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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

Write a story about someone who receives an unexpected phone call.

Posted in Dialogue on Oct 26, 2022

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✍️ 63 stories

“Vacant Possession” by Deborah Mercer

Submitted to Contest #30

Glenda was surprised, but not (she hated the phrase, but had to admit it was expressive!) gobsmacked when she got the call from Edward the Estate Agent. Somehow his name and his job description just seemed to go together. But she had to admit he’d never given her and her partner Colin any cause for complaint. As a tax inspector’s daughter, she knew she was probably predisposed to give people in the “problematic professions” the benefit of the doubt, but Edward seemed genuinely eager to please but reluctant to push.  ...

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“UNEXPECTED CALL ” by Vickie Culbertson

Submitted to Contest #30

The unexpected call came to me on Friday, October 26, 2018 at 2:30 p.m. I was at work, my title was Community Living Specialist and I was waiting for my client to come home from the special school he attended. He is autistic and 15 years old. It is time to meet his bus. Time has stopped for not only myself but for my husband also. Dr. Rebecca Krivinski`s nurse has repeatedly been dialing my husband then myself. She reaches my husband first, he works as an orderly at Bristol Regional Hospital. He is trying to get in touch with me while Jes...

2 comments 2
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“Voices Will Be Voices ” by Amelia F

Submitted to Contest #30

It was a normal day for miss Abagail Green when she received a very mysterious knock at the nearby door.  She looked over at the robust colored wooden door to see a tall dark figure through the translucent glass. She stood up from her dark green chair and put her trembling hand on the metal doorknob. She opened the door to see a very tall man standing in front of her.  “Hello, my name is San Fransico Drake and I am here to tell you some disturbing news.” the strange man at the door says to her.  “Wait… I can’t let you come in ...

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“Even The Dead Have Assignments” by Tom Moser

Submitted to Contest #30

“How did you get my phone number?” the Detective asked the person on the other end of the call to his cell phone. “We don’t have numbers where I am,” said the voice. “Rather, there are numbers, but they are all the same. Oh, and we don’t allow call blocking here, but you are welcome to try,” he added. The Detective considered how to ask the next question or whether just to terminate the call. “Go ahead with call blocking. Better yet, hang up and see what happens,” said the caller. The Detective pushed the red icon on his phone and waited f...

4 comments 4
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“An Unexpected Conversation” by Gloria Salazar

Submitted to Contest #30

 “Hello?” Sara listened but the line had gone dead.“Another one?” John asked looking up from his toast and eggs.“Yeah,” she stared at the old phone hanging in her hand then slid it into the cradle on the wall, “third time this week. Nobody ever calls it, now we’re getting hang-ups. Maybe it’s broken. I’ll call the company to look at it in the morning.”“Why don’t you just get rid of that old thing? Nobody else even has one anymore.” John told her waving his cell phone around like a technological flag.“Maybe,” she returned to her own brea...

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“Four of Wands ” by Piia Nykanen

Submitted to Contest #30

Almost a decade earlier I had begun a new life in a different continent that turned out to be exhausting and lonely, full of time wasted with wrong people, living in a world full of hostility. When an old friend Maddy messaged me about flying into the island not far from me and suggested catching up, I jumped to the chance and got on a plane. I pretty much thought everyone had forgotten about me since I left. I was beyond happy seeing her again. Whilst exploring the island, large advert outside a shabby building wall for a tarot card re...

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“The Phone Rang” by Dash GetEm

Submitted to Contest #30

The phone rang three times before Nathan Hargrove was woken up by it’s cries. He wasn’t a morning person, and the last thing he wanted to do today would be to deal with bill collectors this early. Without looking at the phone, he flipped it on it’s face and turned over. He would have to wake up soon and he wanted to relish in these last moments.It had been two weeks of the heavy rain that poured over Oakwood. The sun hid beneath the clouds without any sign of parting, making the city below a bleak and lifeless bore. Nathan sat up in his bed ...

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“Viola's Recalling” by Rebecca P

Submitted to Contest #30

She moves slowly these days. Her soft skin folding more loosely now over her old, weakened bones, which creak with every step she takes. Harry, still always closeby, is older these days too. But he has aged very well; he has not lost his hair in the same way...perhaps a little bit around his tail. He performs his usual feeding time dance. Weaving in and out of her legs, as she shuffles towards the cupboard where the cat food is kept. She laughs every time. It is their little ritual, each morning and each evening, in their little ho...

3 comments 3
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“Negative Images” by Tina Wagner Mattern

Submitted to Contest #30

Juliana died today. The old man who lived downstairs from her, called to tell me of her passing because he remembered that I loved her once.           Old Mose’s worn out voice seeped through the telephone like some long forgotten scent drifting under a door. It took me back instantly to a moment, a feeling, an utterly timeless ache.           “Hey, Man,” he said.           “Hey,...

4 comments 4
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“Stalker” by Savannah Vermeulen

Submitted to Contest #30

I jumped out of bed with a start. I quickly ran across the room to shut my annoying alarm off. As I flipped the light on I sighed. I only kept the alarm across the room so that it would force me to get out of bed and nothin the snooze button 15 times. I yawned, then groaned it was 4:00 in the morning. As I searched through the piles of clothes on the floor, I thought, I thought about my plans for the day. Go to the gym, come home, shower, get ready for work, then meetings all day. UGH. Come home again, pop some dinner in the microwave and ma...

2 comments 2
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“The Call” by Tia Meigio

Submitted to Contest #30

“Why did I answer that call..?” Beverly uttered. She could not see straight let alone think. Haven't seen daylight or lights in general for what feels like weeks. Feeling disgusted and dirty, sitting on what feels like kitty litter.  Mouth covered with duct tape. Hands tied behind her back what feels like straps.. She cannot tell if it is a belt or some kind of other strap. Wiggling her way to try to break free, but nothing seemed to be working. As tears were dripping down her face, she thought she heard banging. Could not make out what...

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“Donovan” by Mike Garrigan

Submitted to Contest #30

At 7:55 a.m., Donovan pressed “15” and the elevator door slid shut. The elevator machinery jerked clumsily. He felt his stomach float as the elevator began its ascent. Fluorescent light beamed from overhead. His diamond cuff links refracted light in blues and greens upon the metal elevator walls. The elevator rumbled and climbed. Donovan could see his unmistakably large nose in the metal reflection. Two weeks ago, Donavan received an unexpected phone call. It was surprising for three reasons. First, his cell number changed weekly and ro...

1 comment 1
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“Hope will linger till eternity.” by Ibtisam Fatima

Submitted to Contest #30

She laughs at something that I mock, really badly incredibly laugh, she rolls her head back and incline from loud laughs but she was fading with the music vibrating my ear drums, I knew this music but it is strange and irritating. She is laughing and fading with the obnoxious music pitching higher and my eyes swung open by some insane oscillating object fixed inside this mobile phone. The unknown number flashes across the screen at 3 Am which utterly deserves to be ignored so I give sense to red sign and roll onto other side throwing phone i...

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“Last Call” by Steve Cripwell

Submitted to Contest #30

I groped through my sleep-addled state of mind and tried, in my confusion, to decode what the noise was. The digital readout on my bedside clock showed three thirty-three. What a nice neat number, I thought, as I tried to pull my senses together. I was at home, in my own bed, I realized after a few moments. The years of travel have conditioned me to pause upon waking and gather my senses first before leaping out of bed. The sound started again and I realized that it was a phone ringing somewhere off in the house. I looked at my mobile, ...

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“The Call” by Amelia Coulon

Submitted to Contest #30

It happened on a Tuesday.Willa and her sister, Paula took their children to the local aquarium during school vacation. The two older ones ran herd on the youngest as they watched sharks and stingrays. Paula recounted her latest adorable story about her little one's newest accomplishment while Willa listened with amused fondness. Willa's phone buzzed. In exasperation at the interruption, she dug it out of her purse, believing it to be her husband again asking for pictures. She already sent him some twice.The readout on the face of her phone c...

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