The Package

The Package

Will J, Class of 2026

Jack’s eyes slid open knowing it was time to get up. He always managed to wake up around five minutes before his alarm sounded. However, when he didn’t set it, he would sleep in. Unlike usual, he didn’t have to go to work. He had found a different job which he preferred, at least at the time. He needed to deliver a package two states over. Unfortunately for him, his client wasn’t the only person who wanted it.

He was expected to leave at night; to throw people off he left during the day. He got in his 2013 Outback and started to drive. It was early and the streets seemed hollow and empty. It would be about a nine-hour drive. The mystery of the package distracted him from his other concerns. He hadn’t been told what it was, just not to be curious. It wasn’t drugs or anything like that. It was much more important. It could just be cash or maybe some kind of artifact. Either way, he wasn’t going to open the package. He was getting paid far too much to worry about curiosity.

He was about three hours into the ride when all of a sudden his car started to slow down. Maybe the car had been sabotaged. He glanced over at the gas meter and realized his mistake. The simple task had ruined his mood and maybe even the job. He would have to call someone for help. He sighed, pulled out his phone, and it wouldn’t turn on. It appeared to be out of battery. This is when he took a moment to check his surroundings.

He was on a dirt road with no houses and no stores and between two states in the middle of nowhere. He could remember a gas station he had passed a few miles back but it was fairly far. He would have to walk back, abandon the package, and get gas. He felt he couldn’t leave the package alone. People were searching all the exits of the state for the package and he happened to be on one of them. Figuring he had to take it with him, he opened the trunk. In it was in some kind of chest strapped firmly into the car. He couldn’t bring the whole chest. It was too big and obvious. He had to take the package out of the chest. He tried opening the chest, thinking it would be locked, but it was easily unlatched. He immediately closed his eyes and looked away in fear of what it might be. Nothing happened.

He slowly turned his head back. Inside the chest was another chest, not the package. This one was significantly smaller. It was about the size of a jackin-the-box. This he could bring. He was happy, but also somewhat disappointed that he didn’t see the package. He grabbed his backpack which he had in the back seat of his car and stuffed the small chest inside of it. He then started walking at a fast pace towards the gas station. About an hour later he arrived. He bought an iPhone charger and a can of gas. He went to go pull out his wallet when a man in a hood barged into the store with what looked like a gun in his hand.

“Everyone down or you’re a goner,” the man in the hood yelled. Jack, as well as everyone in the store, immediately dropped to the ground and buried their faces.