Replacing

It was a Saturday evening. Surbhi was staying up late. She was tired because of that entire week's work. It was a weekend but she still had to go to the office to complete the pending work before the client audit that is supposed to happen on Monday morning. The entire week had been really hectic. She could not get the weekend for herself but she made a promise that she would relax the entire Sunday. While watching a film on ott platform she had already made a mental list for the next day that is going to be a relaxing day. She had decided that for breakfast she would make an egg omelet. For lunch she would order from a nearby restaurant. For evening she had planned to eat the fruits that were in the pantry. She was deciding whether she should make lunch for Monday or order something from the office cafeteria.

While she was thinking, her train of thoughts was broken by a notification sound. She checked her phone. She had received a text message. She opened her inbox to see that she had received a text message saying 'Replacing'

Surbhi found it strange. She thought to herself who was going to message her on Saturday night at 1:00 a.m. She checked the number of the sender. It was not from her contact list. She checked on Truecaller. She did not find the name there also. She decided to ignore that text message thinking that the sender had inadvertantly sent it to her. Somewhere around 2:00 a.m. Surabhi decided to retire for the day.

Next morning she got up around 9 o'clock. While sipping on her hot coffee She checked her phone. She had again received the same message from the same number at 8:30. This time she decided to reply to the sender letting them know that they are sending the messages to the wrong person. She replied, "hi. You are texting the wrong person". She believed this reply was enough to let the sender know their mistake.
Within a minute she received the response, "The message is for you Surbhi. Replace".
Surbhi spilled her coffee while reading that message. Chills ran down her spine. Then she decided to think other way. Maybe one of the friends had got a new number and they are pranking her. She decided to test her theory. She thought about what she should reply back. Finally she typed, " first it is inappropriate to send text to a woman after midnight. Did your parents not teach you? Learn some manners and then we will talk".
Within a minute Surabhi had received a response, "Replacing".
Surbhi read the reply and definitely she was scared by this point. Before she could type she received one more text message, "Replacing".
Surbhi was unable to understand what she should do. She decided to call her best friend Abha. She dialed Abha's number. But the screen went blank. After few seconds the screen was filled with the message "Replacing".
Surbhi could not understand what she should do. She was unable to operate her phone as well. Suddenly her phone rang. When she answered she heard a robotic voice speaking with her, "Replacing".

Surbhi threw her phone away. She was unable to decide what she should do. She was petrified. She knew this was not a prank. And then she heard a loud thud on her door. She walked towards the door only to hear a robotic voice screaming from outside, "Replacing. Moving.".