Emily

Emily picked up the phone in her room and dialed Spencer’s number. This is what she always does when there’s nothing else to do. She picks up the phone and dials other students in her grade and makes ‘secret admirer’ calls to them. She pretends to be their secret admirer, but she just like to goof off.

Spencer answered the phone. “Hello?” he asked.

“Hi Spencer,” she said in a soothing, cold voice.

“Who’s this?” he asked.

Emily rolled over on her bed. “I know who you are, Spencer, because I’m your secret admirer.” 

“Look, my friends have been telling me they’ve been having these calls. Who are you? And what do you want?” 

“I just want to… you know, talk to you,” she said, rolling the phone wire on her index finger. She smiled and silently laughed.

Spencer’s voice seemed to tense a little. “Look, I don’t want to talk to you. I know you’re faking it, and I know you called my friends. Just don’t call me again,” he said firmly. With that, he hung up.

What a short talk, she thought as she hung up after. She started giggling again. She loved crank calling, but she kept it a secret to her family and especially her little brother, Shaun. He couldn’t keep a secret from her for five minutes.

And that’s when he barged in. “A-ha!” he said, pointing his finger at her.

“What?” asked Emily worryingly.

“You’ve been calling people!” said Shaun, smiling. “I’m going to tell mom and dad!” 

“No, don’t!” she begged.

Shaun crossed his arms. “Only one condition,” he said.

“What?” 

“You’ll let me try it, too!” 

“What? No way!” 

Shaun started walking out. “Oh well, too bad.” 

Emily shot up. “No! Okay, fine. Just go use your phone.” 

“Sweet,” said Shaun. He started walking down the hall to his room. 

That was close, Emily thought. Then she remembered that she had planned to hang out with her friend at her house! She planned to go at eight `o clock. She looked at her clock. Seven fifty four. She still had time. 

She combed her hair and got her purse. Emily ran down the stairs to the door. “I’ll be gone for a couple hours. Bye!” she shouted across the house. 

She heard her mother’s voice telling her to be back soon and something else, but she didn’t get the rest. 

She sped down the street to her friend, Elaine’s house. As she ran, she felt fear. She thought something was behind her, she thought she saw swirling formations about her. Shivers went up and down her spine as she made her way through the cold air to Elaine’s house. 

Emily stomped onto the porch and paused to take breath after the long run. She rang the doorbell five times until Elaine answered it. “What happened to you?” she asked as she stared from Emily’s feet going up to her head. 

Emily could feel her heartbeat. “I’m fine,” she said as she passed by Elaine and sat on the couch. She sighed. “Okay.” 

“So, what do you want to talk about?” asked Elaine. Suddenly they heard a beeping sound from the kitchen. “Oh, the popcorn’s ready. Just a sec.” 

When Elaine left the room, Emily thought… what if I tell her about the phone calls I like to make? I’m sure she would enjoy them, too. 

Elaine returned a couple seconds later with a huge bag of popcorn. “So what do you have in mind?” she asked in a muffled voice from the popcorn in her mouth. She sat down on an armchair across from the large couch Emily was sitting on. 

“How about…” Emily said, “We call up some of the boys at school? You know, pretend we like them?” she smiled. 

“You do that?” asked Elaine. At first, Emily thought she disagreed, but a couple of seconds later, Elaine shouted, “That’s a great idea!” 

Emily shot up. “Let’s do this in your room,” she said. A smile spread wide across their faces as they both made their way to Elaine’s bedroom, with the popcorn (I HATE popcorn, just to tell you). 

Elaine sat on the bed, followed by Emily. Elaine picked up the phone. “Who do you want to call?” she asked. 

Emily looked up at the ceiling, thinking. “How about… Max?” 

Elaine giggled. “Why not? He’s hot.” She pressed the number down gently on the buttons as she dialed his number. They waited for the answer, but then Elaine noticed something. “Oops, I dialed the wrong number. Let me –” 

A blood-curdling scream from the phone cut her off. The scream sounded like a woman. “Help me!” she shouted. She seemed to be struggling with the phone. “He’s going to kill us! He’s going to kill us all!” Elaine and Emily’s heart started pumping harder. A pain of fear invaded their bodies. They didn’t know what to do. 

They heard a manly voice. “I know where you are!” he shouted with another scream in the background. “I know, and I’m going to get you!” 

“Ahhh!” screamed Elaine. She immediately hung up. Emily screamed after. They both screamed until they ran out of breath. 

Emily grabbed her purse. “I’m going back home,” she said in a strict voice. “I’m never calling anyone again.” 

She power walked down the stairs and burst out the door. “But what about me?” shouted Elaine across the house. “He knows where I’m at, and he might kill me!” 

Emily ignored her and shut the door. She quickly sped to her house. 

Emily burst into her room. She couldn’t get the blood-curdling scream out of her head. She also thought about the man who said he would get them. He might have known where we are because of caller ID, she thought. But at least it was Elaine’s house. But she’s my best friend; I can’t have this happen to her. 

Emily set her purse down on her nightstand. She dropped on her bed and went to sleep. 


The next day at school during lunch, Emily saw Elaine standing next to the coke machine. Emily started toward her. Once she got there, Elaine turned her head and frowned. “I’m sorry,” said Emily. 

“That won’t make any difference. He’s going to get me sometime,” she said back. 

“No he won’t,” said Emily, “I’m sure it was just a joke.” But then the sound of the screaming woman came into her mind again. Oh great, she thought glumly. Now it’s impossible to get it out of my head. 

Elaine looked back at Emily. “Why didn’t you stay over?” she asked strictly. 

“I…” Emily said slowly, but she didn’t know what to say. 

“Well, I think our friendship is near its end,” said Elaine. She stormed off to one of the tables. 

Emily didn’t know what to do then. Why did I just leave her alone at her house last night? She thought. That was a big mistake. 

She walked down to the table she and Elaine used to sit together along with two other girls named Sarah and Brittany. She sat down the table and put her lunch tray in front of her. “So, what’s up Emily?” asked Sarah. She took a bite of her sandwich she packed for lunch. 

“Oh, nothing,” replied Emily. 

“Where’s Elaine?” asked Brittany. 

“I don’t think she’ll be sitting with us anymore.” 

Sarah and Brittany widened their eyes. “Really? Why?” asked Sarah. 

“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.” 

Sarah took another bite. “We’ll believe you,” said Brittany. 

“Alright,” said Emily, “I went to Elaine’s house last night like we planned, and I told her that I made phone calls to the boys in the school. Well, she wanted to try it out and dialed Max’s number, but she dialed the wrong number.” 

“And what happened?” asked Sarah. 

“There was a scream and a man on the line that claimed he knows where we are now, and he’ll come and get us.” She straightened up her lunch tray and started eating. 

Brittany looked surprised. “Is that true?” “Believe me or not,” said Emily. She opened her coke and took a sip. 

“Are you making this up?” asked Sarah. 

“I told you that you wouldn’t believe me,” said Emily. 

“Mom, dad, I’m going over to Elaine’s house,” shouted Emily as she opened the door. She quickly walked down the steps of her porch and into the sidewalk. Okay, she thought. I may be able to make it up with her, just to talk it out. She’ll forget the whole thing. 

Emily sped down the street, looking at her right side, seeing the houses pass by until she reached Elaine’s home. Emily walked up the driveway to the porch and knocked on the door. “Elaine?” Emily shouted. But there was no answer. All the lights were off, she noticed.

Emily walked around the back and peeked through the window. It took a while for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She could make out someone sitting on a chair, not moving. Oh good, Emily thought in relief.

She stared at the person sitting there a little longer. Emily could tell it was Elaine. But there was something odd about her. Her head was leaning back, her arms were hanging and practically touching the floor and she wasn’t moving at all. 

But then the light turned on, and to Emily’s horror, she saw that her friend was coated in blood and her eyes were opened in shock. Elaine’s dead! 

Emily screamed as loud as she could. But she saw someone else in there. It was a man with a bloody kitchen knife! Emily screamed again as tears ran down her cheeks. 

She backed away and ran up the street to her house. She ran and ran until she felt exhausted, but she kept running until she reached her house. Emily barged in and locked the door immediately. She ran up to her room and fell asleep.