Static Chaos

“Where are you?”

Static noise came from the other end.

I smiled brightly through my teeth “Do come to the market soon, won’t you?”. The static was deafening. “Oh you’re not free?” I said as I frowned. The person next to me checked their watch and looked up at me through the glass.

I frowned more “I really wish you could come. We could have bought marshmallows together!” I started to look for change in my purse as I looked out through the other side of the glass. It was a marvellous lake. “I would have loved to spend time with you by the lake”. The static kept building and building. The orange of the sun fell through the glass onto my face. I giggled “Of course I would spend time with you I’m not going to ditch you!” I heard the change roll inside the slot like a marble and continued talking.

The person looked up once more and appeared impatient. I decided to finally end the call. “Well it’s been nice talking with you but I really wish you would come! I miss you! By-”

“Who are you?”

I stopped. My body froze despite the warm air. Everything seemed to stop.

“Who are you?” The voice repeated. “Stop. You need to stop”

My mouth couldn’t open. Wouldn’t open.

“Who – are – you?”.

I looked outside. The person had left. I was alone. The sun started to set it. It was getting dark.

“I-I’m- I’m”

“You need to stop. I don’t exist. Stop this. Stop”

“I….. I don’t understand” I choked out “Who are you?”

“You know who I am. You’ve always known. You call me every time. You need to stop this.”

“But nobody knows this. Nobody is supposed to know this. You don’t know this. You can’t possibly know this.”

There was mumbling. Or static. Or noise. Or whispering.

“Hello?” I fumbled for change in my pocket and hurriedly put it inside the slot.

“Why are you wasting time with that?” A voice whispered.

I shivered. “I couldn’t hear you”

“You shouldn’t hear me. You’re doing this to yourself. Look at yourself. Look at the phone. Look at where you are”

“Stop! Stop telling me what to do!” I shouted

“I’m – not - real. All of this isn’t real. You’re talking to no one” The voice was scary. I didn’t like this. I pushed the receiver down onto the stand and my hand fell through

I looked up. I wasn’t holding a receiver. I wasn’t holding anything.

I looked at the glass noticing the big “Out of order” Sign. The man. He was supposed to fix this. What am I doing here?

“What am I doing here?”

“What are you doing here?”

I nodded to myself as I stopped talking and closed my eyes to darkness.

I was gone.

The static continued. A voice crackled out of the receiver.

“Your call has ended. Please deposit change.”