After Rating the Courier Badly, She Turned Meek

Rain hammered the windows, and the motion light in the hallway flickered on and off.

My best friend Janice Fox was blocking the doorway, holding a half-spilled takeout container, jabbing her finger at the delivery driver outside and screaming at the top of her lungs:

Half an hour late is one thing, but the soup's all spilled. Are you blind?

"You think I won't complain right now and get your deposit docked and your account banned outright?"

The driver kept his head down. The oversized yellow raincoat and hood covered most of his face. He said nothing.

I was about to step in and calm things down when my phone screen suddenly lit up, a glaring local breaking-news alert popping up.

Home Invasion Horror! Two Women Killed by Delivery Driver, Scene Too Gruesome to Watch!

My breath caught. I stared at the photo attached to the story.

It was blurred out, but that bloodsoaked "Welcome" mat by the door, I knew it.

It was the one I'd just bought online yesterday.

I glanced up at the publication time on the story.

Eight tomorrow morning.

At the doorway, Janice was still shrieking, refusing to let it go:

"Playing the pitiful act? This isn't over. Don't even think about leaving!"

...

"Janice, is a bowl of takeout really worth making this big a deal?"

I grabbed her wrist and held on tight, dragging her back inside with everything I had.

At the same time, I kept nodding at the driver in the doorway.

"Sir, I'm so sorry!"

"My friend's just been in a bad mood lately. Everything she said just now, she was only joking with you."

"Go on and get to your next delivery. Don't let us hold you up!"

Janice yanked her hand out of mine and spun around, staring at me like I'd lost my mind.

"Glenda Pruitt, is your head full of water? Who was joking with him?"

She pointed at the mess on the floor, her voice shrill.

"I waited almost an hour, and all I got was an empty plastic box!"

"I'm not making him pay, and what, now I'm supposed to send him a tip and worship him?"

"Normally you'll argue with a vendor for half an hour if your fruit's underweight. And now you're playing the saint?"

Her rapid-fire questions left me with nothing to say.

She was right. Given my usual temper, there was no way I'd let something like this slide.

But right now I had no room in my head to explain it to her.

Going by that alert.

Which meant Janice and I would end up as two corpses lying in a pool of blood.

And the killer was the "delivery driver."

Right now that extremely dangerous man was standing less than half a meter outside the threshold.

He kept his head down, saying nothing.

The wide hood hid most of his face. All I could see were his hands, hanging at his sides.

"You hear me? Playing deaf and dumb, are you?"

When the driver still didn't react, Janice's temper flared right back up.

She whipped out her phone and shoved the screen toward him.

"Fine. You won't pay, and you won't apologize."

"I'm filing for a refund right now, plus a one-star review with my real name attached!"

"You wouldn't let me have this meal, so I'll make you work this whole month for nothing!"

"Don't! Janice!"

My heart clenched, and a cold dread shot from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my skull.

I threw myself at her without hesitation, trying to grab the phone.

Janice dodged nimbly to the side. Her screen was already lit up on the delivery app's review page.

"Glenda, are you sick? You keep getting in my way, I'll start cursing you out too!"

Janice roared, furious.

"My ex who did delivery just scammed me out of ten grand, so now I want to puke every time I see a delivery guy!"

"He walked right into it today. Tough luck for him!"

I was sweating cold, shaking all over.

Janice had no idea that every single word out of her mouth was pushing Death's patience to the edge.

I turned to look outside the door.

The driver was still standing in the same spot.

What made my scalp crawl was his right hand, slowly slipping into the pocket of his raincoat.

That pocket bulged, and as his hand moved, the faint outline of something sharp pressed through.

"Janice, I'll send you two hundred! Just don't file the complaint!"

I reached for her arm again, my voice openly begging now.

Janice shoved me off, her eyes full of contempt.

"Get off me! This isn't about the money! It's about attitude!"

"Look at the way he's acting. Today I'm going to teach him how to be a decent human being!"

With that she lowered her head, her thumb jabbing down hard on the review option.

The instant she hit submit, the phone in my pocket buzzed hard.

Hands trembling, I pulled it out. A new alert had refreshed onto the screen.

Woman Leaves Delivery Driver a One-Star Review, Dies Horribly on the Spot!

My breath stopped cold, and my heartbeat skipped.

"Done. Complaint filed!"

Janice waved her phone in the air, smug, staring the delivery driver down through the doorway.

"The platform's going to dock your pay any second now. Enjoy getting your account banned!"

The delivery driver finally moved.

He raised his head slowly, and I finally saw the lower half of his face.

A black mask covered his mouth. The brim of his hood hid his eyes.

"Take it back."

His voice was raw, scraped down to almost nothing.

Janice froze for a second, then let out a scoff and crossed her arms.

"You tell me to take it back and I just do it? Who do you think you are?"

"Scared now? Too late!"

"Janice, I'm begging you, please just withdraw the complaint!"

I was nearly crying, clutching her arm with everything I had.

"If you can't let it go, I'll apologize to you for him!"

She slapped my hand away and looked at me like I was insane.

"Glenda, he screwed up. Why the hell are you the one apologizing?"

"Keep taking his side like this and I swear I'll start on you too!"

I stared at her, out of hope.

The driver's right hand started sliding out of his pocket.

"Hey! Sir!"

I lunged forward and threw my body between them, blocking Janice from the driver.

I fumbled my own phone out.

Fingers shaking, I pulled up the payment scanner and shoved it almost into his face.

"Sir, there's something wrong with her, seriously, she's been clinically diagnosed with a manic disorder!"

"Pull up your payment code. How much does that one-star cost you? Is five hundred enough? A thousand?"

"Whatever you want, I'll send it right now!"

The driver's hand stopped halfway out.

He looked at the phone I was holding out, hesitating for a couple of seconds.

Then he pulled his hand the rest of the way free.

What he was holding was an old phone with a shattered screen.

Not the weapon I'd imagined at all.

My heart dropped back into my chest, and my legs nearly buckled under me.

As long as he hadn't drawn a weapon, this could still be salvaged.

But before I could even breathe out, Janice behind me completely lost it.

"Glenda, what garbage are you spewing? Who's manic? You're the one with mental problems!"

"You'd curse me like that over some stranger?"

She grabbed my shoulder and shoved me aside, hard.

She charged straight to the threshold and, with one sharp crack, knocked the old phone clean out of the driver's hand.

It hit the concrete with a heavy thud.

"What are you looking at? You feel wronged now?"

Janice jabbed a finger right in his face and let loose.

"Yeah, I'm coming for you specifically today! You delivery types, not one of you is worth anything!"

"My ex was a delivery guy. Cheated on me and stole my money on top of it!"

"You're all bottom-of-the-barrel trash. You deserve to spend your whole lives baking in the sun!"

It was over.

Janice hadn't just smashed his phone. She'd gone straight for the throat, insulting him and everyone like him.

The driver didn't spare a glance at the phone on the ground.

Those eyes, sunk in shadow, locked dead onto Janice.

His chest heaved harder and harder, his breathing turning thick and heavy, like an animal pushed past its limit.

He took one step forward.

That mud-caked shoe came down hard on the welcome mat by our door, the one stitched with "Blessings at the Door."

The second his foot landed.

My phone screen lit up again, a blinding new pop-up flashing across it.

Woman Provokes Delivery Rider With Vicious Insults, Blood Spills On The Spot!

"What are you doing? Who said you could come in!"

Janice watched the man step across the threshold, and for the first time a flicker of real panic slipped into her voice.

But she was too used to giving orders. Her mouth stayed hard.

"Get out! Take one more step and I'll call the cops on you right now!"

She snatched up her phone, ready to dial.

"Janice, shut up!"

I don't know where the strength came from. I spun around and swung my right hand high.

Crack.

The slap landed on Janice's face, hard and loud.

She was stunned.

She clutched her cheek as it flushed and swelled, staring at me with wide, disbelieving eyes.

"Glenda, you hit me?"

"Over some lowlife delivery guy, you hit me?"

Her voice shook, thick with hurt and fury.

"I told you to shut up. Do you not understand plain words!"

My eyes were bloodshot. I glared at her.

"Get to your room! Now! Move!"

I had no way out.

The only thing left was to cut her off by force before she could provoke him any further.

Janice's tears broke loose in an instant.

She jabbed a finger at me, then at the delivery driver, teeth clenched.

"Fine. Glenda, you remember what you did today!"

"Both of you just wait!"

She whirled around and rushed into her own bedroom.

A thunderous bang.

The bedroom door slammed shut, and right after came the click of the lock.

Now it was just me and the delivery driver in the living room.

As long as Janice wasn't in front of him, maybe he wouldn't snap.

I was gasping for breath. Stiffly I turned my head toward the man still standing at the entryway.

He was bending down.

My heart shot back up into my throat, my eyes locked on his hands.

Was he going to pick up a shard of broken tile off the floor?

No.

He only picked up his own old phone where it had fallen, and wiped the dust off the screen with his sleeve.

He was fighting to hold himself together.

Once again he made no move to attack, and once again I'd pulled him back from the edge.

"Sir"

My legs were weak, my knees knocking together on their own.

"Look, I've already sent her inside."

"Whatever amount you want, I can give it to you."

"If this is about the one-star review, I'll call the platform's customer support and explain it for you. Okay?"

I raised both hands, trembling, in a posture of complete surrender.

The man ignored the offer.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze going past me to Janice's shut bedroom door.

"She just said she was going to call the police."

His voice came out startlingly clear in the quiet living room.

"She was just running her mouth. You only delivered food. You didn't do anything."

"Even if an officer showed up, they couldn't do anything to you, right?"

I pleaded with everything I had.

That was when a huge shout suddenly came from inside Janice's bedroom.

"Hello? Is this 911! I want to report a crime!"

"Someone broke into my home! The address is"

It hit me like a bolt of lightning.

She had no idea the delivery driver was standing right there in the living room.

All it took was one kick to break down that wooden door, and neither of us would live through today.

The moment the man heard her calling the police, his shoulders went rigid.

He crushed the old phone in his grip, his knuckles cracking.

My phone lit up at the same time, that glaring pop-up appearing again.

Woman attempts to call the police for help, bringing a fatal disaster upon herself!

"There's no signal in that room, he never got through!"

"She was only screaming that loud to scare you!"

Doubt flickered in the man's eyes, and his steps stopped.

The moment I saw him hesitate, I rushed to the shoe cabinet by the door.

I yanked the drawer open and grabbed the wad of emergency cash I kept inside, maybe two or three thousand dollars.

My hands shook as I pressed it straight into his palms.

"Even if that one-star review docks your pay, this is more than enough to make up for it!"

"I swear, I won't call the police, I won't take this any further!"

The driver looked down at the bills shoved into his hand.

For a moment, the air seemed to freeze.

Out in the hallway came the faint ding of the elevator reaching this floor.

The man's head snapped up, something calculating passing deep in his eyes.

He clenched the money tight and didn't spare the shut bedroom door another glance.

"Don't cause trouble."

He dropped those three cold words, turned on his heel, and strode out the front door.

The instant he stepped out and headed for the elevator.

I threw myself at the door.

"Bang! "

I slammed the heavy security door shut with everything I had.

I twisted the lock, threw all three bolts one after another, then slid the chain across.

When it was done, I leaned back against the cold metal, and my legs finally gave out from under me.

I slid down the door and sank to the floor.

I was alive.

I'd talked the driver into leaving.

He hadn't touched us. I'd pinned the whole thing down with money and lies.

I closed my eyes and let out a long breath, savoring the quiet of having made it through.

"Click."

Just then, Janice's shut bedroom door slowly opened from inside.

She was holding a tablet, and there wasn't a trace on her face of the panic from when she'd been screaming about the police.

If anything, she looked smug.

"Glenda, you really are something."

"You hit me over a delivery guy, and then handed him a few thousand bucks on top of it?"

I didn't even have the strength to be angry. I just looked at her, drained.

"Did you call the police or not?"

Janice rolled her eyes and went over to sit on the couch.

"There's no signal in that room, like you don't already know that!"

The dread I'd been carrying finally settled all the way down.

Then she gave the tablet in her hand a little wave, a vicious smile curling at her lips.

"But I went straight to the platform's customer support just now."

My head snapped up, an awful premonition flooding through me all at once.

"What did you do?"

"I just told support that he not only spilled my food, his attitude was a total disgrace."

Every drop of blood in me froze in that instant. My lips trembled as I asked.

"What what did they decide?"

"Account suspended for a month, five thousand docked."

Janice arched her eyebrows, positively gloating.

"Mess with me? That's what you get!"

Boom!

My mind went completely blank.

I scrambled up off the floor like a madwoman and jabbed a finger in her face, shrieking.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?"

"Why are you yelling at me! He had it coming!"

Janice yelled right back, not about to give an inch.

And right then.

Out in the dead-silent hallway came a perfectly clear, mechanical woman's voice.

"Your rider account has been suspended by the platform for one month."

The next second, my phone buzzed hard in my pocket.

Stiffly, I looked down. Right on schedule, a glaring pop-up pushed onto the screen.

Two Women Can't Escape Delivery Driver's Clutches, Die Horribly at Home