A Time for Murder

Don't Answer The Phone

The kitchen phone had screeched from its place on the wall, four times it rang out before Luke lifted the handset from it's base. Its cord tangled upon itself, proving a momentary problem as Luke nimbly worked his fingers through the tangled mess in an attempt to unravel the cord. His own fingers snagging in the curled mess a time or two, cursing under his breath as he did so.

Luke brought the handset to his ear. The cold ear piece pressed upon his ear causing him to flinch momentarily. "Yeah." He uttered in a huff, his ear like ice and his nerves shot from the tangled mess that he had just met.

"Do you hear it?" A voice hummed in a near whisper. The person on the other end of the phone line slowly drew in a deep breath, exhaling softly. "Can you hear it?"

"Hear what?" Luke hissed into the phone. Someone was obviously messing with him. "Do I hear what?"

"Them." The voice whispered through the phone. Again drawing in a deep breath and then slowly releasing it.

Luke could feel his ear begin to sweat, he wiped the ear piece on his t-shirt and returned it to his ear. The sweat was still there. "Gross." Luke once again attempted to wipe the ear piece before he switched the headset to his other ear. "Them who?"

"You know who." The voice now audible and loud, it was clear that it was a woman's voice. Not a girl, but a woman had been on the other end of the phone line. Her voice was a bit scratchy and rough, likely the result of years of smoking.

"Look, I don't know what or who you are talking about." Luke snapped back. His annoyance was clear, an unmistakable tone could be heard in his voice.

"You do." The voice accused, a teasing hiss ringing through the phone line. "You know exactly what I am talking about."

"No I don't." Luke grasped the telephone cord in his free hand. "Look, i am going to hang up."

"Wait!" The woman gravelly sounding, suddenly becoming brittle. "Why do you lie to me?"

"Who is this?" Luke demanded, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the phone cord harder. Luke swallowed hard, fighting back his agitation with the unknown voice.

His inquiry had only been met with an ominous silence on the other end of the phone line, sending a shiver through his body. Luke could hear his own heart beat, throbbing within his ears. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoever this was, clearly had to be playing a prank on him. How dare they interrupt his calm Saturday morning for such gibberish.

"Okay, I am hanging up now." Luke finally broke through the silence. He untangled his hand from the phone cord.

"Don't hang up!" The voice sputtered in haste. "Don't hang up if you want to live."

"If I want to what?" Luke chuckled. "Live?" What a joke. It obviously was some dumb teenager who was bored out of their mind with nothing better to do then to harass people by way of prank calls. "Yeah, okay. Whatever you say."

"This is your last warning." The voice was now scratchy and taut sounding. "I am warning you, don't hang up."

Kenny and Dillon, who had been blissfully playing video games in the front room only moments before, now stood in the kitchen doorway, staring blankly at Luke. Both boys, still holding their video game controllers in their hands, were flashing Luke an urgent, hurry up kind of look. Luke shrugged and pointed towards the phone. Dillon shrugged back in response to Luke, while Kenny mouthed one single word, what.

"Who is this?" Luke demanded once again, and once again the stillness on the phone line sent a shiver down his spine. Though he would never admit that the voice had stirred fear in, if only for a brief moment, it was enough to leave him feeling unsettled. Luke huffed as he slammed the phone onto it's base, he had enough of the games and the eerie silence.