The worst day of my life began as I returned from another boring day at my work. I had just finished stocking the shelves and my fingers were brushing my name tag when I heard my supervisior call my name.

Letting out a loud sigh I turned to see Alex hurrying towards me, a slight smile on his face. "Yes? Is there something wrong?" I asked, hiding the tiredness on my face with a false smile. In his early thirties Alex was an attractive guy with mismatched eyes, one green and one brown, and a swimmer's build. Brushing a dark curl of black hair from his shoulder he gave me an awkward but pleasant smile.

"I'm glad you're here, Rona. I need you to unpack a few boxes for me." Alex answered and I nodded, following him to a small storeroom for all of our newly arrived stock. As soon as I entered the room I blinked at the amount of boxes; there were enough to fill the room reaching towards the ceiling.

Noting how wide my eyes were Alex cleared his throat and I turned my head to see him fiddling with a clipboard in his hand. "If you finish these before you leave I'll pay you time and a half." He offered and with a sigh I nodded, fixing my name tag. "Thanks again."

As soon as he left, closing the door behind him I groaned only loud enough for me to hear. "Great. Guess I'm working overtime today." I muttered, grabbing the invoice before I scanned the list. I finished unpacking the boxes and as I signed the invoice I looked at my watch, staring at it once I realized I'd been working over two hours past my usual workday.

Shaking my head I set the clipboard down on the desk before I tugged my nametag off, dropping it into my pocket before I started to leave the room. My fingers had barely brushed the doorknob when I thought I heard someone whispering but when I turned back around I found nothing other than a bunch of unpacked boxes and a set of lawn ornaments including a pair of garden gnomes who looked strangely familiar.

"Is someone there? Apart from me of course." I called out but no one answered and I snorted to myself, my cheeks slightly red as I quickly left the storeroom. "Figures. Must be working too hard...I'm hearing things."

At least there's one good thing about this warehouse job; it's close by.

Finally arriving home that evening I unlocked my apartment door, rubbing at my tired eyes. Stepping through the open doorway I locked it behind me leaning against it with a loud yawn. "Finally home." I whispered to myself as I made my way towards my kitchen, kicking off my sneakers as I did. "Wonder if I can be bothered cooking tonight." I said aloud, yawning immediately and with a smile I walked over to the cordless phone. But as I did I heard a knock at my front door and with an eyeroll I headed back, looking at the door with a frown before I cleared my throat. "Who is it?" I called out, slipping my sneakers back on as I did.

"I have a delivery for you. If your name's Rona of course." A man answered from the other side of the door and with a shrug I unlocked the door to find a young man about my age holding a clipboard in his hands.

"Yes that's me. But I didn't buy anything." I answered, taking the clipboard that he offered. Looking at the invoice I saw my name and something written though the writing was almost illegable.

Probably a mistake but I couldn't help being slightly curious and after I noticed it had already been paid for by whoever had sent it I decided to sign for it. After giving the deliveryman my signature he handed me a small box from behind his back and after I stared at it I noticed it had come from Alex's warehouse.

"Hey this can't be right. Hey!" I called out only to see the delivery driver had already climbed back into his van and with a wave he drove away, leaving me holding the box. "Guess I'm stuck with whatever this is. Oh well guess I can drop it off tomorrow on my day off. Hopefully without Alex thinking I'm looking for more hours." I muttered to myself, kicking the door closed behind me before I locked it. I dropped the box near the door and to my surprise I heard a muffled yelp that seemed to be coming from somewhere inside the box.

"Oh not again." I whispered, stepping close to the box before I gave it a tiny kick. Straight away I heard a much louder yelp and I jumped back as the box shifted on the floor, causing me to let out a somewhat girly scream I'm not proud of as I stumbled back.

"That is most rude." Someone grumbled and I blinked as a set of hands pushed the box flaps fully open to reveal a man no bigger than the gnomes I'd unboxed a few hours earlier. As he looked around the room I took another hurried step back, my mind fixating on the fact that he looked like a miniature version of Sherlock Holmes before his gaze fixed on me. Briefly his eyes went wide and with a click I heard, and saw, him freeze.

"Sherlock, what are you..." A second man emerged from the same box, this time dressed as Doctor Watson before he too froze upon seeing me standing there.

Confused and more than a little frightened I backed away before my feet tangled in the mat I had just purchased and with a cry I fell backwards. Striking my head on the floorboards I saw stars and as I lay there I could have sworn the room was growing larger before my vision dimmed, my eyelids fluttering before I passed out.