Address Unknown

Jason’s shift at Midnight Slice was supposed to end at 10 PM, but a sudden influx of late-night orders kept him stuck behind the counter. By the time he grabbed his jacket, the clock read 11:47 PM, and he was ready to bolt for the door.

Just as he clocked out, the phone rang.

“Don’t answer it,” Rosa, the night manager, warned, her tone unusually sharp.

Jason hesitated but picked it up anyway. “Midnight Slice, how can I help you?”

A voice, low and smooth, drifted through the receiver. “One large pepperoni. Extra garlic. Address: 13 Hollow Way.”

Jason frowned. “Hollow Way? That’s not in our system.”

“It’s close,” the voice assured him. “I’ll tip you well.”

The line went dead. Jason turned to Rosa, who was glaring at him.

“That’s not a real address,” she said, her voice firm. “Don’t take it.”

Jason shrugged, the promise of a good tip outweighing her warning. “It’s probably just some weird new street. I’ll take it. One last delivery.”

The GPS led Jason farther from the city than he’d ever delivered before. The glowing map on his phone flickered, recalculating over and over until it simply froze, displaying only the words: “You have arrived.”

Jason looked around. The road was shrouded in mist, bordered by dense trees. Ahead, a dimly lit house sat at the end of a long gravel driveway. It wasn’t just old—it looked like it had been plucked from another era entirely, with peeling paint, cracked windows, and a porch sagging under its own weight.

Jason parked, grabbing the pizza. A cold breeze swept through the air, carrying with it the faint scent of decay.

“Just drop it off and leave,” he muttered to himself, climbing the creaking steps.

He knocked twice. The door opened almost instantly, revealing a woman with pale skin and wide, unblinking eyes. She wore an old-fashioned dress, faded and frayed, as if she’d been waiting for this moment for decades.

“Jason,” she said, her lips curling into a smile.

Jason froze. “How do you know my name?”

“We’ve been expecting you,” she said, stepping aside.

Against his better judgment, Jason stepped into the house. The interior was dimly lit by flickering candles, casting eerie shadows across the walls. The air was thick with a metallic smell, and Jason could hear faint whispers coming from deeper within the house.

“Look, I’ll just leave the pizza here,” he said, setting it on a table near the door.

The woman shook her head. “No. You need to bring it to the dining room. They’re waiting.”

“Who’s waiting?”

She didn’t answer, motioning for him to follow.

Jason’s heart raced as he walked down a narrow hallway. The walls were covered in old photographs, their subjects staring directly at him. He stopped at one of the photos, his breath catching in his throat.

It was him. Standing on the porch of this house.

“Jason,” the woman called softly.

He turned to find her standing by a door, her smile wider now, her teeth unnaturally sharp.

The dining room was worse than Jason could have imagined. A long table stretched across the room, surrounded by people in various states of decay. Their skin was gray and mottled, their eyes glassy. They all turned to look at him, their mouths stretching into grotesque smiles.

At the head of the table sat a man in an old suit, his face gaunt and skeletal. He gestured to the pizza box.

“Welcome home, Jason,” he said.

Jason stumbled back. “This isn’t my home! I don’t know any of you!”

The man chuckled. “Oh, but we know you. We know everything. Your secrets. Your sins. The lies you’ve buried.”

Jason’s blood ran cold. “What are you talking about?”

The man pointed to the empty seat at the table. “Every soul here was like you once. Lost. Guilty. Alone. You delivered yourself to us, Jason. And now, you’ll stay.”

Jason bolted for the door, but the hallway was gone, replaced by endless shadows. The house twisted around him, doors leading nowhere, windows showing only pitch-black voids.

The whispers grew louder, taunting him with snippets of his past.

“You lied to your boss about the stolen cash.”

“You cheated on Sarah.”

“You hit that man and drove away.”

Jason screamed, clutching his head.

The family appeared around him, their decaying faces inches from his own. “Join us, Jason. There’s no escape.”

The next morning, Rosa arrived at work to find Jason’s car parked outside, empty. The delivery bag sat in the passenger seat, the pizza untouched.

She shook her head, muttering to herself. “Another one.”

Inside the restaurant, the phone rang. Rosa hesitated, then answered.

“Midnight Slice,” she said.

The familiar voice on the other end spoke softly:

“One large pepperoni. Extra garlic. Address: 13 Hollow Way.”