Return to Sender

The morning begins like every morning does, predetermined not by fate or some cosmic purpose, but by routine in everyone’s duties around the group home. The rising sun sneaks through the stale white blinds illuminating the center of the cool tile floor. I look over to my bunkmate, Sean, sprawled out over his small bed. The grey morbid covers partially covering him from the waist down and his gaping mouth swallowing the air like it was his last breath with an obnoxious snore. I turn on my back pulling my scratchy covers to my chest and look up at the rough texture of the ceiling. I sigh wondering is this really it?

I’m seventeen and bounced around foster homes my entire life. Temporary families and homes are all I know. A loud knock repeatedly strikes three times and the attendant for the home shouts through the door, “Sean! James! Rise and shine you two are on kitchen duty this morning!” I watch Sean roll off his bed in a panic and I smirk, shaking my head in disbelief at how clumsy he is. Sean has this dazed expression on his chubby face. His greasy brown hair is pressed up from the back. “Dude. You have serious Alfalfa hair going on,” I say as I sit up from my bunk. Sean clicks his tongue trying to rid the dry stale sensation he feels against his gums then asks, “Alfalfa?”

I answer, “Yeah from The Little Rascals.” I stand and make my way past Sean to my dresser. He bites his bottom lip reflecting on my reference. The wheels take a little while to turn inside that head of his until his small beady eyes gleam and he answers, “I love that movie!” He pushes himself up from the ground and then continues, “I still don’t know what you mean though?” I sigh as I grab my kitchen uniform from the drawer and lay it on my bed then say, “Your hair man. It’s sticking up in the back like Alfalfa from the movie.” Sean pats his head then shrugs.

I make my way to the bathroom down the hall with my toothbrush in hand. Sean rushes to catch up. His nubby fingers struggle to button up his kitchen uniform while he runs. I hear his heavy feet trail after me but I refuse to look over my shoulder with hopes Sean would just leave me alone. “James, wait up!” he shouts. “What is it now Sean?” I ask. He walks alongside me then answers, “Nothing. I just thought since you and I are on kitchen duty this morning we could leave together.” Sean then looks at me sternly. I’m still in my gym shorts and tank top. He then asks, “Aren’t you forgetting to wear your kitchen clothes?” I let out a huge sigh thinking about how tired I am to deal with Sean and his high energy. I answer in one word, “Nope.”

He stops dead in his tracks as I enter the bathroom. His voice echoes from the hall, “Shit, I left my toothbrush and comb in the room.” I hear his heavy footsteps trail away. There’s thick warm moisture floating around the men’s room as the showers hiss in the distance. I take my place to the closest sink wiping the steam from the mirror. A slender figure looks back at me. His dark hair is short and neat. His facial features are narrow and sharp, but those grey eyes peering back at me were lifeless. I felt like the walking dead, alive but not really living as I lazily brush my teeth and style my hair.

I return to the room and I notice this strange package wrapped in brown paper with rope twine sitting next to my clothes. My heart sinks ominously and I feel this fear kickstart the adrenaline rush throughout my body. I toss the package aside and begin to dress myself. My ears start to ring loudly and from my eyes to the ridges of my brain I feel this vibration. I want this sensation to end. This mysterious box drawing me in with magnetic force. I untie the bow and unwrap the packaging only to find an empty box. There’s nothing there, at least not to the naked eye but I feel this cold presence pass through me and leave. I shrug and make my way to the kitchen.

The flimsy aluminum doors open and immediately Sean greets me. “Hey James! Looks like you and I are serving today.” He tosses me an apron and signals me to follow as we weave in and out of the staff preparing breakfast. I trail after him taking my place to the front of the cafeteria as a line of hungry residents flow through. We spoon servings onto their trays. “So Sean,” I say reluctantly. “What’s up?” he replies. I make eye contact trying to see if there were any secrets locked away as I pry further, “Did you put that package on my bed as a joke or something?” Sean’s brow tenses as he thinks deeply then says, “No. What package?” I shake my head frustrated with the mystery. Looking at Sean now, it was obvious he wasn’t the culprit.

All of a sudden my thoughts were interrupted by one of the residents. I think his name was Geoff. He’s our neighbor but he tends to just stay to himself. He has dark circles under his eyes with a restless expression like something was leeching off of him. My ears begin to ring again and the vibration pulses loudly through my skull. Sean serves him eggs and sausage then Geoff moves on. I’m frozen in panic sensing something dark latching onto this man. I feel hungry eyes fixated on me from an unseen presence. “James!” Sean shouts. The ringing stops but my hands are trembling violently. I’ve never felt this kind of terror before. “Are you okay?” Sean asks. “Yeah I’m fine,” I reply as I watch the man walk away.

We finish cleaning up the pans and we make our way to the breakroom. As Sean and I walk in I stop abruptly to see the package once again sitting on the table. Only this time there is a stranger standing over it. I look over my shoulder at Sean and he is frozen in time. I turn my gaze back to the stranger and he is inches away from my face. I jump back and he smiles with a sinister grin. He is dressed in a black and red tuxedo. His hair is wild and long and I swear fire is burning in the back of his pupils. My fight or flight instincts kick in and I turn around to run but there he is again blocking my exit. The stranger says, “James is it?” His voice is smooth and low. My heart stops and I can’t breathe. I step back until I bump up against the table in the center of the breakroom. “What do you want?” I ask. The stranger laughs then walks closer to me and wraps his arm around Sean, still suspended in time.“You opened a package that wasn’t meant for you James,” he says, “You let something out that shouldn’t be here.” I responded, “There was nothing there, just an old package that was poorly wrapped.”

The stranger rubs the folds of his sleeves and pulls his tuxedo jacket forward then says, “Oh James you felt something there didn’t you? The crushing weight in your chest to the cold terror stirring behind your senses making the hairs on the back of your neck stand with chills.” His words force me to relive the sensation. Something was there. The stranger continues, “Now you need to use that box behind you to retrieve that entity for me. Don’t worry it’s harmless as long as you take that package behind you and present it to this figure. The box will do the rest. After that wrapp it back up and tie it with the twine then write on it, return to sender, and leave it on your dresser. ” “And if I don't?” I ask. The stranger adds, “Something bad is going to happen tonight unless you do as I say.”

I filled Sean in on all the details later that night in our room. I told him of that stranger that vanished before handing me this mysterious box wrapped in brown paper that now rests on my desk along with the warning he gave me. I swear I could have been making the whole thing up and he’d still believe me. “That is so crazy James, seriously this stranger froze me in time and I didn’t even know it?” Sean asks. “I’m more concerned with his warning,” I add. Suddenly the power goes off and we’re left sitting in the dark. The wrapped box begins vibrating and my ears ring uncontrollably. Sean scurrys around the room searching for a flashlight among his things. All of sudden a loud shriek of something inhuman fills the halls. Sean clicks the switch of the flashlight and I can see the color melt from his face as I signal him to be silent and we make our way to the door.

The halls are empty and dark except for the red exit signs dimly lighting the narrow corridor. I’m surprised no one is peeking out of their room to inspect the sound, but something is off. “James,” Sean whispers as he looks through each door, “Everyone is still asleep.” As I walk into our neighbors room, Geoff is comatose. Even when Sean tries to shake him awake he doesn’t budge. “Damn where’s the super attendant?” I ask.

Suddenly a cold shadow passes by the doorway and my ears are ringing again. I feel the box vibrating violently. My hands are shaking and I can barely open the damn thing. Sean grabs my shoulders and I jolt headbutting his nose in terror. The force sends him to the ground and he screams, “James!” I took my eyes off of the doorway and looked at him on the ground holding the flashlight, but what really sent shivers down my spine was him looking over my shoulder at something behind me. I feel cold prickly hands slide up my back and I’m paralayzed. The flashlight goes out and we are alone in the dark with the thing in the room. I hear deep wheezing breaths and feel it tickle the back of my neck.

I slowly turn around to face the figure. It’s the outline of a tall slender figure. It’s arms and legs are too long for its body. Its fingers are cold and claw like. It gives me a wide wicked smile before its hands wrap around my neck. I feel life being drained from my body and I start to lose consciousness. I fight to hold up this small box and it shrieks in terror then tries to make a break for the door. The little package absorbs him like a vacuum. Sean grabs the lid of the box and rushes over to close it as we stand there and seal it. The lights turn on and everyone wakes from their slumber. Geoff gasps for breath and nearly gives both of us a heart attack when he shouts at us, “What the hell are you two doing in my room!” We were both speechless and sprinted off.

The halls are filled with life and movement as we make our way back. I immediately followed the stranger's instructions and wrote return to sender and set the package on my dresser. The whole night we stared at the package expecting the worst until we passed out. The next morning it was gone like nothing had ever happened. To this day Sean and I have no clue where it came from or where it went.

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