CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN –SHOULD WE OPEN IT

The innocuous cardboard box sat on the reception counter, unassuming and innocent to the untrained eye. Yet something about the plain brown packaging had set Jasmine's nerves utterly on edge from the moment the delivery driver had nonchalantly dropped it off with a casual, "Package for you folks." Maybe it was the complete lack of any discernible return address scrawled across the top. Or the way the sturdy packing tape gleamed almost menacingly under the harsh fluorescent lights. Whatever the reason, her stomach had immediately bottomed out with a sickening lurch of premonition the second she'd laid eyes on the unassuming parcel. "Should...should we open it?" she ventured at last, unable to tear her uneasy gaze away from the object in question. "I mean, what if it's something dangerous?" A derisive scoff sounded from the corner, where Tina stood filing her immaculate nails into a series of lethal points. "Oh, relax, Jasmine. Don't tell me you're actually buying into all that terr