The trunk

We found a time capsule dated 1975 but the items inside were from 2025. My brother and I started our adventure on a drive to Pennsylvania. We had our metal detectors and shovel in the back of the pickup truck. Our destination was a large field in the middle of nowhere. We grabbed our gear and started detecting. The metal detectors would make faint beeps finding coins and nails nothing worthwhile. Two hours into our adventure we decided to head for home. Keeping our metal detectors low to the ground. Suddenly the detectors made a loud constant beep. We got our shovels and started digging. About three feet down my shovel hits something hard. Tap, Tap It sounds as if it is something made of metal, we dust off the dirt. To our amazement we find a medium sized trunk. We finish digging around the trunk, so we are able to hoist the trunk out of the hole. Excitement sets in. It is a leather trunk with thick straps and rivets with a heavy padlock. On the side is a plastic bag containing a piece of folded paper. We carry the trunk to the pickup truck, cover it with a blanket and put it in the back with our gear and head home. Our minds racing with all kinds of ideas. What could be inside? Jewels, or old coins. A pirate's bounty. We finally make it back home. I pull the truck up to the backyard patio. My brother and I pull the trunk out of the pickup and lower it on the patio. We open the plastic bag, carefully take out the paper. I read it aloud. This is a time capsule from the year 1975. Be careful what you wish for. Curious and mystified I look at the padlock. I need to find something to pry this open. I head to the shed, finding a crowbar, wire cutters and a hammer. I hand my brother the crowbar and wire cutters. I take the hammer and pound the padlock. Not hard enough I try again. My sister hears all the ruckus coming from the backyard. What do we have here? I tell her our story. She says step aside. She pulls out a bobby pin from her hair puts it into the padlock wiggles it and viola the padlock is opened. Jumping up and down with excitement. Kudos to you sis! They all lift the heavy lid of the trunk. They find an iPhone, laptop computer, Alexa, a small drone, smart glasses a virtual reality headset A 3dprinter, newspaper from the year 2025. How can this be? Scratching his head It's only the year 1982.The mystery thickens. They dig deeper into the trunk to find a box with a note that says open at your own risk. If I were you, I would not open it. Curious as they are, they open the box anyway disregarding what was written on the note. They find a jar. I unscrew the lid; a large puff of smoke escapes the jar. It comes towards me and enters my body through my nose. I cough extensively. I felt my blood pressure rising, my heart pounding. I feel like I am turning into a monster. Something that possess evil, bigotry, greed, deceit, gluttony, envy, pride, chaos, idiocy, narcissistic tendencies, incompetence and lust. My brother and sister look at me horrified. As I grow 20 years older in less than 2 minutes. I put on weight. I've changed right before their eyes. All of the world's evils have escaped and entered my body. Oh the insanity. Horrible, horrible things flew into my body. I realize now, I am turning into a very bad politician, that could well be on my way to be President of the United States of America. The world is doomed. I yelled in agony. I screwed the lid on tight and as fast as I could. How stupid of me. I never should have opened the jar. Now I am paying the consequences. There were still little puffs of smoke left in the jar that did not escape. Confidence, goodness, moral values and the concept of hope. Ever since that day we have been able to hold onto these four components to secure the future of humanity. We will never lose these.