This short story, posted just in time for spooky Halloween, is a dark one. It's meant to chill, to horrify, and set the mind wondering.
A chilling, mildly graphic, short horror story, about 3,600 words. Even mundane objects can become supernatural, terrifying and change our lives. This horror story is not for the faint of heart...it contains content that may disturb some readers. It is, essentially, rated "R."
Comments and thoughts, are of course, always welcome!
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The match head flared to life with an explosion of light and
heat. She dipped it into the candle, lighting the wick. It was the first
anniversary of her daughter’s death and Maggie Cunningham sat alone in front of
a small memorial she had erected in her apartment. A large framed picture of
Gwen, surrounded on either side by towering candles, smiled back at Maggie.
Treasures from her life lay spread on the table. A hairbrush from when she was
a child, a necklace, and an ashtray she had made in high school art class and
given to her parents, despite the fact that neither of them smoked.
Maggie smiled as she thought back to those warm and happy
memories. When Gwen had been preparing for college, she and Maggie had gotten
into a fight. It was a real blow up and, sadly enough, it had brought a long
silence between mother and daughter. The
real shame of it was that Maggie couldn’t even remember what it was they had
fought about. She had regretted that she
didn’t make an effort to make amends when she had the chance, especially now
that her dear Gwen was gone.
Maggie breathed a long sigh and stared at the picture of her
little girl. Gwen had been driving home in the rain, or so Maggie had been
told. It was late at night and Gwen was in a hurry. She had been going too fast and slid into the
oncoming lane. They said that it had
been quick, that Gwen probably hadn’t felt any pain when the truck crashed into
her car. Maggie had been glad for that
at least. She would have hated for her daughter to have suffered.
The phone rang.
Maggie, shaking herself from her thoughts, turned to look at
it. It sat next to her ancient answering
machine on the baker’s stand in her kitchenette. Again the bell rang, announcing the incoming
call. Maggie sighed.
She had been receiving strange phone calls for the last
couple weeks now. When she had answered,
there was no one on the other end. There
would be no sound, save for some faint static. At first it started out as just
one or two a day and Maggie thought that it might be a bad connection in the
line. Though, the number of calls grew,
almost exponentially, every day. Her old
answering machine tape would be nearly full when she came home from work with
static and silence.
Maggie finally had enough and called the phone company to
complain. They said that they had no
record of any calls being made and agreed that it was probably a loose or bad
connection in her wires. They had put
her on the maintenance list, but told her that it might take a while.
Frustrated, she attempted to figure out a way to shush the
annoying thing. The phone did have a
feature where she could turn off the ringer, rendering the phone silent. It was tempting, but Maggie needed her phone
for work and she would hate to miss an important call. She was just going to have to live with it.
She shook her head, impatiently waiting for answering
machine to pick it up. To avoid having
to hear nothing but that blasted, barely audible static, she had been reduced
to screening her calls. If there were an
actual person on the other end trying to get a hold of her, then this way she
would know. If not, she could stop the
machine and erase the tape.
The phone rang for a final time before the answering machine
came to life, clicking and clacking loudly as it prepared to record. Maggie waited, making small bets to herself
which it would be; actual call or bad connection.
The answering machine clicked once more and then beeped. The soft sounds of faint static came through
the speakers. Maggie sighed, having lost
her own bet, and jumped up to erase the message. Though, as she stepped over to the machine,
her hand poised to hit the stop button, a new sound emerged from the static.
“Hello?”
Maggie blinked. Had she been wrong? Was the connection problem affecting real calls
now? She reached for the phone instead.
“Hello, mom? Are you
there?”
Her hand froze, hanging just over the receiver. What? What
was that? Gwen? Maggie grabbed the receiver and thrust it next
to her ear.
“Hello?”
Only the sound of a dial tone met her. Slowly, her hand fell from the side of her
face, dangling at her side still holding the phone. It couldn’t have been Gwen. Her mind was playing tricks on her. It must
have been a wrong number. Someone trying
to call home, that’s all.
She placed the receiver back in the cradle and hit rewind on
the machine. It spun its wheels for a
moment and clicked to a stop. She hit the play button and listened to the
message. Nothing but that faint static
played over the speakers. There was no
voice on the message. Confused, Maggie
played the message again and again. Still
there was only that stupid interference.
She couldn’t have imagined it, could she? She was sure there was someone on the other
end. She shook her head, looking at the
phone. Could someone else's conversation
gotten crossed on her line? That might
be it. Someone could have been chatting with her mother when the lines got
crossed. That would explain why they
were saying “Hello, mom? Are you there?”
Maggie suddenly felt very silly for having even considered
that it could be her Gwen. No matter how
much she might miss her, she was gone and Maggie would just have to deal with
that.
She erased the message and went back to her daughter’s small
memorial.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
When Maggie wasn’t thinking about how many messages she’d
have to erase when she arrived home, her work days droned on in the same way
they had for the past year. The only
bright spot was her best friend, but Maggie was caught off-guard when Angela
started their usual lunch conversation about the tender topic.
“So, how are you holding up? One year now.”
Maggie looked up from her lunch into the face of her best
friend. Angela had always been very
caring and protective of Maggie. She
smiled wearily.
“I’m alright Angie, you can stop worrying.”
Angela beamed that annoying, knowing smile she always had
when Maggie tried to convince her of something less than accurate.
“Oh, come on. I know
you better than that. Look at yourself. You look tired and stressed.”
Maggie sighed, “Oh, that. That’s just because my stupid phone keeps
ringing all the time. I’ve got a bad
connection, or something. I’m fine. Really.” She continued to play with her food,
separating the mixed Chinese food into small piles just as Gwen had when she
was young. She made one pile for the
noodles, one pile for the bits of chicken, and so on.
Angela shook her head and reached across the table to place
her hand upon Maggie’s.
“Margaret, look at me.”
Maggie looked again into her friend’s face. Angela’s cold blue eyes stared back intently.
“Now, what’s going on with you? Are you truly okay?”
Maggie pressed her lips together in a force smile and
nodded. “Yeah, I’m fine. It’s just…”
“Just what?” Angela pressed.
“It’s just that – well, my phone is messed up, like I said. Well, last night, my line got crossed with
someone else. I guess they were talking
to their mother or something because this girl kept saying ‘hello, mom?
Hello?’ I just – I just thought it
was Gwen for a moment, that’s all.”
“Oh, honey,” Angela said, coming around the table to sit in
the seat next to Maggie. “I know you
miss you her, but you can’t keep doing this to yourself. You have to move on.”
Tears welled up in Maggie’s eyes and she choked back a sob. “How?”
Angela smiled warmly, taking Maggie’s hand in hers. “I have no idea,” she said cheerily causing
Maggie to laugh in spite of the threatening flood of tears. She shared a chuckle then touched her friend
on the shoulder.
“I’m serious though, you have to let it go.”
Maggie nodded, her smile melting away. “I know, Angie. Thanks for being there for me.”
Angie smiled, “Of course. What are friends for? By the way, you’re getting this right?”
Maggie rolled her eyes.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
She dropped her keys into the tray on the table next to the
door with a loud clatter. She was
officially home. Her purse plopped next
to the key tray. With a heavy sigh, she
slipped out of her coat and hung it on the rack.
Stepping into the living room, Maggie stopped to check her
messages. She didn’t really want to, but
it had become a compulsion that she could not escape. The answering machine readout blinked. One message.
Maggie blinked. Only
one? Had they managed to fix the
problem? She had become used to having
thirty some messages a day. She smiled
and pressed the rewind button. The
machine scrolled back through the tape for a moment, clacking loudly as it did.
She pressed play and waited. Static played over the speaker and she nodded.
“I’ve heard this tune before,” she said, joking with
herself.
“Mom?”
Maggie froze again. Her
heart quickened in her chest.
“Mom? Pick up. Please.”
Gwen? No, it couldn’t
be.
“Mom? I’m so lonely
here. Please pick up.”
The answering machine stopped playing with a loud clack that
spooked Maggie. She stood rooted, her
limps trembling slightly. Was someone
trying to play a trick on her? A crank
call? It couldn’t have been Gwen, it
just couldn’t. It sounded like her
voice, but it couldn’t be.
The phone rang.
A screech escaped Maggie’s lips and she jumped in fright. Again it rang. Get a grip Maggie, she told herself. She reached her hand out to answer the line. As the receiver pressed against her ear, she
could hear the hiss of static.
“Hello?”
Only the hiss. Great,
she thought, now I’m answering the static again. Just great.
“Hello?” she asked again.
“Mom?”
Maggie nearly dropped the phone.
“Um…hello?” she said.
“Mom, is that you?”
“Who is this?”
In answer to this question, the sound of the static grew
louder. Maggie pulled the receiver away
from her ear and squinted in pain. A
horrendous roar of interference suddenly replaced the faint hiss she had come
to expect from her phone line. She tried
to talk over the noise once more.
“Who is this? Hello?”
The line went dead in her hands. The sound of the dial tone blared in her ear. Shaken, she put the phone back down on the
cradle. What was going on? Was someone trying to play a joke on her? If so, what a sick joke it was. She took a deep breath, trying to smooth her ruffled
feathers. A nice cup of tea would help. It always helped.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
Several minutes later Maggie was lying back in her favorite
chair, a book in her lap, and a steaming mug of tea on the end table next to
her. Yep, she was queen of the castle,
she thought with a smile. The book was a
classic. A romantic tale of a
swashbuckling hero and the woman he loved. It was sappy crap, Maggie knew, but she loved
the story any way. She took another sip
of the hot tea and settled in comfortably.
The phone rang. Maggie’s
lips pressed together into a thin line. Not
this time, she thought to herself and continued reading her book. The phone rang again, and again. Finally the answering machine picked up. It clacked and beeped
“Hey, Maggie? You
there?” It was Angela.
She struggled to get out of her big, comfy chair and get to
the phone.
“Oh, come on. I know
you’re there. Okay, I’ll call back in a
while.”
The answering machine stopped with a beep and a clack just
as Maggie made it to the phone. Blast,
she thought. Almost had it. She turned to go back to her chair.
The phone rang.
Quickly, Maggie turned to pick it up.
“Hey Angie, sorry, I was just-”
“Mom? Is that you?”
Maggie’s blood went cold.
“Who is this?” she demanded.
“I’m so lonely here, mom.”
“Gwen?” Maggie asked
tentatively. “Is it you?”
The static noise grew again, screeching in her ears. As it grew, she realized that it sounded less
like static and more and more like people screaming, terrible, blood curdling
screams. Terrified, Maggie slammed the
phone down with a shout.
Her hands trembled at her sides. What was going on? What about the screaming? Oh God, what was happening to her?
The phone rang.
Maggie froze like a deer in headlights, uncertain of what to
do. It rang again. She took a deep breath and snatched up the
receiver.
“Whoever this is, I want you to stop! Leave me alone!”
“Whoa, sister. What’s
that all about?”
Maggie gulped.
“Angie?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Who
did you think you were talking to?”
“Oh, god,” she breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m sorry. I’ve just been getting all these weird calls,
that’s all.”
“What kind of weird calls? Cranks?”
“I don’t know. It’s
just been weird, that’s all. Sorry I
snapped at you.”
“Hey, that’s okay, I get that all the time at work anyway.”
They both shared an uneasy laugh.
“I just thought I would check up on you. Make sure you were relaxing for a change.”
“Yeah Angie, I am. Or
at least I’m trying to, if this phone would stop ringing.”
“Well, I’ll let you go then. Just unplug it or leave it off the hook. That should take care of it. I’m sure that one night without the phone
won’t kill you.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you’re right, Angie. I’ll turn off the ringer.”
“Ok, well, get some sleep, you. I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow for
another great day at the grind stone.”
“Good night, Angie.”
“Good night.”
Maggie hung up the phone, feeling much better. She reached down and flicked the switch to
silence the phone’s ringer. Then, she
went back to her chair for some more reading. Her seat was still warm, and so was her tea. She smiled and settled in.
The phone rang.
She couldn’t believe it! How could the phone be ringing? Maybe, the switch was broken. She never had
used it before. The answering machine
picked up with its raucous clicks and beeps.
“Mom, are you there?” it started. Maggie struggled out of her chair, a frown on
her face. She had had enough.
“Mom, I’m so lonely here. I need you here with me.”
Maggie came to the phone and ripped it off the cradle.
“Listen to me. I
don’t know who you are, but stop calling me! Don’t call again!”
That horrendous screaming grew in her ear once more. She slammed the phone down on the cradle,
disconnecting the line, and then tossed it to the side. There, now they won’t be able to get through. She turned, heading back to her chair.
The phone rang.
She spun, not believing it. It was off the hook! She rushed over to it, and lifted the receiver
to her ear.
“Mom? I need you!”
“What do you want from me?” she screamed.
Horrible screams filled her ears and she screeched back.
“Who are you?”
The line went dead. Dial
tone gnawed at her ear. She collapsed to
her knees. Tears streamed from her eyes.
Her whole body shuddered in terror. She had to find help, she had to get Angie! Unsteadily she dialed her friend, botching the
number twice before getting it right. Maggie sobbed pitifully while the phone rang.
“Please, Angie. Pick…pick up the phone,” she stammered. “Pick up the goddamned phone!” She heard a
click on the other end of the line.
“Hello?”
“Angie,” Maggie sobbed. “Angie, I need your help!”
“Maggie? My god,
what’s wrong? Are you crying?”
“Angie, something’s wrong! Someone keeps calling me.”
“Are they harassing you? Are you okay?”
“Angie, I think it’s Gwen,” Maggie whispered, as if saying
her name would bring the screams back.
“Oh my god. Maggie? Are you okay? Have you been drinking?”
“Are you listening to me? Gwen is calling me! Goddamn it, she’s calling me, Angie!”
“Okay, Maggie, okay. Just
calm down.”
“I can’t calm down, Angie. I can’t! You’ve got to help me!”
“All right, Maggie. I’m leaving now, okay? I’ll be there in a few. Just unplug your phone and make sure your
doors are locked. I’ll use my key.”
“Okay,” Maggie sobbed, “okay. Thank you, Angie.”
“It’s going to be all right, Maggie. I’ll be there in a few.”
“Okay,” she said. Her
hand fell from her ear and landed limply on the floor still clutching the
phone. “Okay,” she said to herself. She blinked the tears from her eyes and
sniffled. She placed the phone back on
the hook and slid over on her knees to the wall. With a yank, she tore the phone cord from the
wall. It lay limply on the floor. She breathed a sigh of relief and closed her
eyes. She was going to be fine.
The phone rang.
Maggie stared unbelieving at the phone unit in her hands,
her mouth forming into a silent scream. With a screech, she threw the phone away from
her. It collided against the wall,
shattering the outer casing. Electronic
components rained upon the floor along with a shower of plastic shards.
The phone rang.
Tears streamed down Maggie’s face and she cried openly. With a shriek she forced herself over to the
broken phone and pulled the mangled ear and mouthpieces from the ground. Holding them to her head, she cried, “What do
you want from me?”
“Mom,” Gwen’s voice said quietly and sternly. “You need to be here with me!”
The screams were louder than they were before, as if they
were inside Maggie’s head. They were
horrible, the screams of a billion souls being eternally tortured. The sounds of wet flesh being torn, of bones
being splintered, and of organs being squished played in her mind.
Suddenly, she was there. There that night. There, in the car with her daughter as she had
rounded that corner. Sitting in the
passenger seat as Gwen screamed, slamming on the brakes. The truck plowed into
them, collapsing the cabin of the car. Gwen’s body was pulverized. Maggie could see it all, in her mind. Gwen’s bloodied face, her one remaining
unseeing eye, turned to Maggie. Gwen
looked right at her. Maggie choked on
her tears, sobbing helplessly as she stared into that eye.
“You belong with me,” Gwen said.
Maggie cried in anguish, dropping the shattered remains of
her phone. She grabbed the sides of her
head and cried. The screaming grew
louder. She gritted her teeth, trying to
fight against the sound.
“You belong with ME!”
Maggie screamed.
~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~ ~~~~~
The elevator doors opened and Angela rushed out. Her cell phone was pressed against her ear as
she finished her conversation with the emergency dispatch operator.
“Please hurry!” She
dropped the cell back into her purse and began rummaging around for the keys. She stopped before Maggie’s door, struggling
to find her keys. With a cacophony of
tinkling, she drew them out and quickly unlocked the door.
“Hello? Maggie? It’s me!” she shouted, rushing into the
apartment. She closed the door behind
her and locked it. “Maggie dear, it’s
me!”
Only silence answered her. The room was dark, the only light coming in
from the window. Angela took a step into
the living room.
“Maggie?”
Something crunched under her foot. She stopped. Taking a step back, she bent down to look at
what she had stepped on. Plastic bits
littered the floor where the baker’s rack normally stood. It was gone. Angela stooped down to examine the plastic pieces,
and realized that they had once been the body of the phone.
“Oh, Maggie,” Angela uttered, shaking her head. She stood and turned to the darkened room. “Maggie, where are you?” Angela reached over to the light switch and
flicked it. Nothing happened. She flicked it a couple more times. Still nothing. She ventured a step, and then another into the
large, black room. Even in the dark she
knew the layout of Maggie’s house and could navigate well enough to get back to
the bedroom hallway. She flicked on the
hall light, squinting against the sudden brightness.
“Maggie, are you okay?” she shouted toward the bedroom. There was no response.
Angela’s cell phone rang.
Angela jumped, a gasp escaping her lips. The cell phone rang again from within the
purse hanging at her side. She gave a
small laugh at her jumpiness, drew the cell from her handbag, and hit the talk
button.
“Hello?”
“Hello? Angie?”
“Maggie?” she asked.
“Angie.” Maggie said
over the small phone.
“Maggie, are you okay? Where are you? I’m standing in your apartment.”
“I’m fine,” Maggie said.
Angela breathed a sigh of relief.
“Where are you?” Angela asked, turning around to go into the
living room. The light from the hall
fought the shadows back and Angie found herself face to belt with Maggie. Lying on its back on the floor under her
friend’s dangling feet was the baker’s rack.
Maggie’s voice came through the small cell phone, “I’m with
my daughter now.”
Angela screamed.
