Strangers {Saw}

a phone call

Adam was walking up to his apartment, smoking a cigarette with a camera hanging around his neck. On his way up, he ran into his favourite neighbour. She didn't look very happy and seemed to be in a rush to get back to her apartment.

"Hey Viv, where are you off to in such a hurry?" Adam asked

"Oh, uh, I had a long day and I just wanted to get home" Vivian said. Adam knew her well enough to know when she was lying and when something was wrong with her.

"How about I come over in a bit, and you can tell me about it?"

"I'd like that Adam. If you're hungry, I can make us something to eat"

"Sounds good. See you in about an hour" Vivian gave him a smile before she retreated back into her apartment. Adam smiled to himself, letting his mind drift to his crush. Maybe tonight would be the night he reveals his feelings to her and finally kisses her, like he's wanted to do since the day they met. When he entered his apartment, he went to his darkroom. He grabbed a photo that was developing out of a tray and put it on a clothesline. It was a photo of Lawrence. He had several photos of him but not as much as there was of Vivian.

~

He ended up falling asleep. When he woke up, the lights were turned off. He tried turning them back on but they wouldn't. Adam grabbed a flashlight and tried to turn it on, but it wasn't working either.

"Great" he scoffed to himself. He heard something moving somewhere in his apartment. He grabbed his camera to use as a light source. He opened the darkroom door. "Is someone there?" The flash from the camera illuminated the apartment."I can hear you" There was another flash. Adam began to carefully wander the apartment, occasionally taking pictures so he could see. An evil sounding laugh startled him. The flash revealed a creepy looking doll. "Christ!" He grabbed a baseball bat and hit the doll with it until it stopped laughing. He heard movement again. "Who is that? Is that you Viv?"

He asked since he gave Vivian a spare key to his apartment. He gave it to her incase she needed a place to stay. Especially since her abusive ex was released from prison. Then again, if it was Vivian, she would have let Adam know she was in the apartment like she always does. "Who's in there? Come on out! I'll kill you, you motherfucker!" He approached the closet and opened it. When the flash went off again, someone in a red robe and pig mask attacked him.

~

"Okay, so you two remember how you got here, but I don't" Vivian said. The cellphone began to ring. Lawrence picked it up and answered it.

"Who is this?" Lawrence asked,

"Daddy?"

"Diana?"

"Daddy, is that you?"

"Yeah, baby it's me. I'm here"

"I'm scared daddy"

"Don't worry honey, everything's going to be okay. Where's Mommy?"

"She's here with me"

"Let me talk to her sweetie, okay? Put Mommy on"

"The bad man from my room is here. He has us tied up and he has a gun"

"W-what man?"

"Please come home Daddy!"

"Hello? Hello? Diana?"

"Larry?" Allison spoke.

"Ally? Is that you?"

"Is Adam there?" Lawrence looked towards Adam.

"How do you know? Ally, what is going on?"

"Don't believe Adam's lies. He knows you. He knew all about you before today. Tell Vivian not to trust him. Tell her he's been lying to her as well" The line then went dead.

"Hello? Ally? Ally? Hello?" Lawrence stood up again. "God damn you! If you so much as lay a finger on them, I'll kill you! You hear me? You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!" Lawrence went back down the ground, slamming his fist on ground. "Fuck!"

"Are they okay?" Adam asked.

"My wife. She mentioned your name"

"What did she say?"

"She told me not to believe you"

"Believe me about what?"

"She told me, you knew me" Lawrence stood up, angrily glaring at Adam. "Who are you?"

"You know who I am" Adam couldn't look at him. Almost like he was hiding something.

"Stop the lies! You're a liar! I need to know the truth!"

"Lawrence," Vivian spoke, standing up. "I know the situation we are in is a very bad and stressful one but I know Adam, and he--"

"He's been lying to you too" Lawrence said to her. Vivian stared at Lawrence for a brief moment. "Adam's been lying to me?" She turned to look at the aforementioned person. "Is he right? Are you a liar?"

"I'm a liar?" Adam said, making eye contact with Lawrence. "What did you do last night Lawrence Work at a hospital? Saving sick children? You told me that after you left your house last night, you went to work at a hospital"

"That's because it's the truth"

"No it's not. Your wife is right, Larry. You don't recall getting your picture taken in that parking lot?" Adam quickly stood up and reached for the bag that was in the bathtub. "I can prove that you didn't go anywhere near a hospital last night" He revealed the photos he took of Lawrence. However, Adam was unaware that some of his photos of Vivian were there too. They didn't go unnoticed by her. She grabbed one of them, and then looked at the ones on the floor. Why would Adam do this? Why would he stalk her and take photos of her? "It's not the first time I've done it either, Larry. I've been taking pictures of you for a few days now" Lawrence grabbed one of the photos of him.

"But why?"

"You wanna know what I do? I get paid to take pictures of rich guys like you who go to seedy, out-of-the-way motels to fuck their secretaries. Last night I went to your house. I watched you leave. I followed you all the way to that shitbag hotel"

"You've uh, had these with you the whole time?"

"I found them, in there with the hacksaws" Adam pointed to the toilet where he had found the saws. I don't know how they got there"

"Yeah, right. You're so full of it!" Lawrence crumpled up the photo and threw it at Adam.

"Aww, face it, Larry, we're both bulls hitters. But my camera isn't. It doesn't know how to lie. It only shows you what's put right in front of it. Just out of curiosity, what did you do in that motel room? You got out of there pretty fast"

"He was with me last night" Vivian said, unable to look at Lawrence or Adam. She was still freaked out over seeing all the photos of her. "My memory is coming back to me. I remember everything from last night"