the deleted

by fred flynn

part one of three

orville always checked his messages when he arrived home at night and just before he went to sleep. if he had a delay in his commute home, he would check the messages during the delay. he did this because he had been reprimanded once for not immediately reading a special message from his employer. these messages were not frequent. nor did he ever get any personal messages. he also got a few unsolicited messages. not many, because he never bought anything online, preferring to do almost all his shopping at the company store, where he received a company discount. one night he received an unsolicited message. the sender was listed simply as “program” and the message read: you have been selected to take part in an experimental program. please respond immediately. this was similar to messages he had received before, maybe a bit more terse than most. he deleted it without thinking. the next night he received the same message, marked “second request”. again, he deleted it without thinking. then on the next night, he got the same message, this time in bold letters, marked “third request” and with the additional text - “please take this seriously. this is your last warning.” “last warning”? orville had never seen anything like that in a junk message before. it was actually - threatening. orville was, and always had been, a peaceful law-abiding citizen. he was not at all used to such language. he wondered if he should report it. he was not sure who he should report it to. he searched for information about threatening messages. all the responses seemed to be about being threatened with exposure about something, usually about sexual activities. orville knew that such things did not apply in his case. he had done nothing wrong, had in fact done nothing much of anything, ever. but contacts were listed, of persons, or at least numbers, who could be notified if a person felt they were being threatened or extorted. orville slept badly that night. he usually slept soundly and was ready to get up and go to work in the morning. he resolved to contact one of the numbers he had found listed, and did so on his lunch hour. he was instructed to forward the offending messages- but when he went to do so they were gone! he texted back - i am sorry but the messages have been deleted. he did not receive a reply to this message by the time he was ready to go back to his room... his phone beeped as soon as he closed the door behind himself. as if it had been waiting for him. part 2