Every night at midnight, Sam’s phone rings with an unknown number’s call.
He hasn’t picked
up the call for a week, after only hearing static and an unsettling breathing
sound from the other line. It was seriously disrupting his sleep.
Today, this Monday
night, the phone rang again. Sam looked at his phone’s screen in a familiar
way, already expecting to read “UNKNOWN NUMBER”. But not this time. This time he
read “Ella”, his deceased wife’s name.
“Ella? Is that
you?” asks Sam, breathing heavily.
He could only hear
static, again. Could it be a prank caller? Turning his phone off, Sam decides
to go to the police in the morning before work.
As expected,
morning came, and Sam stands in the Police Station’s lobby.
“Next, please.”
“Hum, hi, my name
is Sam. I’ve been getting these consistent calls for a month now, always at
midnight.”
“Ok? From whom?”
“That’s the thing!
They started from an unknown number, I could only hear static and weird
breathing sounds. But yesterday, it showed my wife’s name!”
“Sir, maybe your
wife called you?” said the officer, dismissing Sam’s concerns.
“How could she if
she’s passed away? Now that I think about it, she passed away around the time I
started getting the calls… Could you run my number? See if it’s a prank caller,
please?”
“Sure, if it’ll
bring you peace of mind.”
Sam waited for
some moments, feeling incredibly uneasy. Like someone was watching him.
“Well, sir,
there’s no record of calls at midnight. On any day, really.”
“What? How could
that be possible?!”
“Listen, I’m sure
your wife’s passing was a very difficult event to process, you could be
hallucinating all those calls. Take it from me, you might want to talk to a
shrink.”
Sam was sure he
had read Ella’s name on his phone last night. Maybe if he waited for later in
the night, after getting the call, he’d be able to record the interaction, then
they would have to take him seriously.
And so as planned,
Sam waited for midnight. He set up his camera to point to his nightstand. The
familiar ring of his phone sounded throughout the bedroom into the halls, with
the name “Ella” on display. Sam picked up.
“Hello, Ella?”
“Sam, oh my god!
Sam!! You’re ok!”
“Ella? Is this
you? What’s going on? Why are you…”
“Listen Sam, we
don’t have much time. You need to leave. Run!”
“What do you
mean?”
“The man in the
shadows. He has been watching you. You need to run, Sam!”
If you looked
closely through Sam’s camera screen, you’d see. There is a shadow lurking in
the corner of his bedroom. Hearing Ella’s words, Sam got up quickly.
“Ella, wait.”
“No, Sam, he is
already there! He’s always been there! You really need to run, please!”
Sam put down his
phone to tie his robe at his waist, just as he finished, there was a loud
breathing sound coming from behind him.
You could hear
Ella’s scared callouts, “Sam?? Are you still there??”
“You should have
picked up the phone sooner, Sam.”, whispered the figure.
Sam turned around.
A tall, slender shadow came towards him. With his big yellow eyes and his
ragged smile from ear to ear. He was salivating, breathing heavily.
The man kept
coming closer to Sam, towering over him.
On the line, Ella
still called for him: “Sam, please, tell me you’re ok. Please!”
That was when Ella
had her answer, when she heard the loudest scream to ever been heard. It was
too late for Sam. He had had the same fate she did. Only this time there was
video proof to be found, there is, if anyone came to miss him.
~K