Look Closer

Chapter 1.

"I'm sorry my phone must have lost signal. Yes sir I am very aware of that. Well I assure you that the report will be on your desk first thing tomorrow morning. Yes sir..o-okay..bye bye." Ann hangs up. "Little shit."
She rolls her eyes & reaches into her purse in search for her keys.
"Where the hell?....Oh c'mon!"
Chad walks up from behind her.
"Forget your keys again, Ann? HA typical."
She smirks.
"Okay very funny. Just open the door, it's late & I'm tired."
"What's the magic word?" He says twirling the set of keys in his hands.
Annoyed, Ann crosses her arms.
"....booty....."
He unlocks the door & steps aside for Ann to pass through. "Beast before beauty."
Ann laughs as she makes her way into the apartment.
"Remind me again why you have a key to MY apartment? Yours is right across the hall."
"Umm because I'm Chad? That's an obvious answer, Ann." He laughs.
*Sighs* "I am so happy to be home."
"Rough day at work?" He asks. Ann quickly slips off her shoes & throws herself on the couch.
"Ehh it was alright, the boss on my ass like always."
"Ahh don't sweat it, Ann. Trust me, that place wouldn't even be where it is now if it wasn't for you." He smiles. She gives a tired grin followed by a yawn.
Ann walks to the kitchen & pulls out a bottle of wine. She opens up a cabinet & takes out two wine glasses. Looking at Chad, she holds up one of the glasses.
"Care to join?" She asks.
"Thanks but I gotta be up early with Dub, we're heading down to school an hour early tomorrow. Gonna try to get some late work done before class."
"Suit yourself." Ann puts away the wine glass.
"How long you gonna be up?"
Pouring herself a glass Ann replies "I gotta go over some paperwork tonight, maybe an hour or two?"
"Alrighty then. See you mañana, rest in booty."
Ann lets out a small laugh as she rolls her eyes.
"Rest in booty bud."
They say their goodbyes & Chad leaves the apartment.
Trying not to make noise, Ann quietly moves the wine bottle to the living room. She sets her paperwork on the coffee table. She turns on the tv & begins skimming through channels.
As time passes by, her lids are becoming heavier with every blink she takes....

*2 hours later*
The phone rings. Still half asleep, Ann reaches for the phone. She answers.
"Hello?"
An unknown man was on the other end.
"Help me."
"I'm sorry?"
"Help me"
There's a moment of silence. Ann repositions herself, now sitting upright.
"...who is this?"
"I am going to die tonight, I need your help."
"Is this some kind of sick fucking joke? How the hell did you even get my number?"
Ann's voice begins to fill with worry.
"I don't have much time." He replies.
Ann quickly hangs up the phone. At that moment, Katie comes out of her room with a concerned look.

"Ann...yawn...what're you doing up? It's 2:30 in the morning." Katie rubs her eyes.
"I didn't mean to wake you but this random guy he-.."
Just before she can finish sentence the phone rings. Ann stares at the phone as her face turns white, as if she'd seen a ghost.

Katie walks closer. "Ann? Ann?!"
Ann not being able to snap of out her haze in time, Katie grabs the phone.
"Listen, stop calling!"
"NO! YOU LISTEN! Someone calls you asking for help & you just hang up on them? Can't believe this shit.."
Lost for words Katie hands Ann the phone.
"What? Please, Katie I don't wanna talk to him. I'm scared."
"It's gonna be fine. I'll be right back okay? I need to go get the guys."
"Please hurry."

Katie quickly unlocks the door & goes across the hall. She knocks on the door rapidly.
"Chad? Dub? Please get up.."
Dub opens the door with a half asleep look on his face.
"What the fu-..it's 2:30 in the morning, Katie!"
"We need your help. Go get Chad & come over now!"
Without waiting for a response she hurried back to Ann.
At this point, Ann had put the phone on speaker. She couldn't stand the sound of the mans voice so close to her..as if he was there.

Hesitantly, Ann asks "..why do you think you're going to die tonight?"

The man glances at the clock.
"I'm going to take my own life within the next half hour."
Ann's eyes dart towards Katie. Tears began to fill them. Chad & Dub walk in.

"Listen, there are people who can help you. They are trained to help people like yo-.."

She stops. She knows that she is walking on eggshells & any wrong word can set it off.

"They help people who are thinking about doing the same thing you are. I can give you their number."

"What difference does it make? They're strangers just like you & your friends. They don't care."

Katie's grabs the phone.

"Listen, that is not true. Some people do it voluntarily because they want to help. We can give you a number but if you don't want to take it I don't know what to tell you...I'm sorry."

"If you hang up I swear I will -"

The call ends.

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you are enjoying the story so far. Yes, there will be some dark matter in this story but if you are not comfortable with this or anything of that sort I do understand if you exit this story. Other than that, let me know how you like it so far! Thank you!