Pick Up

Emily woke up in the middle of the night to a ding from her phone. *New Message* the text read. She cocked her eyebrow, it was strange to get texts this late in the night. She thought nothing of it, considering her best friend Sawyer would text her random things in the middle of the night.

UNKNOWN: Hello
EMILY: Hello, who is this?
UNKNOWN: What are you doing?
EMILY: I would rather not talk to you unless I knew who you were.
*Text read 1:45 am*

Emily rolled her eyes. "I guess it was nothing important if they aren't going to reply." she whispered to nothing and set her phone back on the table. She finally started to doze back off when her phone started to ring obnoxiously. She groaned out loud and answered.

EMILY: Hello?
UNKNOWN: Hey...
EMILY: Who is this?
UNKNOWN: Oh my gosh, you don't know?
EMILY: No. Could you tell me please?
UNKNOWN: What are you doing?
EMILY: Look I don't know who you are, so if this isn't important I am going to hang up. I need to sleep.
UNKNOWN: Aw now. Don't go, I want to talk. Please, Emily...

Emily's heart began to race and her breath quickened. How did this stranger know her name? She shook her head and hung up the phone. It was probably just Sawyer messing with her. She sighed and shut her phone off and went back to sleep. She didn't get another call that night, but the next day she was on edge. Every time her phone rang, she was afraid she was going to see the blocked ID pop up on her phone.
She got through her day with no phone calls or texts from strangers. Maybe it was just a coincidence. After all, Emily is a very common name and maybe the person who had her number before hand was named Emily, too. She laughed at how irrational she had been and took a shower and got ready for bed.
She was watching television at 11 o'clock when her phone rang. When she picked it up to see who was calling, her heart dropped into her stomach. It was the unknown caller. She answered the phone with a lump in her throat.

EMILY: H-hell-lo?
UNKNOWN: You know, Emily, it's very rude to hang up on people.
EMILY: I- Sorry. I just don't know who you are and I had things to do this morning that required sleep.
UNKNOWN: Hmmm. What, like getting coffee at noon and then watching three seasons of Grey's Anatomy?

Emily began to cry. How did this stranger know what she did today. She went to hang up the phone, when the caller began to yell.

UNKNOWN: IF YOU HANG UP THAT PHONE I WILL GO INTO YOUR ROOM AND KILL YOU TONIGHT.
EMILY: How do you even know where I live. What do you want?
UNKNOWN: I have my ways.

The man started to laugh maniacally and Emily kept crying and got the courage to hang up the phone. She quickly dialed 911 when she heard the glass break in her kitchen. She screamed and the intruder came running towards her room. She barricaded her door and pressed call. Within seconds, the operator answered and Emily struggled to keep her voice quiet.

OPERATOR: 911 what is the nature of your emergency?
EMILY: There's someone in my house. They broke the window.
OPERATOR: Are you alone?
EMILY: Yes.
OPERATOR: We are going to send the police, what is your address?
EMILY: 117 Birch Road. Please hurry.
OPERATOR: The police are on the way, stay on the phone with me. What's your name?

The man found where Emily was hiding and started banging on the door. Emily screamed and started crying. "I know you're in there! Open the door!"

EMILY: My name is Emily West. Please hurry he's going to get into my room any minute!
OPERATOR: We are coming as fast as we ca-

The man busted down the door and Emily threw her phone and ran to the window. "I told you what would happen if you hung up the phone Emily." the man bellowed. She tried to open the window and failed. The man walked closer to her, a twisted grin plastered on his face. Emily cried softly, "What do you want?" The man just cackled and ran towards her. She screamed and tried to run the other way, but he tackled her and pinned her to the ground. Straddling over her, he wrapped his hands around her throat. "Maybe this will teach you some manners, little girl," his voice came out as an ominous whisper and he looked into her eyes as he began to strangle her. Emily scratched at his face and arms, gasping for air. She tried desperately to pry him off of her, but he was too heavy.
She became lightheaded and dropped her hands to the ground, her eyes beginning to feel heavy. The man wrapped tighter around her throat and began slamming her head on the hard cement floors. As her eyes closed, she heard sirens in the distance. You're too late. She fell unconscious, blood dripping from the back of her head.

- BREAKING NEWS:
A nineteen year old girl was murdered in her Wisconsin home tonight, March 13, 2015. The murderer escaped the scene and is on the run. Lock your doors and hide, we believe him to be armed and very dangerous.