*Ding!*

I stood up from my chair in the living room, put down my phone, and headed to the door. It was strange that my doorbell dinged, I didn’t invite anyone over or order anything.

I opened the door and looked around. There was no one here.

Then, I spotted a gift. A brown box with sparkling red ribbon and matching bow. However, the strangest thing was that there no labels that said who it was from, nor any address.

I picked it up and brought it inside. It was like I picked up 100 bricks. It didn’t look like anyone had misplaced the box at my house since it had no labels. I figured it was safe to open and keep it for myself.

I shut my door, locked it, and sat back down on my chair to open the box.

The ribbon unraveled when I pulled it, and the bow was easy to take off. After I did that, I carefully opened the box, not knowing what was inside.

A cloud of smoke puffed out, as if it hadn’t been opened in a long time.

I saw a book. It had a red and gold leather cover, and was bound by brown thread. The pages were an off-white color, a sign that this book has been on this earth for years.

The cover had the words “A Tale of Sirens; A Short Story Compilation” in fancy gold lettering to match the gold designs on the cover. Sirens are a wide-spread myth among my community so I thought it would be fun to read it.

So I did.

The next day, my doorbell rang again. I received a red cloak. The day after, I received a stopwatch.

Everyday after that I received something else connected to the Sirens.

The Sirens wear red cloaks to stand out in the forests to lead lost souls to their death. They would give a stopwatch to their victims to let them know that their time is up. Sirens are magical beings that wield very dark magic.

There was also rumors of a Siren Queen, ruling the Sirens, and the most powerful of them all.

~~~~~~~~~~

I received an item one day that set off everything.

I opened the box after 3 weeks of someone sending me gifts. Inside was a crystal ball, however it wasn’t an ordinary crystal ball. It was filled with black smoke, swirling faster and faster the more I held the ball.

As the smoke grew, I could feel power surging through me.

The black smoke started to flow out of the crystal ball, circling me till I couldn’t see anything but the smoke.

~~~~~~~~~~

I woke up surrounded by people in the Sirens Cloak, watching me intently.

As I opened my eyes I could hear them whispering “she’s awake!”

I shakily stood up, trying my best to not fall on the floor.

I looked down and I could see that I too, was also wearing the Sirens Cloak. I felt my pockets and the stopwatch was there too.

Then, I realized. I, was the Siren Queen.