The Call (revised)

Spencer gets a call from a not so sane woman.

The dusty digital clock read 3:05 a.m. Spencer, exhausted from working his fourteen hour shift at the packaging factory, made his way over to his incredibly worn out, yet extremely comfortable bed. As soon as his limp body hit the mattress, he was out.

 

 

His cheap cellphone went off; playing its default ring-tone, which meant it was from someone that wasn’t on his contacts list. Using all of the strength he could muster, he lifted his head up, and through squinted eyes glared at the clock. It now read 3:51. “You kidding me right now?” he groaned before rolling over.

 

 

There was no way he was moving from his comfortable spot to answer a call from some random person, especially not this late. After what seemed longer than usual, the ringing finally stopped, and a few seconds after, the missed call indicator went off. He decided he’d wait until he was actually up and moving to check who the caller was, hoping it wasn't too urgent, but being just a little too tired to care.

 

 

The caller, however, saw things another way. The phone’s default ring-tone started up once again. Just like before, he ignored it.

 

 

Almost instantly, the ringing started up once more. This time an aggravated Spencer exhaled sharply and climbed out of bed, swearing up and down to himself. “Hello?” he said into the small black phone, not even trying to mask his anger.

 

 

“Hi,” a girl’s sweet and cheery voice spoke, seemingly oblivious to his annoyance. “Is this Spencer Hollander?”

 

 

“Uh, yes?” he cleared his throat, trying to somehow wake his voice up a bit.

 

 

“Hello, sir, my name is Mary and I’m calling to see if you’re happy with your current phone plan. I’m here to offer you a three month--"

 

 

“Listen--Mary was it-- it’s almost four in the morning. I’m very happy with my plan, and I don’t mean to sound like an a*s, but I’m really, really tired. Thank you. Goodbye,” he hung up without a second thought.

 

 

His hatred for telemarketers and spam callers was growing by the second. He more than understood that they had to make a living too, but at the moment he couldn’t care less. He collapsed on his warm bed, welcoming any z’s that wanted to head his way.

 

 

When his mind finally started to go blank to let the dreams come out to play, his phone went off; the same annoying default ring-tone crept out of the speaker. “Oh, come on!”

 

 

He clambered out of bed and grabbed the phone, feeling like he could crush it into a million pieces if he didn’t actually need it. “Hello?” his voice sounded scary even to him.

 

 

“Hello, sir, my name is Mary and I’m calling to see if you’re happy with your current phone plan.”

 

 

“Mary, I thought I made it pretty clear a few minutes ago. I’m happy with my plan, now please quit calling me. I don’t have enough energy for this right now.”

 

 

He hung up the phone and decided to just turn it off. At this point, he didn’t mind risking the possibility of missing actual important calls. To his surprise, the phone rang again, almost instantly, causing him to actually jump. His nostrils flared as he pushed the green call button. “What is your problem?!”

 

 

“Hello, sir, my name is Mary and if you hang up on me one more time, everyone you know and love will die.” Her voice went from sweet to grim in an instant.

 

 

“What did you say?”

 

 

“I said everyone close to you will die a slow and agonizing death if you hang up that phone again.”

“Who is this?” his eyes were wide.

 

 

“I already told you. My name is Mary, but to be honest, that’s not really important right now. Let’s just say you don’t know me, but I sure as heck know you. Spencer Hollander, age, 24, height, 5’11, weight 145 pounds.”

 

 

As freaked out as he was, he couldn’t help but assume it had to be some sort of prank caller. Possibly one of his co-workers, or maybe one of the trouble making teenagers on his block that possibly scoped him out or something. “If this is a joke, I’m not laughing. Stuff like this wasn’t funny back in the day, and it’s not funny now.”

 

 

“Oh, I most certainly agree, Spencer. There isn’t anything funny about this at all. Well, that's not exactly true. One thing I do find a little funny is the way you’re trembling right now as you look around like a frantic little child. Do you honestly expect to see me out of that filthy window you’re peering out of? If so, let me assure you, you won’t.”

 

 

His stomach dropped. “Who is this?” he repeated.

 

 

“I already told you four times. I’m Mary.”

 

 

“Well listen, Mary, I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with you, but I’m hanging up and calling the cops, you psycho,” he said, pulling the phone away from his ear.

 

 

“Ah, ah, ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Remember my little warning at the beginning of this call?”

 

 

For whatever reason, he couldn’t bring himself to hang up. What if she were telling the truth? What if she wasn’t? How could she be? No, she's definitely lying. Is she? He was already starting to lose it.

 

 

He put the phone back up to his now sweaty face. “If you're serious, they why are you doing this, what do you want?” he realized he wasn’t as scared now as he was furious.

 

 

“In due time, Spencer. But about what you just called me. That was very disrespectful. I don’t tolerate that kind of disrespect, and from what I can tell, neither does your mother. Isn’t that right, Loraine?”

 

 

“What?” every muscle in his body tightened.

 

 

“I must admit, I’d assumed she’d raised you better than that. Hm, guess I was wrong. Silly me,” her voice somehow came across as sincere. “Apologize. Now.”

 

 

“Wait a second, is my mom there with you?”

 

 

“Dear Spencer, your whole family is with me. Apologize.”

 

 

“Where are you?!” his anger was showing itself in full force.

 

 

“I’ll tell you, in"due"time. Apologize,” her voice didn’t change in the slightest. “Apologize or I’ll cut her fingers off, one by one, do you understand?”

 

 

Somehow he sensed she had a sick smile plastered on her face as she spoke. “Sorry,” he blurted out.

 

 

“Like you mean it!” she yelled, changing her tone for the first time since they had spoken. He could hear what sounded like his mother pleading before letting out a bloodcurdling scream. “There goes her index finger. Probably the same one you used to hold on to when you were just a pathetic little infant,” she mused, ever so coldly.

 

 

His eyes were watering. “Oh my God, I’m sorry, Mary, I’m so sorry! Please just don’t hurt her anymore!” In seconds he had become a whimpering mess.

 

 

Mary just let out a creepy, pleasure-filled chuckle. “That’s more like it, Spencer. I’m glad we finally see eye to eye. Now get up off of your knees you poor, pathetic man.”

 

 

He looked down and was surprised to see that he had, in fact dropped to his knees as he pleaded for his mother's safety. He quickly jumped to his feet. “Okay. What now? Why did you call me? What do you want from me? Please, just tell me already!” he was pacing like mad.

 

She couldn’t hide her sadistic bliss. “Haha, now THIS is where things get interesting.”

Author's Note

This is just a (slightly in my opinion) better, and hopefully final version of this story. I just really enjoy this one and really really want to come back to it and finish it someday when I actually have an idea of where to take it. I'm leaving my old one up just in case people wanna see what the crappy original was like haha. Anyway, read, rate, love, hate, whatever ya want, either way, please enjoy. Sorry for any mistakes, I'm posting this at 5 am and am pretty super-tired.

Reviews

[Marie]

This is pretty good. I have no idea where you're gong to take it, but it should be interesting.