Face to Face

A short story based off of irrational fears.

Face to Face

 

It was 8pm when Mat closed the windows to his bedroom. He walked over to the thermostat and turned the heater to full blast. He plopped onto his bed and grabbed for his laptop from under the lamp. The familiar rings repeated themselves while he waited for his wife to answer the video chat. The rings stopped and she didn’t pick up. Mat thought it was just the internet’s fault, he sent the call again hoping for an answer. His mind wondered off thinking about what she might be doing as he stared at the collection of old airline tickets his wife kept as souvenirs.

Again, the same message popped up on his dimmed screen, “Not Available”. Unpleasant thoughts made their way into his mind as he worried about her safety. He knew deep within that everything was okay, but never ignored the possibility that something could go wrong. He then scolded himself for being worried, telling himself to stop being scared.

RING! RING! Mat nearly fell out of bed being startled by the ring while deep in thought. He collected himself before hitting the green button, answering the call from the unrecognized number assuming it was his wife. The monitor was black with no variation.

“Hun?” Mat said waiting for a response.

“Hello? Hun?” Mat tried to beckon his wife again with no success. He started to worry more and more with every attempt.

It had been nearly 3 minutes without a response when Mat decided to hang up and call back. He prayed to God the number that called him was the right number to call back, for it had been 3 days without any contact from his wife and it was abnormal. The computer rang and rang with no response. Mat knew something was going on but didn’t know what to do.

As he sat there in front of his computer, his fears were increased when he received a video chat request from another number he didn’t recognize. He reluctantly answered the call. This time he could hear a voice kin to his wife speaking with lots of interference. The screen was still black.

“Hun?” Mat called for his wife. All he could hear was undiscernible words cloaked in static.  He listened harder. He could almost hear a guy speaking at the same time, but still couldn’t make out what was being said.

The call failed just before he made out any words. Mat started to freak out. He pulled out his phone and tried to call his wife. The call went instantly to voice mail just as he thought. His heart was now beating on his lungs and his spine. He could feel his heart throbbing in every body part. Panic set in and he started to feel sick, his stomach turned and his eaten TV dinner was about make its new home on the floor.

His computer rang again, another number, different from the last two. He answered it, and to his relief  his beautiful wife was there with a big smile on her face. He instantly felt better and let out a huge breath, ridding himself from the worry he was recently consumed with.

                “Hun?” Mat said holding his breath, hoping not to jinx his luck.

                “Hey dear!” Melony excitedly responded while Mat emptied his lungs.

                “How were you calling me from different numbers?” Mat asked with concern.

                “I only called you once.” Melonie looked confused as she adjusted her laptop and turned off one of the lamps in the room.

                “You’re kidding?” Mat was unsure what to think.

                “No. I just sat down and called you. What’s going on?”

                “Oh… I got a call from these numbers…” Mat told the numbers to Melony.

                “Uh-Ignore it.” Melony said staring past the computer with her eyes fixated on something.

                “What’s going on Melony?” Mat pressed for answers.

                “I’m tired, work sucks.” Melonie said.

               Mat declined to nag and decided to forfeit his curiosity. “Okay Hun, I am just glad you are safe. I started to worry.”

                “Dear, I need to sleep.”

                “Leave face chat on as we sleep?” Mat asked.

                “Okay, Goodnight!” Melonie shut off the other lamp on the opposite side of the bed and kept the program up. Mat could see Melonie’s face, illuminated by the backlight of the computer. He shut his lights off, hopped into bed and got under the covers too escape the frigid air.

                He laid there awake, watching his wife from across the world wishing he was by her side. Then his phone rang, it was the second number from earlier. He answered.

                “Hello?” Mats voice was shaky. There was no response, but if he listened hard enough, he could hear breathing. He decided to put his computer on mute, then turned his phone to speaker so he could listen closer.

                The breathing had a pattern to it, and it seemed recognizable but he couldn’t put his finger on it. Then it hit him harder than a ton of bricks. He looked at his computer screen and noticed the breathing matched his wife’s. His heart stopped and jaw dropped to the floor. Simultaneously, a hand came down from the top right of his monitor and hit the mute button on his wife’s computer, not allowing her to hear him. Mat unmuted his computer and yelled for his wife and into his phone. Then both calls failed at the same time just after hearing her shriek. Mat never heard from her again.

            20 years had passed, Mat remarried and had three kids after moving to the town he grew up in. In the mail was a conspicuous envelope with his name and address on it. He slid his finger into the snug opening of the tightly sealed envelope, tearing it from corner to corner. A dirty piece of paper flew out of it due to the open window. It was her airline ticket to Amsterdam. Feelings of the past resurfaced and the doorbell rang.

Author's Note

This is just a quick attempt at getting whats inside on paper. Please send me any suggestions to help improve my writing skills. My goal is not to refine this, but to refine me and my abilities. Thank you.

Reviews

[A.K. Rohner]

Loved this! Really creepy feeling throughout the whole thing.

Critique: Nothing that I can really think of.

[ElbecanC]

Thank you so much for taking your time to comment, it was very encouraging and means a ton.

[Carol Cashes]

Mercy! This is a good story. Whew! Others may find grammar/spelling/punctuation issues, but I was readin' it to the end! The ending lends itself well to making this Chapter One of a mystery. I am looking forward to reading more of your work.

[ElbecanC]

Thank you so much for taking time to both read and comment. It means a lot to me.
Right now I have a whole world inside my head. As I am trying to put it on paper, I got worn out so I decided to try a short story.