Stephanie read the address out loud, hoping that this time, it would ring a bell. Sadly, just like every time before now, she came up blank. In her almost fifteen years of being a delivery person, she had never heard of this location, which was awkward because she knew Torrent city as well as she knew her ABCs. She had never heard of a 1st Avenue, talk less of a Unity Street and when she called her friend Isabelle earlier that morning, Isabelle had also confirmed that she had never heard of Unity Street before.
If not because Torrent city was clearly written in the address, Stephanie would have assumed there had been a mistake and the package was to be delivered to another city.
“This better not be another one of those stupid pranks.” Stephanie muttered under her breath as she placed the package in the back seat of her car.
She checked one last time that her apartment door was locked, then checked her pockets for her pepper spray and taser. When she was certain that she was good to go, she entered the address into her GPS and surprisingly, the directions to ‘Unity Street’ popped up. Stephanie had silently hoped to God that it wouldn’t show up so she could avoid making this delivery without the risk of getting fired.
“In other words, please be trueeee.”
“In other words, I love you.” Stephanie screamed. Her favorite thing about her job was singing offkey at the top of her lungs without the fear of being criticized hovering over her head.
“Turn left in 50 meters and you will arrive your destination.” The GPS navigator interrupted her singing.
Stephanie sighed, “Finally.”
She had been driving for over an hour now.
Stephanie turned left as instructed by the GPS and that was when she finally took in her surroundings.
‘What is this place?’ She thought to herself. There were a couple of houses cramped at the center of what looked like a hill. But other than this, the rest of the space was covered by tall trees, grass and what looked like farms.
It was only then that Stephanie remembered that on her drive to Unity Street, she had barely seen any other buildings. It felt like a completely different city. It had no semblance to Torrent.
Stephanie drove closer to where she could see the houses and when she was about a kilometer close, she was greeted by a huge gate, ‘Velda Community’, Stephanie read out the engraved words.
She looked around and all the acres of land that she had seen from miles away were enclosed by this huge gate.
Stephanie could feel the knots in her belly tightening…something about this place did not feel right to her, but money had to be made.
She got down from her car, picked up the parcel out from the backseat of her car and took hesitant steps towards the gate.
‘What is this place?’ She asked herself again as she walked through the gate into Velda Community.
“Hi, come play with me.” A very excited voice said.
Stephanie looked down and a little boy who could not be a day older than 7 years was tugging at her shirt.
“Hey. I’m looking for House 9, 1st Avenue. Any idea where that is?” Stephanie asked the little boy, trying her best to overlook his awkward dressing style.
The little boy nodded excitedly and began tugging in the direction of the cramped houses.
“What is your name?” Stephanie asked the little boy.
“I am 17.” The little boy answered.
Stephanie found that weird but decided not to poke further, this place weirded her out enough already.
“You are 2017.” The little boy said to her as they got closer to the cramped houses.
“Actually, my name is Stephanie.” Stephanie laughed. Unfortunately, her laughter was interrupted by a banging sound.
Stephanie turned back; it was the gates. They were now shut, and a corrugated metal fence appeared from nowhere, enclosing Velda community further.
“Why did -” Stephanie stopped midsentence, the little boy was gone.
Stephanie was intrigued, perplexed and most importantly, she could feel fear building up with the increased pace of her heartbeat.
‘I looked away for less than a second.’ She thought to herself, looking around for any sign of the little boy. Unfortunately, everywhere was deserted, almost like the kid had been a figment of her imagination.
It was dead silent, so still that Stephanie could never have missed the creaking sound of a door.
“Kid this is not funny.” Stephanie had a frown etched on her face, unamused but what she thought to be a prank from 17.
“It’s fine if you’re not going to help me, but trying to scare me is not cool.” She continued.
Stephanie watched closely as the door opened further, but she could not see anyone opening it.
“I’m not scared.” She yelled taking calculated steps towards the opened door.
“House 9.” Stephanie read the words engraved on the door.
“Finally.” She sighed excited to drop off the package and get as far away as possible from this weird place.
“Hello???” The house looked empty.
“I need someone to sign for this package.” Stephanie explained, putting one foot in the house.
“Hello????!!!” She repeated, after waiting for a few seconds without a response.
All the warning bells in her head were kicking against her going into the house, but Stephanie never listened to anyone, not even herself.
“Is anyone home?” She called walking further into the house.
Another loud bang and this time, it was the door of the house.
“No! No!! No!!!” Stephanie exclaimed as she twisted the doorknob multiple times to no avail.
She banged on the door screaming for help.
After a few minutes of futile effort, a very defeated Stephanie crumbled to the ground and buried her head in her hands, “Fuck!” she yelled.
It was clear no one was coming to save her.
Stephanie heard a light thump sound and looked up, the previously empty table at the center of the house now had some items on it.
Without hesitation, she rushed to the table with the hopes that something on that table would explain what was going on.
The first thing Stephanie noticed was a scroll, “The ten commandments.” She scoffed at the inscription on the scroll.
“Bunch of freaks.” She chuckled still thinking this was nothing but a huge prank.
Stephanie began reading the content of the scroll and with every word, she became more horrified.
THE 10 COMMANDMENTS
- Thou shalt not wear shoes to the temple.
- Thou shalt not own or look into mirrors.
- Thou shalt not share dreams, lest you disrupt the balance between the realms.
- Thou shall not ask or speak about ‘The outskirts’.
- Thou shall not question 1’s orders.
- Thou shalt surrender a cherished memory to the memory vault during the monthly blood moon ritual – you must leave your past behind.
- Thou shalt wear only the designated daily color.
- All doors and windows must be sealed shut once the church bell tolls.
- All candles must be extinguished at 3:33 AM to ward off the whispers that haunt the darkness.
- Thou art bound by curse upon entry, unable to leave. NO ONE LEAVES. NEVER EVER!
Disobeying the Commandments has consequences.
By the time Stephanie got to the end of the scroll, her hands were shaking uncontrollably, and she was one breath away from a mental breakdown. Without thinking twice, she rummaged through her bag for her phone.
“Hey Steph, what’s good?” Isabelle greeted cheerfully.
“Isabelle, something weird is happening.” Stephanie was trying her best to stay composed.
“You remember the weird address I told you about this morning, right?”
“Yeah, probably bored high school kids.” Isabelle answered dismissively.
“It’s not…it’s not a joke Isabelle.” Stephanie choked out.
“I’m there right now and there’s something about this place.” Stephanie could not hold it in anymore, she began crying.
“Steph are you okay?” Isabelle asked, worried by her friend’s sudden outburst.
The sounds of a church bell reverberated around the room and Stephanie could feel heavy steps from outside.
“You need to get me out of here.” Stephanie cried out.
“Isabelle, please get me out of here.” She begged.
“Hello? Steph, are you still there?” Isabelle asked.
“Isabelle, I can hear you!” Stephanie yelled.
“Helloooo? Steph?” Isabelle said.
“Isabelle, help!!” Stephanie screamed louder.
The call ended abruptly. Stephanie stared at her phone screen…zero internet bars.
“No!!” She yelled and began crying profusely.
“Somebody please help!” She cried out.
There was another loud bang.
But this time, Stephanie could not check to see what it was because she was the one at the receiving end.
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