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The Misdial
I’d worked through the evening without so much as a glance at the clock. My home office, once cluttered from the move, had finally taken on the texture of a real working space. That comfort and focus made it easy to buckle down and work the daylight away without distraction. This was maybe the third twilight I’d managed to completely miss.
From my protective nook of lamplight, embedded in the darkness like a dim gem on black, I scanned the room with my eyes - and the house with my ears. My new house, although open and relaxing under the sun, seemed to take on a tone of sinister silence once shrouded in the fathomless darkness unique to starless skies.
I hated the constant cloudy weather, used to the city glow and concrete-warmed clear skies as I was - and I hated having to creep into the impenetrable blackness to turn on the lights. Twice before, I’d worked through sunset oblivious; twice before, I’d endured this ritual, heart pounding, hands blindly feeling across as-yet unfamiliar walls… this third time, I hesitated.
I sat and listened to the silence echoing through unseen rooms, wishing the house had constant rumbling breath like the apartment building I’d moved from. The rickety old central air system had been an annoyance at the time, but I’d have much preferred it to the countryside’s insufferable stillness. As I balanced on the edge of my seat, straining the limits of my hearing, the unrelenting absence of stimulation actually approached painful.
And that was when my cellphone rang, scaring the shit out of me.
Laughing with relief, face surely burning red, I picked it up from the table. I’d been silly; stupid, even. I’d filled myself with fear because I’d wanted to be afraid - an indulgence of a childhood long past. Shaking my head, I reminded myself that there was nothing to fear, a fact which I still found disappointing. Sometimes - and recently, more than ever - I wished there really was something supernatural, anything supernatural…
“Hello?”
My ear registered a few random noises that I took to be the caller preparing to answer. I waited. No words came.
“Hello?”
The same purposeless sounds continued.
Confused, I looked at my phone - the number was unfamiliar. Still, I waited, intent on giving the caller a moment to realize they’d called somebody. I’d had a coworker once whose phone often accidentally re-prompted the last dialed call, and I was not looking forward to repeated interruptions.
“The good ol’ butt dial,” I said loudly, hoping the caller would suddenly have spoken words emanating from their pants. Maybe I was embarrassing someone on a blind date. That would be great. “Helloooo -”
Nothing but spotty scratching noises.
I hung up.
Placing the phone back on the desk, I swiveled in my chair, facing the task at hand again. The light from my little sphere of lamplight quickly turned into gloom as it traveled across the carpet, fading to sheer black by the time it reached the hallway. I allowed myself the brief inexplicable notion that someone could, given the right position, be standing there in the darkness watching me… and I would have no idea…
I jumped as the phone rang again. “Christ!”
I picked it up and calmed my racing heart with self-directed sarcasm. “You cannot be serious… come on, it’s just a misdial…” My voice nearly reached the level of a shout this time. “Hello? Hello?!”
The sounds were a little different this time - more like… a consistent pattern of subtle crunches, punctuated by the sound of fabric moving right against the other phone. It occurred to me that the caller might be walking somewhere, on the season’s freshly fallen leaves… yes, that was the noise, I knew now.
The noises paused, and muffled speech filtered through. The unidentifiable words were directed - so the caller was with someone… the same voice spoke again… there was a pause… and then the sound of fabric moving again, and a grunt of exertion.
The circle of darkness around me suddenly plunged shut with a nearly physical sensation of force. Stunned, I listened to the subtle whirr of my computer die down into silence, leaving me with nothing but the startlingly loud sound of my own terrified breathing.
It wasn’t hard to make the leap: I’d just heard someone cut the power to my house.
My mind raced with possibilities as I sat there in total darkness, struggling to quiet my breathing. I felt as if the unknown enemy could hear the air rasping in my throat, even now…
Keeping the phone to my ear, I used my free hand to feel my way across the carpet, heading for the window behind where I normally sat. I reached the wall even as I realized my mistake.
Wait, no - not that one… the window facing the utilities box in the backyard would be…
In the room at the other end of the hall…
Muttered words drifted through the phone, followed by the unmistakable sound of plastic wires scraping against old metal. Whoever they were, they were still at the box, tinkering around - ensuring my home security system was off?
I stared up at the place where I thought my desk might be. I’d been just about to get up and turn on all the lights in the house - and if I had, they’d have known I was home. Did they believe me absent? Or did they even care? If they found me, mid-robbery…
Steeling my trembling insides, I felt my way across the carpet, heading for the cooler air from the hallway. I could still feel that potential invisible watcher, standing just beyond the door, eyes following my every flailing move in the black… I reached the point where a foot might have been, slid my hand out…
Nothing. Just carpet.
Shaking my head and struggling to contain my terror at threats both real and imagined, I crawled down the hallway, eyes burning. I couldn’t blink, couldn’t close my eyes even for a second, despite seeing nothing - I was too afraid I’d miss a split-second errant flashlight, or some other detail that would confirm that there were really assailants preparing to enter my house.
I was desperate to hurry, but I didn’t dare make a sound. I reached the end of the hallway after what felt like an eternity, still listening to muttering and the sound of tinkering. It was only when I crawled past the door frame, angled wood under my fingers, that I heard the first recognizable words against my now-sweaty ear.
“It’s good.”
“It’s off?” another voice asked.
The first replied with an affirmative tone.
Crawling to the wall as fast as I dared, I felt around for the window’s frame - there! I slid up, heavy curtain against the back of my head, and peered out.
Straining my open eyes made no difference. All I could see was the extremely faint glow of my cellphone, barely visible against the panes as I pressed my forehead against the glass.
More audible words came. “What’s that?”
I ducked, my nerves screaming. Idiot! Had they seen the faint light of my phone?
“Just thought I saw something.”
Keeping my phone down near my chest, I peered back over. The window was still as good as useless, no matter how hard I stared into - there!
The tiniest peripheral motion, a blur, a blip of pale blue - a cellphone light through jeans fabric.
Somewhere downstairs, a doorknob jiggled. The noise was ever so slight; I’d have never given it a second thought if I’d heard it in any other situation.
I slumped. Frozen against the wall in terror, I ran through all the objects in the house I might use as a weapon… I ran through all the scenarios I’d seen in movies, guessed at my best options for defending myself… until a calm voice spoke in my thoughts.
Idiot. Call the police.
I’d never called the police before. I’d never even considered it. With the phone pressed against my ear, full of terror, I hadn’t even…
I quickly hung up and dialed 911.
The conversation was somewhat of a blur for me. I remember repeating, more than was necessary, that they were already in my house. Multiple men. No, I live alone. They cut the power, cut the security system. Plea
se come now. Please come now.
A creak sounded from the stairs.
Surging with adrenaline, I hung up the phone and clicked it dark.
Another creak emanated from the same place.
Creepy Tales Page 5
