Caller 752

“Congratulations Caller 752 you just won an all inclusive sweepstakes trip to the Bahamas!” the automated voice squawked over the speaker.

Megan rolled her eyes, as it was the 5th time that week she had received a scam phone call. She ended the call and jotted the number down in the note-pad next to her recliner. She was desperate to get the call from her boss promoting her to senior web designer, but she had been waiting for hours upon hours.

Megan, or her friends called her Meg, stood up and walked over to the bay windows and stretched, popping her back sending a tingling sensation up her spine. It felt nice after sitting in the same chair for the past two hours working on her laptop.

Meggie soon got back to work as a software developer for a local business. She wrote the code for the website and designed the user interfaces that day. She was stumped on how to solve a problem with the text boxes lay over, so she got up and walked to the glass sliding doors directly across from where she was sitting in her recliner.

She whistled for her dog, Whiskey, who came jumping around the corner from his cage. Whiskey was a small, but highly energetic pup, who she just had rescued. Meg unlatched the door and slid it open, being cautious of her fingers. Whiskey bounced around the door, knocking into Meg. Meggie went flying backwards hitting her head against the patio furniture. The force to the table sent potted flowers swirling into the air.

Megan picked up her half-chewed sandal and sighed. She turned over the furniture then plopped herself down into her pink chair that sat outside in her patio. She watched Whiskey run around and she threw the ball for him every so often. She was more so entranced by the lights flickering into the woods behind her yard. She walked over to the fence and gazed at the fire-flies dancing in the leaves. Or what appeared to be fire-flies.

Whiskey barked, getting Meg’s attention as he laid by the door motioning to go back into the warmth of the house. Meg crossed the darkening yard and stepped into the porch.

”Oh who’s the good boy? You are! Yes you are!” Meg used her babiest voice that made his ears perk up and his tail fan back and forth. She went to open the door, but the glass was jammed from the inside.

It was an odd occurrence, but not impossible, as her door blocker probably slipped and jammed itself down into the track. ”Oh well,” she thought. Meg grabbed Whiskey's leash, hooked him up, and went around the side of the house. 

She got to the front door and fiddled with the keys in her hand. As she went to turn the knob like she does every time before she opens the door, it pushed forward and open. Odd again, but not impossible. She stepped inside and locked the door behind her, and saw that the door blocker wasn’t in the track. In fact it was in the middle of her living room.

A tingle similar to the earlier one chilled her back. She glanced around her, listening for her dog to growl at an intruder or to see one darting into the back room, but there was nothing, just an eerie silence that was so thick it choked her. 

She took Whiskey and walked room to room making sure there was no one in any room, turning every possible light on. She lifted sheets to check under the high sitting bed. She pushed aside clothes, only to reveal more socks than anyone could count or sort. She overturned ottomans, flipped over foot boards. She scoured the sunroom and investigated inside the bathroom.

Meg looked at Whiskey who was just staring back at her. As if to communicate to each other that everything was okay. Megan sat back down into her beige recliner and stared out the window at the flickering lights, mesmerized once again.

After a 15 minute break, she got back to working, typing away 75wpm, she worked and worked for the rest of the evening.

She looked up and took a deep breath, realizing how late it was, and yet those lights were still there dancing. But Megan became dumbfounded when she realized the lights never moved, they were just blinking. On and off. On and off. On and off. Over and over. After 6 hours of seeing those lights she had no clue how she didn’t realize they didn’t move, not once. A crazy sensation of fear and confusion swept her head to toe.

Of course, as anyone would do in the completely normal circumstance, she got up to investigate. She grabbed her flashlight, and a puny steak knife (as if it’d protect her) and started to walk to the fence where she saw the lights earlier, and sure enough there they were at least 15 small twinkling lights. She ripped them down and investigated what they actually were other than just deeming them “twinkling lights.”

She found small black tips on all of them and chalked it up to be a plastic dipped coating on the end to protect them from overheating.

Finally, after getting just a little relief, she walked back up to her door, slid it open and sat down on her recliner. Not even 25 seconds go by and her phone starts to vibrate on the table. She was very excited. This was it. This was the phone call from the big man. Promoting her to her well deserved job position.

But no, the number wasn't her boss's number. In fact, the caller ID read “Unknown Caller.” Typical, another scam call.

She stuck to her word and answered the phone with her best, and most friendly “Hello” and then there was silence. There was silence for a while. Then what sounded like a breathing into the microphone. Megan squeaked out another “Hello? Anyone there?” And a raspy, old sounding voice responded.

”Dear Caller 752, why did you pull down my cameras? I was enjoying watching you...from inside and outside.”

The familiar tickle traced Megan Shoedrepe’s back. And then an unfamiliar, cold, hard surface grasped her shoulder.

Echoing through the long corridors she heard, ”Good Job caller 752. Next time, don't answer the phone to unknown numbers."