𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐤𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐬

telephone

TW - doppelganger effect, kidnapping, major injury

☼

Nick did not recognize the number that was calling him.

So, he let it ring, as he was taught to never pick up a call from a number that he did not know. When his phone finished ringing, he checked to see if a voice message was left, hoping to try and figure out who was calling him.

Most of the time, there was never any message for him to listen to, so Nick was sure that there wouldn't be one now. However, he was shocked to see that there was one. Curious, Nick played the voice message and held it to his ear.

Silence.

Nick turned the volume up all the way to see if he was missing something, but the phone remained silent.

Strange, he thought.

Nick got rid of the message and closed his phone, going back to what he was doing before his phone rang.

☼

It was a few hours later when Nick's phone rang again.

He read the caller ID, not recognizing the number, but feeling a strange sense of familiarity at the digits. Again, he did not pick up the phone, but waited for the voice message.

The call dropped and Nick checked for a message, curiosity growing once more when he saw that there was one. He opened the message and put his phone on speaker, making sure to turn the volume up all the way.

Silence.

Again, he thought, frowning.

But in this silence was something unsettling. Nick felt uncomfortable as he listened the best he could. He swore he could hear something - something far away, breathy.

Nick furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what this person who had called had wanted.

It was with a start that he realized what the sound was, and why it made him uncomfortable.

It sounded like breathing.

Heavy, but quiet, breathing.

Nick hung up the phone.

☼

Nick was lying in bed, trying to fall asleep, when his phone buzzed.

He groaned groggily and picked the device up off of his bedside table. The screen nearly blinded him, seeing as it was pitch black in his room, it being around 3am, and the screen brightness being turned up almost all of the way.

I swear my brightness was down...

He rubbed his eyes and checked his notifications. It was not a call, like the mysterious messages were before, but rather a text.

Nick read the number the text had came from and an involuntary chill ran down his spine. It was the same number that had called him before.

Nick wanted to see what the message was, but did not want the texter to see that he had read it. But, his curiosity took over, and Nick opened the text.