The Priority Box

I grab my phone. I open the camera app. I flip the camera to capture my face on the screen. I press the recording button. I observe the features of my face. I look worried, concerned, and even scared. I have my brown hair tied on a ponytail. My brown eyes are red with the lack of sleep. My caramel color skin seems pale with all that has been going on. I take a few deep breaths to calm my nerves before recording my story.

“Hello. To whomever is watching this video my name is Emily Carter. I’m about to do something that I might regret... So much has been going on that I feel like I don’t even know what to say. I guess… I should start from the beginning.”

“Three days ago, a package was delivered to my doorstep by drone. Now a days we get our mail from Drone Express, the future of mail delivery. Our society has no need for the traditional postal workers. Everything is controlled by artificial intelligence. In normal circumstances I would say this system is way better. The mail arrives a lot sooner and there is no chance for the mail to get lost. But with what has been going on, I’m not so sure anymore.”

“When the package arrived, it looked like a normal shipping box. I would say the dimensions of the box was 11x6x6. At the time of its arrival, I didn’t think much about it. Just like any other box, I brought it inside the house, I got a knife to cut the tape open. While I was opening the box, I notice that it didn’t have a sender's address or any labeling for that matter except for the word Priority written on the top.”

“I opened the box, took the bubble warp out and that was it. The box was empty. Nothing, nada! Who sends an empty box? I flip the box over, like if that was going to make anything inside just magically appear!” I gave out a nervous chuckle.

“And just like that I trashed the box in the dumpster.”

“But that wasn’t the strange part! The next morning the box was delivered again by the drone at my front door! It still had no address or labels, just the word Priority written on the top. Whoever sent the box back even added more tape to close the box again. I didn’t waste my time bringing the box inside the house, instead with the pen I had inside my jeans pocket I broke the tape to look inside. The box was still empty!”

“Is this some sort of a prank that I’m not getting? Were my thoughts. I grabbed the box and carried it back to the dumpsters and walked back in the house to continue with my day. The entire day while I was working on reports for work my mind would go back to the box. Who sent it? and most importantly Why? During my lunch break I called my friend Sara Gatlin to tell her about the box, but my call was answered by the voicemail.”

“Hello, I’m currently unavailable. Please leave a quick voicemail and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.” said the recording.

“Hey Sara! I’m on my lunch break and just wanted to chat about this strange box that arrived empty to my doorstep two day in a row! Give me a call back if you feel like throwing out some theories with me. It kind of feels like one of those Sherlock Holmes mystery cases you love so much. Uhmm, okay talk to you later.”

“When I woke up the morning of the third day, I was curious if the drone had delivered the box again. I walked to the front door to check and there it was. The box had a new strip of tape on top of the two previous ones that I had open the days before. This time I was determined to learn its secrets. I brought the box inside the house and placed it on top of the table in the dining room. I inspected the outside of the box before opening it. It looked completely normal. I grab a knife and cut the tape and open the box. I looked inside and it was still empty just like the previous days.”

“I grabbed my phone and called Sara again. But her voicemail was the only greeting I received. “Hello, I’m currently unavailable. Please leave a quick voicemail and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Hey Sara, it’s me again. You will not believe it, but the box is back again. Call me ASAP!”

“I hanged up the phone and stared at the inside of the box. There must be a reason why this box keeps being delivered to me. Maybe… My line of thought was gone when I notice that the box was glued on the inside with brown packing paper. Previously the paper was unnoticeable, camouflage as being part of the box. Now it was catching my eye. Why would someone wrap the inside of the box with brown packing paper? Maybe they are hiding something? I thought. I inspected the inside of the box with my hands to feel anything out of the ordinary. In one of the corner sides of the box I felt something tuck underneath the paper. I grabbed my pen and poke a hole to reveal the object I felt. It was a piece of string. I pulled at it, and it continued around the edge of the inside of the box. The string was breaking the brown paper as I kept pulling at it. The string went up to one of the panels of the box and stopped. I pulled at the string, and it seemed like something wanted to come out, but the wrapping paper was preventing it. I grabbed the brown paper that was in the upper edge of the box and pulled at it to rip it out. I removed all the paper and saw that the side where the string stopped was cut into a rectangle shape. I pulled the string, and a secret compartment opened! What the hell? I thought.”

“I grabbed the phone again and called Sara. Her voice mail answered again. “Hello, I’m currently unavailable. Please leave a quick voicemail and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Sara, It’s me for the third time! Where are you? I found a secret compartment inside the box! This is like a Sponge Bob episode! Remember Patrick and his box? Anyways give me a call back!”

“At this point I was eager to see what was hidden inside. I pull the lid of the secret compartment out and found a envelope inside. Just like the box, the envelope didn’t have any writing on it. I opened the envelope and found a 4x6 photo paper. Just like the box and the envelop the photo paper was blank. I flip it and saw nothing but a white glossy paper on both sides. This can’t be all there is? I thought. I set the picture on the table, grabbed the knife, and carefully began to cut each side of the box down the middle to see if any other secrets were hidden inside the panels of the box.”

“I didn’t find anything. The rest of the box was empty. Why would anyone go through all that trouble just to put a blank paper inside? Unless…. Unless there IS an actual message. I didn’t waste my time trying to call Sara again. She was obviously busy doing whatever! I had to think this one out on my own. It was probably written with invisible ink! I ran to my desk and open each drawer in search for my sonic screwdriver. Long story short, I’m a Whovian and I bought a toy sonic screwdriver at Hot Topic that has a UV light that can read invisible ink. I turn my desk upside down until I found it. I ran back to the table and press the button on the toy. It started making its peculiar sound and the UV light came on. I swiped it on one side of the paper, and nothing was revealed. I flipped the paper and swiped the UV light again and this time numbers started to appear on the paper. I gave out a shout with excitement.”

“Beat that Sherlock!” I felt kind of silly saying that cause I was quite sure that the famous detective Holmes would have made this deduction a lot sooner. Still, that didn’t take away my victory dance.”

“I sat back on the chair and swiped the UV light again on the photo and started to write the numbers down on a piece of paper.”

38 12 45.21, 119 00 48.67

“The arrangement of the numbers was obvious. It was coordinates! I took the piece of paper with the coordinates to my desk and turn my computer on. I opened google earth and typed the numbers in. The globe turned and zoomed in towards the coordinated. It took me out in the middle of the desert to an old house in the ghost town of Bodie California. I check the site with my address, and it was a 2 hour and 40-minute drive from my house. Was I really going to drop everything and drive to this house with no explanation why? One day of missing work won’t cause no harm. Was I going to satisfy my curiosity? Was this even a good idea? Only one way to find out. I was determined to drive to Bodie and solve the mystery of the box once and for all. And by the looks of the images from Google, Bodie seemed like an interesting touristic site. I got dressed as quick as I could, call in sick at work and headed out to the desert.”

“The drive was long, but I had finally arrived to Bodie. I entered the visitor center to purchase my entry tickets and walked straight to the house with the coordinates. The town was established in a valley surrounded by grassy hills. Visitor were walking up and down the gravel roads contemplating the old structures. The desert heat and dryness had preserved the buildings as if they were built just a couple of years ago. Walking in between the alleys transported its visitors into the distant past of the gold rush. Even though this place was beautiful I was determined to arrive to the house first before enjoying the history of the site.”

“According to the visitors map the coordinates led to Donnelly House. The house was a small cabin inside a fenced yard. At the front entrance it had two windows with white drapes. I walked up to the wooden fence to get a better look. Entrance to some of the buildings was not allowed, making Donnelly house one of them. I looked around to make sure I was alone and no eyes were on me. I jumped over the fence and rush to the front door. I turned the knob and to my surprise the door was unlocked. I walked in and closed the door behind me.”

“The inside of the cabin was dark. The drapes did a good job in blocking the sun light and concealing my intrusion. I grabbed my phone and turn on the light. In the far-left corner of the house was a wooden table with a box on the top. I rush to it. Like the box that had been delivered to my front door this one didn’t have a sender's address or label, only the word Priority written on the top. This box was smaller than the first one, its dimensions were 4x4x4. I took out my pocketknife and cut the tape glued on the top and opened the box. In it I found an iron key and in it a scripture was engraved. “Open my chest to revel secrets within.”

“Nothing else was inside the box. I took out my sonic screwdriver to check if the box itself had a secret message but found none. Well, no coordinates, just this key. Whatever it opens must be inside this house. I thought. I searched every corner, inside draws, under furniture. I wasn’t having much luck until I opened the door to a small closet in the bedroom. In the bottom right corner was a small chest. I took it out and sat on the bed to try the key on the big, rusted iron lock.”

“…..The key went it! ….. it turned!.... it opened!!”

“I removed the lock and open the lid. And to my surprise I find a cell phone inside the box. What the hell? I looked at the phone and it looks familiar. The purple cover seemed a lot like…. Like Saras phone?! I press the side bottom to turn the phone on and was horrified by the wallpaper that was set on the screen.”

“I open the contact list on my phone and search for Saras phone number. I dialed her numbers. My phone begins the ring. The phone I found in the chest begins to vibrate… My name pops up in the screen of the phone I found in the chest. Incoming caller: Emily Carter. Saras voice mail kicks in again: Hello, I’m currently unavailable. Please leave a quick voice mail and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“I hanged up the call and open Saras screens saver. The picture was of her tied up in a dark room. I could not tell where exactly. She was bloody and in bad shape. Tears were dripping down my cheeks as I sat horrified to the screen. The screen went black from inactivity. I press the side button again and this time I added her password to unlock the phone and try to find any other clue to her whereabouts. As soon as I unlock the phone, it automatically dialed a number and was calling.”

“My nerves were on edge. My hands would not stop shaking while I brought the phone up to my ear. Someone or something on the other side answered the phone. It had a metallic... kind of like a robotic voice.... It sounded more like when someone alters their voice to prevent identity detection.”

“33. 7526N, 118.1903W. come alone to the boiler room. Tell no one or you both die” said the voice before the call ended.

“I took out my pen and wrote the numbers on the palm of my hand before I forgot them. I type the numbers into my phone, and it led me to The Queen Mary in Long Beach California. It was a 6 hour and 30-minute drive! I ran out of the house and scared some tourist that were outside the fence admiring the building. I think I even heard someone shout at me that I wasn’t supposed to be in there. I didn’t even care. I needed to save my friend.

“Six and a half hour later, driving straight, only stopping for gas and junk food, I arrived at the coordinates. Right now, it’s about 3am. It's dark and I am alone. On my way down here, I did stop at Walmart to get a bat and some nails and a hammer. I hammered the nails to the bat to use as a weapon. This does feel like a trap. So, now you see why I have decided to record this video before entering the premises. If I don’t get out or enter my password in 24 hours this video will be uploaded automatically to the internet for all to see.”

“I'm not sure what I might get myself into. All I know for sure is that someone is using the mailing system to trap people and torture them… Why? I haven figured that part yet. Hopefully I can save Sara and find the answer to that question. But for anyone that is watching this video if an empty priority box arrived at your doorstep trash it, don’t follow its instructions. Get rid of it at any cost…. I wonder if Sara got a box too.”

I stop the recording and leave the phone in my car. I walk out towards The Queen Mary….

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“Hello. To whomever is watching this video my name is Emily Carter. I’m about to do something that I might regret... So much has been going on that I feel like I don’t even know what to say. I guess… I should start from the beginning.”

“Three days ago, a package was delivered to my doorstep by drone….”

A red alert message activates inside the Drone Express artificial intelligence hardware.

Overriding video upload.

A pop out message appears “Delete Video?”

“YES”

A pop out message appears “Video Deleted.”

Drone Express continues with its mail deliveries.

Next Priority box delivery is to Daniel Lopez…..