It was a quiet Thursday afternoon when I walked in through my front door after we have had a series of lectures. I kicked off my shoes and noticed something odd on my doorstep, a small package. There wasn’t a name or any return address, just a hasty scrawl with my apartment number.
I stood there for a second just staring at it. I have received packages before, stuff I ordered from Jumia or AliExpress or gifts from friends, but this? This felt different. Something didn’t seem right.
I wasn’t sure what to think. I reluctantly picked it up anyway, even though there was that nagging feeling in the back of my mind telling me to leave it alone. Curiosity took over me!!!. I turned it in my hands, inspecting it. No clue where it had come from. There was no hint at all of who had sent it since there was no address on it.
A voice inside my head warned me, “Don’t open it.” But I couldn’t resist the urge. I removed the tape, and before I knew it, the package was wide open. And inside was an envelope with a note: “Do not open this. You don’t know what’s inside.”
That sent a chill down my spine. I froze almost.
Don’t open it? I couldn’t help but feel a little panicked. My heart started beating faster as I stared at the note. But, of course, the question that followed was, what’s inside? I fumbled with the contents, pulling out some old papers. One of them slid out, and that’s when I saw a picture of a building I recognized from my secondary school days. A place from my past, one I hadn’t thought about in years.
As I stood there, trying to make sense of it all, someone knocked on my door.
I stood still, still holding the photograph, not sure what to do. I didn’t want to answer the door at first, but I did anyway. I slowly opened it, and there she was, Sarah, my neighbor. Her face seemed casual, like she didn’t know what was going on. But I noticed something in her tone, like she was hiding something.
“Hey, James, I just wanted to mention something strange,” Sarah said. “I saw a delivery person leave a package for you. It didn’t have any name or anything on it.”
“Yeah, I noticed it too,” I replied, my voice shaking. “It’s pretty creepy, right?”
“I thought so too,” Sarah continued. “You might want to be careful with that kind of thing. You know, sometimes they’re not what they seem.”
Her words stuck with me. “Don’t open it.” That nagging voice again. The one I had ignored when I’d already opened it. Sweat started to bead on my forehead. What was going on?
Sarah gave me a quick smile and left without saying much more, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right.
The more I thought about it, the more uncomfortable I felt. Had I made a huge mistake? What if I opened something I wasn’t supposed to? I kept looking at that photograph. My hands were still shaking. It wasn’t just the picture, it was everything. I had opened the package. There was no turning back now.
I couldn’t concentrate. I couldn’t eat. I just sat at my table, sweating and staring at that picture. What I did next was to repackage the stuff and keep it back at my door to see what would happen next.
In the next morning, when I opened the door, I noticed something odd, the package was not there again. I walked by as if nothing was out of the ordinary, but I couldn't make sense of it. I couldn't concentrate. Was this some kind of sick joke? What was the point of all this?
Later that evening, I was in my room, still trying to understand what had happened. And then, my friend Bob burst in, laughing out loud.
“You seriously fell for it, didn’t you?” He asked me, with his voice full of excitement.
“Bob, what is going on?” I asked him, and I was still confused and a little annoyed.
Bob was barely holding back his laughter. “It’s all a prank! I set the whole thing up. You opened it! I didn’t think you would actually fall for it.”
I stood there, stunned. “What do you mean, you set it up?”
“That whole package thing? Sarah and the delivery guy, everything was all me! I wanted to see how far your curiosity would take you. We’ve talked about being strong in situations we can’t control, and I thought it’d be fun to mess with you a little.”
“So, you had Sarah act like she didn’t know what was going on? And you got that delivery guy to play along?”
Bob laughed again. “Yeah. I wanted to see how long you’d keep going with it. You’re always so curious about everything, and I thought it’d be a good way to test you.
Before I could say more words, Sarah walked into the room, and when she saw my expression, she joined in the laughter.
“Yeah, sorry about that, James,” she said, a little too smiley for my liking. “It was Bob’s idea. I just helped him out.”
I couldn’t decide whether to be mad or just laugh along with them. I was furious, but at the same time, I knew deep down I had to laugh at myself.
We sat down, and after a few minutes, I cooled off. Bob bought me dinner as an apology, and Sarah promised she wouldn’t get involved in any more pranks.
In the end, we were all good again. The prank had definitely pushed me to the edge, but I learned a lesson about curiosity and about trusting the people around me too. Sometimes, it’s okay to laugh at yourself.
