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06 "The Delivery"

     Sometimes people wonder why their package is running late. The only thing I can say is, you wouldn't believe me if I told you.
    I remember one of the first runs I ever did as a delivery guy. I'd have to wake up pretty early and head to work. They'd be loading up the truck while I sat back and watched. One of the guys came up to me as they were doing their thing. He patted me on the shoulder and wished me luck. I rolled my eyes with a smile. I mean, I had heard the horror stories about package deliverers having to deliver to so many houses and buildings in such quick succession to meet the heavy demands of the company, but this truck was so much smaller than the ones I was used to seeing out and about.
    It didn't take long before the packages were all loaded. I climbed into the truck, turned on my GPS, hit a few buttons, and the route was underway. This was going to be a breeze, I thought. Oh, how wrong I was.
    ***
    It was mid-afternoon. There weren't too many houses left before I was done for the day. There might have been three rattling around in the back of the truck. The run honestly hadn't been bad so far. Sure, there were a couple of hang-ups with traffic as well as struggling to get the heavier packages out, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle.
    But as I approached the next stop, my GPS started glitching out. The screen was flickering and making the map and text and everything jump around the screen, shifting to different sizes in quick succession. It was almost hard to look at. I smacked the screen a couple times, hoping it would fix the problem. It seemed like my touching the screen only made things worse. Now I was seeing a ton of random pixels dancing around the screen. I tried unplugging the thing but it kept glitching out. I tried turning it off. Still nothing.
    That's when the whispering started. It sounded like it was coming from the back of the truck. Did someone break in? I pulled the truck to the side of the road and climbed out. I went to the back of the truck and saw those last few packages. Nothing else. The entire back of the truck was pretty bare, other then aa small mounted shelf and some straps for the heavier boxes. But there was no sign of anyone.
    I shut the back doors and climbed back into the truck. I started the engine and there it was again, more whispering. Was it the radio? I looked down at the console but didn't see any kind of radio dials or volume knobs. This must be a pretty old truck then, I thought. But then where was the whispering coming from? I tapped the screen of my GPS and the screen flashed back to life but the entire screen was red. All except for a line of black text: YOU ARE NOT CHOSEN.
    What the hell was that supposed to mean? I am not chosen? Chosen for what?
    I kept tapping on the screen and pressing the buttons on the sides but nothing happened. The screen went black and that was it.
    I grabbed my phone and called my boss.
    "Hey, the GPS is acting all weird and glitchy and I can't find the next delivery spot," I told him.
    "What does the screen say?" he asked in a cold and solemn voice.
    "Nothing now," I replied. "It said something about not being chosen earlier, whatever that's supposed to mean."
    He let out a sigh before muttering something under his breath. I heard a soft beep on his end and then my GPS was shot back to life, normal as ever. But what he said next shook me to my core, "I fixed that up for you this time. Just be careful out there. Something is after you, and it really doesn't like you."

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