“Would you like a fortune cookie with that?”

“Oh, yes please, that would be great!” I said to the old Chinese woman, she was so frail and could barely swipe my credit card. I thanked her, and sat down at a small table in the back of the restaurant, waiting for my order to be called. I pulled my long brown curls into a high ponytail and pulled out my lap top. “Emerson, your order is ready. Order for Emerson please come to the front.”

The loud intercom said which alarmed me. I got up, closing my laptop and putting it in my bag in fear of it being taken. I pulled my bag over my shoulder and walked to the front. I saw my meal waiting on the pick-up desk, so I grabbed it and thanked the worker that was there. I quickly walked back to my seat and pulled out my laptop again. I really needed to finish my essay that was due tomorrow. I quickly started typing away when a message popped up on my computer. I clicked on the tab and it read in bold white letters, “Open your fortune cookie.”

My eyebrows drew together in confusion and I looked around the restaurant trying to see if anyone was just pulling a prank on me. But no, I was the only one who was here at this time of night besides an elderly couple who could barely hold their forks to their mouths, let alone prank someone. I exited out of the tab and continued writing my paper until all of a sudden my computer froze. But what happened next was enough for my breath to hitch. My computer screen went completely black and the only thing that was on it was, “Open your fortune cookie”, in bold, white letters. I hesitantly reached for my fortune cookie and unwrapped the paper. But to my relief, the only thing that was on it was, “345612.0985.” I looked at it in confusion but just tossed it aside not thinking too much about it. After I was done with my meal and my work I got up from my seat and headed home. I entered my front door and went straight to my room, tired from school. I opened up my laptop and decided I would facetime my best friend Jessica.

“Hey Jessica”

“Hey what’s up” she replied with.

“The weirdest thing just happened to me,” I said, but then my screen went completely black.

“Hello Jessica can you hear me?”

She didn’t respond. I sighed and tried to get my computer to turn back on. I clicked around for a while and pressed the on and off button a couple of times. That’s when in bold white letters, it said “345612.0985.” My eyebrows drew together in confusion and I pulled out my phone. I searched up the exact numbers but it only led to a location. I took a screen shot of the location and decided I would go to bed because I was totally freaked out. But when I was finally in bed ready to sleep, I couldn’t help but think about what happened. It kept lingering in my mind and I couldn’t stop. The questions I kept asking were, “Why did that happen?”, “How did it happen?” and, “Who’s behind this?.” I got up because I couldn’t stand the feeling of anxiety. So, I decided I would get in my car and drive to the location to calm my nerves and prove that it wasn’t anything creepy. I was shaking the entire drive there but stuck to the directions that my phone said. Once I was close to the location, I started to slow down a little. It was 9pm at night so it was pitch black. I was driving along a long road that was surrounded by trees. But when I reached towards the end, the directions told me to go into the forest. Feeling comfortable in my big truck, I locked my car doors making sure that nothing would be able to reach me. I turned into the forest and kept following the directions it told me. From a far, I could see a huge mansion that I was driving towards. That’s when all of a sudden it started to rain. It first started off light but then it was a full on rain storm with thunder and lightning. So, I pulled into the mansion’s driveway and parked my car. I decided I would try and knock on the door and see if anyone was in the house.

“Hello?” I knocked, “Is anyone home? I need somewhere to stay while this storm blows over.” I sighed and gave up, backing away from the door until I felt something hit my back as I fell to the floor.

“Oh my gosh are you okay?”

“Yeah I’m fine,” I said, looking up to find a boy with brown hair and blue eyes. His hand was reached out to pick me up and I grabbed it. I noticed that his hair was wet from the rain.

“What are you doing here at this time of night?” He asked.

I didn’t want to tell him that I came here because of a stupid computer glitch that terrified me.  “Oh, I was coming home from dinner and I think I took a wrong turn. Do you live here?”

“Uh, no I don’t. I was trying to see if anyone lived here so I could go in because of the rain.”

“Yeah, well it looks like no one is home.”  I said. Then, right after I said that, an old man opened the door.
“Why, hello there, can I help you with anything?” he said, his eyes crinkling as he slightly smiled. 

“Oh, were sorry to bother you, sir, we both got lost and we found your house.” I said, genuinely sorry for bothering the sweet man.

“Yeah, were sorry we didn’t mean to cause any commotion.” The boy said.

“No, it’s okay, kids. Do you want to come and stay inside until it stops raining?” He asked with a toothy grin. We both looked at each other, unsure what to say, but then the boy (whose name I didn’t even know yet) started to step inside. I followed right behind him and was immediately engulfed by the warm heat that lingered in the house. I heard the door close behind me, and I wish I had known what was to come.