What Happened After

Chapter 4

"Nice! Did he sound hot?" 

Chapter 4.

     “Rayn? Yo, RAYN. Are you okay, dude? What the hell happened?” Taryn picked my phone up from where it had landed on the counter and hit a few buttons. “Who’s ‘Lo’ and what did they say to you? Do I need to kick somebody’s ass? I’ll do it, you know, just let me know wh—“

     “No, no,” I whispered, finally snapping out of my comatose state. “I’ll be fine. I just, uh…It was nothing. No one.”

     Taryn wasn’t having that one.

     “Alriiiiight,” he replied, unconvinced. “If this person calls again, I think it’s best if you let it ring. Better yet, give the phone to me; I’ll handle it.” I smiled weakly at him. Leave it to Taryn to assume he could handle any situation, when he didn’t even understand what was going on.

 

     When I didn’t even understand what was going on.

     First of all: What the hell?! The phone rings and my caller ID tells me it’s Lauren. Who’s dead. And I decide it might be a good idea to answer it. That was mistake number one. What I should have done was turn my ringer off, smack a hammer into the screen, then bury the phone under a tree in a parking lot somewhere.

     Second of all: Who had Lauren’s phone? And why would they want to call me with it? Surely they had to understand how a person would feel upon seeing their dead best friend’s name appear on their phone screen. If this person really wanted to get ahold of me, they could have done a little bit more research and found my number a different way. Hell, they could have stolen my number off Lo’s phone and dialed it from their OWN phone. Anything.

     Third: WHY does this person have Lauren’s phone? Are they still paying her cell phone bill each and every month? What would be the point of that? Her cell service, I assumed, had died right along with her. Of course, I hadn’t ever actually tried to call her over the summer. And I certainly was never expecting her to call me.

     My hands had just stopped trembling and Taryn had just left the room when the phone began vibrating again. This time, he had set the phone down on a table across the room from me, so I wouldn’t be able to answer it right away. It could be my mom, I thought. It’s probably not the same person at all. I’m being stupid. Tentatively, I got off the counter again and trudged over to the table where my phone lay. I flipped it over.

     Turns out, I was not being stupid.

     LO CALLING, my phone stated in bold letters. This was it. This time, I would pick up the phone, answer it, and ask the person on the other end who they were. I wanted to know. Just then, Taryn came back into the dining area whistling a happy tune, and, upon seeing the expression on my face, which I assumed to be a terrified one, rushed over to pry the phone out of my hands. He slipped it easily into the pocket of his tie-dyed apron, and said evenly, “No. I don’t know who the fuck Lo is, but they’re messing with your head and I already don’t like them. Let’s just get back to our game and if a customer comes in, promise me you won’t burst into tears and scare them off, okay?” By this point, he had grasped me by the shoulders and was looking into my eyes. He wanted an answer.

     “Yeah, I’m fine. Okay. Jenga,” I sputtered out. “Can I have my phone back eventually?”

     He sighed. “Eventually.”

     He set up the game and we played in silence for a few good minutes before I heard a faint buzzing sound. I began looking around the room, for the source of the noise, before my eyes settled on Taryn’s face, which looked guilty. I gasped.