This is a story that actually happened last year.
One time my phone went bad and I brought it into the store.
I had to take it in for repair, but they said they didn’t have a replacement.
I was thinking of taking it to another store when the youngest clerk (a woman) said to me
‘Can’t you use this?’
It was the same make as the one I had sent in for repair, so it was convenient for me.
However, the other clerks gathered around and started discussing something.
They said, “…are you sure about this?” “It’s not good…” “Could it be… again…?”
I could hear them whispering.
I was not sure if I should go to another shop, so I said, “If it’s not broken, even if it’s in a little bit of bad shape, it’s fine.”
I spoke to them as if urging them.
After all, I kept the replacement phone.
Well, if you’ve ever had to borrow a replacement phone, you know what I mean.
I’d make sure with the clerk that the contents are reset, right?
Of course, I checked it then, too, and signed the paperwork.
However, when I got home, I was fiddling with my cell phone and found an unfamiliar number in the outgoing call history.
It was dated six months ago.
The date and time settings on my cell phone are correct, and I don’t remember making a call to anyone from the replacement phone.
I’m the type of person who does most of my business by e-mail.
I was concerned about it, but I knew it looked like it was in bad shape when I rented it.
I thought it was no use to be concerned about such a thing.
Then the next day.
I was texting a friend of mine.
As I was exchanging messages, a slight mishap caused the display to switch from the newest incoming mail to the oldest.
(The oldest email was at the top of the list.
(I hit the up key when the newest email was at the top of the list.)
I get email frequently for newsletters and other business correspondence.
My inbox only has emails that are at most a month old.
Unless they are protected.
However, the oldest email I received that I didn’t recognize.
It was six months old.
No emoji, orange on a black background, and just one line, “Can’t you use this?” Only one line.
I was very curious, so I wrote back. “When did you send this?” I replied.
Sure enough, as soon as the message was sent, I received an undeliverable error message.
But at the same time, I also received another email.
In other words, I received two e-mails at the same time.
In the error mail and the other mail, there was one word. “Now” in orange letters on a black background.
Then I sent a few more e-mails, but each time I got an error e-mail.
And then a reply email.
What I learned from the exchange is that the person is a woman in her 20s and seems to live alone.
I was intrigued, but at the same time, I was getting creeped out, so I stopped e-mailing that day.
When I wake up the next morning, my incoming mail light is blinking.
Well, I get the newsletter while I sleep, so it happens every morning.
What’s unusual is that it’s from an unidentified person I e-mailed the day before.
“Can’t you use this?”
I also received dozens of emails alternating between the two.
I deleted all the e-mails, including the previous day’s correspondence, put them on my rejection list, and went to work.
When it was time for lunch, I was fiddling with my phone when I remembered that I still had a text message from six months ago.
I remembered that I still have a text message from six months ago.
Orange text on a black background, a deco-mail. An HTML email to be exact.
Then I noticed that there was a link attached to the text.
I clicked on it and a map appeared. A familiar Google map.
And the location displayed was my home. A chill came over me at once.
Unspeakable disgust and fear.
For example, if I clicked on the map when I was at home, and the result was a map of my home
If I interpreted it as a link to show my current location
I can still accept it.
However, I am far from home, yet the map clearly shows my home.
And that too, in an e-mail from six months ago.
I was in a state of panic, and then I realized that I had received an e-mail.
‘Can’t you use this?’ Orange letters on a black background.
And then, I realized an even more ridiculous fact. There was no sound of receiving a text message.
No notification light.
Other e-mails, of course, are received as usual, and the notification light comes on.
While I was exchanging e-mails, I didn’t pay attention to it at all because it came at the same time as the error mail.
I didn’t pay attention to it at all.
I noticed that I was receiving them silently.
“I’m cold because I’m naked.”
“It’s dark and scary.”
“No one is coming.”
I receive one e-mail after another. Rejecting them is pointless.
I thought maybe someone who knows me is playing a prank on me, though.
But I can’t explain the blocked email and the one from 6 months ago.
The e-mails I used to receive in response to my questions became more and more one-sided.
I started getting “I’m scared,” “Are you seeing this?” I’m cold” started repeating.
I felt so bad that I decided to borrow a friend’s cell phone.
I decided to return the replacement phone.
While going through the return procedures at the counter of the store, I noticed that I had one unread e-mail.
I was told by the clerk that I had one unread text message.
It was a message that said, “Don’t leave me alone,” with the current time inscribed on it.
And there was a picture attached that was just black.
The clerk seemed to know something and his face was drawn.
In a rush, the clerk reset the replacement unit and finished the procedure.
That’s the end of this story. But there is a later story.
Some time later, I heard from someone who said he knew about that cell phone.
The person said that it seemed to be the cell phone of a woman who went deep into the mountains to commit suicide and disappeared, although she did not know the details.
I never received any more of those strange e-mails, and I was trying to forget about it.
A few days ago, when I was sleeping, I found a call to that number.
I live alone, so there was no sign of anyone touching my phone.
I got scared when I remembered it, so I just wrote it down.
