The Phone Call

Part 1

"Elise, be careful!" a woman says loudly.

A young girl turns her head to look at her parents. Her smile is radiant and bright. "I am," she assures her mother.

The woman reaches a hand down for her husbands, he looks down at her, joy filling his eyes. Words fly in their stare. Telling each other how proud they are of their daughter. Telling each other how great it is to see her come to life outside, doing one of their own favorite hobbies.

"Mamma, daddy, come on!" the girl shrieks. She ducks behind a tree and out of sight.

The man drops the woman's hand and runs behind the tree.

When he gets to the other side, he looks around but can't find his daughter. "I'm gonna get you," he says playfully, holding his hands out in front of him. A giggle comes from behind the tree. If he had any worry about his daughter being missing, it was gone now, he beamed at the high laugh of the child. "Come out, come out, wherever you are," he says pushing back the leaves of the pine.

"You can't get me!" the little girl tells him.

"Oh yes, I will," he assures her, stepping into the leaves. His eyes adjust the mass of evergreen needles in front of his eyes. The man scans quickly for his daughter. He can't see her. "Elise?" he calls.

Silence.

"Can you get me now?" a voice whispers by his ear.

The man whips around.

His daughter is standing behind him.

"Elise," he whispers, calming his beating heart. How silly it was to be scared. He reaches out his arm to touch his child's shoulder.

"Who's Elise?" his daughter asks. Except her lips don't move, staying pasted in a wide smile. The fabric on her shirt ripples, as if something's underneath. Then the fabric rips, as a large hand made of dust, bursts out of his daughter's stomach.

The man steps back in fear, too terrified to scream.

The large hand, presses against his daughters stomach, and tries pushing itself more out. Another hand appears, then a head. The head has no eyes, except large voids where the sockets should be.

"Elise," the man's hoarse voice whispers.

The face's lips pull back and laughs, a high pitched giggle, exactly like his daughters. "Daddy, you'll never get me!" it says.

The man's finally gets sense, and runs out of the tree. "Betty! Betty!" he calls for his wife.

The woman runs over to the tree as the man collapses on the ground, his face is covered in tears and dirt. She's scared she's never seen him cry like this.

"Where's Elise?" she asks worriedly.

Her husband doesn't answer, he keeps whimpering with freight.

"Elise is gone," her daughter's voice says.

She turns around, but her little girl isn't there, instead a giant swirling storm of a monster, towers behind her. The woman screams, terrified, she picks up a large stone and throws it as hard as she can at the monster.

Suddenly, the storm stops. The monster gives one last grin before evaporating away.

The woman's breathing steadies. She closes her eyes, and sends a prayer up, thankful that this nightmare is over.

Except when she opens her eyes, she sees a body on the ground.

A little girl, with a smashed skull, and blood streaming around her like a puddle.