The Witching Hour

[Part 2] Revisiting a Nightmare

Alice, Rick's wife, was at home arranging the nursery when she got the call. The baby in her bulging abdomen wasn't due until early December, but she was feeling anxious to get the room finished, whether her husband was home to help her or not. It was Saturday and she'd already turned in her article for the Sunday paper; she was free the rest of the weekend. It always made her sad when her husband had to work on the weekends, but that was normal business for the family of a construction worker. Besides, it was almost the end of the work season for him and he'd soon be at home spending the winter with her and their first baby.

She didn't hear the phone ringing the first two times he called, since her phone was still on vibrate from when she was typing her article at the office. She didn't hear it until she paused from tying the bumper bars on the crib to rub her aching back. The phone continued to ring in the kitchen until at last the vibrations sent it plummeting off the counter to the tile floor. Crack!

The sound startled her and she let out a little shriek. She laughed to herself, putting her hand over her heart, when she entered the kitchen and saw her phone on the ground. As soon as she picked it up, it stopped ringing.

Shit! She thought, I just missed it.

She unlocked the screen and saw her husband's name listed four times under missed calls. Confused, she glanced at the clock on the stove. It was barely after eleven in the morning. Why was he calling? It wasn't even his lunch break. Quickly, she called him back. The other line didn't even ring, he answered immediately.

"Baby," he said, "sorry I called so many times. You weren't answering."

"It's okay," she replied, "I forgot to turn up the volume again. Are you okay? What's so important?"

"You have to come out to the jobsite, Alice. You won't believe what we found."

"Found? What are you talking about?"

"We found a body today in the basement of that old creepy house."

"A body?" Alice immediately began packing up her purse and searching for her keys, "How many people know about it?"

"Well, what's left of a body. It's mostly just bones. It's pretty gnarly-"

"Rick." Alice was impatient, "Are there any reporters there yet?"

"No. The police have been here for a while though. I thought you'd want to jump on it before Jules hears about it."

"Yes. Thank you for telling me. I'll give Robert a call and let him know what's going on and that I'm headed over there now. I'm already on my way," she said, easing her pregnant body into the car and closing the door, "I can't believe you guys found a body there!" she couldn't mask the excitement in her voice.

"You realize you're getting really excited about something really morbid right?" Rick teased her, lighthearted.

"Yeah, I know. I'm terrible." She shrugged, putting the car in reverse and exiting the garage, "How did you guys discover it?"

The line fell silent then.

"Hello? Rick."

"Uhhhhhh...." Rick's voice trailed off as he searched for the right words.

Alice recognized his tone immediately.

"Rick, what's wrong? What happened? Are you okay?"

"No. Nothing. Nothing is wrong." He quickly replied.

"What happened?"

"I... Okay, first let me just say that I'm fine. Everything's fine. No one got hurt."