If you have a penchant for those brave, just, and kind characters, then Nara is not for you. She's everything that type of protagonist lacks: ambitious, cynical, manipulative, distrustful, and treacherous; those are some of the adjectives that descr...
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Nara bolted upright in her seat, knocking her cell phone to the floor in the process. Her eyes darted from side to side, scanning her surroundings alertly. The bedroom was illuminated by the dim yellow light of the lamp that she had left on the nightstand. Eager to verify something, she lifted her arms and rolled up her hoodie's sleeves.
The relief that came over her when she saw the tattoos on her wrists was such that she collapsed on the armchair limply. She really didn't know whether to be grateful or curse that it had all been a nightmare. Nara then continued to wipe the cold sweat on her forehead and neck with her sleeve, meanwhile she calmed her heavy breathing.
Another shrill sound caught her attention, and she averted her tired eyes to the phone lying on the floor. On the locked screen was the time and a couple of unread message notifications. Apparently, she had fallen asleep while waiting for a response from the store where she had made an online purchase.
Long story short, her order should have arrived yesterday, but it didn't. When entering the shipment tracking, it came out as "delivered", so Nara proceeded to file a complaint with the company. She then fell asleep in the armchair that was in the corner of her bedroom.
After picking up her phone, Nara unlocked the screen with her fingerprint and then opened the messages. One had been received around 9 p.m. and was from the sportswear store informing her that her package had been delivered. The other message was from an unknown number received only at 11:50 pm.
"Good evening.
We would like to inform you that there was a mix-up and one of our packages has been delivered to the wrong participant. Our Retrieval and Removal Service agent is already at your home address. We're deeply sorry for this mistake, and regret your prompt disposal."
InterD-Gate Trips
Nara frowned and reread the message, wondering if they had gotten the wrong number or if it was a joke. The first thing that struck her as odd was the agent. Maybe they had arrived when she was sleeping? The second, the time at which the message had been sent. Third and most important, prompt disposal? Disposal of what?
Perhaps, that package... Nara looked in the direction of the bed. Certainly, she had received something a few days ago. As the packaging had no recipient or sender, she proceeded to open it to find even the name of the company so she could return it, however, all she found was a glass ornament in the shape of a door. There was no other information.
Having lost interest, she simply put the ornament back in the box and threw it under the bed. It wasn't hers, so she wouldn't use it, but she wouldn't go out of her way to find its owner either. Someday the company would realize the mistake and retrieve it.
And just as she had inferred, the company finally caught on.
But how did they get my number? she wondered, but after a few seconds she dismissed this matter for later. The pressing thing was to verify who had stolen her purchase.
