Unknown Caller

Jenny was snuggled on the couch she had for years. A tattered blanket she’d yet to throw out covered the lower half of her body. She watched the screen just a few feet away from where she sat. The horror show flashed gruesome scenes that made her cower from fear. As the show ended, she let out a reassured breath as the names graced the screen. But before she was able to get too comfortable, the show popped up one last scare that had Jenny bump the mug she had on the table next to her. She was grateful that the cup was empty and went to grab what she had dropped. Before Jenny was able to put the mug back on the table, her cell phone started to buzz loudly. Unexpected, she dropped the cup once more, as her hand went over her heart.

She peered at her phone to see who wanted to reach her so late. Jenny saw that the caller was unknown. She rolled her eyes and pressed the reject button. Annoyed, she stood up and grabbed the mug as she went to clean up the mess she made. After she was done, she headed back to the couch to snatch her phone and head to bed. As she made her way to the bedroom, Jenny’s phone started to buzz loudly. She looked down at the phone; the caller showed, Unknown, for the second call too. As before, Jenny pressed the reject button and went the rest of the way to her room.

As she got ready for bed, her phone rang for several more occurrences. The number was unknown for each call that came through. She contemplated the need to shut down her cell phone. She refused to be awoken as she slept, so she powered the phone down and went to bed.

When the day broke, Jenny awoke from her slumber and felt ready to take on the day ahead of her. She turned her phone back on and hoped that whoever had wanted to contact her, gave up by now. As the phone booted up, a flood of calls poured onto her screen. She counted at least two dozen calls that had accumulated as she slept. She deleted each one and took note that the last call was very recent.

Jenny’s hand trembled as she looked down at her cell phone, a confused look etched on her nervous face. Who wanted to talk to her so desperately? There were no messages left by the person, so whatever the reason, the reason must not be paramount. She went down to eat breakfast, as she got a bowl of cereal and sat down to eat, her phone buzzed for the hundredth moment.

An exasperated huff left her mouth, and she pressed the answer button to get the fated phone call that plagued her for half a day. She slowly placed the phone to her ear and mumbled, “Hello?”

The phone crackled on the other end. The sound made her draw back from the speaker. The next set of words caught her off guard, “Three days.”

“Who are you?”

More ruckus was heard on the other end. The crackle only became louder. But soon, the call was dead. Jenny looked at her phone, a tad uneasy and perplexed. After the horror show she watched yesterday, she was now on edge. There was no reason to suspect that the unknown caller was a demon or a monster ready to harvest her soul. The most reasonable purpose for the call would be that someone wanted to mess around and scare people for laughs.

Jenny placed her phone down on the counter and refocused her thoughts on the errands she needed to get done. There was no reason to dwell on the odd call any longer, or the concerns she had would just make her crazy. She went to get ready to make some runs around town and put that pesky event away for good.

Her day went as normal as usual. No more phone calls plagued the rest of her day. Jenny had almost forgotten about what had happened, but her memory was soon jogged when her phone buzzed after her late supper. She was not shocked to see the unknown caller on her screen when she grabbed her phone.

The unwanted phone calls yesterday and today had gotten to her, so she wanted to put an end to the debacle once and for all. She pressed the answer button and asked the person on the other end, “What do you want from me?”

“Three days.” The sound of a robot echoed on the other end before a soft hush washed over. The crackle from before was notable, but not to shatter her eardrums.

“What do you mean?” Not a sound from the caller. Jenny added, “Please, just take me off your call log.”

Jenny could barely make out the background, but a vague reboot sound could be heard. A few beeps were also apparent. Before she could probe the bot any further, the caller, at long last, spoke up, “We are sorry to see you go. Your car's extended warranty has ended, and won’t be useful to you after your three days are depleted. Do you have any other query for us today?”

“My warranty?” she looked dumbfounded at the phone.

“Do you want to add more days to your warranty? Your warranty ends on November Seventh.”

“No, goodbye.”

“Goodbye.”

Jenny hung up the phone as fast as she could. The last day and a half had made her uncomfortable and scared, and all the phone calls she had gotten were from a dumb, automated telemarketer for her car’s warranty.

She thought the calls were over, but a few seconds later, the cell rang once more. Jenny, now perturbed, answered the call, and had not even checked to see who the caller was. She let her frustrated temper get the best of her, and lashed out, “Don’t call here anymore!”

“Well, that’s a great way to greet your mother,” she heard her mom say.

“Sorry about that.” A nervous chuckle left her mouth as she relayed the eventful two days she had to her mom.