Written by Ethan Cole
The order came just before 2 AM.
Lucas stared at his phone for a few seconds before accepting it.
He was tired, hungry, and ready to go home, but the delivery app showed extra night bonus pay. Rent was due in four days, and his bank account was almost empty.
So he accepted the order.
Pickup Location: Black Lantern Diner
Customer: Evelyn
Delivery Address: 117 Wren Hollow Road
Food Delivery Horror Story Lucas had never heard of Wren Hollow Road before.
Still, he grabbed his helmet and headed downstairs toward his scooter.
The city looked strangely empty that night.
A few traffic lights changed for roads with no cars. Small shops were closed. Even the gas station near the bridge had turned off most of its lights.
Lucas checked the GPS again while waiting at a signal.
Twenty-three minutes away.
“Great,” he muttered.
Black Lantern Diner sat between two old buildings near the edge of town.
The place looked forgotten.
Its sign flickered weakly above dusty windows, and only one old pickup truck stood outside.
Lucas pushed open the door and stepped in.
A small bell rang.
Inside, the diner was almost silent except for an old fan spinning somewhere in the kitchen.
An elderly man stood behind the counter cleaning a glass.
“You here for the delivery?” he asked.
Lucas nodded.
The man slowly packed a drink into a paper bag and sealed it carefully.
For some reason, his hands were shaking.
“Long drive?” Lucas asked casually.
The old man looked toward the dark kitchen before answering.
“Too long for this hour.”
Lucas gave a small awkward smile.
The old man handed over the order but didn’t let go immediately.
Then he quietly said, “If nobody answers the door… leave the food outside.”
Lucas frowned slightly.
“Okay…”
The man finally released the bag.
“And don’t stay there longer than necessary.”
The GPS guided Lucas farther away from the city than he expected.
Soon apartment buildings disappeared behind him.
Streetlights became fewer.
Then the road entered a wooded area surrounded by tall trees.
Lucas adjusted his mirror.
For a second, he thought another bike was behind him.
But when he looked again, the road was empty.
His phone vibrated.
A message from the customer appeared.
“Please hurry.”
A second message came immediately after.
“He doesn’t like waiting.”
Lucas stared at the screen for a moment.
“Probably some weird joke,” he whispered to himself.
Still, he suddenly didn’t feel comfortable anymore.
He turned up the speed slightly.
Wren Hollow Road appeared almost twenty minutes later.
The sign near the entrance looked old and damaged, like nobody had repaired it in years.
The deeper Lucas drove, the stranger the area became.
Several houses looked abandoned.
One had broken windows covered with wood planks.
Another had a front yard filled with tall dead grass.
No lights anywhere.
No people.
No sounds except the engine of his scooter.
Finally, the GPS announced:
“You have arrived.”
House number 117 stood alone at the end of the road.
It was large but poorly maintained. Paint peeled from the walls, and tree branches hung over the roof.
Lucas parked near the gate and checked the app.
The customer had selected: Hand delivery directly to customer.
He picked up the food bag and walked toward the front porch.
That was when he noticed them.
Delivery bags.
At least six or seven old delivery bags near the entrance.
Different restaurants.
Different apps.
One of them looked dirty and torn as if it had been sitting there for weeks.
Lucas suddenly felt nervous.
He knocked on the door.
No response.
He knocked again.
This time the door slowly opened on its own.
Warm yellow light spilled from inside the hallway.
“Hello?” Lucas called carefully.
For a few seconds, nothing happened.
Then a woman’s voice answered from somewhere inside the house.
“Please bring it upstairs.”
Lucas stood frozen near the entrance.
Something about the voice felt wrong.
Not scary.
Just… tired.
Very tired.
“I can leave it here if you want,” he replied.
“No,” the voice said immediately.
“Please. Upstairs.”
Food Delivery Horror Story
Lucas looked back toward the road.
Part of him wanted to leave.
But another part of him felt embarrassed for being scared over nothing.
So he stepped inside.
The house smelled old.
Not rotten.
Just damp, dusty, and closed for too long.
Family photos covered the walls near the staircase.
Lucas noticed something strange about them.
Every picture showed the same woman standing beside different men.
Some wore delivery uniforms.
Some held helmets.
One picture looked almost twenty years old.
Lucas slowly climbed the stairs.
The wooden floor creaked beneath his shoes.
At the top of the stairs stood a thin woman wearing a pale sweater and dark pants.
Her face looked exhausted, and dark circles sat under her eyes.
“You’re late,” she said softly.
Lucas checked the app.
“I came as fast as I could.”
The woman stared at the food bag.
Then toward the room behind her.
“He’s awake,” she whispered.
Lucas handed her the order quickly.
But before she could take it, a deep coughing sound came from inside the dark room.
Lucas looked toward the doorway.
A man sat in a chair near the window.
At first Lucas thought he was sick.
Very sick.
His body looked unnaturally thin, and an oxygen machine stood beside him.
The room smelled strongly of medicine.
The man slowly lifted his head.
His pale eyes locked onto Lucas.
For some reason, Lucas suddenly felt cold all over.
“You brought the wrong order,” the man said quietly.
Lucas blinked. “What?”
“The last driver also brought the wrong order.”
The woman looked terrified suddenly.
“Please stop,” she whispered to the man.
But he ignored her.
He kept staring directly at Lucas.
Then he smiled slightly.
“You look familiar.”
Lucas stepped backward.
“I should go.”
The woman nodded quickly.
“Yes. You should.”
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness swallowed the hallway.
Lucas heard the woman gasp.
Then heavy footsteps moved somewhere inside the room.
Slow.
Dragging.
Lucas pulled out his phone flashlight immediately.
The beam shook in his trembling hand.
“Hello?”
No answer.
Then his light landed on the chair near the window.
Empty.
The sick man was gone.
Lucas backed away instantly.
A loud crash echoed downstairs.
The front door.
Something had slammed it shut.
Lucas hurried toward the staircase, breathing hard.
But halfway down, he heard movement above him.
Not walking.
Crawling.
Fast scratching sounds across the wooden floor.
Lucas didn’t look back.
He rushed downstairs and grabbed the front door handle.
Locked.
“Open!” he shouted.
Behind him, the scratching sounds suddenly stopped.
Complete silence filled the house.
Lucas slowly turned around.
The hallway upstairs was dark again.
Then he heard the woman’s voice.
Very close this time.
“You should never come here after midnight.”
Lucas turned his flashlight toward the stairs.
The woman stood there crying softly.
But the man behind her looked different now.
His body leaned unnaturally to one side.
His pale eyes reflected the flashlight brightly.
And his smile looked too wide.
“You left before dinner,” he whispered.
Lucas finally forced the lock open and ran outside.
He jumped onto his scooter and sped down the road without looking back once.
In his mirror, he saw the woman standing near the gate.
Still crying.
While the thin man beside her simply watched him disappear into the darkness.
The next morning, Lucas returned with two police officers.
But the road looked different.
There was no house at the end.
Only an empty patch of land surrounded by trees.
“No building has stood here for years,” one officer said.
Lucas stared silently at the empty area.
“That’s impossible.”
The older officer looked uncomfortable.
Then he quietly asked, “Did you say the customer name was Evelyn?”
Lucas nodded slowly.
The officer exchanged a quick look with his partner.
“What?” Lucas asked.
The older officer sighed.
“A woman named Evelyn used to live here with her husband.”
“What happened to them?”
The officer hesitated before answering.
“Her husband died almost fifteen years ago.”
Lucas felt his stomach tighten.
“And Evelyn?”
“Nobody has seen her since.”
Lucas stopped working night deliveries after that.
Weeks passed.
Life slowly returned to normal.
Or at least he tried to believe it had.
But sometimes, late at night, his phone screen would suddenly light up by itself.
A delivery notification.
No sound.
No app icon.
Just one sentence appearing briefly before disappearing again.
“Your order is waiting.”
Lucas always deleted it immediately.
Until one night.
1:47 AM.
His phone vibrated beside his bed.
A new notification appeared.
Pickup Location: Black Lantern Diner
Customer: Evelyn
And below it—
“This time, don’t leave early.”
At that exact moment, someone knocked softly on his apartment door.
Three slow knocks.
Then silence.
Lucas stopped breathing.
A weak voice came from the hallway outside.
“Food delivery.”
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