The Prank Call

The beginning

As the four friends sat in Sonali's room, Rishita's mischievous suggestion hung in the air, causing a ripple of excitement to run through the group. I exchanged a knowing look with Rishita, a silent acknowledgment of the trouble that often followed Shika's spontaneous ideas.

"What do you have in mind, Rishita?" Sonali asked, a mix of curiosity and wariness in her voice.

Rishita's eyes gleamed with mischief as she revealed her plan. "Let's play a game of Truth or Dare," she proposed, a wicked grin spreading across her face.

I felt a surge of apprehension mixed with anticipation. She had always been a bit wary of such games, fearing the revelations or dares that could potentially arise. But the thrill of the unknown and the bond of friendship that tied them together made me willing to take the plunge.

"Sounds fun!" Rishita chimed in, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Sonali shrugged, a smile playing on her lips. "Why not? Let's see what secrets we can uncover today."

And so, the game began, with each turn unraveling a new layer of their friendship. Laughter filled the room as secrets were shared, dares were taken, and bonds were strengthened. I found myself opening up in ways I hadn't expected, finding solace in the warmth of her friends' acceptance. It has always been pike this. They never made me feel uncomfortable with anything. And one thing that we have in common is not having a boyfriend. It's not like we want to have one but still whenever we see a couple on Instagram, we do feel sad and tease each other. However, in our lives, we never wanted one. One can blame this on our high standards of men.

Soon the head of the bottle turned towards me making me worried about what Shika will make me do now. I'm not getting a good feeling as she's staring at me evilly.

"So, darling...truth or dare?" said Shika. I was carefully thinking about what to choose weighing the pros and cons of each options. "Dare. It is then" I stated. The other two were looking at us amusingly.

"Ok. So babe. You're task is to make a prank call to a random person. You'll decide who would you call?"  said Shika. I looked at her astonished. How will I do this? Who will I call? Obviously not to a known person.

"No. No. No. I can't do this. This is impossible". I said terrified of doing it.  "Look...sweetie, we are here. You just dial a random number and say whatever you want. We are here. It's just a call. You won't be seeing that person and vice versa. It's just a harmless prank call".

"Ok" I mumbled. Taking out my phone, I opened the lock and I thought about it for a moment and typed a random number.

As I dialed the number, my heart was racing with anticipation. I don't know why am I feeling of not doing this? It's just a harmless prank call. But this feeling is not going away.

I sighed and put the phone to my ear. It's ringing. I don't think anyone will pick up and I'll be spared from my friends. Just as I was about the hung the call, someone picked it up. "Hello" came someone's voice from the other end. The voice was deep and husky, reverberating through the phone. God...I'm nervous as hell. I locked my eyes with Sonali and she encouraged me to speak further.

"Hello. My name Ana. May I talk to you for a second?" I said in an professional voice. I have no idea what am I going to say next. He paused for sometime to answer. Sonali looked at me and whispered "Are you going tell him about loans? What the hell are you speaking? Tell him something naughty". I looked at her weirdly and whispered " No".

"Look...whoever you are, speak quickly. I don't have all day" came his voice. He's rude. I didn't even start to mess with him yet. Now, I'm officially thinking about chickening out. Sensing my nervousness, Shika snatched my phone.

"Hello. Mister...did you forget about Ana? You were on a Dare with her last night. How can you forget about her so soon? I'm her best friend by the way. I warned her last night not to go with you but she did it anyway. And look how you're treating her now". Shika stated angrily. Someone please give her an Oscar. She is so good. I'm literally flabbergasted right now.

He paused again for a long time now. We thought he hung up. We still waited with anticipation. "Look miss. Whoever you're, do not mess with me. Or I will make sure nobody will find out about your body's chopped pieces" he stated dangerously. I think we have officially messed up. He's sounding so serious. What if he's someone dangerous and we are unknowingly digging pur own grave. We were all so horrified by the turn of events. Rishita's hand is literally shivering at this point.

I quickly snatched my phone from Shika's hand and said "sorry sir. I guess it's a wrong number. I didn't mean to waste your time". I mumbled, feeling scared.

He didn't say anything and hung up. I sighed feeling relieved. What the freaking hell was that? Is he a gangstar or what? He sounded so vicious.

"See...that's why I told you guys not to do this. He sounded like a maniac".

Sonali, Shika and Rishita looked at me apologetically and  Shika said "sorry. I  didn't think that it would be like this. Who would have thought that that asshole would be like that". I glared at her.

"Look. I don't think anything will happen. He understood that whether it was a fake call or misplaced call. He was just threatening us to not mess with him" said Sonali. Well, she's logically right. The guy should understand this but again what's the guarantee that he would?

"Let's not think about it more. We have met after so many days let's not ruin it for some psycho" said Rishita after hearing our conversation.

"Fine" I said. With that we again focused on the game. Soon we forgot about the prank call and enjoyed our game and clickedso many pictures.

As the morning turned into afternoon,  our game came to an end, leaving us all feeling lighter and more connected than before. Soon, Rishika's mom called us for lunch. She's just amazing and her hand made food is absolutely mouth watering.  The sun dipped below the horizon, casting a warm glow over the room as we sat in comfortable silence, reveling in the shared moments of laughter and camaraderie.

As we bid goodbye to each other sharing hugs and promises of more outings and adventures hung in the air, a testament to the enduring bond they shared. I walked back home, my heart full with the love and laughter of the day, grateful for the friends who had become my chosen family.

Little did I know that the mysterious man from my recurring dream would soon step out of the shadows of my subconscious and into the light of reality, setting off a chain of events that would challenge my beliefs, my fears, and ultimately, my heart.