*

One afternoon, while relaxing at home, you hear a cell phone ringing. It's not yours. You do not recognize the ringtone, so you ignore at first, but the ringing only gets louder. You investigate the source of the sound, which leads you to the storeroom. There, you find a phone on a pile of clothes. In 100 words, write about what happens when you pick up the call.

*

Shreya_VA

"Come out of the house right now!" a raspy voice sounds at the other end.

"Tanish?" I ask bewildered, "It's been so long —"

"Please come out and then we can talk."

"You're here?"

"On the other side of the road."

"But —" I fly down the stairs and cross the road, excited for the reunion. Violent tremors seize the ground underneath me. My building comes crashing down like a house of cards. An earthquake. "Tanish?"

My own phone rings suddenly. "Abhay, you remember our friend Tanish?" Rohit's voice floats.

"Yes —"

"He died in a car accident this morning."

*

Looking at the jacket, I recognize it, but not the phone. Answering it, I hear a familiar voice, but it can't be.

"Don't hang up! This is not a joke. Don't go into work tonight. Make something up when he calls, but don't go into that lab, no matter what Vic tells you." The voice says.

I reply, "Who is this?"

"You know it's me. I cheated on the science project in 8th grade. We're in love with Victor, but he's lying. The science is bad, Cassandra!" She exclaims and the phone goes dead.

Well, I'd better listen to myself.

*

TheWickedDonut

I heard a loud thud that woke me up. I walk downstairs to check it. I saw lily, my cat with her toys. I was about to go back when I heard an unfamiliar ringtone of a phone from somewhere.

I followed the sound and it led me to the storeroom from the basement. The phone was inside the cabinet above some piled clothes. "Hello?" I answered.

"Hello?" a girl answered, as if my voice just echoed.

But then I realized it is my voice.

I heard a loud thud that woke me up. I walk— oh no!

*

I walked in, ignoring the scent of iron. I picked up the darn phone and answered it.

"911, please state your emergency."

"No emergency."

"911, please state your emergency."

It was a prank call alright. I disconnected the call and it opened up to a video taken 34 minutes ago. A lady with a strongly familiar face pleaded, "They're here to kill me, help-" and the video stopped.

The scent of iron was coming from the pile of clothes. I dug in, only to find the lady from the video quite dead- and that lady was me, the dead me...

*

"Hello?"

"Buzzzz...."

"Huh?"

"Bzzzzz...."

Darien. That idiot. I knew he was scaring me again. We had been playing pranks on each other for the past year. But since the past week, he had been ignoring my calls. All I had done was taken revenge on him for having pranked me with the retractable knife. Jammed up his car brakes.

"Bzzzzzz...."

"Darien? Talk to me!"

"Ok." I felt a tug on my shoulder. I turned around and yelped.

Darien was standing there, his bloodied head split in two. A smirk on his lips. He lunged and bit, deep into my neck.

*

I felt nauseated as I followed the ringtone to the storeroom. There, I find a phone ringing on a pile of clothes. I picked it up. The number was unknown.

"You die when the battery reaches 0%," said a distorted voice from the phone, the call disconnected.

Battery was 2%.

Suddenly, I lose my footing as my chest tightens, my left arm, shoulder and neck hurts. I looked at the phone again, 1%. Everything turned black as I woke up on my couch. It was a dream, I breathed a sigh of relief.

That's when I heard the ringtone, again.

*

One day, you get added into a group chat with four strangers. One of them tells you that their sister is missing, and your number was given in the last text that their sister sent. Just then, you receive another text. This one is from the missing sister. In 100 words, write about what happens when you open her text.

*

"It's me, Amanda."

It was Amanda—they said to be lost sister. "What the hell is the meaning of this?" I asked, confused.

"They are psychopaths! Save yourself!" Amanda hysterically said. "They're planning to kill me and you—" Before Amanda finished her words, I heard a loud noise as if something was broken. After that was a scream from Amanda.

Then, the line died.

I was about to leave my house but when I open the door. I saw Axle, one of the stranger in the groupchat carrying an axe. Then, he flashed a devilish smile. "You're next!"

*

One night, you return from work, exhausted after your shift. Something about your new home in this city doesn't feel right. Suddenly, you hear whispers coming from the bottom of the stairs. You turn around, but see no one. You head back upstairs, only to hear the whispers again. In 100 words, write about what happens when you turn around again.

*

My feet remains deep seated on the concrete staircase, hands tightly groping the wooden rail. Muffled whispers ring behind, wisps of chilled breaths blowing against my ears as the words become distinct.

"Let me out."

The light globe mounted on the wall starts to flicker, the ground beneath trembling with each passing second. I nervously turn about. Suddenly, a surge of wind whirls around my rigid frame, blinding darkness crumpling my eyesight.

"I lay asleep next to the cabinet. Find me."

The eerie voice clings on and that's when it starts to make sense. The foul smell.