Answer It

         “You wanna do something fun?” was all that was left on Kevin’s voicemail when he awoke from his mid-day nap. He replayed it three times trying to determine whose voice it was. The call came from a blocked number only leaving behind that voicemail. Kevin didn’t have the time or patience to put together a puzzle. He deleted it and went on, preparing for his night shift at the hospital.

           He woke up his roommate Tyler and Tyler’s girlfriend whom Kevin refused to learn the name of seeing as though she’d be gone by the time, he got home the next morning. After throwing whatever was in his immediate vicinity at Tyler and slamming his door shut, Kevin went on to grab food from the kitchen. He continued on with his routine pressing the voicemail button on their house machine as he made himself a bowl of cereal.

           “You wanna do something fun?” It was the voice again. Shocking Kevin out of his routine and bringing him to the phone hoping to find some identification left behind. As he leaned over to check the caller ID, Tyler came from his room hitting Kevin with his scrub top before putting it on.

           “Next time we pull the short string don’t let me drink that much.” Tyler said combing his fingers through his head, walking towards Kevin’s bowl of cereal.

           “I think Ashley is messing with you again.” Kevin said taking his bowl from Tyler and grabbing a new spoon.

           With the spoon still in his mouth Tyler jogged over to the phone pressing for the message to replay. After hearing it, Tyler burst into laughter, dramatically pressing the delete button. He was use to Ashley’s antics by now and tended to respond to them in the way she made him feel. He shook his head continuing to laugh as headed back toward to kitchen to make his own bowl of cereal.

           “She doesn’t know when to quit.” Tyler said as talked to Kevin eating his cereal at the table.

           “Well you did dump her in a text. Probably wasn’t the best route.” Kevin said leaning back in his chair.

           “It was the no drama route.” Tyler said.

           “How’s that no drama working out for you now?” Kevin gestured toward the phone which was now blocked by Tyler’s house guest.

           “Mind if I call a ride?” She said, phone already in hand. Tyler shrugged it off and Kevin looked away to avoid her reaction to his eyeroll and small snicker toward his friend.

           “Knock yourself out.” Tyler mumbled between bites. Kevin walked past him tossing his bowl in the sink and headed back to his room to put on his shoes.

           “It’s not working.” She said outstretching the phone toward Tyler. Annoyed, he handed her his bowl and pressed buttons on the phone while holding it up to his ear.

           “You wanna do something fun?” The voice spoke again. Tyler quickly pulled the phone from his ear.

           “Get over it Ashley!” Tyler said slamming the phone into the holder. “Here use this one.” He said handing her Kevin’s phone he left on the table. She called her friend for a ride as she shared awkward glances with Tyler.

           “Dude!” Kevin said hitting Tyler with the shoe he had left to put on.

           “Calm down she’s done.” He grabbed the phone from his guest and handed it back to Kevin. Just as his house guest headed for the door, a loud banging noise awaited on the other side.

           Tyler rushed to the front door looking through the peephole. He opened the door with a smile on his face. He pulled his sister into an embrace and pulled her inside closing the door behind them.

           “Knocking like you were going to kill somebody.” He said tossing her bag on the couch.

           “Yeah, you! What happened to picking me up at the train station.” She looked from him to Kevin, to the half-naked girl standing by the front door. “Just a normal Tuesday morning huh?”

           “In his world.” Kevin said avoiding eye contact with Tessa. They had a history, one of which he wasn’t exactly sure he wanted her brother and his best friend to find out about. He put his shoes on as Tessa got comfortable on the couch.

           “Did you hear about Ashley?” She said looking for the remote to their television.

           “You mean the crazy girl that wants to have some fun.” Tyler said pointing toward their house phone. “She called like twice and asked if wanna have fun.”

           “Three times.” Kevin said sitting at the dining room table.

           “Whatever, it's pathetic. “ Tyler said walking his bowl to the kitchen.

           “Whose Ashley?” The girl they forgot was still there finally spoke.

           “Tyler’s toxic relationship of the decade. Well was. She drove her car into a pole last night.” Tessa looked to the kitchen waiting to see her brother’s reaction.

           “What?” Tyler said standing in the door frame.

           “She’s not dead but in critical condition or whatever. Mom called to tell me, apparently it was the talk of her book club.” Tessa mimicked her mother's hand gestures as she flipped through channels.

           “So she’s awake and terrorizing me?” Tyler asked.

           “More like in a coma and haunting you.” Tessa laughed.

           “Not possible. It’s probably one of the others.” Kevin said trying not to make eye contact with Tyler’s houseguest that had yet to leave.

           “What’s wrong with you guys?” She said gazing between the three of them.

           “You should meet our parents.” They all broke out into laughter. Tessa was right, their parents were no walk in the park and didn’t teach them to be sensitive to the misfortunes of others. They grew up together, next-door neighbors in a rich suburb that didn’t pay much attention to the happenings outside of it. They knew that they could come off as not caring but they all knew Ashley. To them, she was like a cat with nine lives. They figured she would be back in a few weeks and back with Tyler in a few short months. Tessa and Kevin even saw the look of concern in his eyes as he laughed. Even at that moment, he wanted to call her or at least visit her but he did his best to not show that to his friends.

           Tessa continued to flip through the channels as the boys got ready for their shift at the hospital. They were surgical interns, both in hopes of becoming successful doctors in their own right. Kevin’s father was a politician, disappointed that his son didn’t follow in his footsteps and Tyler’s father was a well-known doctor with big shoes to fill. Kevin tagged along for the journey. Kevin wanted to be a doctor and Tyler wanted to impress his father so they applied together, got together, and got matched to the same hospital. While Tessa was still living at home running away on the next train whenever she disagreed with their mother.

           She froze in mid-channel flip, landing on the evening news station. She dropped her hands into her lap and looked at Tyler. He caught her gaze and came into the room and froze when he got a glimpse of the screen. It was a picture of their father on the evening news. Information about a scandal had come to light. His father apparently hacked and videos of him and his assistant were sent to the evening news. A loud ringing broke their frozen stairs. They all looked to the house phone, ringing off its post. Just as Kevin went to grab it all their phones began to ring at once. Even the houseguest was confused as to what was happening. Tyler angrily grabbed the house phone picking it up.

           “You wanna do something fun?” The voice repeated over and over until Tyler finally hung up. They all gazed around at each other. And waited for the fun to begin, however, their night would be the quite opposite.