The Package

The doorbell rang with insistence, making Hannah open her eyes. She was on a lunch break and wanted to take a quick nap before going back to work again. She was lying down on the sofa and had removed her shoes and raised her legs up onto the sofa and closed her eyes.

But when the doorbell rang, she got up and angrily made her way to the front door with one intention-to scold the person who had deliberately robbed the sleep out of her eyes. The minute she opened the door, she found, much to her surprise, that it was the postman.

“Jeremy, don’t they teach you how to ring doorbells, politely?” She said, wondering why Jeremy, of all persons, would be the one to deprive her of sleep.

“And what does that mean, Hannah?”

”It simply means, don’t burn my doorbell down.”

”Oh, I never knew your doorbell was that sensitive.” He said, smiling. Hannah looked at him and shook her head.

“Well, come on in, Jeremy.” She opened the door wide, so he could come in. The minute he entered, she closed the door and headed straight towards the kitchen. “Want something to drink, Jeremy? Coffee, water, a beer?” She said, as he followed behind her.

“Whatever, but I’ve still got mail to deliver.”

”So your options are limited, right?”

“Sort of.”

“Then a glass of water will do.” Hannah handed him a glass of water and watched as he gulped it down. She then took the glass from him and placed it in the kitchen sink. “So, Jeremy, what brings you to my doorstep?” Jeremy pulled out a package from his bag and gave it to her.

“All yours, Hannah.” He smiled at her and then winked. Hannah quickly noticed the wink and holding the package, shook it. She tried to imagine what was in it. The package had no name on it, only an alphanumerical code.

“Any idea what’s inside, Jeremy?”

”I only do deliveries, nothing more.”

”Sure. so do you also deliver winks?” Jeremy picked up his bag and sighed, as he headed for the front door.

“Hannah, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

“Winking at me wasn’t a good idea, was it?” Jeremy smiled and winked at her again.

“Have fun, Hannah. I have work to do.” He kept smiling as he left, leaving Hannah wondering what was actually inside the package to make him smile and wink at her. She went into the living room and sat down on the leather sofa, and kept shaking the package.

Curious to know what was inside the package, she tried to open it but instantly received a phone call with instructions to take the package to an established location. It was an order which to Hannah meant, that someone already knew what was inside the package.

The minute the call ended, the front door opened and her boyfriend, Barry, walked in. Eager to know if he was expecting a package, she held it up for him to see. The minute he closed the front door and saw the package, he like Jeremy, smiled.

"Did Jeremy wink at you?" He said. Hannah’s eyes shot out a surprised look.

"Gosh, Barry, what are you guys up to?" Barry ignored her as he made his way towards the living room. Hannah, followed behind while calling out his name several times, even though he kept ignoring her. "Barry, don't walk away from me like that ever again, okay?!” She howled. Barry sat down and took a deep breath before he began talking to her.

"Don't ask questions, Hannah. Just do as you’re told." Hannah terrified by that statement asks,

"Barry, what is going on?"

"I can't tell you anything. You received a phone call, right? Now be a good girl and do as you were told. Take the package and go to the location." Hannah felt a cold shiver all over her body, hearing Barry talk like that to her.

He sounded too suspicious to her, and looking at him, she realized that he was completely relaxed about the whole issue. She began gasping for breath like someone with asthma. But she wasn't asthmatic.

The only difficulty she was having right now, was trying to understand how her boyfriend knew she had received a phone call and what instructions were given. She angrily threw the package at him and picked up her purse and headed for the front door.

“Hannah, make sure you do as you are told.“ Barry took the package and walked up to the door and held it out for her to take it from him. With one hand clutching the door handle, Hannah stared at the package and then gave Barry a strong, annoying stare.

“Since you know too much Barry, why don’t you deliver it yourself?”

”Hannah, the order to deliver it was for you, not me. So I suggest…”

”And what will happen if I don’t deliver it? Sorry, Barry, but tell your employers or whoever you work for that Hannah can’t condescend so low.”

With that, Hannah left the house slamming the front door. She was going back to work worried and restless and hoped that, she could do her job well and not make mistakes. Once she got to work and went straight to her desk, she sat down with mixed feelings about her refusal to deliver the package.

I could have gone to deliver the package and save myself a lot of trouble. She thought. To her, leaving the package with her boyfriend, turned out to be a terrible mistake.

“Oh, Hannah, come over to my office right away.” Hannah raised her head up in time to see her boss, Catherine Delgado, calling her. She never liked that woman of a boss. Catherine was CEO of Delgado Consultants, a company she founded with her ex-husband.

Then after a messy divorce, she took over total control of the consultancy business. When Hannah took up employment at the company, she immediately had a feeling that she wouldn’t get along quite well with Catherine. And she was right because they often clashed over work-related issues.

Hannah knew that Catherine felt challenged because Hannah was very outspoken. On quite a few occasions, when they argued and it seemed to get out of control, Catherine would tell Hannah that she would fire her.

This made Hannah quite hesitant to go into her office whenever Catherine needed her attention. With much reluctance, however, she got up and went to see her boss.

“Come on in, Hannah?” Hannah entered her boss's office and was awestruck by how well it was furnished. She looked around and noticed that the furnishing had recently been changed. Catherine observed her as she looked around, and smiled.

“Do you like it, Hannah?”

“Quite interesting.”

“Everyone in the office likes it. I mean, it’s exactly what I wanted cos it seems to make everyone happier when they come to see me.”

”Oh, I thought there might be objections.” Hannah said, considering how expensive the whole job of furnishing the office may have cost.

“As a matter of fact, I haven’t received any objections, yet. But perhaps you’re the first one to raise an objection, right?” She walked up to Hannah and gave her an unpleasant stare.

“Oh, I mean no. Well, I mean, considering it’s high-end, I think that’s a lot of money…”

”Spent? Is that what you were going to say?” Hannah slowly nodded, without wanting to imply that her boss was spending the company’s budget on unnecessary luxury. But Catherine quickly got the message. “Anyway, that’s not why I called you. Sit down.”

Hannah sat down, feeling bad about the comment she made. She was hoping that Catherine would forgive her for this and not use it as a pretense to terminate her contract. She was too scared of losing her job, especially now that she had started seeing a different side of her boyfriend’s character.

Catherine smiled at Hannah in a way that was captivating. It was a smile that to Hannah was full of hope and encouragement, something that she really needed. Except she frowned when Catherine pulled out a package and placed it on top of the desk. Seeing the package made Hannah shift uncomfortably in her chair.

“Hannah, I want you to make a simple delivery. All you have to do is take this package to a designated location. When you get there, someone will pick it up, and you can come back and continue work. Now I'm sure you're not too busy right now, are you?”

Hannah stared at the package in disbelief, wondering how her boss got into possession of it. She examined it thoroughly from where she was sitting, and thought that perhaps, it was the same package that Jeremy, the postman, had delivered to her.

Her confusion was great as she sat there staring at the package. She felt like someone was after her and was encircling her. But who, and what do they want from me? She thought. If they had brought the package to her house and now to her office, then surely they knew her every move.

As she looked at the package, she slowly shook her head. She wasn’t going to deliver it and she made her decision known to Catherine.

“Sorry, but I have quite a lot of work at the moment.” She got up ready to head back to her desk when Catherine asked,

“Is that a no?” Hannah pondered the question carefully because she knew that any contrary answer was like self-crucifixion, the consequences being that Catherine would fire her. To hell! Do I even care if you fire me? She thought.

“That's a no, Mrs. Delgado.” She said, boldly. Catherine got up and walked her up to the door and opened it for her.

“Good, then in that case I'll just have to find someone else to deliver it.”

She smiled at Hannah who simply left her office and went back to her desk, worried and unsure about her future on the job. But she had already resigned herself to thinking that her boss would one day fire her. In order to avoid surprises, she called up the company that she had previously called prior to getting her current job

“Hi, do you remember me? My name is Hannah and some time ago I applied for a job position. Is it still available?”

“Oh, you’re that Hannah girl that works for Catherine Delgado, right?”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well sorry, but we can't employ you.”

“Why not?” She said, filled with surprise.

“Uhm, we were keen on employing you so we asked your boss about you. And believe me, that woman tore you apart!”

Hannah by now was so enraged with her boss. She knew that Catherine had been planning to fire her. But she never thought that she would ruin her chances of getting another job. She ended the call and angrily went into her boss's office.

“Mrs. Delgado, what the hell did you do?” She went and pulled Catherine out of her chair and pushed her against the wall and took a paper cutter and pressed it against her face. “Catherine tell me what did I ever do to you?”

“Hannah, I haven't done anything that I can’t explain. We just need to talk, okay?”

“No, we've got nothing to talk about. Stay the fuck away from my life before I do the unthinkable, okay?” In desperation, Catherine nodded.

“Fine, but you’re making a big mistake.” Hannah let go of her boss and walked out of her office slamming the door hard. She was furious and angry and in her anger packed her belongings and fired herself.

She went home like a disfigured person, without much hope for the future. But she was hoping that in the shortest possible time, she would find another job. Then two weeks later she had a life-changing phone call. As it turned out, she was being given a second chance to put her life back together again. Except, it was the company that had told her they couldn’t employ her.

“Hey, Hannah, good news. We’ve accepted your job application and want you to come work with us if that would be okay with you.” Hannah thought this must have been a mistake and wanted to cut the call. But she needed a job to get by, and so she agreed. After all, she wasn’t working for Catherine Delgado anymore. This was going to be a new environment with a new boss.

“Thanks, Hannah you can come over for details of your job position.” Hannah thanked the staff and hurriedly went to the company and presented herself at the reception. She told the receptionist that she had a job appointment and wanted to see the manager.

“Just hang on a minute let me call the manager.” Hannah looked around the reception hall to distract herself before the receptionist told her that the manager wanted to see her.

“Just go straight, towards the end of the corridor, you’ll see a door with the words, Clearance written boldly on it. Knock and wait for someone to open the door for you.” Hannah made her way to the end of the corridor where she saw the door with the words, Clearance written on it. She knocked and waited. A few seconds later the door opened and a man with a broad smile welcomed her in.

“Come on in Hannah, I’ve been waiting for you. My name’s Mike.” Hannah greeted him with a smile as he led her into his office. Once inside and they sat down. Mike brought out a package and when Hannah saw it, she lost her enthusiasm for the job.

“Hannah, our job here is to deliver packages, and we are so delighted to have you on board. Catherine recommended you.”

What the hell is going on? She thought. Then her phone beeped to the sound of an incoming message. She brought out her phone and opened the message. Her eye widened tremendously the minute she read it. It was Catherine.

“I know about your past, Hannah, and I have the information right in front of me.” Hannah was shocked after reading the message and looked up at Mike.

"Everything okay, Hannah?" He said smiling. Hannah simply stared at him for a few seconds more, and then looked at the package which was next to him, unsure of what to do next.