The Package on the Porch

James woke up this morning and went to the kitchen for his morning coffee. He took his coffee to the front porch to grab the newspaper and sit and relax in the cool morning air. When James opened the door, he found a suspicious looking brown package on the steps. He placed his coffee on the table by his chair and went down to grab the package. When he touched it, his mind raced off to some place deep in the gutters of the city. He let go and could not believe what had just happened.

He was not a believer in the supernatural but that one scared him in a way he had never been scared before. He left the box there and went into the house to get ready to go. He thought about how he could get that box to his car without touching it. He just had to show somebody else. He was walking back to the front door when his neighbor Tom showed up and bent down to grab the box. James yelled to him telling not to touch it. Tom said, “Just let me bring it up to you”. Tom grabbed the box and he and the box disappeared. Just a second or two passed and he was right there, falling back off the steps sweating profusely.

James asked Tom what was wrong. Tom could not even speak; he just walked off to his house. Now James decides to go ahead and pick it up and try to hold onto it to see what would happen. He reached down and grabbed the box and he was off. He found himself in the worst place imaginable, his own house. Something was different though. James saw someone in his kitchen. He called to them but they did not answer. He could not tell who it was for sure, but it looked like his Mother. He went closer to her to try to get her attention. When he got to the doorway of the kitchen, she was gone.

He tries to tell himself he had to get out, he needed to let go of the box. His mind would not allow him to release it. James thought maybe he had to go back to the porch to be able to let go, you know same place, same time kind of thing. As he approached the front door he heard a noise behind him. He turned to look and saw that woman in his kitchen again. This time her hair was grayer and her dress was tattered. He wanted to go back in to see who it really was standing there but he also wanted to let go of that box. He reached the front door and when he tried to open the door, the brown paper the box was wrapped in tore a little.

James forgot what he was doing and just stared at the hole in the brown paper. The box seemed to be made of light. There seemed to be a bright light coming from under the paper. James did not know whether to open it or just throw the box down. His finger just, on its own, went into the hole in the paper. As his finger crossed through the paper, his entire body was sucked into the box. He landed in the alley that he saw the first time he touched the box. He could see a strange looking figure walking towards him. Is it, could it be? It looked just like the woman that was standing in his kitchen.

As the woman got closer, he began to get very nervous. His hands and legs began to tremble. He could not focus any more. The closer the woman got, the harder it was to focus. James tried to back away but it was like his feet were stuck in cement shoes. His feet were so heavy he could hardly pick them up. He looked down to see and what he saw scared him even more. His feet were sinking into the pavement. The woman was no more than 10 feet away now. Who is it? What does she want?

James got so frightened that he passed out. When he woke up, he was lying on the ground at the bottom of his steps the package setting in the same place it was before. He was so scared and confused about what just happened. He wanted to tell someone but no one would believe him. Wait Tom knows. He went to Tom’s house to talk to him and ask if the same thing happened to him but it seemed as though Tom had moved. The house was empty. James went back to his house and when he got inside he saw something in the kitchen. He called out but no one answered.

He thought about what had just happened and prayed it did not come true. He slowly made his way to the kitchen and when he got to the doorway, he saw her. It was his mother. She turned and saw him and dropped her plate on the floor and screamed. James asked her what was wrong and she said you have been dead for two years. He was really confuse and told her the story of the brown paper wrapped box on the front step. She said there was a rumor that a neighbor was killed and they found a package like that on his porch.

James said no it is still here. Let me show you. He ran to the porch to look at the package. He wanted his mother to see the package he was telling her about. He said, see right here, this is the package I was telling you about. When he looked at the top of the package to see who it was addressed to, it was addressed to “Resident”. He was confused and looked up at his mother only to see the figure from the alley and he could not move. Once again fear set in and he passed out. He awoke again in front of his house with his neighbor Tom standing beside him. Tom asked if he was okay. You haven’t answered my question. James just dropped the box and ran into his house trembling in fear.