At four o'clock in the morning, I received a call.
"Here comes your takeout."
The delivery call at four o'clock in the morning woke me up from my sleep.
I didn't dare to make a sound. I straightened my neck and stared at the dark living room but no one knocked on the door.
"Here's your takeout. Please come and get it." The other end of the line repeated.
I hung up quickly, keeping my body in a stiff posture while my eyes were fixed on the door, for fear that the next second it would be knocked on, or even pushed open quietly.
I didn't know how long it took before there was the sound of light footsteps coming down the stairs that came from outside the door. My body was weak from relaxation as I breathed heavily.
Last night, I played games until three o'clock in the morning.
Before I went to bed, I posted a post that said I wanted to eat supper, then I threw my cell phone and went to sleep.
I opened the takeout app and confirmed that I didn't have the order on my phone.
"This is so weird. Who ordered takeout for me in the middle of the night?"
The next morning, I asked all my friends who knew my address, but none of them admitted it.
I was so annoyed and scared that I took a screenshot of the delivery call and posted it in my circle of friends, scolding the prankster.
Many people liked it and laughed in the comment section, saying that someone was secretly taking care of me.
I didn't dare to sleep at all during the night, for fear of receiving another strange call. But probably because I didn't sleep well last night, I fell asleep after only a short while.
When I was half asleep, I heard a knock on the door. It was neither too fast nor too slow, three at a time.
I muttered, "Who is it?" I thought it was a dream.
The knocking continued, I turned on my phone and the light on the screen was a little blinding, showing that it was half-past three.
I shuddered and instantly lost the feeling of drowsiness. The knock on the door sounded again and a voice sounded, "Here's your takeout."
Again!
My body began to tremble. I got out of bed quietly and walked to the door.
I held my breath and looked out of the peephole. It was indeed a deliveryman. Seeing that no one answered the door, he took out his mobile phone.
My attention was all on him. The phone in my hand suddenly vibrated and scared me so much that my hand shook and the phone fell to the ground.
The sound of something falling was particularly obvious in the quiet night, and the man outside seemed to have heard it. He placed his ears close to the door and listened to the sound and the movement, then knocked again.
"Are you at the door? Open the door please."
"If you don't leave now, I'll, I'll call the police!" I mustered up the courage and shouted at the door.
"Are you crazy..." The person outside the door muttered. "Anyway, I have delivered it and I'll put it at the door for you.
Through the peephole, I monitored the man's every move and watched his figure disappear into the elevator.
Finally, it was morning, I thought about it for a while and felt that calling the police was the safest. As soon as I picked up my mobile phone, a message popped up on WeChat.
"Why didn't you get the takeout?"
When I saw the strange message, my eased emotions were pulled tight again.
There was no mention of this person, and I had no impression of him. For a moment, I didn't even remember when I added him as a friend.
"Who are you?" I slowly typed a few words and clicked send.
"Didn't you want to eat supper. Why didn't you get the takeout I ordered for you?"
As the message was sent, there was a picture.
The familiar doorway, I immediately recognized the bag on the ground, it was the bag of fried rice that I often order.
At the moment, it was as if my back was being watched by a pair of eyes, my temples suddenly throbbed, causing me to have a headache.
"Who are you?" I prayed that it was just a prank.
When I waited for him to reply, I clicked on the person's profile picture and began to scroll through his WeChat Moments, trying to find out his identity.
It turned out to be a courier. Is it possible that he had sent me a delivery before? That should be the reason...
He didn't reply to my message, but he kept reading it.
"There's no need to reply. I'll remove you right away. If you do something like this again, I'll definitely call the police. You don't want to be arrested, do you?"
After the message was sent, I removed this person from my WeChat contacts and blocked him.
After that, I immediately called the landlord and told her what happened and my worries. Although she was in a dilemma, she didn't want anything to happen in her own house so she agreed to let me cancel the rent in advance, but half of the deposit had to be deducted.
I readily agreed. Compared to my life, that little deposit was nothing.
I brought some things with me and planned to stay in my friend's house for a while before finding another place to stay.
As I thought about that, I felt a little regretful. I forgot to take a screenshot as evidence before I removed him. As soon as he contacts me again, I would have immediately called the police, but I didn't receive any strange messages or phone calls on those days.
Having found a new house, my guard was let down a lot. My friend was called away by her boss for overtime at the last minute, so I went back to my original house to pack up.
When I went upstairs, I met the neighbor next door in the elevator.
"I thought you had moved away. I haven't seen you for a couple of days, have I?" The elder sister was very enthusiastic and kept chatting with me.
"I'm going to move soon," I smiled and said, "How do you know, sister?"
"Hey, the man who opened your door the other day, was he your friend?"
