Deadline Is Death

"Late one night after getting off work, I was scrolling through my company group chat when a colleague shared a piece of news. The headline was horrifying."Night-Shift Courier Murdered During Delivery, Police Suspect Robbery."I zoomed in on the crime scene photo that had been partially pixelated, and a chill ran straight down my spine.Lying in a pool of blood, the courier who had been hacked to death was unmistakably me.I had scrolled into news of my own death.Almost at the same time, my delivery app began vibrating violently."Urgent pickup! Destination: Unit 704 Hawthorne Ridge Apartments, Building 7. Time limit: 15 minutes. Penalty for timeout: Death."As I stared at the notification that read "Pickup failed three times", the searing pain of my brutal death surged through my body.So that was it. I had already died three times.When I forced open the half-closed security door of 704 for the fourth time, a thin delivery envelope lay quietly inside.I tore it open. A photograph slipped out.It was a picture of my dismembered body. The timestamp showed tomorrow at 7:00 a.m.On the back was a single line written in fresh blood: "Next time, remember to pick it up on time."At that moment, the red indicator light on the hallway surveillance camera suddenly went dark.I looked up.From the ventilation opening in the exact same spot, a single eye was staring straight at me. The mole at the corner of that eye was identical to mine."