Lost Signal - 'The Black Phone'

-1-

Cole Maximus Shaw.

Max Shaw's only son. You can tell by the choice of middle names. Max wasn't married very long. Due to his cocaine addiction and crazy dreams that lead to this obsession of solving mysteries, Valentine, his unique and loving wife, was finding it hard to tell others that the baby boy she was carrying in her stomach belonged to him.

It was- some sort of growing suspicion in her gut that something just wasn't right in Max's family. Hint, it was Albert. She didn't trust him the day she laid eyes on him. He was distant, never went to the family gatherings, the baby shower, he didn't even call. He really only allowed Max and his shitty dog Samson to give him the light of day. She tried asking Max about his odd hobbies and what not, but Max swore on his life Albert was NOT a bad person.

I think you can guess what happens next...

After the birth of Cole, on February 19th 3:12 am, things had seemed to have settle down. Max made his old office a playroom for Cole, where he began learning how to crawl, and even took his first steps. Max was there for that, and Valentine loved every second of it. Soon enough, Cole said his first word- one that Valentine had been teaching Cole to say in Greek, her mother language, which was 'Mpampas' meaning Dad. 

And again, Max was there for it. Cole was loved, and protected. By 13 years old, he was learning Greek on his own, taking lessons from his mother everyday after school. Everything was okay for the family...then. But soon enough, Max started getting phone calls from Albert. That was strange...Max rarely got phone calls from his brother, unless it was something he called urgent. But this time, every phone call was Albert asking Max of a favour. 'Come stay at mine and take care of Samson for a few days', or 'I need you to housesit while I go out for the weekend'. And like the man he is, Max always did what Albert asked of him. 

But this, this was just the start for Max. A couple of years later, a few boys had started going missing in the local area. And as soon as Cole turned 17, it was all that everyone was talking about. And that was all Max needed, to get hooked on. He was sleeping early, having crazy dreams and keeping a journal in his bed-side drawer where he would wake up in the middle of night and scribble down his thoughts. Cole never dared to touch it, the fear of his Father driving himself insane lingering in the back of his mind. That thought eventually began to grow, as his mom began walking into the living room finding giant billboards of photos of the young boys and extracts of the newspaper connected with red string.

Cole would sometimes hear his mom yelling from the living room to his dad's office about how creepy and strange it was to have billboards of random kids in the middle of the room.

"Moro! (babe) Stop keeping your crazy billboards in the living room, when your son is going off to college!"

There was more and more distance growing between Max and his son when he went off to college. And more and more missing person flyers went tumbling through the wind in the streets of Denver. Cole couldn't sleep at night. He finally decided to try and speak to his father one late night, and the answer was pretty much the same.

"Oh, it's nothing for you to worry about, son. All you should know, is that in good time, your very Father will be the top detective in the City of North Denver."

Cole stopped asking for a few weeks. He'd usually wander into the kitchen, finding his Mom angrily cutting up fruit on the counter.

"Geia mammy...eisai kala?" (Hi mom...are you alright?)

His mom would sigh and put down her knife, pushing her hair back off of her shoulders. "Oh, agapw ton mpampa shu, allow merikes fores mporei na parei...dyskolos..."  (I love your dad, but sometimes he can be...difficult...)

But one day, when all the newspaper articles and buzz had risen once again, his answer to Cole's questions were different. 

"Yeah, the detectives keep calling my evidence bluff...but-but I have proof!...Hey, how would you like to spend a few days with your Uncle Albert?" 

Cole still regrets agreeing to that from this day. From his teenage years, it was a usual thing to spend the weekend at his Uncle Albert's. His Uncle Albert was always the topic of conversation in his family, but never for a good reason. His mom refused to stay at his house, along with his Aunty Aletha. He remembers asking his aunty about him one day, whilst she was in the kitchen knitting, the back noise of bubbling soup entering the room, and getting a little bit concerned about what she had said...

"Agapimenos, you're Uncle is a madman! Him and his- creepy masks! Fylaki I say! Fylaki!" (Sweetheart)                                                                                                                     (jail)                (jail)

Every time Cole entered the house, Samson, Albert's violent dog often barked and growled at him, threatening him back, but Cole would stay still and calm, shooing him away and muttering "Samson...back." 

Uncle Albert only had a guest room for Cole nearer down the basement. And the only thing that really creeped him out was the constant ringing of a phone. His Uncle told him it was just an electrical problem, and just to ignore it. But it got harder on those nights where Cole twisted and turned in his bed trying to sleep, sometimes he thought he was hearing screaming and banging on the walls from the basement underneath him...

And those masks. Those damn masks scared him...His dad told him it was a project he was working on, but living in the City of North Denver and making devil masks, made Cole think he had accidently stumbled into a family cult. More and more opinions of this man were filling his brain, along with the stories of these missing now 6 boys. 

That's when that one night arrived. It was a Saturday, after agreeing to stay at his Uncle's with his Dad once again. He had just finished speaking to his mom on the phone, and was now laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Albert had apparently gone to work, and his Dad was still in his room investigating. It was around mid-noon, and the sky was dimming...

That's when he heard the basement door close. Was that...his dad? Why did his dad need to go to the basement? He ignored it for the time being, until he heard Albert's van pull in the driveway. It all happened so fast...

"FUCK!" He heard Albert yell from the kitchen, the thuds of his footsteps growing louder. He sat up, thoughts of worry racing through his mind. His Uncle had rushed past him without remembering he was even there. Cole's ears perked up at the sound of heavy metal dragging across the wood as he rushed by.

An axe. A fucking axe. And he was heading towards the basement...

Cole scrambled to his feet, grabbing the first large object he could see, tiptoeing cautiously down the stairs of the basement. First he heard screams of what sounded like...young boys?

Then a loud thud.

And then he saw it. The boys looking pale and sickly, screaming with horrified faces. His dad laying face down on the floor, presumably dead. The axe was next to him, but there wasn't a trace of blood on it...

Then, there was the back of Uncle Albert's head. And with rage and instinct, Cole held the vase up, and landing with one final smash, Albert fell to the ground.

Holy shit.

(1291 words)

AN - Please say I'm not the only one left in the fandom, like- me and Google Translator had a full on BATTLE 

bye!