The mystery Box Challenge

The Prompt

A drone anonymously delivers a mysterious package to your doorstep.

Write a fictional story between 600 to 3,000 words uncovering who sent it and why.

The key to the Mystery Box Challenge is to capture a sense of mystery. How does the arrival of something unexpected change the course of one’s day? What is the true motive of the package’s sender? We can’t wait to see how you think outside the box.

A Bloody Drone

It was a quiet day. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. All was right with the world. Until a drone appeared out of nowhere and delivered a mysterious package to my doorstep.

I had no idea who could have sent it or why. But I knew I had to find out. I opened the package to find a note inside. It simply said, "You have what I need. I'll be watching." That was all it said. But it was enough to send a chill down my spine. I had no idea what I could have that someone else would need. But I knew I had to be careful. I considered going to the police, but I didn't want to involve them unless I was absolutely sure that I was in danger. So instead, I did some digging on my own. I started with the return address on the package. It was a P.O. box in a city I had never heard of. I then did a search on the internet for the drone company that had delivered the package. I found out that the company was based in China. And that's when I started to get really worried.

Could it be that someone from China was spying on me? Or worse, could they be planning to kidnap me? I didn't know what to do. But I knew I had to find out. So I decided to go to the P.O. box and see if I could find out who had sent the package. When I got there, I found out that the box was rented by a man named Wang. I didn't know who he was, but I was pretty sure he was the one who had sent the package. I decided to follow him and see what he was up to. I followed him for days, but he never seemed to do anything out of the ordinary. He went to work, came home, and went to bed. I was about to give up and go to the police when I finally saw something suspicious. Wang met with a man in a dark alley. They exchanged what looked like a package. I was sure I had my man. I followed him back to his apartment and broke in. I searched his place until I found what I was looking for: a laptop with Chinese writing on it. I took the laptop and went to the police. I told them everything that had happened and showed them the laptop. They were able to trace the Chinese writing back to a Chinese intelligence agency.

It turns out that Wang was a spy for China. He had been sent to gather intelligence on a new weapon that I was developing. Indeed i didn't want to develop this new cyber weapon but my government was insistent. And had a lot of money riding on it. The Chinese government was very interested in this weapon and was willing to do whatever it takes to get their hands on it. They had even sent a spy to try to steal it. Fortunately, I was able to stop them. But I knew this wouldn't be the last time they came for me. I had to be more careful from now on. I had to be always on my guard. Because I knew they would be watching.