Mysterious Caller

It was Tuesday and when I arrived at my cubicle, as I had done nearly every work day for the past seven years, I hung my satchel over the chair, booted my PC and slumped to my station. The air was filled with re-circulated coffee grinds and old paper with the hint of chemical cleaner. I moved my hands to the keyboard and almost knocked off a small silver flip phone sitting upon it.

I paused, brow furrowed slightly in confusion. That wasn't my cell-phone. I picked it up and turned it around. It looked worn. Perhaps one of my colleges? Standing, I leaned over the partition to Carol's cube, "Hey Carol, this your cell?" The blond blinked through her thick rimmed glasses and shook her head. "No... what brand is that? I haven't seen it before." I examined it again and frowned. There was no company logo, not even when I flipped it open. It was turned off so I thumbed the power button and it turned on with a quick little midi tune.

The window displayed a dark wallpaper with a large red eye staring out and the date and time displayed in white underneath. "Someone has weird taste." I quipped, showing Carol the display. She pulled a face, "It's like it can see me." I laughed at her but I quickly realized she was looking a little pale. "It's nothing." I dismissed and tried to access the menu. Perhaps some of the contacts would be familiar. But when I pushed the menu button nothing happened. I tried the numbers, still nothing. “Looks like the pads busted.” I muttered. Just then an eerie tune started to play from it, something that set the hair on the back of my neck on end. I hesitated and then pushed the little green button, lifting the phone to my ear.

“Stay away from her...”

The deep male voice almost made me drop the cell. It was horrible. Like no human male voice should ever be. So deep and mutilated. It was like I could hear the oozing of worms coiled around his vocal cords

“Leave my daughter alone.”

Then the signal cut and I slammed the phone down upon my desk, my face pale and sweating. “Fuck that... fuck that...” I was muttering.

Carol had stood up and was staring at me in shock. “What’s wrong?! Who was it?!”

I slowly shook my head and repeated what the horrible voice had said. Then a thought came to me... that eye... that Carol said she felt like it was staring at her. “Do you think it was your father?” I said in a wavering voice.

Carol seemed to tense and swiftly shook her head. “That’s impossible. My father is dead.”

It was like all other sound leeched out of the room as soon as she finished her sentence. The last word seemed to echo for all eternity inside my skull. Dead....dead...DEAD. I felt my throat suddenly constrict, as if an invisible hand had caught around it. I gagged and stumbled backward, my hands raised to try and fight at the invisible fingers but I only succeeded in gouging out deep cuts of my own throat flesh. I tried to speak, a gurgling choking sound that horrified me, “Then... the...who...was...” I tried to speak but I could hear a crunching in my neck. Carol was screaming. The darkness was falling upon me in waves.