At first, Sophie’s presents were a sweet surprise – flowers, cookies, little tokens of kindness. But when I unwrapped the last package, I got a chill down my spine. Hidden beneath the chocolates was a note that made me call the police.
I found them early one morning, wrapped in prettily folded brown paper, outside my apartment door. Yellow daisies, their petals standing out happily against the drab hallway carpet.
Yellow flowers wrapped in beautifully folded brown paper | Source: DALL-E
A little note was slipped between the stems.
“Just a little something to brighten your day. Sophie.”
Sophie, my neighbor in apartment 4B, has always been quite friendly, even though we weren’t particularly close.
She would wave at me from her car if we passed each other in the parking lot or offer a quick hello when we met in the lobby.
Neighbors greet each other in a building hallway | Source: Midjourney
Despite our limited interactions, the flowers made me smile.
I arranged them in an old glass vase and placed them on my kitchen counter, where the sunlight caught their yellow petals throughout the day. The packaging was too pretty to throw away, so I tucked it away in a kitchen drawer.
Three days later, I came across another package while looking for my keys after work. This time, it was homemade chocolate chip cookies with a hint of cinnamon in the prettiest hand-painted tin.
A beautifully decorated box placed in front of an apartment door | Source: Gemini
The note read: “Just because. -Sophie”
I knocked on her door that night, but there was no answer. I could hear her television inside, so I called out, “Sophie? Thanks for the cookies!”
A muffled voice replied, “You’re welcome! I’m glad you like them!”
But something in his voice sounded tight and strained.
A slightly concerned woman standing in a building hallway | Source: Midjourney
I asked her, “Hey Sophie, is everything okay in there?”
“It’s okay! I’m just busy with my work. Talk to you later!”
I shrugged and walked back to my apartment, not thinking about anything. People are busy, and Sophie always struck me as the type who needed some space every now and then.
A pensive woman in the hallway of an apartment building | Source: Midjourney
A week passed, and then a vanilla and lavender scented candle appeared on my doorstep, its glass container carefully wrapped in tissue paper inside a beautiful gift bag.
Each gift was accompanied by a note signed the same way: “Just because. Sophie.” Her kindness became a quiet, comforting presence in my life, something I looked forward to.
I tried to return the favor once, leaving a potted plant by his door with a note, but when I checked later, it hadn’t been touched.
White orchids growing in a pot | Source: Pexels
The next day, she was gone, with a note slipped under my door: “Thanks for thinking of me! No plants for me right now, though. Allergies. S.”
One evening, when I came home, I found an elegant box of chocolates on my doorstep. Dark chocolate, my favorite, although I don’t remember telling Sophie about it.
“Just another little something. Sophie.”
An expensive box of chocolates | Source: Midjourney
Smiling, I popped one in my mouth as I walked in, savoring the combination of bitter and sweet as I kicked off my shoes and tossed my keys on the counter.
I skimmed through several pieces while watching the evening news.
When I reached the bottom of the box, my fingers brushed something unexpected. There was a folded note hidden under the last layer of chocolates!
A woman holding a folded bill | Source: Midjourney
Unlike the other notes, this one wasn’t written on Sophie’s usual flowery stationery. It was written on regular printer paper, folded into a tight square.
“Check the hidden notes in each package I gave you.”
Shocked woman in apartment living room | Source: Midjourney
I rushed into my kitchen.
The brown paper from the daisies, the box from the cookies and the gift bag from the candle were all there, tucked away in the junk drawer alongside the takeaway menus, spare batteries and Christmas gift wrapping I had planned to reuse.
With shaking hands, I placed them side by side on the table, my eyes scanning the hidden notes.
A woman staring intently at something | Source: Midjourney
At first everything seemed normal, then I spotted something under the first layer of brown paper the daisies were wrapped in. I peeled that layer back and found these words: If I knock on the wall three times.
Then I came across the box of cookies. There was nothing hidden under the wax paper at the bottom of the box or under the pretty tissue paper.
Then I noticed an arrow drawn on the map pointing to a corner.
A woman frowns | Source: Midjourney
I carefully unfolded the box and there was the following message: Call the police.
A shiver ran down my spine. My hands shook as I lifted the candle gift bag, the last of Sophie’s presents.
I carefully removed the tissue paper from the gift bag. As I was searching for the last message, a small folded piece of paper fell onto my kitchen counter.
My heart stopped when I read the message inside.
Shocked woman holding note | Source: Midjourney
Sophie had written “Someone found me” on the last note.
“Oh my God, Sophie, what’s going on?”
My heart began to hammer against my ribs as small details about Sophie that I had never paid attention to before suddenly took on deeper meaning.
A scared woman realizing something | Source: Midjourney
Sophie always checks her locks. Once I heard her arguing quietly and tremblingly on her phone in the stairwell.
I had thought it was just relationship drama. Nothing serious, but now… now I was starting to think Sophie was hiding from someone, but why?
I quickly searched Sophie’s name online – nothing. No social media, no past addresses. It was like she didn’t exist.
A woman scrolling through her cell phone | Source: Pexels
That’s when I heard it.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Three slow, deliberate knocks came from the other side of the thin wall.
My blood boiled. The knocks weren’t on his door – they were on the wall that separates our apartments. A signal that only I would notice.
A worried woman leans one hand against a wall | Source: Midjourney
I pressed my ear to the wall that separated our apartments. There was silence. Then a dull sound, as if something heavy had been put down. Muffled voices—a man’s and Sophie’s. Sophie’s tone was tense, falsely bright, and loud enough to carry.
“How did you say you found me?”
The man’s response was too quiet to be heard.
“It’s true, it’s true,” Sophie continues. “It’s a small world.”
A wall in an apartment | Source: Pexels
Without hesitation, I grabbed my phone and dialed 911. I told the operator about Sophie’s messages and the partial conversation I had overheard.
Within minutes, flashing police lights flooded the street below my window, and heavy footsteps thundered up the stairs. I opened my door and saw four police officers approaching Sophie’s apartment.
One of them knocked sharply. “Police, open up.”
An apartment door | Source: Pexels
A man’s voice called out, “Everything’s fine here. I’m just visiting a friend.”
“Sir, we need you to open the door now,” the officer repeated.
A loud crash echoed down the hallway from Sophie’s apartment, followed by a strangled scream. The police knocked on the door again, but this time there was no answer.
Police officers in an apartment hallway | Source: Midjourney
Through the crack in my door, I watched the police break down Sophie’s door.
Sophie screamed, and then a man screamed. Moments later, Sophie rushed into the hallway and pressed herself against the wall, her face pale with terror staring into her apartment.
Moments later, the police reappeared. A man I had never seen before stood between the officers, his wrists bound in handcuffs.
A man in handcuffs | Source: Pexels
“You’ll never escape me!” he shouted, as he pushed away from the officers and rushed toward Sophie. “I’ll always, always find you!”
The police officers took her away, and Sophie collapsed on the ground. One of the other officers crouched down next to her as Sophie burst into tears.
I didn’t think twice. I dashed into the hall and rushed to Sophie’s side.
A concerned and sympathetic woman | Source: Midjourney
“Sophie, are you okay? Did he hurt you?” I asked, placing my hands on her shoulders.
Sophie looked up at me, tears streaming down her face, and shook her head. “I’m okay, thanks to you. You saved my life! If you hadn’t been there, I would have…”
She broke down at that point and I hugged her tight.
Two women hugging | Source: Pexels
Over the next few hours, I discovered the truth.
Sophie was in the witness protection program. She had testified against her ex-boyfriend—a violent criminal—years ago, sending him behind bars for a string of armed robberies, but he had been released early and had turned on Sophie for revenge.
Sophie (or whatever her real name was) had hidden in plain sight, knowing he was stalking her, unable to call for help directly. So she created her own lifeline, through simple gifts and hidden words.
A pensive woman standing in a hallway | Source: Midjourney
The police took him away, and Sophie left without a trace, disappearing from my life as suddenly as she had appeared.
I wanted to know more—who she really was, where she was going—but I figured. The less I knew, the safer she would be.
The apartment next door emptied overnight, as if she had never existed.
An empty apartment | Source: Pexels
Weeks later, a small package arrived at my door. No return address. Inside was a delicate, handmade bracelet made of twisted copper wire and small blue beads. The kind of bracelet Sophie used to wear.
This time there was no word, no hidden message. There was no need for one.
I slipped the bracelet onto my wrist, knowing that she was alive, safe, and that even in the shadows, she had not forgotten me.
A bracelet on a woman’s wrist | Source: Midjourney
Every time I spot a yellow daisy now, I wonder where it is. And I hope it still finds little ways to brighten someone else’s day, like it did for me.
If you enjoyed reading this story, here’s another one you might enjoy: I thought my daughter’s first birthday party would be filled with love, laughter, and precious memories. Instead, I ended up kicking my in-laws out after they did something unexpected.
This work is inspired by real events and persons, but has been fictionalized for creative purposes. Names, characters, and details have been changed to protect privacy and enhance the narrative. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, or to real events is purely coincidental and is not intended by the author.
The author and publisher make no claims as to the accuracy of events or portrayal of characters and are not responsible for any misinterpretations. This story is provided “as is,” and all opinions expressed are those of the characters and do not reflect the views of the author or publisher.
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