Down the Rabbit Hole

Prompt:Mystery or Thriller - Sitting in bar with drink after a hard day, stranger comes in sits next to you. Calls you by name hands you an envelope and tells you it is of the utmost importance then walks out.

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James had just ordered his second whisky in hopes that it would squash the stress from his workday that the first whisky had not. Studying the brown liquid in his glass and trying to not think about the utter shit show of a day he just had, James’s attention was redirected to a the bar top where his cellphone gave a little buzz and lit up as a text message came in. He starred at it for a moment until the screen when black again. He didn’t recognize the number and was too tired to care so his attention slowly moved back to his drink. James was oblivious to the tall blond that had just stepped up next to him in an empty space between bar stools.

“Excuse me, Mr. Logan… James Logan?” the woman asked.

James’s head snapped her direction in utter confusion as his mind tried to make sense of the situation. This was the first time James had ever stepped foot in this bar, so no one would know his name here, and no one he knew should know that he was here, and to add to the confusion the person addressing him was a woman whom he did not recognize and so far out of his league there was no way she was talking to him out of personal interest.

“Ugh… I’m sorry… Do I know you?” James said, mind still trying to grasp the situation.

“No, Mr. Logan, we have not met before. I was told to deliver this letter to you.’ as she finished her sentence she was already bringing up an envelope that she had been holding at her waist. She held it out to him with a slightly nervous smile. 

It was a regular enough looking standard size envelope except that it was solid black and had some sort of silver logo on the front. James tentatively reached for the envelope and the woman hesitated drawing the envelope back. “You are James Logan, yes?” the woman cautiously asked.

“Yes, Yes I am James Logan, but how did you know I would be here and who are you?”

“That doesn’t matter.” she said as she offered the envelope again.

James tentatively took the envelope from her and as soon as he did the woman quickly said, “it is imperative that you open it immediately, as I was told it is of the utmost importance” and with that she turned and moved swiftly to the door and left.

James watched her leave still thoroughly confused. “What the fuck…?” he blurted out as his brain still tried to make sense of what had just happened. As the only clue to mystery his attention now turned fully to the envelope. Giving it a quick look, turning it over in his hands he didn’t see anything of note so he proceeded to open it. Inside was what looked like a thin rectangular piece of clear plastic with the same silver logo as on the outside of the envelope. There was nothing else on the item but what looked like a power switch symbol on the lower right corner. Though this was just a plastic panel and the power logo was just painted on James reflexively put his finger on the “button” and the panel lit up with a chime. A video instantly populated the center of the “screen” if you could call it that. This was unlike anything James had ever seen before.