Unknown Caller

Chapter One

I walk hazily to the black leather couch and plop down.
I take the control slowly and press on the "on" button.
I watch slowly as the flat screen TV flicks on, the clear image of Rocky Mountains filled with snow appearing across the screen.
I hold my head in my one hand while watching the TV.
    "And you can hardly get any air up there!" A fairly young guy who has a heavy blue coat on reports to the Discovery TV show. He's smiling very big and has a very bright expression pasted on his face.
I used to be like that... My thoughts faintly tell me.
"Okay. So how do you feel about being the first person on Earth to reach almost the top of the Rocky Mountains?" A fairly older guy asks the younger guy, holding a microphone to his mouth.
The younger guy nods his head up and down slowly. "I feel somewhat proud. I mean, I didn't reach the top of the mountains so it's not really 'the best'."
The older guy smiles, "Well you should be proud! It's the best thing someone did in the world so far."
"There's that word 'so far'," he reports.
I daze out for the rest of the show. All that is on my mind is the unknown caller. I don't know what I should do tonight when he calls. Should I answer them and see what they say? If they talk? I don't know!
I turn back to the TV. Oddly, there's a different show on. That show was supposed to end in about two hours. How could I have-? Maybe I by mistake changed the channel without even realizing...?
I slowly reach for the TV control, and push on the button that reads "guide". I glance at the TV shows.
Strangely, I'm still on the channel Discovery.
So how could the show be over by now?
I squint to try to see the time. Finally, after my old eyes adjust, the time comes clearly into view.
10:24 PM.
My heart lurches. I glance out the window. Pure darkness.
Suddenly, I drop the control I'm holding.
H-how could I have been sitting that long? When I came to sit down it was only 2:45 PM!
I shake my head and rub at my temples. I must be losing my mind or something because of this stupid, no - life caller.
I slowly raise myself from the couch and stumble away.
"Boy am I tired," I say to myself. "Maybe I should go to sleep early tonight...? Get some sleep before the person calls again."
I decide to go into the kitchen and grab a quick "before - sleep" snack.
I open the pantry and grab out some tortillas and some mixed Mexican cheese. I'm not Mexican but tortilla have always been a favorite of mine.

By the time I'm finished eating, it's already eleven thirty.
I'll do anything I can to stay up and not receive a call tonight...
I walk slowly to the kitchen sink, turn the faucet on making warm water spray out into the grey stainless steel sink.
I grab the green sponge, put some blue dish wash soap on it, grab a dish and start washing it. Generally, I don't get a lot of appliances to wash a day since I live alone. My dream when I was a child was to never get married and never have kids: just live alone. I know that's not a dream, but I was never really interested in romance.
Now that I'm older and all grouchy and alone, I kind of wish that I had someone here to live with me. Sometimes, when I get a call in the middle of the night, all the possibilities that come to my mind of what it could be really can creep me out.
My mouth automatically opens in an O of a yawn.
Boy I'm really getting sleepy now... Maybe I should just go to sleep now...
I shut the water off, making the small house have no sound but the sound of my shoes hitting the floor.
When I get to my room, I shut and lock the door (as I do every night), shut my blinds and sit on my bed.
Should I really go to sleep now? I am having a hard time making a decision...
My body makes the decision for me... I drift into a very deep sleep...with the light on.

I slowly open my sleep - filled eyes to the bright light in my room on.
The light actually makes it better, I thought, maybe I should leave it on more often...
Who am I kidding? My thoughts shoot back to me. I'm starting to act like a paranoid baby. I'm far from a baby. I just turned fifty - eight!
I sit up slowly in my bed and glance at my clock radio.
11:59 PM, it read.
"Wow," I murmur silently to myself. "I've only been sleeping for twenty - nine minutes? That's it? It felt like I've been asleep for a thousand years!"
Suddenly, my clock turns to 12:00 midnight.
Ah, get ready for it now Mich-
My phone starts ringing from my bed side night table.
     "Ugh!" I moan. "The choice is mine. Should I answer it or should I-"
Without even thinking about what I'm really doing, I lay back, grab the phone with a shaky voice and raise it to my ear.