The Call

Life, it seemed, was playing one huge joke, a joke that I seemed to be the butt of.  I wouldn’t have minded much, but the joke wasn’t even funny.

I had finally gotten the happily ever after that I had always wanted, or, so it seemed. That was before The Call; The Call that made everything change for the worse.

It was beautiful that morning. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were singing, my husband was lying in the bed next to me, and I had nowhere to go for about an hour. I remember having this huge smile on my face.

Why did everything have to go badly the day that I finally decided I was ready to add some little ones to our happy family? Maybe it was fates way of saying I wasn’t allowed to be happy anymore. I had been so happy for so long that it was time for the sadness to creep up and take its rightful place by my side.

The phone rang; it didn’t scream, like it normally seemed too when I was about to receive bad news. I remember thinking that it sounded almost beautiful in a way.

I reached over and took the phone off the cradle before the ringing woke up a sleeping Damon. 

The Caller ID told me it was a restricted number; I answered, assuming it was Grandmama. Her number always came up restricted.

As gently as I could, I tossed back the covers and slid on my fluffy slippers which where waiting for me.  Standing up my cerulean nightgown, which matched my eyes, fell down past my knees.

I looked over to make sure he was still asleep, the phone still ringing.  I answered it after realizing that I hadn’t already.

“Hello?”  I asked softly as I walked out of the room.

Breathing was the only thing that greeted me for a while.  My patience was wearing thin.

“Hello?”  I repeated when I couldn’t take anymore.

“Hayley, right?”  A male’s voice rasped in my ear. 

"May I help you?”  I rolled my eyes. 

It had to be Daren playing another one of his jokes on me.

“I see you,” his voice told me that he was smiling.

“Yeah, right.  And I’m the Easter Bunny.”

“No you aren’t Hayley.”  He paused again, just breathing.

“What do you want?”

He laughed then.  “Isn’t it obvious?”

I sighed.  “No, it’s not.”

“I want you.”  His raspy voice seemed to have gotten deeper.

“Daren?  This isn’t funny.”

“I’m not Daren, and I’m not trying to be funny, Hayley.”

“Who are you then?  And what do you want?”

“I want you.”  His words were followed by a click.

I pulled the phone away from my ear and clicked the End button with what I noticed to be trembling fingers.  Gulping and closing my eyes, I decided to put it off as some weird prank call.  I mean, my name and number was in the phone book.  It could have just been some punk trying to scare me. 

Ready to go back to sleep and put this behind me, I took a step back towards the bedroom.  Then, the phone rang again.  Again, it came up as restricted. 

“What do you want?”  I hissed.

“I already told you, Hayley.”

“Why’d you call back?”

“I forgot to tell you something.”

“Then tell me, so I can go back to my husband.”

“You look amazing.  That nightgown really compliments your eyes.  Oh, by the way, you should really get some new curtains.”

“Yeah, and you could get yourself a better hobby, Daren.”  I voice broke. 

I knew it wasn’t him.  Maybe if I pretended though, this would all go away, and the shaking would stop.

“I’m not Daren!”  He repeated violently.

“Then who are you?”

“You’re worst nightmare.  Now, Hayley, I’ll be expecting to hear from you soon.”

I hung up and fell to my knees, trembling so badly that I couldn’t move.

Thank you, God, for making my husband such a heavy sleeper.