| GHOST STORIES | THE BLACK PHONE | COMPLETED

9 | WHY WON'T HE KILL ME?

     IT HAD BEEN a while since Abby had gotten another call, since The Grabber had visited her. She hated the silence, she hated it so much. She sat on the mattress, glaring at the door. Even when the lights flickered on, indicating that The Grabber was coming in, she remained glaring at the door.

The man tilted his head when he was the glaring girl, a smile under his mask appeared. He could sense her anger and rather hoped she would take it out on him so he had an excuse to punish her. He had a new tray in his hands, once again filled with sloppy scrambled eggs and a soda.

"What a sight to come down to." He chuckled, putting the tray down. "You know, your brother came to visit."

This ceased Abby's glaring, as she now just stared at him waiting for him to say more. He now knew who she was, he knew her brother and that worried her. "And?"

"He wanted to know if we had seen anything."

Something about his words caught her attention. "We?"

The man growled under his breath. "I turned him away, it seems he really misses you."

"Is there someone else in the house?" She questioned, getting to her feet.

"Don't you worry your pretty little head." He spoke, stepping into the basement properly.

Abby didn't speak, instead she let out a yell as The Grabber had left the door wide open. If anyone was in the house, they would've heard her. The Grabber launched forward, one of his hands wrapping around her neck and cutting off her screams. Her hands latched around his wrist as he began to scream, her feet were barely touching the ground.

"I was going to let you go home." He whispered, bringing her closer. "Let you go back to your brother. But, I think you need to be punished now. You've caused too much trouble."

Abby somehow shook her head, still struggling to breath. "No."

"No?" He chuckled, suddenly throwing her onto the bed. "You don't get a choice, little one." She moved backwards, hitting the wall behind her as she watched him take off his belt. "See, you're different, you're not a naughty boy...you're a naughty girl so the rules are different."

Abby refused to let the tears fall from her welled eyes, she threw her hands over her head as The Grabber raised the belt. She whimpered when it hit her arm, then nearly screamed when he hit much harder. It felt like hours passed when he finally stopped, his breathing heavy as he stared at the blonde girl, still cowering in a ball but now nearly covered in blood. It seeped through her clothes and some parts of her sleeves had torn.

She heard the door shut and lock, her head was light and dizzy. She didn't want to move from her spot, she would rather just let herself die in that spot. Now she understood why Billy didn't want her to go upstairs, but she still experienced the pain the boys went through.

Then the phone began to ring, somehow Abby managed to pull herself from her position, her body aching as she used the wall to hold herself up and reach the phone. She pulled it from the wall and put it against her ear as she slid down the wall until she was sat on the floor.

"Hello?" She waited for an answer, staring at the window which showed it was dark outside. It had been light when The Grabber had come down to see her, she didn't realise how long he had been beating her.

A much younger voice then spoke to her, immediately she knew it was Griffin. "You don't have much time. The Grabber is tired. He's sleeping."

"Griffin?" Abby spoke softly, her own tiredness taking over.

"Hi Abby." He replied, his own voice softer than before. "You don't have much time."

She rested her head against the wall. "Why won't he kill me?"

"You're not a naughty boy. You're a naughty girl. He needs new rules, he's making a new game. He doesn't know how to win. He doesn't know when to kill you. So you could win, you don't have much time."

She furrowed her brows, wincing in pain. "Griffin, be straight with me, please."

The boy paused. "The door is unlocked. He's sleeping. In his chair."

The girl looked at the door, she hadn't realised he left it unlocked. A plan began to form in her mind, maybe she could escape. 

"There's a combination lock on the inside of the storm door." Griffin continued. "It was my bike lock. He took it when he took me."

"What's the combination?" Abby slowly got to her feet, wincing in pain as she did so.

"I don't remember."

"Griffin." She groaned softly in anger.

"I remember being afraid to forget it. That's why I wrote it down. I carved it with a bottle cap in the wall. The right wall. It's about shoulder height when you're sitting down."

Abby placed the phone on the bed and used some of her remaining strength to move over to the wall, she ran her hand over it, not having much light to find it with her eyes. She soon felt the wall become oddly bumpy, she traced the numbered carved into the wall before heading back to the phone.

"Two-three-three-one-seven?" She questioned into the phone.

"If you say so." He replied, the phone then cutting off.

Abby took a deep breath before heading up into the main house, she took her time, not only to remain quiet but also because her body wasn't letting her move fast. She looked in the mirror, seeing that what Griffin said was true, The Grabber was asleep in his chair, the belt still in his hand.

She took a second before stepping into the kitchen, now coming face to face with the sleeping kidnapper. She looked at the door behind him, Griffin's bike lock being clear as day. She moved slowly around him, her eyes trained on the lock. She froze for a moment when The Grabber made a sorting sound and then a grumble before settling back asleep.

Abby made it to the lock and began putting in the numbers, that's when she realised she would have to try three different combinations. She sighed quietly and began to do what she needed to do. Suddenly a dog began to bark and The Grabber snapped awake. His eyes landed on Abby in the mirror, who was now desperately tugging on the lock and screaming for help. It was her only option now that the man was awake.

The Grabber came up behind her and quickly put his hand on her mouth to muffle her screams and his other arm around her body to drag her back to the basement. She fought against him, adrenaline flowing through her body, she reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the sharp shards of tile, stabbing it into his leg. This made him let go of her and allowed Abby to run into a different part of the house, but everywhere seemed to have a lock on it.

The Grabber shouted in anger and went after her, he grabbed her again, wrapping his arms around her waist and lifting her entirely off the ground. Now she was quite far from the basement door, the closest room was his own and that is where he headed.