Heard Someone Trying the Deadbolt Very Quietly

Heard Someone Trying the Deadbolt Very Quietly

I was at the grocery store after work, holding a basket with milk and those cheap frozen pizzas I always get. Someone I used to sit next to in high school was at the deli counter, but when they turned around it was also my neighbor from downstairs. They asked if I’d seen their keys. I said no and kept walking, except the aisles stretched on and the lights flickered like the ones in our office parking garage. I found a phone on a shelf of cereal—my own phone, except the lock screen was a photo of my front door at night with the chain undone. I tried to call 911 and the keypad wouldn’t work. Then I was in my kitchen putting the groceries away and heard someone trying the deadbolt very quietly. I froze with a carton of eggs in my hands. When I woke up I still felt like I should check the lock.