23rd March, 2014:
7:00 a.m.:
It was a Sunday. I was happily texting Sai, telling her about our plans next month to study at a café nearby. Picturing us enjoying our iced mochas and the evening sun beaming down on us was delightful. The mid-year exams was coming soon, and as top students in the entire grade, we had to prepare ourselves.
Sai and I loved to chat on weekends. *Bing* the notification comes in. I always look forward to her messages.
8:10 a.m.:
Sai's speech bubble had popped up: Brb.
I had replied: Tyt.
8:15 a.m.:
*Bing* I received another message. I was full of hope that Sai was back. I switched on my phone with one press of the lock button. I entered my pin and dragged down the notifications bar. I clicked on the envelope logo where it read: You have a new message.
I arrived at a new chat screen. It was not Sai. It came from my local network operator. It said: You have one voicemail from the number...
It was the same anonymous caller. Had he left a voicemail for me? This was new.
"Please dial *** to listen to your voicemail."
I dialed the three-digit number. I put it on speaker so that I could listen it being projected loud and clear.
This time, there was the sound like the opening and closing of drawers. Or could it be a butcher slaughtering a chicken? Or worse, a mad man chopping up a human?
No. I CAN'T think of that right now. The real question is, why is he leaving me voicemails? It makes me wonder. I must find the culprit immediately. Using my little teenage brain and low energy skills, I couldn't do much, unlike those professionals in TV shows.
I tried to think as hard as I could, to make a conclusion like those super detectives in the CSI. Haha, what a childish brain I have. Nevertheless, I needed to find answers. I couldn't stick with this any longer.
25th March, 2014:
To deal and settle all this madness, Sai and I came up with a plan.
Our scheme was to use a public telephone. That way, when we call John Doe, he would not be able to call back as it is a public telephone and no one would be there to pick it up. Moreover, it would never ring.
We had found a public telephone around a housing area somewhere near a river.
We planned to disguise our voices. Since I picked up only once when John Doe called, he could've remembered my voice, or even recorded it. Sai would be speaking for me. If all else fails and he doesn't pick up, we'll have to take serious action.
10:00 a.m.:
We arrived at the public telephone. Our surroundings were a a long row of houses, a newly tarred road, four or five red palm trees, some wilted grass, and a ditch leading towards the river.
Sai picked up the phone. We did not plan our dialogue, but we did plan our accents.
I took out my coins. A few twenty cents and ten cents. I inserted twenty cents into the coin slot. Sai pressed the buttons delicately, with a gentle touch here and there, while the beep-beep-beep sounded in the speaker.
It was dialing. We listened and concentrated as best as we could, not to be carried away by a leaf falling from a tree, or a bird screeching as it flew by.
We waited five seconds. Ten seconds. Twelve seconds.
We got fed up. This John Doe did not answer.
Sai slammed the handset onto its cradle, angry and disappointed. She too was keen on my case.
We were expecting my twenty cents to roll back out of the coin return slot. But, to our surprise, only ten cents was given.
"They stole our ten cents for a stupid twelve second-call that we didn't deserve," Sai raised her voice, pissed off.
We tried a second time, not giving up. We were only rejected once. I inserted my balance that was exchanged earlier.
Sai dialed the number, desperate for it to be answered.
"Hallo?"
We were shocked and full of surprise. This was unexpected. This John Doe finally picked up.
Sai had kept her calm. She put on an act, with her best British accent she could portray. "Ah yes, may I speak to... Mr. Stevens, perhaps?"
"Huh??" it replied.
Sai could tell the voice came from a man. She changed the subject, "May I know who you are?"
There was no reply after that. Everything was quiet. We strained to listen to the speaker on the line. We waited for about seven seconds. We knew that there won't be any replies for now.
Sai ended the call. We paused, and stared at each other intensely, trying to process what we had just experienced eight seconds ago. This had been our biggest discovery yet.
It has been confirmed that this caller, is in fact, a male.
YOU ARE READING
An Anonymous Call
No FicciónI had first regarded it a prank. A wrong number. A mistake. But the calls wouldn't stop. He was bothering me, disturbing me-- as though I was a selected target. As the harassment escalated, I began to imagine things. I feared every corner, was scare...
