming to their house.  They brought a bottle of wine or a store bought pie while she made certain to cover the rest.  It meant that getting the gifts throughout the year was essential.  That way she could claim the reused holiday decorations were traditional. 

‘Still have to get rid of those glass ornaments that cat broke.’

Anna shook her head.  That wasn’t the point.  She looked at the bear in front of her.  This was the point right now.  The bear was innocuous enough.  It was just a simple little bear.  It didn’t even belong to her.  Lydia left it.  She brought it with her and accidentally left it behind. 

It was a nanny cam and she had trouble setting it up.  Anna helped her fiddle with it, getting the recording attached to her phone.  That didn’t work and they tried to see if it was just the type of phone Lydia had.  To test it they linked it to Anna’s pone.  That worked and so Lydia ended up calling the company to find out if there was a phone fix for hers to fix the connection.  The bear was put to the side and in the chaos that followed when everyone else arrived it was forgotten.  As were the connections between the bear and Anna’s phone. 

The bear was motion activated and she received the ping of notification a few hours ago.  Curious as to why her phone was pinging as it was not a sound she associated with any of her other apps and notifications, Anna looked.  

She pulled up the video and saw Harold in their kitchen.  She had initially smiled.  Harold was on a self imposed diet as he had a high school reunion coming up and wanted to look fit for it.  She expected he would go to the fridge or the cupboard to sneak a snack.  Given the criticism she faced for adding a dollop of honey to her tea that morning, anything sweet apparently the enemy of his diet plan, she planned to tease him for his snacking before taking the bear back to Lydia.  Instead she saw him take down the box.  After checking he was alone in the house he took the box to the table, opened it and started removing items, laying them out across the table.