The package on my doorstep had my name, but I definitely didn’t order it. Clara was further surprised to find the package was a little heavier than it looked. It wasn’t that large, perhaps the size of a large book, and she held it under her left arm and opened the doors to her building with her right side. She was just getting home from a long day at her job and she was just looking forward to relaxing this weekend. She dropped the unsolicited package on the counter in the kitchen as she hung her keys on the wall and stopped dead. Clara thought she heard a sound coming from the package. She stared at it for a number of minutes and when it lay silent she poked it and asked what it had said, but it remained on the countertop in its mystery. She knew she hadn’t ordered anything, and it wasn’t really near her birthday, so she wasn’t sure where this came from. It had no return address so she couldn’t even search for a store name online.
Clara was used to scam attempts, so she wanted to wait to open the package until she could figure out where it came from. She spent some time looking through her emails to see if she did accidentally order something, but she saw no hints to the mysterious box. She looked at it from the couch where she was sitting. Usually her cats jump up there to see her packages, but they were keeping a distance for now. They weren't really even looking at the box, so they likely were doing their own things. She had two of them, a calico and a tortie, they were sassy, sweet, and chonky no matter how many diets she tried to initiate. The calico, Tommy, enjoyed affection, Jerry was a little more standoffish but if she wanted loves, she would make it known. Clara’s eyes flicked back to the package, she couldn’t help but think it had moved. She decided to ignore the irregularities for now and instead decided on supper. After a full week of working behind her, Clara thought pizza sounded like the perfect way to ring in this weekend. She used her computer to order a pizza from her favorite spot nearby, delivery of course.
Clara looked around her apartment. She lived with her cats and no one else. She loved the independence it gave her, but did get lonely for others' company occasionally. She dated when this feeling got overwhelming, and then realized why she didn’t date shortly after that. She dated men for the most part and it was very frustrating as they think they can get away in a relationship without contributing anything to it other than their presence, which was far from anything useful. She had more fun and less fear with women, but they were difficult to keep seeing even as friends and usually fizzled out if there was no set relationship goal. But that was alright, Clara was doing just fine on her own. Sometimes she even had money in her account after bills, she usually celebrated that by ordering a pizza and depleting the funds officially.
Clara noticed some clothes she had left around her apartment after stripping them off. She generally liked her clothes in the hamper in the bathroom because it made laundry easier. Clara collected the clothes and brought them into the bathroom to place in the hamper. She took a moment to wash her hands as well, since she was hoping her pizza would arrive soon. Her stomach let out a nasty growl and she laughed at herself because she felt like her stomach was being a bit dramatic. She reached for the towel to dry her hands and startled at the sound of a suspected cat fight. She ran out of the bathroom, hands still dripping and said, “Tom and Jerry, be nice to each other!” As she came out of the bathroom she noticed a strange scene. Jerry was on the floor, along with the package. She ran up to the cat and Jerry looked terrified, but didn’t appear to be hurt. Jerry regained her senses after a moment and made her angry cat face at the box, hissed, and ran for the bedroom.
Clara puzzled at the box, it did look as though it had grown again, but maybe it was the same size cause she couldn’t quite remember the details from earlier. She wondered how it got off the counter. She thought it was very unlikely that Jerry knocked it down as it probably weighed more than she did. The box was also a couple feet at least from the counter, like it was thrown across the room. She reminded herself that shouldn’t be possible, but she really wasn’t keen on opening it now. The box looked harmless and untouched. Clara picked it up and shook it lightly, trying to determine what was inside like a child before Christmas. It felt heavy, heavier than it was. Or did it? She put the package back on the counter and felt disoriented. Maybe Clara was just tired, it felt like she ran a marathon or something. She knew there was pizza coming, but it must have been hours since she made that order. She checked her front door and there was nothing there. She checked the time and it had only been 20 minutes since she ordered.
Clara felt like she was walking underwater, her limbs ached. She noticed she was moving so slowly, she couldn’t go faster. She took another seat on the couch but looked up at the counter, and her heart dropped because that damned box was gone.
Clara made her way to the bedroom, her limbs were getting heavier and heavier and all she wanted was to protect her babies. She walked into the bedroom and heard her cats hissing from under the bed. The box wasn’t currently moving, but it was fairly close to the bed. She didn’t want to touch it again, it was obviously cursed and she would not bother herself with a cursed package. Clara grabbed her broom from her closet, and started pushing the box across the beige carpet to where the beige tile started at least. She looked down at the box and it looked smaller. The detail on the label looked differently too, and she got goosebumps because she noticed the To: portion of the address had changed. It was no longer her package anymore, it was for someone named Samuel Graham. She continued pushing it out of the door to her apartment at the same time the pizza delivery person arrived. She pushed the package to the wall across from her door to get it as far away as she could. The delivery person looked at the box and looked at Clara.
“Why does that box have my name on it?” He asked quizzically.
“Because it is cursed, here keep the change.” And she exchanged her money for the pizza.
“Do you mind if I take it?” Sam asked
“It may have tried to eat my cats, but if you want it, go for it.” She replied while she took her pizza inside, and shut the door.
