The Phone That Rang at 3:15 AM

It was an ordinary Thursday night. I had just finished scrolling through my social media feed and was ready to drift off to sleep. My phone lay on the table beside my bed, screen turned down, the room quiet except for the faint sound of the ceiling fan.

At exactly 3:15 AM, my phone rang.

It wasn’t a notification or a message—

it was a call.

The caller ID was blank. No number, no name. Just the word Unknown.

I hesitated. My thumb hovered over the green button, but something in my gut told me not to answer. My heart pounded. Still, curiosity won.

“Hello?” I whispered.

At first, there was only silence. Then, a faint static filled my ear. It was followed by a voice—raspy, slow, almost like it was struggling to speak:

“Don’t go outside.”

Before I could respond, the line went dead.

I sat frozen in my bed, staring at the dark ceiling. Was it a prank? Wrong number? My apartment felt suddenly colder.

I tried to shake it off, telling myself it was nothing. But when I checked my window, I saw something that made my blood run cold—

footprints in the damp grass outside, leading directly toward my door.