The darkened night embraced the whooshing sound of the mighty wind while raindrops smacked against Lucy's roof.
She waited in the living room for the arrival of her son, Billy, who hadn't returned after leaving with his friends for baseball training—something that was quite unusual of him.
Her legs trembled while sitting on a couch that faced the entrance door. She stared intently at the door as though she were hoping someone would barge in, saying, "Mummy!" just like her lovely Billy always did.
Her attention was suddenly caught by the ring of her telephone, which hadn't worked in years. She walked right towards the ringing telephone.
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"He—hello," she calmly said, holding the telephone tightly to her ear.
"He—hello." A subtle yet strange voice replied, mimicking her exact words.
"So... sorry, who's this?" Her voice cracked.
"Mummy, Mummy, where are you?" The voice suddenly transitioned to that of Billy's.
"Billy? Is that you?" She suddenly felt a rush of adrenaline and confusion at the same time.
"Hello, are you there?" she asked, but the voice remained mute.
The lights began to flicker, intermittently allowing darkness to sneak into the once-illuminated house. She stood still, holding up the telephone, glancing at the bulbs while patiently waiting for the restoration of light to normalcy. But a few seconds into the flicker, the house violently shook, throwing her off balance, onto the floor.
"Ouch! My head hurts," she muttered to herself while attempting to lift her body off the floor. She got up and checked the time on the wall clock—it was 8 PM. Last she remembered, it was 7 PM. It was at this point she realized she had passed out for about an hour.
"What's happening?" she softly said to herself while rubbing the sides of her head. But before she could process the whole thing, the telephone rang again. It kept on ringing and ringing, but she refused to pick up. It was almost as if the telephone was a link between the supernatural and the physical—at least, that's what she thought.
"Oh my God! Billy!" Her mind quickly drifted to her son. She brought out her cellphone from the side of her pocket and dialed emergency services.
"Hello, ma'am. How can we be of assistance?" a male voice on the receiving end responded.
"Umm... yeah, my son..." She paused for a while, wondering how he knew it was a female even before she spoke.
"Ma'am, are you still there?"
"Oh! Yeah, yes, of course... I'm here."
"Alright, ma'am, I'll need you to do something for me."
"Sure, what's that?"
"Pick up the telephone!!"
The telephone immediately rang. This time around, it vibrated with intensity on the wooden stool where it was placed.
"Hello, what do you mean by 'pick up—'" Before she could complete her statement, the call hung up.
She stared at the ringing telephone. Fear was the only emotion she could feel—fear of the strange occurrences and fear of what might have become of her son.
Lucy suddenly jolted from the couch—it was all but a dream.
She took in a deep sigh of relief and glanced at the wall clock. It read: 6:40 PM. Just as she was about to reach for her cellphone, her lovely Billy barged in through the unlocked entrance door facing Lucy.
"Mummy!!" he exclaimed, running toward her with outstretched arms. "Guess what?"
"What?" she responded, giving her little sugarplum a tight, warm hug. He was all she had left after losing her husband to a road traffic accident.
"Hey... don't ever stay out there this long. I've been on this couch waiting for you."
"We had a little extra session today, I'm sorry. So today we..." He continued talking while holding his mum's hand as they both walked into the kitchen to prepare some nice snacks—it was a really long day for both of them.
Just as she was about to exit the living room, she heard a loud ring. She turned back—it was her telephone! She stared deeply at it with surprise and fear.
"...Mummy, are you listening?" Billy's soft voice dragged her back to consciousness.
"Yeah, sure... why not? Just got a little bit distracted, that's all."
"So, the coach got angry and kept..." he ecstatically continued.
Billy's voice turned into a faint echo while her ears focused on the incessant ringing of the telephone in the background.
She was definitely going to get rid of the telephone, which made her re-think the existence of the supernatural... but first—
She had to answer to the rumbling sounds of hunger.
