Scam Call

I was almost all the way to work when my cell rang. The caller ID read, “Restricted.” I thought was just another scam call.

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the constant flood of scam texts and calls on my cell. Calls for Medicare, solar power, lottery winnings, and my favorite, a mysterious car accident I had in the last two years. I get so many, most of the time I don’t even bother to answer it.

This time, I answer it. I know it’s going to be a scam call, but what can I do? When I’m in the mood for it, I play a game with them. I try to keep them on the line as long as I can. I figure if they’re talking to me, they’re not taking someone’s money. I know it’s not much of a delay for them, but it makes me happy. Besides, everybody has to have a hobby.

I answer the call and before I have a chance to say Hello, I hear, “Don’t go to work today. You’ll be sorry.” Then the line goes dead.

It was quick. Just two short statements and gone. It was a man’s voice. I don’t think it was a computer, but you can never be sure. I get scam calls where nobody says anything and after a minute or two, the call drops off. I get scam callers trying to verbally abuse me. Some of those disgruntled scammers have even gone so far as to threaten my family. Mostly, they just hang up when they realize I’m not falling for their crap.

This one is different. It bothers me. Are they finally upping their game? Is this some kind of new scam I haven’t heard before? What are they after?

There was something about the voice. Commanding. Self-assured. Something inside me told me to listen and do what he wanted. I don’t know why it bothers me, but it does. I’m still going to work. The need to put food on the table outweighs the need to do the bidding of some random caller.

The day was uneventful. I didn’t give the call another thought until early afternoon. Then, another call out of nowhere.

“Get out of the room NOW!”

I had to get up anyway. Why not go for a quick walk down the hall.

I didn’t get far. Just a few steps outside my office door and “BOOM”. The roof caved in on top of my desk. The entire office was covered in chunks of dry wall, concrete, insulation, and rat feces. It was disgusting. The crash destroyed my office. Not sure if I would have fared better than my desk. It was crushed. I might have killed me if I’d have stayed.

I was so stunned by the crash, I didn’t think about the call until it was time to leave. I looked and there was nothing in the call log. No calls at all today.

Yet, I get another restricted call.

“Take the back roads home. Stay off the highway.”

There are three routes I can take to get home.

The main highway, Hwy 60. It’s quick, but has a lot of traffic. Because of the heavy traffic, there are a lot of accidents. A big accident isn’t out of the ordinary. If the caller knows about an accident, it’s not news. It’s just Monday.

The second route is a two-lane scenic road through farm fields and the center of town. Only a few minutes slower than the highway, but a nicer view. I started taking the “scenic” route when our local D.O.T. started replacing one of the overpasses on the highway. The entire time they worked on it, highway traffic was unbelievably bad. It took almost three years and just finished it a few months ago.

When other drivers decided traffic on the highway was getting too bad and started using the scenic route, traffic started getting bad there. I moved my route again to a rural road on the other side of town. It didn’t add much time to my commute and is kinda relaxing. I like being able to casually drive instead of having to navigate heavy traffic.

Since I have three routes for my commute, I normally randomly pick one on the way out of work depending on my mood.

The voice wants me to avoid the highway and take the back roads. I don’t see it as an issue. I’ll take the scenic route. It should be quiet and fairly traffic free today.

On the way home, I couldn’t stop thinking about the calls. How did the caller know about the office crash? Why am I listening to him and taking the back roads? What’s going on?

The trip home was uneventful. No weird drivers. Nothing out of the ordinary. The usual music on the radio. Just a quiet drive home all the way to the driveway.

When I pull in, Audrey is at the door looking worried. She met me at the car and told me there was a massive accident at the overpass on Hwy 60. The new overpass collapsed, crushing the cars traveling underneath. It happened just a few minutes ago.

If I had taken the highway home today, I might be one of the unlucky souls under a pile of broken steel and concrete.

Just then, another call.

“Don’t tell her about these calls. Or Else.”

Ok, now I’m getting nervous. I didn’t tell Audrey about the calls and just told her I took the back roads today to avoid traffic.

Once inside, the TV was already turned to the news coverage of the accident. I stood there and watched in horror as the camera panned the wreckage. What use to be a brand new 4 lane overpass over a 4-lane road was now a pile of concrete boulders and mangled steel beams. You can see parts of cars sticking out in different places. It would be a miracle if anyone survived.

I looked down at my phone. A silent, blank screen stares back at me. I don’t know what to do.

I open the phone log to figure out where these calls are coming from. The log still shows I haven’t received or sent a single call today.

That’s impossible. It has to show something. Someone made those calls. I checked my texts. Again, nothing. I don’t know what to do.

I have to tell someone. He said, “Don’t tell HER about these calls.” He did specify “HER” didn’t he? Did he mean just Audrey, or does he mean anybody? Should I call the police? Am I in danger? Is she in danger?

I tell her I need to go for a walk to clear my head. The accident hit a little too close to home.

I grab my phone, head out the door, and start walking up the street.

We live in a nice small neighborhood surrounded by farm fields and ranches. I don’t often take walks through the neighborhood, but I really needed to get out of the house.

I walked aimlessly down the road. I didn’t notice the houses as they fell away behind me leaving open fields in front of me.

It can be peaceful walking on the side of the road through farm fields. Nothing to interrupt the walk except the occasional cow. They must be really bored. They stared at me with a strange fascination as I walked by. Like they knew something I didn’t.

Then, another call. Instead of answering it right away, I looked at the screen. I hadn’t noticed before, but it didn’t look like a normal phone app. There was something odd about it.

It rang a second time.

The buttons! They were in the wrong place. The whole app was a mirror of what it should be. It wasn’t the phone app. It was a counterfeit. Somebody installed a fake phone app on my phone!

It rang a third time.

I wasn’t sure if I should answer it or not. So far, the voice helped me. Keeping me out of danger. Keeping me alive. Why?

A fourth ring.

I answer it.

The voice comes on immediately and says, “Keep Walking. Don’t turn back. Get in the next car that stops. Say nothing to the driver.”

I stopped to see where I was. I didn’t realize how long I’d been walking. It couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes. Strange, I can’t see the houses in the neighborhood anymore. Nothing but crop fields and cow pasture.

A few minutes go by. I hear a car coming up the road from behind me. He slows down. Just as he gets close, he speeds back up and is gone over the next hill.

I keep walking. No more cows. Just open crop fields. It looks like the corn is ready to harvest. Another field of wheat looks ready too.

Another car comes up behind me and again slows down almost to a stop, then speeds up and keeps going.

I stopped. I didn’t notice the subtle changes in scenery while I was walking. Now I see the changes are noticeable. Not only are the livestock gone, but so are the fences and crops. The fields are nothing but tall grass. Tall grass for as far as the eyes can see. I don’t recognize the road anymore. How far have I come? Where am I going? Why am I listening to a voice on my phone?

Another half hour passes, I see another car. This time coming at me over the hill in front of me. This time the car blazes past, stops about a hundred yards behind me. It just sits there, halfway through turning around. It’s too far away to see the driver.

I’m not sure this is the right car. Is it waiting for me to walk over and get in?

I’ll admit it. I’m scared.

As I start walking to the car I notice how old it is. It looks like a beautifully restored early 40’s fat fender car. I don’t know the make or model. It looks almost new, but much older than the other cars passing me on the road.

Only a few yards away and I still can’t see the driver. I can’t even see in the car.

As I get close, I still can’t see inside the car. I’ve never seen a car this old with tinted windows. I walk around the front of the car and look through the windshield. I still can’t see the driver, or even inside the car. I’ve never seen a car with a tinted windshield.

Just then, the rear passenger door opens. I guess this IS my ride. I slowly walk around the car. I stare at the windshield. Still nothing. I can’t see a thing.

I pause at the open door and look inside. The inside is just as nice as the outside. Someone took their time with the interior and upholstery work. It looks brand new.

I still can’t see the driver, but this time is different. I can see he is there, I just can’t clearly see the driver. Very unnerving.

I still get in.

The door closes as soon as I get in.

As the car starts moving, I can clearly see the fields on each side of the road. It’s like the tint is gone. Bright day, clear windows, bright inside the car.

I can’t help staring at the driver. He’s only in the front seat, but I still can’t see his features. He’s just a blur. It’s almost like I can see through him.

The car starts moving forward. Slowly at first, but steadily increasing speed. The scenery starts whipping by. I don’t know how fast we’re going, but it’s fast. The scenery starts to blur the faster we go. This seemed to go on for hours.

I don’t know when it happened, but I fell asleep.

I don’t know how long I was out, but when I woke up, the car was stopped. I looked up, the driver was gone and the door was open.

The car was parked on a small hill in the middle of a grassy field. The field extended for as far as my eyes could see. I walked around the car. I noticed there were no tracks. No tracks from the driver. No tracks from the car.

I looked behind me. I was leaving a trail through the grass where I walked. There were no other tracks I could see.

I was alone. Alone like the last living being in the world. Alone.

But I didn’t feel lonely.

Then I heard the voice. It came from behind me.

“I told you and you didn’t listen.”

I spun around and nobody was there. The car was gone.

“Hello?” “Is someone there?”

The voice came back. This time it was coming from my left. “Do you know where you are?”

“No. Where am I?”

Now coming from above me, the voice said, “You are near the end of your journey.”

The voice sounded strangely comforting. Like the voice of a parent comforting a scared child. So calm and soothing.

“Who are you?”

This time the answer came from my right. “You don’t know yet?”

“Why did you bring me here?”

Now replying from right in front of me, “I didn’t bring you. You are here because it is the end of your journey. Where do you think you are?”

“Am I dead?”

“Yes.”

“Am I in Heaven?”

Now the voice came from everywhere. It was deafeningly loud. It simply said, “NO.”

OBITUARY for JERRY NEWSTED

Jerry Newsted, aged 45 years, was crushed yesterday under several tons of concrete and steel when the roof of his office building collapsed. No cause for the collapse is know as of yet. The investigation is ongoing. He is survived by his wife Audrey. Memorial services will be held at Morningside Mortuary followed by grave side services at the Elysium Fields Cemetery immediately following.