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After being in London for two weeks, River finally turned her phone back on. Harry'd gone to the studio by himself that day; it had been a very early morning and she hadn't wanted to get out of bed so he'd just smiled and kissed her forehead, pulling the covers up around her. She'd spent most of the morning when she finally had gotten out of bed tinkering around, making herself breakfast and taking a shower. Eventually, she'd gotten bored enough to pull her phone out of the pocket of her handbag that it had been living in since she'd switched it off.
She had to wait a moment before she could even do anything with it because of the amount of notifications that spilled in. Eventually they stopped and she could see that Nadine had texted a lot more times, and so had her mum. She also had missed calls from both her mum and dad, and a few more from that same unknown number. There were a bunch of voicemails from her mum, and another from the unknown number. She started with the first one, from the time it had called her when she'd first gotten there.
The message was only about ten seconds long and didn't seem to have any content other than someone breathing rather creepily. River deleted it, shaking her head and assuming it was just some sort of prank. She clicked on the first message from her mum next and then cycled through all of them.
"River, you need to call me. Now."
"River, I don't know why you're not answering this phone, but you need to. It's extremely important."
"River Elaine, where the fuck are you?"
That one was strange. Her mum rarely used profanity, especially when speaking to her. She also sounding increasingly frantic with each message.
"River, please call me. I don't know what's going on, but you need to call me right now."
"River, you need to call me. You need to come home. You're all over the fucking internet with that guy so I know you're hearing these messages. You need to come home right now."
That was the last one. The only thing left glowing on the screen was the second one from the unknown number. River's finger hovered over it, oddly anxious to see what it was. She clicked it finally, hesitantly.
"Hi, Riv. I... I know mum's been calling you and I'm not sure what she's told you, but... I really hope you get this message. I, uh... well, I've got a lot of explaining to do. I understand if you don't want to speak to me, though. I probably wouldn't want to speak with me. Uh... yeah. I just... I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry, and I love you."
The words reverberated through River's head like they were being blasted to her by a loudspeaker. She listened to the message again, and then one more time. She was sobbing and had absolutely no recollection of when it had started. Her fingers shook so violently that the phone fell out of her hand and slipped to the floor.
The person on the other end of the message hadn't said who they were, but they hadn't had to. Of course River knew at once who it was. It was a voice she'd been sure she'd never hear again, yet somehow it had left her a message the day before. Jasmine's unmistakable tone stuck in her head and she slipped to the floor herself, losing herself to body-wracking sobs. Panic and anxiety rose in her and she couldn't breathe.
It couldn't be Jasmine... but somehow, it was. Somehow, her dead sister had just left her a voicemail sounding very much alive. The weight of it felt like it was crushing her and she fumbled with the phone, picking it up and dialing Harry's number.
She wasn't sure if he'd answer; he usually turned his phone off in the studio, but by some miracle his soft tone made its way to her a few moments later.
"Hello, lovely!"
"Hazza, I... I need you to... to come," she managed through sobs and anxious wheezes. Harry seemed to snap to attention at once.
"I'll be there as soon as I possibly can. Breathe, baby, okay? Just breathe and I'll be there in just a couple of minutes."
"O-okay."
He hung up then and she could almost see him hurrying about the studio gathering his things and telling everyone he needed to go. The thought of him coming to her aid calmed her for just a moment... until the phone that was still ion the floor beside her rang and that same unknown number flashed across the screen.
She pressed the glowing accept call button at once, forcing herself to do so before she chickened out.
"H-hello?" she questioned shakily, trying her best to keep her voice steady despite the fact that she was definitely still crying and mostly still having a panic attack.
"River."
Jasmine. There was absolutely no question in River's mind. It was Jasmine. It was her dead sister.
"W-w-what?" was all she could manage.
"You need to come home, Riv. I... need to see you. I can't tell you all the things I need to tell you over the phone."
Jasmine's voice was small and sounded strangled, like she might be in a very similar situation to River.
"I... Jas..."
River positively couldn't force herself to mutter any real words despite the millions of questions that were running through her head at a mile a minute.
"I love you, Riv, and I'm so sorry. Just come home. Please."
With that, the line went dead and Jasmine was gone again.
