John
As soon as I pulled up outside Mike's house, I knew that I wasn't going to enjoy tonight. I'd just joined university a week ago and somehow managed to make some friends. Well, I say friends. I'm not really sure if these are the kind of people I want to be hanging around with.
Mike had invited me to his 'party'. He made sure to emphasise on the word 'party'. This automatically made me wary. I've seen what they're capable of and I'm not sure whether I actually like them or I'm scared about what they would do to me if I don't follow their rules. I decided to chose the option that wouldn't end in me getting killed.
I hesitated for a while before knocking on the door. Mike opened it and invited me inside. It didn't exactly look like a party. It consisted of 4 people. This made me even more concerned. What was I doing here?
I sat down with his 'gang'. They looked at me suspiciously. Like they had something planned. I felt uncomfortable. Could I just leave? Would that be seen as rude?
"Alright then," Mike said in a way that definitely didn't make me feel welcome at all, "John, can I have your phone?"
"M-My phone? Why?" I asked. I could tell they weren't planning on providing me with an answer so I reluctantly handed it over.
"Okay. So, let's call him." Mike said.
"Call him? Call who?"
"Are you familiar with prank calling?" Mike whispered as if we were in church.
"Prank calling?" I laughed, "What are you? Nine year old girls?"
"No, I'm 18." One of Mike's 'gang' replied.
"Yeah, I know. It was a joke. You know, haha?" Wow, tough crowd.
"Have you met any weirdos?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, I'm sitting with them right now." Still no laughter, "Another joke."
Mike dialled a number into my phone. I waited in anticipation. Suddenly, someone picked up. Mike smiled at me. Not a friendly smile. An evil smile. A smile that made me even more uncomfortable.
"Hello?" A deep voice asked through the speaker on my phone.
I felt like my heart had stopped. Like every single bone in my body was shutting down on me. I knew that voice. And I knew what they were going to do to it.
"Is this Sherlock Holmes?" Mike asked, although he already knew it was.
"Yes. Who's asking?"
"It's just Mike and the gang. You know us, right? From uni?"
"What do you want?" His voice sounded even deeper through the phone.
"I'm just going to ask you a few questions." All the boys around him laughed, "Question one. Are you even human?"
I knew what was happening and felt powerless to stop it. They were going to break him. They were going to break the boy that sat at the back of the class, correcting the teacher. They were going to break the boy with the deep voice and the curly hair. They were going to break Sherlock Holmes.
"Because," Mike continued, "you must be a robot. A machine. You have no emotions. No friends."
"I am human." Sherlock replied. He spat out the words as if they were poison. Why didn't he just hang up? I preyed he'd hang up.
"So, you're a freak then. Government experiment gone wrong? Because you, Sherlock Holmes, are a messed up human being. Wouldn't your mummy be disappointed?"
"Stop it." I whispered under my breath so only I could hear it. I felt tears fill my eyes. My stomach tied itself into a knot. I felt physically sick.
"YOU'RE A MISTAKE." Mike shouted into the phone.
"STOP IT!" I shouted louder this time. I felt my cheeks becoming damp and knew that it was a bad idea. I honestly didn't care anymore though, "STOP IT MIKE."
Mike stopped and hung up. He had won. Whatever he was trying to do, he'd won. Before he could say anything else, I grabbed my stuff and ran out the door.
After that, I took a long and tiring walk home.
