The Late Delivery

I was sixteen, home alone for the first time in what felt like forever. My parents had taken my little sister to visit our grandparents upstate, and they wouldn’t be back until way past midnight. I had the house to myself, a stack of horror movies, a fresh bag of jalapeno chips, and a brand new game I’d been dying to play. Friday night, no school Monday, and a pepperoni pizza on its way. Life was perfect.

At seven o’clock, I heard the doorbell ring. I figured it was the pizza, but when I opened the door, no one was there. Just the empty porch and the quiet street. I shrugged it off, figuring the delivery guy was just slow, and went back to my game. Ten minutes later, the doorbell rang again. Still no one. I started to feel a prickle at the back of my neck, but I chalked it up to my overactive imagination, which had been fed by too many horror movies.

I decided to call the pizza place to see where my order was. The line was busy. I tried again, and this time it rang and rang before a woman answered. Her voice was flat, almost mechanical. ‘Your pizza will arrive at eight-fifteen,’ she said. I checked the clock; it was only seven-thirty. I asked if there was a delay, but she just repeated the time and hung up.

I went to the kitchen to get a soda, and that’s when I noticed the tap in the bathroom sink was running. I thought I’d left it off earlier, but there it was, a steady stream of water splashing into the basin. I turned it off, feeling a chill that had nothing to do with the cold. The water was freezing, even the hot tap. That was odd, because the water heater was old and took forever to heat up.

I returned to my game, but I couldn’t concentrate. The house felt different, like it was holding its breath. I heard a faint scratching sound from the basement door. I tiptoed over and pressed my ear against the wood. Nothing. I tried the handle; it was locked, as it always was.

Around eight o’clock, the doorbell rang again. I was starting to get annoyed. I flung the door open, ready to yell at the delivery guy for being late, but again, no one was there. This time, there was something on the mat: a single, black, shiny beetle, about the size of my thumb. It was crawling slowly, as if drugged. I stomped on it, but it left a weird, sticky smear that wouldn’t wipe off with my shoe. I cleaned it with a paper towel, but the residue clung to the fibers.

I called the pizza place again. The same flat voice said, ‘Your pizza will arrive at nine-fifteen.’ I started to protest, but she cut me off. I looked at the clock; it was eight-fifty. I tried to call my parents, but the line was dead. I tried my cell, but there was no signal.

That’s when I heard the steps. Heavy, deliberate, coming from upstairs. The house had a second floor, and I was the only one in it. The steps moved across the ceiling, from my parents’ room to the hallway, then down the stairs. I grabbed a kitchen knife, my heart pounding. The steps stopped at the bottom of the stairs, right around the corner from the kitchen. I waited, but nothing happened. After a few minutes, I breathed out.

Then, the bathroom tap turned on again. Full blast. I walked over, my hands shaking, and turned it off. The water was cold, but the pipes groaned as if under pressure. I noticed the drain was clogged with a thick, black substance that looked like hair, but it was too coarse. I pulled at it, and it came out in a clump, leaving a greasy film on my fingers.

I went back to the living room and dialed the pizza place again. The line was busy. I slammed the phone down. The doorbell rang, a long, continuous ring, like someone was leaning on it. I marched to the door, ready to confront whoever was there. I swung it open, and there was a man standing there, holding a pizza box. He was pale, with slicked-back hair, and he wore a uniform that looked too large for him. He smiled, revealing teeth that were too white.

‘Extra pepperoni, just for you,’ he said, handing me the box. I took it, feeling the heat through the cardboard. He tipped his hat and walked away, his footsteps making no sound. I closed the door and set the box on the table. I opened it. The pizza was perfect, steaming, but there was something off. The pepperoni formed a pattern, almost like a spiral. And in the center, a single black beetle, the same kind as before, but larger, dead.

I lost my appetite. I threw the beetle in the trash, but it left a trail of black ooze that seemed to pulse. I went to the bathroom to wash my hands, but the sink was full of black water, and when I looked in the mirror, my reflection was a beat behind my movements. I blinked, and it was normal.

I decided to leave. I grabbed my keys and went to the garage, but the door wouldn’t open. The manual release was stuck. I tried the front door, but the knob wouldn’t turn. The windows were all locked. I was trapped.

The phone rang. I picked up, and the flat voice said, ‘Your pizza is here.’ I dropped the phone. The line went dead. I heard the basement door creak open behind me. I spun around. A figure stood in the doorway, tall and thin, with long arms that hung past its knees. It took a step forward, and the lights flickered.

I ran to my room, slammed the door, and pushed my desk against it. I crouched in the corner, knife in hand. I heard footsteps climbing the stairs, slow and deliberate. They stopped outside my door. A voice, not human, whispered through the crack: ‘You forgot your tip.’

I stayed there all night, listening to the sounds of the house shift and groan. The footsteps would retreat and return, but the door held. When morning came, the sounds stopped. I slowly moved the desk and opened the door. The house was normal. The pizza box was gone. The phone was on the hook. The bathroom tap was off.

My parents came home at noon. I told them I had a bad night, but they just laughed and said I’d been watching too many movies. I never got my pizza. The pizza place called later to apologize, saying the delivery driver quit that night, leaving behind a note that said ‘I can’t go back to that house.’ I never ate pizza again.

Months later, I found a black beetle in my shoes. And that night, I heard the tap turn on by itself.