I Answered the Phone in My Room and Regret It.

It was a typical Saturday morning in my life, so I was in my room working on some homework for school. It’s not the most entertaining thing to do but I figured it’s better to just get it out of the way so I’m not stuck doing it Sunday. It was going well until I heard a noise behind me. I turned to find no one. Then, the smell wafted into my nostrils. It was a very strong smell that smelled like a mixture of mold and dead animals. It was absolutely terrible so I decided to look into it. I went into my bathroom to see if the smell was coming from there. Unfortunately, it wasn’t. I looked into my closet and didn’t find anything until the very back. There I found an old fashioned rotary phone. It was a strange powderly color and had a strange aura around it. I picked it up to see if it was real. After I did I heard dial tone come from the earpiece. I was shocked. I had never seen this phone before and I was wondering if it connected to anything. I decided to test it out and dialed some random numbers. The phone quickly went to voicemail so I hung up. I decided to call my best friend and tell him about what I found. He thought it was cool, but also weird. He said he found something like that in his room too. I asked “Really?”. He said “No, but wouldn’t that be cool.”. I chuckled and then the phone beeped. I said “I’ll call you back, somebody's calling me.”. I hung up and answered the rotary phone. <br><br>“Hello?”. <br><br>“Hello is this Josh?”. <br><br>“Yes, who is this?”. <br><br>“I am an old friend of yours. I never got to say goodbye so I think we should talk.”. <br><br>“Okay that sounds cool. It's been a while.”<br><br>“Yeah, it has. Let's talk then.”. <br><br>“Okay, but first why did you call me. It's been a long time.”. <br><br>“I just wanted to catch up and see what's up.”. <br><br>“Not much. Just doing homework.”. <br><br>“Oh okay. So school's going well?”.<br><br>“Yeah, it is. Thanks for asking.”. <br><br>“Well good.”. <br><br>“Well you didn’t call me to ask me about school so what's up?”.<br><br>“Fine. I will get to the point. You don't know me Josh. I am not an old friend of yours and I never was.”. <br><br>“Really?”. <br><br>“Yes. I am just a guy in a room with a phone. That's it. There's nothing but darkness around me and this phone. It's a rotary phone like yours. It's the same color yours is too.”. <br><br>“That's strange.”. <br><br>“Yes, it is. Anyway, I'm calling to tell you to hang up the phone you're talking on.”. <br><br>“Why?”. <br><br>“Because I want you to. You will regret not doing it.”. <br><br>“Well, I'm not going to do it then.”. <br><br>“Oh joy.”. <br><br>“Bye now.”. <br><br>I hung up the phone and set it down. I grabbed a trash bag and put the phone in it. I set it next to my door. I went back to my desk and started doing my homework again. I still smelled the strange smell and started to sneeze. <br><br>Then the phone rang. <br><br>I was startled and jumped backward. I fell to the ground. I got up to answer it. <br><br>“Hello?”. <br><br>“Don't hang up. Please don't hang up.”. <br><br>“Who is this?”. <br><br>“It’s me again. Please don't hang up.”. <br><br>“How did you call so quickly?”.<br><br>“I don't know. I just know I have to get off this phone before it's to late.”. <br><br>“For you or me?”. <br><br>“For you. Please end the call. I'm not kidding. I didn’t call to be mean to you. I called to help you.”. <br><br>“Help me with what?”.<br><br>“To not die.”. <br><br>“Die?”. <br><br>“Yes! Please just hang up! Oh no, it's too late. I have to go.”. <br><br>“Hello? Are you there? Hello?”. <br><br>Then I heard my mom yell from downstairs. <br><br>“Josh!”. <br><br>“What?”. <br><br>“Come down to the kitchen!”. <br><br>Then the phone went dead. I still had the smell in my nostrils so I decided to come back to my homework later. I walked out of my room and downstairs. When I walked into the kitchen I saw my family sitting at the table. <br><br>“Why did you call me down here?”. <br><br>“I didn't call you down here. I'm just now getting the coffee pot going.”. <br><br>“Well, I could've sworn you called me down.”. <br><br>“I didn't. Maybe it was your dad or sister.”. <br><br>“I guess it was my sister then.”. <br><br>I sat down next to my dad and across from my mom, who was looking at her phone. Then my sister walked in the room. <br><br>“Why are you up so early?”.<br><br>“I was just in my room doing homework.”. <br><br>“Okay, well you must have been sleepy. You just walked past me in the hall like a zombie.”. <br><br>“I thought you called me down to breakfast.”. <br><br>“I didn’t. Maybe you should go back to bed.”. <br><br>“Okay, yeah. That sounds good.”. <br><br>I got up and was walking out the kitchen when the garbage disposal turned on. I turned to see my mom looking at me with a shocked look on her face. <br><br>“Mom! What did you just put down the sink! It broke the garbage disposal!”. <br><br>“I didn't put anything down there!”. <br><br>“Well, then can you check to see what it is. I hear something grinding in there.”. <br><br>“Oh my gosh. Look at all the blood.”. <br><br>“Mom! What did you do!”. <br><br>“I didn’t put anything down there! Please believe me!”. <br><br>“Then what is it, mom?”. <br><br>“Well, I think it might be...”. <br><br>“Might be what?”. <br><br>“Me.”. <br><br>I was shocked. I didn't know what she meant by that. She was right there in front of me but she looked sad, like something had happened. <br><br>Then I woke up in my bed. It was the middle of the night. I thought it was just a dream. That was until I smelled the moldy dead animal smell. I got out of bed and went searching for where it was coming from. Just like in my dream, I found the phone. I picked it up and held it in my hand. I saw that the smell was coming from it. I decided to plug it in to see what would happen. I plugged it in and the smell left my nostrils. The phone started to ring. I picked it up and saw a voicemail notification. I clicked on it and played it. <br><br>“Hello. Please pick up the phone. We can't do this forever. We can't keep replaying the same day over and over. Please just pick up.”. <br><br>I didn’t recognize the voice, but I felt like I had before. I thought about my dream and the similarity between reality and my subconscious. I thought about the voice on the phone and how familiar it sounded. Then it hit me. <br><br>I am the voice on the phone. <br><br>I answered the phone in my room and I regret it.