The Clown (NETFLIX SHORT STORY CONTEST)

5)When A Stranger Calls

It did not matter that the police did nothing to arrest the clown. Precautions were still made by Stephen and Shirley to prevent another situation like the one Alan and Kimberly were in. Mr. and Mrs. O'Hare never again let the children walk alone to or from school. They worked around the chaos of only owning one vehicle to make it so none of their children walked alone, John included.
No one could figure out how or why the clown knew the names of the O'Hare children. The police couldn't answer that question.
The only thing the O'Hare's could do was to be aware of their surroundings. They locked every door at night,(they had previously neglected to do so) never let the children walk alone, and explained to Kimberly's teacher the seriousness of never leaving her outside and unattended during recess.
According to Kimberly, Dr. Morgan made two drives past her school at recess during the week. Given there were now three teachers walking the playground with the kids, Dr. Morgan could not stop to chat.
That was it. No more conversations and no more idling in front of the Olsen's house. For two whole weeks, everything seemed to be returning to normal. After that, Mr. Olsen needed to stop postponing his business trip. With Mrs. Olsen dropping him off at the airport one evening, this left John home to babysit the three youngest children. After inviting his girlfriend over, Sally Waters was helping Kimberly and little Bethany paint their tiny toenails. John and Alan were invested in yet another card game when the telephone rang.

"You get it," said John to Alan, going to the counter to pluck out a bag of chips from the cupboard.
"Why me?"
"Cause' every time I get on the phone with grandma she asks if I'll be marrying Sally at eighteen like when she and grandpa got hitched," said John, rolling his eyes.
Alan  groaned as he went to answer the phone. He loved his grandmother dearly but the woman had an awful tendency to speak to him  as if he were still five-years-old and not on the verge of turning into a teenager.
"O'Hare residence," Alan answered on the fourth ring.
"Hello, Alan," said a familiar voice over the line. Alan froze as instant recognition was made regarding the voice. It was not his grandma. That calm, too collected voice only belonged to one person. The clown was calling. "Be a good boy and go get Kimberly for me. I haven't been able to tell her how pretty she looks at school."
Having nothing sensible to say, Alan slammed the phone down on it's hook, ending the call. The boy trembled upon the realization that the clown had their phone number.

"Did you seriously just hang up on grandma?" John complained as the phone started to ring again.
"That's not grandma!" Alan warned as John went ahead and answered regardless of his garbled statement. 

"O'Hare residence." John listened for a moment as his face frowned. "Dr. Morgan...?" he asked curiously. "Who may I ask are you calling for?"

Alan  jumped up and took the phone out of his brother's hands before hanging it up on the hook.
"Bro, what the hell!"
"It's the clown!" Alan hissed, waving his hands for his brother to grasp the point.
John's face was surprised as the phone rang yet again. "You're not going to tell mom and dad I was swearing," John warned beforehand as he answered the phone as it started ringing again. He waited until the person on the end spoke to know who it was. "Try calling or coming by my sister again, fuck face, I'll shove your shitty costume straight up your asshole." John had a satisfied grin on his face from his own statement.
But it was listening to whatever the clown retorted on the other end that made his face pale. John suddenly looked spooked. A lengthy reply was given that made Alan wonder what was said by the clown to terrify his usually brave elder brother.
"How do you know our names...?" whispered John before the clown must have hung up. "Hello? Hello??" John hung up the phone, saying nothing . For the longest time he was absolutely silent as he stared at the floor.
"Uh...John? John?" said Alan, nudging his brother. Nothing was said as John stared at the floor. It wasn't until Sally came into the kitchen to announce she was driving home did John stop her. He moved to her ear and whispered something so Alan could not hear. After that, Sally looked as chalk-white as John did.
"Go sit in the living room with the girls, Al."
"I wanna know what he said..."
"NOW, AL!" yelled John, covering his own mouth with a hand.  Alan did as he was told, but he was determined to find out what was said in that phone conversation.
The phone did not ring again that night. Mrs. O'Hare arrived home from the airport an hour later. John and Sally took her into the foyer where the younger children were out of earshot as soon as she entered the door. Alan slowly made his way to the doorway to listen in, careful on not making one of the squeaky floorboards creak as he walked.
"What is it, John??" asked Shirley in a whisper.
"That man called. The clown calling himself Dr. Morgan."
"And??" John flinched, looking as though he did not want to repeat what was said to him on the line. Sally rubbed his shoulder, looking just as uncomfortable. "What did he say, John Michael O'Hare??" his mother demanded.

"He...He said that if we didn't let him have Kimberly, he would keep coming back." John was trembling as Shirley watched worriedly. "W-what else did he say?" John looked as though he did not want to answer, causing his mother to scowl. "Dammit, John. That pervert called our house and threatened you for my daughter. You tell me what else was said-"

"He said that if we didn't let him have her, t-that when he f-finally rapes her, he'll then carve out her organs and h-hide her body in a place that we'll never s-see it again. H-he said i-if we l-let him h-have her now, he'll l-leave her body in a p-place we can find." That was the first and only time Alan could ever recall a time his brother John cried. Given John was always such a tough guy, Alan never suspected his brother was even capable of crying.
That showed that he was deeply afraid of what the clown told him. After her eyes had started to well up, Shirley dried them with her hands as she went for the telephone. "We'll call the police, they'll know what to do!"
Even though no one saw Alan overhearing their conversation, they still forced he and his sisters upstairs to bed before calling the police. A half hour passed where his mother and brother waited for the authorities to arrive. They decided they wouldn't have Sally drive home until they spoke to the police. Peter quietly left his bedroom when the officer arrived, but he witnessed his mother crestfallen by what she heard. "Ma'am, I'm sorry to say, calling someone isn't a crime."

"It's not that he called!" Shirley whispered as to not wake her children. "It's the fact that that monster told my son he plans on raping and murdering my daughter! You can't say that's not a crime!!"
"It is if he takes your daughter or literally touches her, ma'am. I'm very sorry to inform you, but there are no laws on calling."
"Do you have children, officer Penbrooke??" Shirley snapped in a whisper.
"My wife just had our first a few months ago, a boy."
"Now what would you be thinking if a man called up your wife and told her he planned on raping and murdering your little boy?? What would you do if he told you that unless you gave him your son, he would do those terrible things and then hide his body somewhere you couldn't find it??"

"I'd do exactly what you did tonight, ma'am," said the officer sadly. He took a deep breath, shaking his head. "Alright, here's what I'm going to do since your husband ain't home. I'm going to patrol the neighborhood for the next two hours and then when my shift ends, I'll have a buddy of mine that owes me a favor doing the same.
"But what about Dr. Morgan?" asked John, frowning. "He has our phone number, he knew when he followed my siblings that our parents weren't home. Doesn't that mean he's watching our house?"
Shirley covered her eyes before taking a deep breath. "Officer, I've been thinking. Those two little girls that were killed last spring and the summer before. Do you think this Dr. Morgan is the killer??"
"Possibly, ma'am. Tell you what, I have your statement and your sons statement, I'll pass this information on to the detective in the next town investigating those murders. I'll stop over tomorrow afternoon to inform you of what I find. How's that sound?"
"Lovely, thank you."
"And what are we supposed to do in the mean time?" John pushed. "The guy has our phone number. He knows where we live. What stops him from coming into the house and murdering all of us before taking Kimmy??"

"John Michael O'Hare!"

"You're thinking it too, Ma," defended John.

Taking a deep breath, the officer sighed. "You're all safe tonight, ma'am. My fellow officer and I will take turns. In the morning, I'll contact some buddies at the department investigating those kiddie murders and I'll see what they have. Don't you, worry, you're completely safe."
Eavesdropping  Peter strongly suspected the officer was being similar to how adults spoke when placating children. He was merely offering a reassuring lie.