| GHOST STORIES | THE BLACK PHONE | COMPLETED

16 | YOU NEED TO CALL HIM

     "YOU DON'T HAVE much time." Abby spoke the second Finney picked up the phone. Griffin stood awkwardly by her side, ushering her to get Finney out. He had a good chance. "The Grabber hasn't been sleeping. He thinks that this might be it and that he's going to figure it out."

"Who's gonna figure it out?"

"His brother upstairs."

Finney paused for a moment. "Why hasn't he killed me?"

"There's a game he likes to play, Finney. It's not a nice game. But you're not playing it, so he can't win."

"What game?"

She let out a soft sigh. "Naughty Boy. The Grabber, he won't beat you until you do something bad, and if he can't beat you, he can't kill you. Finney, listen, The Grabber is asleep upstairs."

"What good does that do me?" Finney asked before looking towards the door. "The door is still unlocked. Do I just go?"

"There's a bike lock on the door, Griffin's bike lock." Abby explained. "He told me that the code is two-three-three-one-seven."

"Or is it twenty-three-thirty-one-seven? Or twenty-three-three-seventeen? Or two-thirty-three-seventeen?"

Abby looked at Griffin, who simply shrugged. She had only managed to try the first code before The Grabber woke up. "It's not the first one, I couldn't try the others before I was caught."

The words caught the boy off guard, was this the point where Abby was killed? "Abby?"

"Be quiet about it, don't get caught." Abby said.

Finney slowly nodded. "Thank you."

The small group of ghosts followed Finney up the stairs and towards the door, he began to put in the second code, only to find out it wasn't that one when he tugged on the lock. The small noise woke the dog which then began to bark and wake up The Grabber. But Finney had put in the code and was out of the door.

The ghosts followed but could only get so far, they watched Finney run down the road. But The Grabber was quick to jump into his van and knock the poor boy to the ground. Abby watched with a frown, he was so close to getting away. She moved closer to Vance's side, and he allowed for Abby to link her pinky with his for some sort of comfort.

When Finney finally woke up, Vance almost tore the phone off the wall. He waited for the boy to answer, and wasn't happy with his reaction at all. "What? You gonna say something? Abby?"

"Don't speak to her that way." Vance growled down the phone, making Finney sit straighter. "Right here, this is it."

"This is what?"

"The horrifying nightmare end to your pathetic little life."

Finney then realised who he was now speaking to. "Holy shit. You're Vance Hopper. I remember you, you used to scare me."

"Trust me, Finney, if you knew what you had coming, you'd be fucking terrified. Today's the day, motherfucker! Have you tried stacking the carpets to reach the window?"

"I've tried everything."

"No, not everything. When The Grabber saw what I had done, that was it. And he took his time with me too."

"What did you do?"

Vance chuckled down the phone. "Oh, that fucker had to spend a fortune to repair all the damages."

"What did you do?" Finney pleaded.

"I'm getting to that, cunt wad! Or do you have some other important shit you have to do right now?"

Finney stood from the mattress. "No, no, no, no, I'm-I'm listening."

"There's an outlet in the shitter, across from the john."

"Yeah, I've seen it."

"On the other side of that wall, there's a storage room. You can't get into that room, because there's a big-ass upright freezer in the way."

"Okay?"

"Break into the wall about two feet above the outlet, till you get to a panel with screws in it. Get the panel off, you're in the freezer."

Finney nodded once again. "And then out into the storage room. Thank you."

"For what?" The boy growled.

"For helping me?"

"Helping you? This isn't about you. Fuck him!"

All the ghosts and Finney quickly covered their ears as Vance's shouts echoed across the room and somehow grew louder. the two empty soda bottles flung themselves towards Finney, smashing at either side of him.

However, this caused Finney to want to get out as soon as possible, so he got to work. It took a few hours for him to get to the panel and once he had, he broke apart the toilet to get the screws out. Once Finney was into the freezer, he slammed against the shut doors only to realise they were locked and all his effort was in vain.

He crawled back into the basement and curled up in the corner, let out a few quiet sobs. Abby looked at Robin, the pair held the same looks on their faces. "You need to call him."

Robin nodded and went to the phone, picking it up and waiting for Finney to answer. Vance glared at the boy and was about to say something but Abby smacked his arm before he had the chance to say anything. Finney slowly got to his feet and picked up the phone.

"What?"

"Hey, Finn. What's happening?"

Finney seemed to perk up at the voice. "Robin?"

Robin smiled sadly. "Hey, buddy. Don't cry."

The bot wiped his tears quickly. "I'm not."

"Yes, you are. I can see you."

"You can?"

"I'm with you. I've been with you this whole time."

"You have?"

"A man never leaves a friend behind. My dad didn't leave his buddies behind when he went to 'Nam. That's why he didn't come home. And I'm not coming home either. And I'm not going to leave you behind"

Finney sighed softly. "We'll be together again soon."

Abby couldn't help herself and took the phone from Robin. "Fuck that, Finney. You ain't going like we did. You're closer to getting out of here than I ever was."

"I've tried everything, Abby. Nothing's worked."

Robin took the phone back. "Not everything. Do you remember what I told you?"

"That I needed to see Texas Chain Saw Massacre?"

Robin chuckled lightly. "Before that."

Finney held a small smile. "That someday I have to stand up for myself."

"Someday is today, Finn. Today is the day you stop taking shit from anybody."

"I'm not a fighter like you, Robin. You couldn't even take him."

Once again Abby had the phone. "I wasn't a fighter either, Finn. I didn't win, but I hurt him, his limp? I caused that. It was pure adrenaline. You can do it Finn, I believe in you."

"And you've always been a fighter, Finn." Robin spoke, holding the phone between himself and Abby. "That's what we have in common, why we were friends. You were always afraid to throw a punch, but you always knew how to take one. And you always got back up every time."

"I'm not strong enough."

"You have to be." Abby replied.

Robin nodded in agreement. "You're getting out of here. If you can't do it for you, do it for us."

"What does it matter?"