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Speaker 1: I've been driving for a food delivery app for a

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little over two years now. Nothing glamorous, just one of

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those apps. So you tap a few buttons, grab a

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paper bag, and drop it off at someone's doorstep. Quick

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money if you don't mind the gas prices and the

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occasional stress induced ulcer. I treated it like a side hustle,

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deliver a few burritos, maybe a Boba tie or two,

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and be home by midnight. But after I got laid

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off from my last real job, it became my main gig.

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The shift never technically ends. You just drive until your

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body gives out while your tank hits empty. Most of

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it's what you'd expect, fighting for decent tips, cursing at

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building numbers that don't exist, or walking up five flights

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of stairs for an order that says leave at the door,

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do not knock in all caps. Some instructions get stranger

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than others. I once had a guy ask me to

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leave a sushi quote in the shadow of the mailbox.

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Someone else left a note that said, if the front

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door opens by itself, just leave the food and walk away.

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Do not acknowledge her. I left that one on the

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welcome mat and didn't even look back. I wasn't about

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to find out if it was a prank or not.

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A lot of us drivers talk. There's an unofficial group

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chat we use. Nothing huge, just a few hundred regulars

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who post about traffic, bad restaurants, and weirdest stuff. The

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app doesn't warn you about loose dogs, fake addresses, customers

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who tried to pay cash and then grab the food

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and bolt. Some drivers even swap screenshots of creepy houses

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or instructions that feel off. Most of us chalk it

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up to trolls or lonely people looking for attention, but

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there are certain addresses that come up in conversation more

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than others once that make everyone go quiet. You learn

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pretty quickly which places the skip and which ones to

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never ask about at all. There's one address that kept

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showing up more than any other. Same house, same street,

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always boosted, always ignored. Every time I opened the app

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late at night, there it was highlighted like some cursed

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loot drop, promising three times the usual payout. Ten bucks

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turned into thirty, thirty into fifty, and still no takers.

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The first time I noticed it, I asked in the

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group chat. I dropped the pin said something like, anyone

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know what's up with this place? A reply came through,

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don't seriously. The message came from a guy named Craig,

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and met him once when we both happened to be

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picking up from the same Chipotle. Nice guy, bit twitchy.

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I remembered him because shortly after I'd seen him there,

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he stopped posting altogether, quit delivery work completely. According to

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someone else in the chat, said the job was frying

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his nerves. I figured he was just burned out. We

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all get there eventually. Then one night it was slow,

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dead slow. My tank was half empty, my wallet even worse.

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Rent was due at the end of the week, and

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I was already rationing breakfast into two day intervals. The

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address popped up again, triple pay, only a few miles

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out clean order. I stared and tapped, except I told myself,

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if Craig did it and lived the tell the tale,

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however cryptic, then so could I. The guy was clearly

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a little paranoid. There's no way that a house that

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is on this app and has been on there for

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as long as it has, is dangerous. You spend enough

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time dropping off food to people who treat you the

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way you would treat a vending machine with legs, and

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it starts to mess with your head. The order came

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from a local burger spot I knew well. I'd picked

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up from there had times before, no issues, Fry's, double cheeseburger,

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large drink. Everything was backed up tight in a stable

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brown bag. I almost didn't think about it again until

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I was walking out the door and one of the

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lion cooks called out behind me. Did someone finally take it?

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The cashier looked at the receipt, then looked at me.

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Be safe, man, he muttered. I delivered to a lot

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of weird places over the years, half finished basements that

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smelled of mold, aves parked ilegally behind gas stations, one

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guy who made me leave a pizza on top of

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a tree stump. But this place felt different. For whatever reason.

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The neighborhood looked like it had be intact on to

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the edge of the city as an afterthought. The road

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was clean and newly paved, but once I turned off it,

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the ashphalt gave way to gravel, then cracked concrete. The

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street signs were faded, barely legible. Every mail box I

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passed looked like it hadn't seen a delivery in years,

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tilted ross streaked, one even dangling by a single screw.

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My GPS stopped giving turn by turns and just dropped

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a pin. No house number, just a blinking blue dot

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and a note that said you've arrived. I slowed the

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car to a crawl and finally spotted it whdged tightly

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between two larger houses, like it had been squeezed in

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after the fact. It was narrow, with pealing siding and

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no numbers on the door or curb. The porch like

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blinked in a lazy, irregular pattern. A set of wind

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chimes hung from the awning above the door, clinging together

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even though the air was completely still. No visible motion inside,

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no shapes behind the curtains. But I had that prickling

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sensation in the back of my neck, the kind you

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get when someone staring at you from a second story window.

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I scanned the house once, then again. The windows were dark,

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the blinds drawn tight. I sat in my car for

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another moment. I'll be lying if I said that all

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those messages in the group chat hadn't done a number

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on me. I was definitely feeling anxious. But I grabbed

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the bag and stepped out into the silence. The instructions

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a blunt and impersonal leave on the porch, Do not knock,

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do not wait for acknowledgment. I had seem worse. I

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set the bag just to the left of the welcome mat,

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careful not to block the door, took the confirmation photo,

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uploaded it, and marked the order as delivered. As I

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turned to leave, I half expected something to happen. But

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nothing did. No creak behind me, or so much as

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a breath, just the wind chimes tapping lightly above my head.

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I walked back to the car, slid into the driver's seat,

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and waited for the payment notification. It came through, clean,

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full fare and tip included more than I expected. Honestly,

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I pulled away, relieved, drove a few blocks, parked near

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a gas station and cracked the window, planning to eat

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something before taking another order. And that's when the appinged

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a new delivery on the same address, triple pay again.

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I hesitated, thumb hovering over the screen. Then I accepted it.

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If I had done it once, I figured I could

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do it again. It wasn't like anything bad had happened.

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The house was weird, yeah, but weird didn't pay rent

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and I was behind. The pick up was fast, one

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neatly packed brown bag. I made sure not to forget anything.

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Checked twice. The receipt was stable to the top of

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the new instructions printed in bold lee. If for the

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back door, do not use front entrance. So I drove back,

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same street, same dying street lights, same wind chimes knocking

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together in the still air. I followed the gravel driveway

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around the side of the house. The grass was knee

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high and busted. Plastic chair laying its side near the

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back porch, half sunken into the ground, making it clear

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that it had been there for years. The back door

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was unpainted and had no handle, just a latch on

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the inside, akin to something from an old cellar. I

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said the back down, gently snapped the photo and hit complete.

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The payment came through almost instantly. Tip included more than

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the last one. I got back in the car and

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drove off. I was getting tired and it was already

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way too late. That night, I went to bed without

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overthinking it, slept harder than I had in weeks. The

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next morning, I rolled over, checked my phone as always

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and opened the app out of habit and the address

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was there again, no driver assigned to it. It had

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already been sitting in queue for twenty minutes, double pay

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this time, no takers, so I took it. The hours

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in that day blurred together real fast. Each time the

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address popped up, I accepted it. Sometimes the pay was higher,

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and sometimes it was the normal amount. Yet still it

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was so easy and uncomp located that I felt like

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I had just struck gold. But the instructions also kept changing.

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Do not ring doorbell, do not make eye contact, place

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food and porch, and step back six feet, use gloves,

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say nothing. I started joking with myself about it. I

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told myself it was some eccentric shut in, maybe an

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older person who didn't trust the outside world. The bags

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were never moved. However, every time I came back, the

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food I'd left earlier was still there, the containers still sealed,

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the receipts still stabled. Some of them had gone soggy

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from the morning dew. I counted eleven bags stacked on

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the front porch, all of them from me. That was

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when something in me shifted, and I started wondering, what

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if the person inside was dead? What if the app

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was just said to auto order schedule meals. Nobody ever canceled.

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What if they had family who didn't check on them.

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What if I'd been delivering to a corpse? The idea

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borrowed into me that night when the order came through.

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I didn't hesitate and didn't really care how much they

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were paying. I had to check if the person inside

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was okay. When I stepped onto the porch and placed

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the bag beside the others, I didn't walk away. I

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reached for the front door as anxiety was trying to

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borrow a hole into my stomach. I knocked three times

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food delivery, I shouted. No answer came, and so I

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decided to take matters into my own and I opened

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the door with a painful groan and stepped inside. The

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door clicked shut behind me the moment I stepped through.

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I didn't even touch it, didn't hear wind or pressure

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or anything that might have caused it. It just closed,

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smooth and silent. Then I heard the dead bolt slide

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into place with a low mechanical clunk. I turned around immediately,

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heart jumping into my throat. I tried the knob nothing,

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it didn't even rattle. I jiggled it harder, then put

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my weight into it to no avail. I also tried

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getting the dead bolt unlocked at least, but I failed

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every time. I tried, are you serious? And muttered, half laughing,

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but with no humor behind it. I pulled out my phone.

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No bars, not a single one. The little spinning circle

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on the screen felt like it was mocking me. Of course, hey,

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I called out, raising my voice, a little hallo food

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delivery silence. You would think every single home would have

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some sort of ambient noise, but this one didn't. Just

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dead air and a deafening silence. I waited for a

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few more seconds, trying to listen out for any movement

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or maybe even some one calling out to me from

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deep inside the house. There was nothing. I didn't want

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to go any farther, but I told myself who was

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probably an old person, someone hard of hearing. Maybe they fell,

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maybe they had a stroke, wherever the case. All I

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wanted to do was leave and call the police or

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the ambulance. So I stepped forward with a full intention

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of getting out as soon as possible. The entryway opened

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into a short hallway carpeted in a faded brown that

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was matted down in uneven patches, like certain spots had

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been stepped on too many times and others not at all.

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The walls were yellowed, maybe from smoke, maybe just time,

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and the air smelled faintly of ammonia laid over something

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harder to name, like meat left out too long in

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warm room. The ceiling looked weird, Strange marks had been

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left in the material. Circular holes dotted the entire surface.

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I took another step, shoes sinking slightly into the carpet.

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The floor creaked beneath eath me, slow and high pitched Hello.

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I tried again. I don't mean to intrude, I just

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your door locked behind me. I reached the end of

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the hallway and leaned slightly to peek into the kitchen.

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Pale tile, mostly clean, a few dark stains near the sink.

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The fridge was humming, and the little green light on

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the microwave was blinking twelve o'clock like it had never

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been set. The place wasn't messy, but it didn't feel

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lived in either. It had the hollow, too quiet energy

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of a model home, something built to look like someone

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was there. I offered there for a second, right at

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the edge of where tyle met carpet, trying to figure

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out what to do next. That's when I heard it,

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A noise from deeper in the house, a sort of

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raspy breathing. I leaned in just enough to get a

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clearer view down the hall that when something moved. It

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wasn't loud, definitely not a crash, but I felt it

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more than heard it. A sudden, fast shift low to

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the floor. I caught just the briefest flicker of pale

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skin sliding out of sight around the corner, like something

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had darted across on all fours. I jerked back instinctively,

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a cold jolt ripping through my chest. My heel slid

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across the linonium, and I nearly went down. I caught

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myself against the wall, palm slapping into the dry wall

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with a dull thud, but I barely noticed. My heart

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was pounding so hard it felt like I choked me.

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For a second, I didn't move, just stood there, frozen

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in place, the air in my lungs too tight to

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let out. Something was here and it wasn't sick, and

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it wasn't human. I started backing toward the front door

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without thinking, each step light, careful, like I didn't want

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the floor to know I was leaving. My eyes stayed

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locked on the hallway. I didn't even blink. The doorknob

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was slick under my hand. I twisted it hard. I

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felt like a kid checking the fridge every five minutes

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to see if anything has changed. I kept tugging and pulling,

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each tug making a sound that pierced the silence. Then

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I heard it agains, but this time it was softer, wetter,

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the steady drag of something moving along the floor. It

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wasn't coming from the hallway anymore. It was coming from

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the kitchen, right behind me. I turned around slowly and

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saw it. It was crouched low behind the kitchen island,

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half shadowed, but close enough now that I could make

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out its shape. The thing was down on all fours,

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bare chalk white skin, stretched tight over a long, rail

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thin frame. Its limbs were too long for its torso,

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and they bowed slightly like they had too many joints.

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Its fingers, if that's what they were, scraped along the

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floor in slow, deliberate arcs, each tipped with yellowed, cracked

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nails that curved like splinters. Its head moved slowly swaying

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side to side like it was sniffing. But it had

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no nose, no eyes, just the sunken face with a slack,

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wet mouth, hung wide open, as if it had been

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caught mid scream and then forgotten how to close it.

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I froze for half a second, maybe less. It didn't

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lunge or make any aggressive gestures. It just inch forward

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with that same awful calm, dragging its body across the tile,

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with a sound like wet towels sliding through broken glass.

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It was close enough to reach me if I hesitated.

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I didn't. I sprinted, angled my shoulder and drove straight

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into the kitchen window with everything I had. But it

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didn't give. It cracked, spied a webbing beneath the impact,

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but held my arm folded wrong, pain shooting through it

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like an electric wire. I dropped hard, the breath knocked

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out of me, my back slamming against the cabinet with

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a dull, wooden bang. I gasped for air, vision swimming,

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and when I looked up, it was already there. The

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thing was crawling toward me fast, now, fast than it

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had any right to move. Its limbs clacked against the tile,

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one of Its arms flailed blindly, catching the helm of

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my jacket. The sound it made, somewhere between a gurgle

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and a rattle, was directed at me. It didn't just

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want to hurt me. He wanted to feed. Nobody had

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stepped foot in this house for god knows how long,

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and I was the first one it had seen. I

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kicked hard, my boot connecting with his chest. His skin

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felt soft, almost spongy, but underneath was something solid. The

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thing recoiled slightly but didn't stop. Its hand lashed out again,

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skimming my knee, this time, nails grazing skin. I felt warmth,

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but I didn't check. I pushed myself up with a grunt,

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got my hands under me, and searched forward with everything

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I had. I slammed into it, head on my weight,

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driving into its chest, and for a moment I thought

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it might hold its ground. Its limbs curled around me

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like cables, one of them wrapped around my forearm, pulling tight.

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Adrenaline surged through me as I pulled against it with

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everything I had. My elbow smashed into what passed for

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its neck once twice until it let go just enough

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for me to shove its sideways. It crumbled onto the floor,

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limp tangling beneath it like a sack of broken sticks.

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Still running on whatever adrenaline I hadn't burned out in

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the scuffle, I doubled back toward the window. The crack

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I'd made earlier was still there, spidered across the glass

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like a frozen explosion. This time, I didn't brace myself.

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I didn't aim. I threw my whole body into it.

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The glass gave with a sharp, staccato burst. It came

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apart all at once, not with a clean break, but

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in a thousand small shards that cut through my sleeves,

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my forearms, the side of my neck. I didn't feel

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it right away, just the sensation of air hitting exposed

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skin as I spilled through the frame and landed hard

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in the patchy, uneven grass outside. The fall knocked the

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wind out of me again, but I scrambled to my

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feet without thinking. Blood was running down my arms in thin,

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erratic lines, and my shirt stuck wet against my ribs.

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But I didn't stop. I didn't check behind me. I

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just ran. I don't remember the drive home, not really,

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just fragments, my hands slipping on the wheel from blood,

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the street lights looked brighter than the sun as I

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drove in the daze. By the time I made it

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back home, my hands were shaking so badly I could

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barely open the first aid kit under the sink. I

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tore it apart, trying to find gauze, tape, anything to

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make the bleeding slow down. I didn't try to explain

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it to myself, not anymore. I wasn't going to sit

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there and rationalize what I saw, what it tried to do.

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I called the police, not nine one one, just the

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local station. I told them I delivered to a house

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and found someone inside, maybe someone dangerous, I said. I

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thought they might be breaking or someone in need of

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medical help. I didn't know what I was saying. I

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just needed someone else to go there. They sent a car.

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I waited by my phone for over an hour, hands

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bandaged in layers of gauze and paper towels. When the

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call came, the officer sounded annoyed. He told me the

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resident was an elderly woman lived alone. The cop asked

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me if this was some sort of internet trend. This

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house has been called in for things for months now,

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yet the police never find anything. He asked me why

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I felt the need to make a false report. Warned

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me that filing again without cause could result in charges.

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Suggested maybe I was overworked. I didn't argue. I just apologized,

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hung up, and sat there in the dark. The next morning,

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I did what I always did. I opened the app

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and there it was. Same address, no number, just the pin,

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same block behind the strip mall, same flickering porch light.

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In the preview photo, triple pay order waiting to be

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picked up.