Hurricane Warning

The hurricane warnings were screaming across every news channel, so I told my boyfriend, Ryan, to come over to my place to ride out the storm.

It wasn't long before a knock echoed on my door.

I was just about to open it when text began to scroll across my vision, like a live-feed of comments only I could see.

[Don't open the door. It’s not just Ryan out there. He brought his entire family.]

[If you let them in, you will die.]

1

My hand, hovering over the doorknob, froze.

The strange, scrolling text continued:

[Nina, whatever you do, don't open that door. If you do, his whole clan will swarm in, and you'll never get them out.]

[They'll insist on opening the windows during the hurricane. You won't be able to stop them. They'll destroy your home.]

[They're going to throw your cat out the window. When you try to save him, the wind will sweep you both away. You'll fall to your death. Please, Nina, don't open the door!]

The knocking grew more insistent, and the comments scrolling in my vision grew more frantic.

My entire field of view was a wall of: [DON'T OPEN THE DOOR].

I pulled my hand back.

I live alone. It pays to be cautious. And if Ryan really did bring his entire family, there was no way in hell I was letting them in.

But right now, I had no way to verify if the comments were real. My door didn't have a peephole.

I remembered the security camera I’d installed by the entrance. I pulled up the app on my phone. Unsurprisingly, the battery was dead. My fault. I’d forgotten to charge it.

I pressed my ear against the door, trying to listen. All I could hear was the deafening knock, knock, knock.

I pulled back, deciding to video call Ryan to see for myself.

Just then, the knocking stopped.

I heard Ryan's voice from the other side. "Weird, no one's answering. She told me she was home."

I pressed my ear to the door again.

Silence. It sounded like he was just mumbling to himself.

A moment later, my phone buzzed with a text from him.

Ryan: Hey, you home? I'm at the door.

I thought for a second, then hit the video call button.

He declined it.

Nina: What's wrong?

His reply was instant.

Ryan: I'm right here. Can't we just talk face-to-face?

A knot of suspicion tightened in my stomach. Why wouldn't he answer a video call? The only other time he'd done that was when he lied about working late to have dinner with his ex-girlfriend before she moved abroad.

Before I could voice my suspicion, another text came through.

Ryan: Come on, babe. I'm literally at your door. Let's just talk inside.

I typed back, my fingers firm.

Nina: Answer the video call first.

It took a long time for him to reply.

Ryan: My camera's broken, babe.

That was it. I knew for certain he was hiding something. And it was probably exactly what the scrolling comments had said: he'd brought his whole family.

2

I met Ryan in college. He pursued me relentlessly. I finally said yes mostly because he was gorgeous—campus-heartthrob level—with good grades and a knack for treating me like a queen.

Our ...