Dialing...

Chapter 3

"Pull up the camera," I tell her, "I want to see who it is."

The screen, Andy, shows me the camera at the front door. It has a microphone so I can distinctly hear footsteps, getting louder with each step, so whoever it is is definitely coming towards the door.

Suddenly, all I see is static.

"Andy? What's going on?"

"I don't know. I'm checking, but I think someone's tampering with the camera."

"Well, clearly they don't know it also has a microphone because I can still hear what's going on out there."

The footsteps continue. Then they stop. Shuffling. Something being set down. More shuffling. Then footsteps again, but they're headed away from the door.

"I need to go see who that was," I say, and I'm just reaching for my silencer when Andy stops me.

"We can't even see who it is. No idea if they are armed or not. It's better to wait for the camera to clear up.

I groan in frustration. Andy's right. If I go out there, I have no idea what I'm going to meet. But if I stay I will never know who was at the door. I'm about to go for the decision of going out there when the screen clears.

"Ah, there we go," Andy says.

Everything looks just like it was before the camera went static, except for one thing.

"Andy, can you zoom in on the floor? Just in front of the door."

She does so and I get a better look at the object. It's a small box, about the size of a 5-year-old's shoe box. It seems to be made out of wood, and there's something on it top, but I can't tell.

I head downstairs after Andy gives me the all-clear. I open the door, and surely enough, there's that box on the floor, on the welcome rug.

I look around, to see if anyone noticed something, but the hallway is practically empty. Of course, in my apartment, most people are at work, with the exception of those on breaks. The only sound is the occasional ding! of the elevator. I look back down.

ϾϿϾϿϾϿϾϿ

Once back inside, I set it down on the worktop in the kitchen. It's a rosewood box, smooth and glossy. I look around to find seams to indicate a way of opening it, when my eyes catch a peculiar detail.

It's black, seemingly made of ebony, and it's carefully inlaid inside the wood. It's a black circle and when I run my fingers over it, I make a shocking discovery. It looks like the actual design is...inside the box, and the rosewood was sanded down to a paper thin to make room for it. I try again to look for a crack or seam or button, something to open the box, when I remember that there was something on the top of the box.

It's a small, red, paper, folded in half, and it's quite thin you can see what's behind it pretty easily. I pick it up, only to see that it is coming from the inside of the box too. I tug gently on it, but it holds. The bit I can currently see is blank, so it doesn't help me at all.

I'm thinking about drilling through the box, when Andy calls me through the intercom system that allows us to talk between rooms. I debate whether or not to take the box with me and finally decide to leave it. I give the box one last glare and then head out of the kitchen.

I'm just passing the living room when it happens.

-

Hi y'all! Sorry for the short chapters. I want to right more in one chapter, but then decide to leave it in suspense and start on the next chapter. So I ended up writing 2 in a day. DON'T expect regular updates, though. I TRY my best but I also have school to worry about now that I'm in year 9 and it's a candidate class, etc. etc. etc.

Thank you so much for reading my story everyone. Thank you for taking time to read it. I know it's not perfect but still, THANK YOU!!!

teaser: the mystery caller strikes again...