The sudden doorbell ringing woke me up out of my deep slumber. I turned my head to see the time: 2:37 AM. “Who the hell is ringing my doorbell at 2 in the morning!?” I thought to myself. “This is just odd. What if a crazy person is standing outside my door right now? And how long have they been there?” I took a deep breath to calm myself down before I start overthinking things. I got out of my bed and hesitantly walked out the door, quietly running down the stairs. “I'm not expecting any visitors—not at 2 AM at least. Should I ignore it and go back to bed, or should I investigate like dumb characters in movies?” I wanted to choose the first one, but I figured I’d be too scared and curious to go back to bed. Better safe than sorry, am I right? I slowly crept over to the front door, figuring it’s better than walking since whoever's outside might see my silhouette. I rested my body against the door, then cupped my ears against it, just to see if I could hear anything coming from the other side. But nothing. It was quiet. Too quiet even. “Did I mishear the bell? Was it just my imagination?” I decided to take a peek through the little peephole in my door. It took a while for me to gather up the courage to do so, but I did it anyway. I didn’t see anything other than a package on my doorstep. “Huh, that’s weird. I don’t remember ordering anything recently. And JNT does midnight deliveries now?” I got too curious; I wanted to know what’s in the package and see who sent this to me. I slowly opened the door and walked out to my doorstep and picked up the package. It’s not the heaviest thing I’ve ever picked up, but it had some weight to it. I examined the package in my hand; it’s just an ordinary box with my address on it. A part of me felt relieved to see that it’s just a normal package. I looked around the porch just in case I saw anyone nearby. At first, I didn’t see anything weird, but then my eyes landed on a strange object on my porch. I placed the package on the floor and started walking towards the object. “An oven timer?” I picked it up and stared at it for a good minute, wondering why in the world someone would place an oven timer on my porch. I didn’t want a random oven timer in my house, so I placed it right where it belonged, and just as it touched the ground, I felt chills all over my body. “It’s cold out here; I should get back in.” I walked back to my house, picking up the package with me to unbox later. I closed the front door and locked it. I sat on my couch in the living room, the box in my lap ready to be unboxed. One thing about me is that I love to record myself unboxing my packages; it makes me feel like a famous YouTuber, sort of. I messily set up my phone; I always carry it with me wherever I go. I ripped the tape off of the box. I can’t lie; I was pretty excited. The first thing I noticed about the stuff in there—these are all my stuff that went missing. My charger, my favorite mug, and a bunch of my other items that I have in the house. I got creeped out immediately after and turned off the camera. I stared at the items in horror, trying to come up with logical explanations for it. “Calm down, maybe it’s just a prank. Marjorie likes to pull pranks on me, and she’s been to my house multiple times. Yeah, maybe that’s it.” I took my phone and texted Marjorie, telling her that she got me and how it freaked me out for a good moment. I shoved my phone back in my pocket as I chuckled dryly. “She got me good.” I sighed and went back upstairs to my room, carrying the box filled with my belongings in my hands. I placed the box on my study table and went back to bed.

Ring!!

My heart dropped at the sudden alarm; thank God it’s not my doorbell this time. I checked the time like I always do, but there’s something off about it today. 2:37 PM. “Huh, that’s weird. I never set up my alarm so late. It’s a good thing that it’s Sunday today,” I mumbled to myself. I shrugged it off by thinking that I might’ve accidentally set up my alarm last night because I was too sleepy. I got off the bed and walked to my dining room; I’m starving since I woke up so late. I checked my phone as I sat on the chair, and I noticed another weird thing. “Who the hell poured this out for me?” I thought as I stared at the bowl of cereal on my dining table. I got chills just from looking at it. “Calm down. Deep breath in and deep breath out. Maybe I woke up earlier this morning and poured this out and went back to sleep and forgot about it. Yeah, that should be it. It’s poured exactly the way I liked it; it must’ve been me.” Did I eat the cereal though? I didn’t. I threw out the whole thing in my trashcan and poured myself a new bowl. I checked my phone as I munched on the cereal and cold milk, scrolling through my phone. I went to my gallery to check out the video I took last night; I wanted to see what I looked like when I was panicking like an idiot over nothing. The video played, and I stared at the recorded version of me talking to the camera and looking quite distraught. I laughed at myself, thinking that I was such an idiot to fall for Marjorie’s tricks. I zoomed in on my face—don’t ask why; I just like laughing at myself, if you will. But then I noticed something. I rewind the video multiple times, not believing my eyes. “Is that a silhouette behind me..?” The shadowy figure was there the entire time I was recording. It’s—watching me. I hurried and opened my messages. I got a text back from Marjorie, and I opened the chat in panic as I read the message. I can feel myself hyperventilating and my eyes getting blurry “What do you mean? I was asleep like a baby last night,” Marjorie replies. I feel my body growing cold as a pair of hands touches my shoulders. “Took you long enough to realize.”