Unknown Number

“JESUS!!” I cried. Being jolted from a half dose at a quarter to midnight by my new ‘Halloween theme’ ringtone didn’t do wonders for my heart-rate, especially since I’d momentarily forgot I’d changed the tone at all that day. Took me a while to find my phone stuck down the side of the armchair I was sitting in, not helped by the fact that the only light in the sitting room was the static on the widescreen TV.

“Unknown Number.”

I answered it, there was no-one there. To be honest I was expecting heavy breathing on the other end as I was still a little freaked out, but there was no noise at all.

I hung up, took a deep breath and frowned- Maybe I just pocket dialed myself. My old iPhone could make a fake ‘self call’ designed to create a diversion, so if I was having a boring conversation with someone I could pretend mom was ringing or something, although I wasn’t familiar at all with this ‘new’ piece of crap.

Dad bought it from a gas station for twenty bucks a few days ago, as I’d lost my iPhone on a trip to the city last week. I flicked through the features on the menu screen trying to find the fake call option, but didn’t have much luck, for one thing the screen was about half the size of a credit card.

I cursed and decided to watch T.V. instead to take my mind off things. I tried using the light of my cell to find the remote with little success. Groaning out of laziness, I hauled myself out of the chair to get to the light switch. Stopping halfway, I registered the fact that I had the T.V. on the satellite channels when I fell asleep yet now: static from the analogue Ariel.

I ran the rest of the way to the switch and basically punched it. Light flooded the room and my darting eyes saw nothing. After another deep breath, my moment of fear passed, guess I was a little unused to having the whole house to myself.

Mom and Dad were only gone for the night, but it was quite a treat for me since they rarely went anywhere, even during the day.

Nowhere to go but fields around this part of the country, so them going to a friend’s wedding meant I finally had some solitude.

I still couldn't see the remote so I decided to recheck the sides of the armchair. I threw my phone on the seat and reached deep down either side. The phone rang again at full creepy blast with my ear pressed right up against it. I angrily grabbed it-

“Dammit WHAT!??”

Again, there was dead silence. Cursing, I threw the phone back on the seat hard.

POP!!

At that moment the lightbulb blew out violently and the power went out, thrusting me into total darkness. With a shriek, I scrambled to grab the phone again and found it after an instant of blind terror. Using the tiny screen light to see, I panicked and bolted down to my room as fast as I could, jumped into bed and pulled the covers. I curled into a fetal position.

I was panting hard, from both the run and the fear. I couldn’t form any thought for about 5 breaths, until I decided to call dad. Looking at the screen, I saw I forgot to hang up the last call.

My breath caught in my throat as I saw that this time, it wasn’t an “unknown number”- It was mine. My old number from the phone I’d lost. As I hit the red button my terrified mind began to race through a thousand horrible implications until I realised something else. My bed was already warm.

BEEP BEEP.

The message tone nearly gave me a heart attack.

“It’s under your pillow”

Ever so slowly, my trembling hand slid underneath the pillow- and found the T.V. remote.

From under the covers I heard my bedroom door close, then lock.