Nightmare Within - Vance Hopper

chapter eight: Phone Calls

AFTER Amanda had passed out from the intense beatings, The Grabber carried her back into the basement, dropping her carelessly on the mattress. He ignored the questions from the other kids. They had heard her leave the room and go up the stairs.

They had heard her screams.

Robin had ran to the wall, peeking through the cracks desperately. He was hoping against hell that Amanda was still alive. He didn't know what he would do if she was dead.

Vance was doing the same in his room, trying to find a crack in the wall where he could look through into Amanda's room. He was assuring himself that she was still alive because why would she be brought back down if she wasn't?

"Get away from her you sick son of a bitch!" Vance yelled, kicking at the wall angrily. "I'll kill you! I swear to god, I'll fucking kill you!"

The Grabber stood up from the mattress before glancing at the wall that separated Amanda's room from Vance's. He left the room and made sure to lock the door this time. Vance turned to look at the door as he heard the lock click.

"How many times have I told you not to talk to me like that?" The Grabber asked, entering the room. "Tsk, tsk,"

Vance breathed heavily, trying to hold his ground. The kid could fight, there was no doubt about that, but The Grabber kept him malnourished. He hardly had enough strength to walk around, let alone fight.

"What the hell did you do to her?" Vance asked, his voice low.

The Grabber didn't answer. He walked across the room slowly, careful not to alert the boy of the syringe in his hand. When he got too close, Vance lunged at the man, knocking him to the ground.

"FUCK YOU! I'M GONNA FUCKING KILL YOU!"

The Grabber raised his hand and jabbed the boy in the neck, resulting in Vance letting off and falling off of the man with a thud.

***

Finney Blake completely ignored the black phone in his room the first few times it rang. He knew it was just in his head. He hadn't been in the basement for long, but he knew that there was no way a disconnected phone would be calling him.

But, due to its constant ringing, he decided to pick up.

"Don't hang up,"

Finney gulped, looking around the room for any sign of people.

"Who are you?" he asked, trying to find sense in the fact he was using a disconnected phone.

"I don't remember,"

"Did you play soccer? Football?" Finney questioned.

There was a small silence.

"I delivered newspapers,"

Finney's stomach dropped. There was only one boy that delivered papers in their part of the city. He had gone missing a little while ago. Billy the paper boy.

"Billy," Finney mumbled in realization. "You're Billy Showalter,"

"Maybe... Do not... go upstairs," he warned. "He didn't say you can leave, so if you try, he'll punish you,"

Finney gulped. He glanced at the door. It was open a crack. Just a crack. He looked back down at the now-silent phone with a sigh.